More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Nemui's picture

Chapter IV of the Planescape Campaign Setting presents 9 faction feats for each faction. The number nine being 3 times 3, it�s in accord with the Rule of Threes, but there�s still room for improvement. What�s better than 3 x 3, you ask? Well, for starters, 3 x 3 x 3, or three to the third degree.

Here are nine new feats for the Bleak Cabal. This is the fourth set out of sixteen planned (one per faction) � the Cipher, Doomguard, and Dustmen feats were posted earlier.

Feat:Description:
Already DamagedHeal mental ability damage faster
Bleak StanceAssume defensive stance in melee
Contagious DisorderSpontaneously retaliate against mental intrusion
Ignore RealityMake Will saves instead of Fort or Ref
Lunatic InsightYou are a mad visionary.
Lunatic Insight, GreaterYou are an oracle of insanity
Schizoid SoulYou are cold and emotionally inert.
Touch of DementiaSpread confusion by touch
Word of WasteSpread insanity by word

Note: Some of these feats have an Insanity score as a requirement. Insanity can be accumulated through some faction feats (such as Manic Depressive for the Bleak Cabal), or by gaining access to the clerical domain of Madness. Also, the Insanity alternative rules from Unearthed Arcana can be used.

ALREADY DAMAGED {General}Your troubled mind does not suffer too much from ability damage, being used to the stress by now.Faction: Bleak Cabal.Benefit: You heal ability damage more quickly than normal. You heal a number of mental ability points (Int, Wis, or Cha) per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1 point per day).Normal: You heal ability damage and ability burn damage at a rate of 1 point per day.

BLEAK STANCE {Style}Your body language suggests a lack of will and initiative in combat, which can be deceptive.Faction: Bleak Cabal.Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +4, Dex 13+, DodgeBenefit: While using total defense, every melee attack that misses you provokes an attack of opportunity. Your opponent is considered to be flat-footed against this attack of opportunity.

CONTAGIOUS DISORDER {General, Faction-Dependent}It is not advisable for anyone except trained professionals to access your mind.Faction: Bleak Cabal.Prerequisite: Insanity 3+Benefit: Whenever someone attempts to read your mind (for example, using detect thoughts, read thoughts, mind probe, or mindlink), he must make a Will save or suffer 1d6 points of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage. The DC of this saving throw is 10 plus your Insanity score. The damage is applied regardless of whether or not the mind-reading effect was successful.

IGNORE REALITY {General, Faction-Dependent}You are focused inward so much that you can will the outside world away. Faction: Bleak Cabal, Mind's Eye.Prerequisite: Wis 15, Iron Will.Benefit: Once per round, when targeted by an effect that allows a Reflex save or a Fortitude save, you can instead make a Will saving throw to avoid the effect.

LUNATIC INSIGHT {General, Faction-Dependent}A pearl of wisdom occasionally rises from the depths of your troubled mind. Faction: Bleak Cabal, Xaositects.Prerequisite: Insanity 3+Benefit: Approximately once per week, you spontaneously make a statement regarding a current or future goal, event, or activity, usually by speaking either a short phrase or a cryptic rhyme. Effectively, you instantly gain the benefits of a divination spell, using your character level as the effective caster level. This is a supernatural ability.Special: The exact manifestations of this ability are entirely up to the GM. He chooses when and how the Lunatic Insight comes into play, but it is recommended that it is utilized no more than once per game session, and no less than once per three game sessions.

LUNATIC INSIGHT, GREATER {General, Faction-Dependent}You are an oracle of insanity.Faction: Bleak Cabal, Xaositects.Prerequisite: Insanity 6+, Lunatic InsightBenefit: Once per day, you are able to make lightning-fast deductions based on only the slightest clue, pattern, or scrap of memory resident in your mind. You can make reasonably correct statements about a person, place, or object, seemingly from very little knowledge. However, your knowledge is in fact the result of a mind-bogglingly illogical process of intuitive deduction that you force your mind to undertake, digging up and randomly correlating every possible piece of knowledge bearing on the topic, even extracting echoes of knowledge from the Astral Plane.The nature of the knowledge you gain concerning the subject of your "analysis" might include the answer to a riddle, the way out of a maze, stray bits of information about a person, legends about a place or an object, or even a conclusion concerning a dilemma that a conscious and entirely sane mind is unable to arrive at.The GM may require a Wisdom check for you to obtain a particularly important piece of information. If so, you make the check with a bonus equal to your Insanity score. This is a supernatural ability.

SCHIZOID SOUL {General}Schizoid personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, and emotional coldness.Faction: Bleak Cabal.Prerequisite: Self-Sufficient.Benefit: You are immune to all emotion-altering effects (such as crushing despair, good hope, or heroism) and ignore all morale bonuses or penalties, but you suffer a -2 penalty on all Diplomacy checks.

TOUCH OF DEMENTIA {General, Faction-Dependent}You share your mental ... difficulties ... with others by simple contact.Faction: Bleak Cabal.Prerequisite: Touched in the Head, Insanity 4+Benefit: Once per round, you can make a melee touch attack that deals no damage but forces the target to make a Will save or become confused for 1d4+1 rounds. The DC of the save is 10 plus your Insanity score.This is a supernatural ability.

WORD OF WASTE {General, Faction-Dependent}Your whispers awaken the mind into the cruel reality.Faction: Bleak Cabal.Prerequisite: Persuasive, Touched in the Head, Insanity 7+Benefit: Once per day as a standard action, you can speak a single word, phrase, or sentence that carries with it such a strong sense of disillusionment that all who can hear and understand you must make a Will save or become stunned for 1d6 rounds. When this duration expires, they must make another Will save against the same DC or become permanently confused (as the insanity spell). The DC of the saves is 10 plus your Insanity score.This is a supernatural language-dependent ability.

Nemui's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

*gloats happily*

Thanks. Still, the Bleakers were never about power, it's the attitude that counts Eye-wink

Could someone please edit the second sentence in the first feat description, to state "You heal a number of mental ability points (Int, Wis, or Cha)..." instead of just "You heal a number of ability points..." ?

Also, my spellchecker somehow managed to let through the word "pharase" instead of "phrase" in the last feat's descroption.

TIA

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More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Thank you Nemui for once again putting the Planescape in 3e! I cannot wait until the entire series is finished!

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Clueless's picture
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Joined: 2008-06-30
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Fixed typos.

Rhys's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-05-11
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

I do feel that some might be too powerful. Bleak Stance, for example. doesn't have a lot of prerequisites, but it allows you to make an attack of opportunity against any opponent who misses you in melee (granted, you only get one AoO per round without Combat Reflexes, but still). Contagious Disorder might be more balanced if it dealt damage to only one score, not all three. Maybe it would deal damage to the caster's key ability for that spell.

I love Already Damaged, though. Maybe a greater version of it, too, that lets you use restoration on yourself for mental stats only.

Nemui's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

See, for Bleak Stance you have to use total defense, which means you don't attack on your own at all. I imagined a bleaker warrior defending casually, going "*Sigh* ... Whatever..." every time someone misses him.

About Contagious Disorder, I felt that if someone is clueless enough to try and read a Bleaker's mind, he deserves heavy mental damage. Anyway, touch of idiocy is a 2nd-level spell that does pretty much the same thing, without a saving throw allowed.

Rhys's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-05-11
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Fair enough. That works for me. I missed the "total defense" part.

One last thing, though: Greater Lunatic Insight doesn't require Lunatic Insight as a prerequisite. Is this intentional?

Bane's picture
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Joined: 2005-02-02
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Very good work!

Nemui's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

'Rhys' wrote:
Greater Lunatic Insight doesn't require Lunatic Insight as a prerequisite. Is this intentional?

Ugh. No, it isn't.

Sarah, if you would be so kind ... ? I'm sorry, I should've proofread this better.

Clueless's picture
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Webmonkey
Joined: 2008-06-30
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Fixed.

Rhys's picture
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Joined: 2004-05-11
More Faction Feats: Bleakers

Nemui, I absolutely love your faction feats. You've managed to do the seeming impossible: make it not suck to play a Bleaker. They were so cool in character, yet so weak in powers. Now I want to play a Bleaker right now.

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