33 More Regional Feats

10 posts / 0 new
Last post
Nemui's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
33 More Regional Feats

Well, since my article for the site has been held up for over a week, I might as well post the stuff here for feedback. I know 33 feats is a lot to read through, so take your time and comment when and as you see fit. TIA.

Note: Many of these feats are more powerful than most general feats, but it's supposed to be this way for regional feats - they reward the player for making the effort to involve his 1st-level character into the planes as a whole, choosing the proper region and background.

Note 2: Introductory text about planar regions adapted and updated from Chapter II of the Planescape Campaign Setting

----------------

Planar Regions

The planes are vast, and the folks that live in them are anything but homogenous. Different planes, layers, and realms can breed all kinds of people, from the jaded souls of Sigil to the dedicated working folk of Bytopia. "Region" can refer to any division of the planes or realms, but typically refers to a grouping of planes that share a particular trait. For example, the Positive Planes region includes the Positive Energy Plane as well as the four Quasielemental planes adjacent to it. The Planes of Chaos region includes five planes of the Great Ring that have the chaos-dominated trait – from Abyss to Arborea, via Limbo.
Regions help to provide flavor and perspective unique to the character's homeland. A character’s region often has a strong relation to his or her beliefs and attitudes. It represents the plane the character grew up and possibly first started adventuring in. Characters may gain access to additional languages or particular feats based off their region. A character can belong to more than one region, even though he can have only one home plane.
Table 1 - Planar Regions groups the twelve broad regions, and lists the planes that belong to each of them. Note that some regions overlap – many planes belong to two regions. Since many planar layers, demiplanes, and gate towns have specific traits not covered here, the GM is advised to be reasonably lenient regarding regional feat selection.
Table 2 – Regional Feats describes typical languages spoken in those regions, and lists the regional feats available in each region. Characters from the Prime Material Plane may choose regions from their world.

Bonus Languages: Characters of exceptional Intelligence (12 or higher) begin play with one additional language per point of Intelligence bonus, which can be chosen from the list on the table or from the bonus languages provided by race or class. Every character is considered to be able to speak and understand the Planar Trade language.

Regional Feats: The thirty-three feats detailed here represent the common sorts of talents that people from that region might learn. You can only select a regional feat at first level. You cannot have more than one regional feat.

Table 1 : Planar Regions

Transitive Planes: Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, Plane of Shadow
Concordant Planes: Outlands, City of Doors
Lower Planes: Abyss, Carceri, Gray Waste, Gehenna, Baator
Planes of Chaos: Abyss, Pandemonium, Limbo, Ysgard, Arborea
Planes of Law: Baator, Acheron, Mechanus, Arcadia , Mount Celestia
Upper Planes: Arborea, Beastlands, Elysium, Bytopia, Mount Celestia
Planes of Air: Air, Ice, Smoke, Vacuum, Lightning
Planes of Earth: Earth, Magma, Ooze, Dust, Mineral
Planes of Fire: Fire, Magma, Smoke, Ash, Radiance
Planes of Water: Water, Ice, Ooze, Salt, Steam
Negative Planes: Negative Energy, Ash, Dust, Salt, Vacuum
Positive Planes: Positive Energy, Lightning, Mineral, Radiance, Steam

Table 2 : Regional Feats

-- Region: [languages]; Feats --

Concordant Planes: (Baku , Bariaur, Khaasta, Prime Common, Rilmani); Balanced Blood, Citizen of the Ring, Mediator

Lower Planes: (Abyssal, Gehreleth, Ignan, Infernal, Yugoloth); Blooded Survivor, Evil Eye, Wicked Tongue

Negative Planes: (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, Terran); Age-Resilient, Hide Spark, Sense Death

Planes of Air: (Auran, Aquan, Ignan, Jannti, Mephit); Air Dancer, Freefall Flyer, Mighty Breather.

Planes of Chaos: (Abyssal, Asura, Bariaur, Celestial, Githzerai, Slaadi, Sylvan); Disturbing Mind, Resist Obfuscation, Unfettered

Planes of Earth: (Aquan, Ignan, Jannti, Mephit, Terran); Deep Intuition, Earth Mastery, Fists of Earth

Planes of Fire: (Auran, Ignan, Jannti, Mephit, Terran); Blood of Fire, Charred Skin, Flaming Soul

Planes of Water: (Aquan, Auran, Jannti, Mephit, Terran); Born Swimmer, Flowing Movement, Mighty Breather

Planes of Law: (Bladeling, Celestial, Infernal); Oathkeeper, Resist Obfuscation, Sturdy Soul

Positive Planes: (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, Jannti, Mephit, Terran); Age-Resilient, Healing Touch, Inner Life

Transitive Planes: (Githyanki, Nathri, Prime Common); Dual Existence, Homeless, Portal Sense

Upper Planes: (Asura, Baku , Bariaur, Celestial); Bane of Falsehood, Celestial Ally, Pure Blood

--------

FEAT DESCRIPTIONS:

Age-Resilient [Regional]
Being either attuned to the positive energies of life, or resistant to the negative energies of unlife, you bear the burden of years with ease.
Prerequisite : Native either to one of the Negative Planes or one of the Positive Planes (Negative Energy Plane, Positive Energy Plane, or any of the eight Quasielemental Planes).
Benefit: In the “Table: Aging Penalties” for your race, double the values for middle, old, and venerable age. In addition, your physical ability score penalty for aging is -1 at each of the three categories.
Normal : At old and venerable age, your physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution) would normally be decreased by -2 and -3, respectively.

Air Dancer [Regional]
You move with the grace of a djinni.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Air (Elemental Plane of Air, Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, Quasielemental Plane of Lightning, or Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum)
Benefit: You have a +2 bonus on Balance, Jump, and Perform (dancing) checks.

Balanced Blood [Regional]
You spontaneously resist the call of extremes.
Prerequisite: Native to either the Concordant Domain of Outlands or the City of Doors.
Benefit: The penalties resulting from a plane’s alignment trait (on Int- , Wis- , and/or Charisma-based checks, and on your effective divine caster level) are reduced by 2. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects that differentiate targets by alignment, such as blasphemy or holy smite.
Normal: Creatures who have an alignment opposite that of a mildly aligned plane take a –2 circumstance penalty on all Charisma-based checks and effective divine caster level. If the plane has multiple alignment traits, the penalties stack.
On planes that are strongly aligned, these penalties apply to all creatures not of the plane’s alignment. In addition, the –2 penalty affects all Intelligence-based and Wisdom-based checks, too.

Bane of Falsehood [Regional]
You sense the truth in another’s words.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Upper Planes (Arborea, Beastlands, Elysium, Bytopia, or Mount Celestia ).
Benefit: You have a +8 bonus on Sense Motive checks to see if someone is deliberately lying to you.

Blood of Fire [Regional]
You blood burns like an efreeti’s desires.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Fire (Elemental Plane of Fire, Paraelemental Plane of Magma, Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, Quasielemental Plane of Ash, or Quasielemental Plane of Radiance).
Benefit: You have a +4 bonus on saving throws against fire effects. In addition, you cast spells (or use spell-like abilities) with the fire descriptor at +2 caster level.

Blooded Survivor [Regional]
You know how to survive on the Lower Planes.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Lower Planes (Abyss, Carceri, Gray Waste, Gehenna, or Baator)
Benefit: You have a +2 bonus on Hide and Survival checks. Additionally, you have a +2 bonus on all saves against fear (which is also applied to level checks made to resist intimidation).

Born Swimmer [Regional]
You are equally at ease on dry land and under the sea.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Water (Elemental Plane of Water, Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Quasielemental Plane of Salt, or Quasielemental Plane of Steam)
Benefit: You have the amphibious special quality, which enables you to breathe water as well as air. You have a swim speed of 20 ft. and a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. You can always choose to take 10 on Swim checks, even if rushed or threatened.
If you already have a swim speed, it is increased by 20 ft.

Celestial Ally [Regional]
You have a supernatural connection to the powers of your home plane, and can occasionally call for aid.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Upper Planes (Arborea, Beastlands, Elysium, Bytopia, or Mount Celestia ).
Benefit: Once per month, if you perform a ritual lasting no less than 10 minutes, and make a DC 15 Knowledge (the planes) check, you create a spell-like effect resembling a planar ally spell, calling a good-aligned outsider to your aid. The exact outcome depends on your character level:

Character level 1st-7th: Lesser planar ally.
Character level 8th-14th: Planar ally.
Character level 15th and above: Greater planar ally.

The called outsiders are always of an alignment matching your own. If you are not good-aligned, you cannot use this feat.
This is a spell-like ability, but it still requires an expenditure of experience points, as detailed in the description of the planar ally spells (100, 250, or 500 XP).

Charred Skin [Regional]
Portions of your skin are fire-scorched and fireproof.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Fire (Elemental Plane of Fire, Paraelemental Plane of Magma, Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, Quasielemental Plane of Ash, or Quasielemental Plane of Radiance).
Benefit: You have fire resistance 5. This stacks with any racial fire resistance that you may have (for example, if you are a fire genasi), but not with artificial sources of resistance, such as the resist energy spell.

Citizen of the Ring [Regional]
You know how to skillfully slice your way through the multiversal society.
Prerequisite: Native to either the Concordant Domain of Outlands or the City of Doors .
Benefit: You have a +2 bonus on Appraise, Bluff, and Survival checks.

Deep Intuition [Regional]
You know how to find your way while within the bowels of earth.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Earth (Elemental Plane of Earth, Paraelemental Plane of Magma, Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Quasielemental Plane of Dust, or Quasielemental Plane of Mineral).
Benefit: While underground (including being on one of the Planes of Earth), you automatically succeed at Survival checks to avoid natural hazards, keep from getting lost, and regain your bearings if you somehow do get lost. In addition, you have a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks against all creatures with the earth subtype.

Disturbing Mind [Regional]
The pattern of your thoughts … what pattern?
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Chaos (Abyss, Pandemonium, Limbo, Ysgard, or Arborea)
Benefit: Whenever someone attempts to read your mind (using detect thoughts or a similar effect), he must make a Will saving throw (DC 15 + your Charisma modifier) or be stunned for 1d6 rounds, regardless of the success of the mind-reading.
This is a supernatural ability.

Dual Existence [Regional]
You can stretch yourself over the border of your home plane.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Transitive Planes (Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, or Plane of Shadow).
Benefit: When you are on a plane coterminous or coexistent with your home plane, you are able to partially transfer your body to your home plane, while still remaining where you are for the most part. In effect, you can turn yourself and your equipment incorporeal for a total duration of 10 rounds per day, distributed in any way you see fit. It takes a standard action to become incorporeal, but it is a free action to return to full corporeality.
This ability cannot be used on a plane that is neither coterminous nor coexistent to your home plane, including your home plane itself. Effects that block planar access (such as dimensional anchor) also prevent the use of this ability.
This is a supernatural ability.

Earth Mastery [Regional]
You fight better when in the grasp of mother earth, but have difficulties when separated from her.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Earth (Elemental Plane of Earth, Paraelemental Plane of Magma, Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Quasielemental Plane of Dust, or Quasielemental Plane of Mineral).
Benefit: You have a +1 bonus on all attack and damage rolls if both you and your foe are touching the ground. If an opponent is airborne or waterborne, you take a -4 penalty on attack and damage rolls.

Evil Eye [Regional]
You are fiendishly “persuasive”.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Lower Planes (Abyss, Carceri, Gray Waste, Gehenna, or Baator).
Benefit: When you successfully use the Intimidate skill to demoralize an opponent, the target becomes shaken for 1 minute. If the intimidated target’s Hit Dice is equal to or lesser than ½ your own, it must make a Will save (DC equal to your check result) or become panicked for 1 minute instead. A creature that resists your intimidation attempt cannot be intimidated by you within the next 24 hours.
In addition, the Intimidate skill is always a class skill for you, regardless of which class you advance in.
Normal: Using the Intimidate skill to demoralize an opponent normally causes him to become shaken for one round.

Fists of Earth [Regional]
You strike harder than most.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Earth (Elemental Plane of Earth, Paraelemental Plane of Magma, Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Quasielemental Plane of Dust, or Quasielemental Plane of Mineral).
Benefit: Your unarmed attacks deal a base amount of 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when making unarmed attacks against armed opponents.
If you also have the Improved Unarmed Attack feat, you can freely choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage with your unarmed attacks.

Flaming Soul [Regional]
Your burning soul cannot be easily quenched.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Fire (Elemental Plane of Fire, Paraelemental Plane of Magma, Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, Quasielemental Plane of Ash, or Quasielemental Plane of Radiance)
Benefit: You have a +1 bonus on all Fortitude and Will saves. Against death effects, energy drain, and ability drain attacks, this bonus increases to +4.

Flowing Movement [Regional]
You are rarely off-balance, moving like a fish in the sea.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Water (Elemental Plane of Water, Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Quasielemental Plane of Salt, or Quasielemental Plane of Steam).
Benefit: You have a +2 bonus on Balance, Escape Artist, and Tumble checks.

Freefall Flyer [Regional]
When away from the earth’s heavy embrace, the wind carries you as you desire.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Air (Elemental Plane of Air, Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, Quasielemental Plane of Lightning, or Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum).
Benefit: While on a plane with the “no gravity” trait, you have a fly speed equal to your normal land speed, with perfect maneuverability. When on a plane with the “subjective directional gravity” trait, you automatically succeed at the DC 16 Wisdom check required to set the direction of the gravity’s pull; additionally, if you make a DC 10 Wisdom check (a free action), you can instantly balance the gravity’s pull and hover in place.

Healing Touch [Regional]
The spark of life is strong in your body.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Positive Planes (Positive Energy Plane, Quasielemental Plane of Lightning, Quasielemental Plane of Mineral, Quasielemental Plane of Radiance, or Quasielemental Plane of Steam).
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on Heal checks. In addition, whenever you cast a healing spell or when one is cast on you, the spell is automatically empowered, as per the Empower Spell metamagic feat.

Hide Spark [Regional]
You are able to silence the song of life within you.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Negative Planes (Negative Energy Plane, Quasielemental Plane of Ash, Quasielemental Plane of Dust, Quasielemental Plane of Salt, or Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum).
Benefit: You are able to intentionally weaken the subtle emanations of life energies coming from your body and soul so that the undead recognize you as one of their own – or close enough not to make a difference. Non-intelligent undead will ignore you, while intelligent undead that feed on living creatures will not think of you as acceptable prey. You can maintain the effect for ten minutes per day easily (duration distributed any way you want), but extending it beyond ten minutes forces you to make a DC 20 Fortitude save each round or take 2 points of Constitution damage.
As long as you keep up the “disguise”, you register as an undead creature when submitted to a detect undead spell or a similar effect.
This is a supernatural ability.

Homeless [Regional]
Due to the transient nature of your home plane, all places are equally foreign to you.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Transitive Planes (Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane, or Plane of Shadow).
Benefit: You effectively do not have a home plane. You are not considered to be extraplanar on any plane. Therefore, you are immune to effects like dismissal or banishment.

Inner Life [Regional]
Your body and soul resist decay.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Positive Planes (Positive Energy Plane, Quasielemental Plane of Lightning, Quasielemental Plane of Mineral, Quasielemental Plane of Radiance, or Quasielemental Plane of Steam).
Benefit: You have a +4 bonus on all saving throws against ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, and death effects.

Mediator [Regional]
You know how to diplomatically weave your way through the multiversal society.
Prerequisite: Native to either the Concordant Domain of Outlands or the City of Doors .
Benefit: You have a +2 bonus on Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Sense Motive checks.

Mighty Breather [Regional]
Your lungs always make the most of the air supply that they hold.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Air (Elemental Plane of Air, Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Paraelemental Plane of Smoke, Quasielemental Plane of Lightning, or Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum) or one of the Planes of Water (Elemental Plane of Water, Paraelemental Plane of Ice, Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, Quasielemental Plane of Salt, or Quasielemental Plane of Steam).
Benefit: You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to four times your Constitution score. After this period of time, you proceed with the usual Constitution checks to continue holding your breath, but you have a +4 bonus on these checks.
Normal: A character can normally hold his breath for a number of rounds equal to twice his Constitution score.

Oathkeeper [Regional]
Once you commit yourself to a cause, you do not turn back.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Law (Baator, Acheron, Mechanus, Arcadia , or Mount Celestia )
Benefit: If you voluntarily choose to swear an oath, stating a course of action that leads to a designated goal, the words have a strong inner meaning for you, influencing your future behavior. You have a +1 morale bonus on every task resolution roll (attack roll, saving throw, skill check, or ability check) that is directly involved with fulfilling the oath. However, at the end of each day during which you have not acted toward fulfilling the oath, you must make a DC 15 Will saving throw or suffer 1d2 points of Charisma damage. This damage can only be healed naturally, restoration spells and similar effects do not work. This damage cannot reduce your Charisma score below 1.
You cannot have more than one active oath at the same time; you can only swear a new oath once the original has been fulfilled or when the circumstances have rendered it beyond any hope of fulfillment.
Note : The application of this feat is largely left to GM interpretation. It is recommended that ad hoc and trivial oaths be disallowed (“I swear an oath to kill that guy with the sword over there.”). Also, acts directly involved with fulfilling the oath should be carefully scrutinized. (Things like “I need to steal from this merchant to get the jink to buy better gear to avenge my parents” are not directly involved.)

Portal Sense [Regional]
You have a knack for finding and analyzing portals.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Transitive Planes (Astral Plane, Ethereal plane, or Plane of Shadow)
Benefit: By making a DC 15 Search check to search a 10-ft. square, you are able to discern whether the area contains a planar portal or not. If it turns out it does, you can attempt to discern some of the portal’s properties. You must examine the portal for at least 10 minutes, after which time you make a Knowledge (the planes) check against DC 20. If this check succeeds, you learn the information that an analyze portal spell would provide in one round. Each subsequent round, you can attempt the Knowledge (the planes) check again to reveal further information. Once you fail the check, you cannot learn anything more about the portal until you gain at least 1 more rank in the Knowledge (the planes) skill.

Pure Blood [Regional]
The divine heritage of your homeland cleanses impurities that may pollute your body.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Upper Planes (Arborea, Beastlands, Elysium, Bytopia, Mount Celestia , or Arcadia )
Benefit: You have a +4 bonus on Fortitude saves against disease and poison.

Resist Obfuscation [Regional]
Your mind, whether by the structural integrity or its utter lack thereof, is able to resist some befuddling effects.
Prerequisite: Native to either one of the Planes of Chaos (Abyss, Pandemonium, Limbo, Ysgard, or Arborea) or one of the Planes of Law (Baator, Acheron, Mechanus, Arcadia , or Mount Celestia ).
Benefit: You have a +4 bonus on all saving throws against daze, confusion, and stunning effects.

Sense Death [Regional]
You have a “sixth sense” that allows you to discern how close a creature is to death.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Negative Planes (Negative Energy Plane, Quasielemental Plane of Ash, Quasielemental Plane of Dust, Quasielemental Plane of Salt, or Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum).
Benefit: You can use deathwatch and detect undead at will, as spell-like abilities. The effective caster level is equal to your character level.

Sturdy Soul [Regional]
You play by the rules, always, and thus cannot be swayed by inconsequential mental intrusions.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Law (Baator, Acheron, Mechanus, Arcadia , or Mount Celestia ).
Benefit: You are immune to all charm effects, but suffer a -2 penalty on Will saving throws against compulsion effects.

Unfettered [Regional]
You detest being controlled.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Planes of Chaos (Abyss, Pandemonium, Limbo, Ysgard, or Arborea).
Benefit: You have a +4 bonus on saving throws against compulsion effects. In addition, if you fail this save, you can attempt it again one round later at the same DC. You get only this one extra chance to resist the effect.

Wicked Tongue [Regional]
You lie like a ‘loth.
Prerequisite: Native to one of the Lower Planes (Abyss, Carceri, Gray Waste, Gehenna, or Baator).
Benefit: You have a +2 bonus on Bluff, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks.

Anarch's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2004-05-19
33 More Regional Feats

I've finally got some breathing room, so let's let'em rip! IMO, most of these feats are on the cusp of overpowered so most of my suggestions are going to be aimed at counterbalancing this. OTOH, if everyone -- and I mean everyone -- has a regional feat (in addition to their existing build), then I think it might be internally balanced.

Age Resilient: Love the flavor, seems worthless as a PC feat. Given your proclivities I'd be tempted to beef this up but I'm not quite sure how now that spells like haste no longer age you. I'll have to think about this one.

Balanced Blood: This is really powerful, IMO, probably too powerful. I'd suggest reducing the penalty for alignment trait by 1 instead of 2; if you'd like, you can make this stack per alignment, so the net reduction on multiply-aligned planes would be the same 2 as in the feat as written. It also seems inappropriate to be a Sigilian feat since Sigil is the neutral of Cosmopolitanism and not Balance as per the rilmani or Indifference as per most of the rest of the Outlands.

Bane of Falsehood: Two things, really. First, does it stack with other effects, i.e. is it a flat +8 circumstance (or racial?) bonus, or is it typed in some way? Second, +8?? That's... well... huge. Even allowing for the strengthened power of regional feats, that's huge. While I think you're the superior system mechanist by far, that strikes me as too powerful; +6 should be the upper limit, IMO, without tougher prereqs, and I'd consider making it +4 and giving some other subsidiary power instead.

Born Swimmer: Automatically taking 10 is pretty darn powerful, although Swim checks are kinda useless in general. Being amphibious likewise. Tough call.

Citizen of the Ring: I'd throw +2 to Diplomacy in there too, possibly in lieu of Appraise. Another possibility would be to create a list of skills the character could receive bonuses in and let them pick three, that's very in keeping with the feel of the feat.

Dual Existence: I like this one a lot. Very inventive and useful (and abuseable in the best possibleway) but also balanced; practically the definition of a great feat.

Disturbing Mind: I'm torn on this one. I really like the idea behind the feat; as a first-level feat, though, the DC 15 + CHA seems too powerful. Conversely, at higher levels, it doesn't seem all that impressive. I'd be tempted to rewrite it as DC 10 + CHA + (1/2 level) or something similar that scales as the player progresses in their chaotic ways.

Earth Mastery: A rare one that I think is quite underpowered. I'd make it +1 if both are touching the ground, -1 if your opponent isn't, and leave the hardcore negatives to when you personally aren't touching the ground. F'rex: +1 if you're both touching the ground; -1 if your opponent is airborne or waterborne; no bonus or penalty if you're not touching the ground but are riding/mounted on something that is; -2 if you're waterborne; -4 if you're airborne. Something like that.

Also, how should incorporeal creatures be considered by this feat? Does sailing count as "waterborne"? What about flying on a creature? Riding a horse? Other planes where "earth" might be ill-defined (e.g. Ooze, Ethereal)? There's enough ambiguity here that it'd be worth tightening up.

Evil Eye: Holy crap. 10 times more powerful than the base skill? That's obscene. Not just 10 times more powerful, but the opportunity to panic them as well? Too powerful. I'd say have them affected for rounds equal to 1 + half your CHA modifier (minimum 2); that ought to make it (slightly) less obscene, although it's still wicked powerful over the base effect.

Fists of Earth: How does this stack with, e.g., monk? Or, for that matter, creatures of different sizes? It might be better/easier to replace this with something similar to the half-giant mechanic of considering the character one size category larger, or giving them extra damage (e.g. 1 1/2 Strength bonus) or something like that.

Flaming Soul: Benefit seems inappropriate for the Planes of Fire. I'd move it to the Positive Planes instead (replacing Inner Life) and either move Inner Life to the Planes of Fire or try something a little different (e.g. +1 bonus to all Will and Reflex saves, +4 v. compulsion effects).

Freefall Flyer: Should this apply to the Astral or Ethereal? I tend to think not, as it's a fundamentally different form of locomotion, but I'm willing to be persuaded.

[And do you use the Control skill for those two planes? I seem to remember you don't, which is a pity as the easier thing to do would be to give bonuses to Control checks for movement.]

Healing Touch: The most grotesquely overpowered feat of the lot, IMO. First, some clarification: does the empowering include a level raise as per the actual Empower Spell metamagic feat? Does Empower stack with Healing Touch? Does it apply to other forms of healing, too, like a potion or a laying of the hands?

All that's preamble, though, to the second problem: this is basically an epic-level feat. Automatic free Empowerment? Ouch. And it cuts both ways, both as caster and recipient? Yeeeeeeeeeeouch. Applies to spontaneously cast spells? Argh. Available at 1st level? *thud* There's literally no (systemic) reason not to play a healer without this feat, ever.

I'd rewrite this as: "Whenever you cast a healing spell, you may opt to empower the spell as per the Empower Spell metamagic feat. You do not need to possess the Empower Spell metamagic feat in order to use this ability. You do, however, need to use a spell slot of the appropriate level (original spell level + 3) in order to empower the spell in this way." This is a little weak now so you might want to beef it up -- f'rex, "whenever a healing spell is cast on you, you may gain additional hit points equal to your character level", or maybe raise the Heal bonus to +4, or make it stack nicely with Empower (e.g. reducing the numbers of levels in the stack) -- but it's in the right ballpark, I think.

Hide Spark: Holy crap, that's almost identical to how I rewrote Empty Soul! That's... that's just frightening.

Homeless: Seems too powerful. I'd rewrite to say something like "You are not considered to be extraplanar on any plane which borders your home plane. If a plane has multiple layers, this applies only to those layers that border your home plane." Still powerful, especially at high levels, but within reason I think.

Mighty Breather: Like the feat, but oi, the name Eye-wink

Oathkeeper: Love it. Can't wait for it to be horribly abused by PCs and GMs alike. Let the screamfest begin! Laughing out loud

Portal Sense: Would it make more sense to simply give them the barbarian's planar substitution feat? Is this intended as a simple update of the similar feat from the extant PSCS Chapter 4? I'm not saying I don't like the feat, just that there's a remarkable amount of redundancy here that ought to be addressed.

[And given that this is a Regional feat I'd be tempted to beef it up but I'm not sure how.]

Pure Blood: Does this feat apply to magical diseases?

Resist Obfuscation: Normal enough feat, love the prereqs.

In general I like the list, it's probably that we have very different design philosophies. In case it wasn't clear, though: good work Smiling

Nemui's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
33 More Regional Feats

'Anarch' wrote:
IMO, most of these feats are on the cusp of overpowered

I know. It's the regional feat concept itself - it's supposed to reward the player (by giving it a feat more powerful than most) for making his character a "warrior born and raised on the mean streets of Plague-Mort" instead of a "1st-level tiefling fighter". It's from FR, what can I say?

Still, I don't really have a huge problem with the cheesy idea since a) you can only have 1 regional feat, and 2) you can opnly take one at 1st-level.

But let's tackle them one at a time:

Quote:
Age Resilient: Love the flavor, seems worthless as a PC feat.

Depends on the campaign. I know a few high-level characters in long campaigns that had aging issues, and kept looking for ways to stop the process. YMMV.

Quote:
Balanced Blood: This is really powerful, IMO, probably too powerful. I'd suggest reducing the penalty for alignment trait by 1 instead of 2; if you'd like, you can make this stack per alignment, so the net reduction on multiply-aligned planes would be the same 2 as in the feat as written. It also seems inappropriate to be a Sigilian feat since Sigil is the neutral of Cosmopolitanism and not Balance as per the rilmani or Indifference as per most of the rest of the Outlands.

Tihs is powerful? A feat to reduce ability check penalties by 2? And I think it already stacks per alignment; combined AL traits make the penalty -4 if your AL matches (LG in Abyss, CN in Mechanus, etc.). Good point on Sigil, but I had to cram it into the Outlands somehow...

Quote:
Bane of Falsehood: Two things, really. First, does it stack with other effects, i.e. is it a flat +8 circumstance (or racial?) bonus, or is it typed in some way? Second, +8?? That's... well... huge.

It's a large bonus, yes, but on a very narrowly defined check. The Inquisitor feat (ExPHB) gives you +10 to Sense Motive vs. any Bluff check (if you expend your psi focus). Bane of F. is just for lying, and these are generally rolled by the GM, so I don't see much chance for abuse.

Quote:
Born Swimmer: Automatically taking 10 is pretty darn powerful, although Swim checks are kinda useless in general.

Taking 10 always comes with the swim speed. See MM. And if you have a swim speed, Swim checks are attempted only to avoid hazard and the like.

Quote:
Citizen of the Ring: Another possibility would be to create a list of skills the character could receive bonuses in and let them pick three, that's very in keeping with the feel of the feat.

I really like this idea.

Quote:
Disturbing Mind: I'm torn on this one. I really like the idea behind the feat; as a first-level feat, though, the DC 15 + CHA seems too powerful.

Again, this feat is used under very specific conditions. And it's basically an NPC feat.

Quote:
Earth Mastery: A rare one that I think is quite underpowered.

Hmm. Well, I copy/pasted the earth elemental text from the MM. I don't know, aren't PCs touching the ground 90% of the time?

Regarding stricter definitions, I suggest paging the WotC customer service Eye-wink

Quote:
Evil Eye: Holy crap. 10 times more powerful than the base skill?

Nah. You still have to take ranks in the skill. Besides, Intimidate does pretty much nothing on its own, and can be avoided very easily (level check + Wis bons vs. Intimidate check). Besides, being shaken is only a -1 penalty, and the panic effect works only against comparetively very weak creatures.

Quote:
Fists of Earth: How does this stack with, e.g., monk? Or, for that matter, creatures of different sizes? It might be better/easier to replace this with something similar to the half-giant mechanic of considering the character one size category larger, or giving them extra damage (e.g. 1 1/2 Strength bonus) or something like that.

Doesn't stack with monk, but stacks with size (as all weapons do). I like the half-giant idea, although I'm not sure the dwarves and other small creatures of Earth would fit.

Quote:
Flaming Soul: Benefit seems inappropriate for the Planes of Fire.

Well, I had to let it step out of the line here and there. What's wrong with the "spark of life burning strong" thing? Not technically substantiated, but fits the belief-propelled setting IMO...

Quote:
Freefall Flyer: Should this apply to the Astral or Ethereal?

You already have a flight speed on the Astral/Ethereal.

Quote:
Healing Touch: The most grotesquely overpowered feat of the lot, IMO.

This one? This is what you think is the most overpowered of the lot? Wow.

Lesse. Empower normally raises the spell level by +2, right? This makes it practically useless when applied onto healing spells, since you usually have a much better ehaling spell at level +2. Did you ever see an Empowered CLW? I didn't think so.
An empowered CLW increases the healing amount by between 2 and 4 hp (1d8 - 4.5, plus 1-5 depending on level, meaning a base amount of 5.5-9.5).
CMW - 6 to 9 extra hp healed on average
CSW - 9 to 14 extra hp healed on average
CCW - 12 to 19 extra hp healed on average
Heal - between 55 and 75 extra hp (but heal is overpowered as written, so I take no responsibility here)

Is that really too much for a regional feat? I thought of giving a flat +2 (or even +4) bonus on the healing amount, but his quickly becomes uselss at higher levels. Making it a virtual Empower Spell feat is too spellcaster-focused.

(An idea: how about if I state that the empowering effect applies only to the dice roll and not the +1 per caster level bonus part?)

Oh, since empower stacks with itself, I guess it stacks with this feat. And lay on hands and the like do not qualify, since they are not spells (or spell-like abilities).

Quote:
Homeless: Seems too powerful.

Come on, how often do you get banished, anyway? Also, you might regret having this feat when you need to get off-plane quicklym like when a blasphemy is cast at you by a balor...

Quote:
Mighty Breather: Like the feat, but oi, the name Eye-wink

Yeah, I know... any suggestions?

Quote:
Oathkeeper: Love it. Can't wait for it to be horribly abused by PCs and GMs alike. Let the screamfest begin! Laughing out loud

Laughing out loud

Quote:
Portal Sense: Would it make more sense to simply give them the barbarian's planar substitution feat? Is this intended as a simple update of the similar feat from the extant PSCS Chapter 4? I'm not saying I don't like the feat, just that there's a remarkable amount of redundancy here that ought to be addressed.

Huh? Oh. I somehow managed to miss both the barbarian substitution level and the PSCS 3.0 feat. Do these really give portal analyzation ability?

Quote:
Pure Blood: Does this feat apply to magical diseases?

Sure, knock yourself out. BTW, the celestials have htis as a racial trait.

Quote:
In general I like the list, it's probably that we have very different design philosophies. In case it wasn't clear, though: good work Smiling

I'm glad you liked these. Thanks for your comments (and the "superior system mechanist" title. Laughing out loud )

Zadara the Titan's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2005-04-05
33 More Regional Feats

Great flavor in those feats Smiling

Yes, some of them DO seem very powerful, but only Sense Falsehood and Evil Eye really caught my (pardon) eye.

Anarch's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2004-05-19
33 More Regional Feats

'Nemui' wrote:
'Anarch' wrote:
IMO, most of these feats are on the cusp of overpowered

I know. It's the regional feat concept itself - it's supposed to reward the player (by giving it a feat more powerful than most) for making his character a "warrior born and raised on the mean streets of Plague-Mort" instead of a "1st-level tiefling fighter". It's from FR, what can I say?

Cheese! Cheese! And....scene.

Although it would be interesting to give everyone and everything an additional "regional" (or "racial" where appropriate) feat. It would sure make adventuring a lot more... eventful.

Quote:
Quote:
Balanced Blood: This is really powerful, IMO, probably too powerful....

Quote:
Tihs is powerful? A feat to reduce ability check penalties by 2? And I think it already stacks per alignment; combined AL traits make the penalty -4 if your AL matches (LG in Abyss, CN in Mechanus, etc.).

Yeah, because it renders you functionally invulnerable to the most ubiquitous, damaging part of planewalking in the Outer Planes. Part of this is a design philosophy issue, I'm sure -- I despise the way 3E nerfed the perils of planar travel, even as I respect the desire for systemic simplification -- but precisely given that the planes have lost a lot of their bite, to remove it entirely seems contrary to the spirit of the planes and to the spirit of Planescape.

Quote:
Quote:
Bane of Falsehood: Two things, really. First, does it stack with other effects, i.e. is it a flat +8 circumstance (or racial?) bonus, or is it typed in some way? Second, +8?? That's... well... huge.

It's a large bonus, yes, but on a very narrowly defined check. The Inquisitor feat (ExPHB) gives you +10 to Sense Motive vs. any Bluff check (if you expend your psi focus). Bane of F. is just for lying, and these are generally rolled by the GM, so I don't see much chance for abuse.

Ah, I knew I'd seen this feat before or something similar. You're right about the Inquisitor feat (which I also think is perilously close to overpowered) but -- and this is key to me -- it requires the expenditure of focus. First, that renders the psionicist potentially unprepared for a sneak attack; second, it necessitates a Concentration check (and a standard, or possibly move, action) to regain focus so it's not at all a free effect; and third (at least for me as DM), if the subject watched the Inquisitor regain his focus I'd say he'd be due a circumstance bonus on his Bluff check.

But hell, I just think planewalkers and sundry ought to be able to lie their britches off Laughing out loud

Quote:
Quote:
Disturbing Mind: I'm torn on this one. I really like the idea behind the feat; as a first-level feat, though, the DC 15 + CHA seems too powerful.

Again, this feat is used under very specific conditions. And it's basically an NPC feat.

We clearly play with different players Eye-wink I can't think of one of my cohort who wouldn't take that feat if they were from the Chaos side of the Wheel.

Quote:
[Earth Mastery] Hmm. Well, I copy/pasted the earth elemental text from the MM. I don't know, aren't PCs touching the ground 90% of the time?

In Planescape?

Quote:
Regarding stricter definitions, I suggest paging the WotC customer service Eye-wink

Sorry, I'm already on hold pending the official D&D definition of "food" Sticking out tongue

Quote:
[Evil Eye] Nah. You still have to take ranks in the skill. Besides, Intimidate does pretty much nothing on its own, and can be avoided very easily (level check + Wis bons vs. Intimidate check). Besides, being shaken is only a -1 penalty, and the panic effect works only against comparetively very weak creatures.

My point is that the feat's effect is 10 times more powerful than the base effect. That's hugely powerful; in fact, I can't think of a proportionally comparable effect in any published feat I've ever seen, although I'm sure some exist.* While I grant you that Intimidate in combat is, well, lame, the disparity here is gigantic. I'd buy it in the context of a House Rule, but anything else...

* Assuming we don't count 0 -> x>0 as a "proportion" Eye-wink

[BTW, is there a hierarchy of effects somewhere, e.g. "shaken", "panicked", etc?]

Quote:
[Fists of Earth] Doesn't stack with monk, but stacks with size (as all weapons do). I like the half-giant idea, although I'm not sure the dwarves and other small creatures of Earth would fit.

Hmmmmm. Seems like this might need a little clarification then.

Quote:
[Flaming Soul] Well, I had to let it step out of the line here and there. What's wrong with the "spark of life burning strong" thing? Not technically substantiated, but fits the belief-propelled setting IMO...

'cause that's more in the realm of Positivity than Flame in Planescape. I'd definitely go for something involving Reflex saves -- the speed of fire and all that -- if you wanted to keep a similar mechanic for that feat, especially because you don't seem to have any Reflex save mechanics in this list and, as a general rule, it seems comparatively few feats boost Reflex saves.

Quote:
[Freefall Flyer] You already have a flight speed on the Astral/Ethereal.

Not according to the DMG. [Ethereal's "no gravity", Astral's "subjective gravity", neither gives the PC a flight speed.] Is there another source you're using? Am I just completely missing the point?

[And wtf is the Astral doing with "subjective gravity anyway? Oy, the nerfing...]

Quote:
[Healing Touch]This one? This is what you think is the most overpowered of the lot? Wow.

Absolutely. D&D 3.x is, sadly, all about the healing.

Quote:
Lesse. Empower normally raises the spell level by +2, right? This makes it practically useless when applied onto healing spells, since you usually have a much better ehaling spell at level +2. Did you ever see an Empowered CLW? I didn't think so.

Sure but that's not the point: the point is the ridiculous quantity of extra healing that this healer's going to both give and get since -- and this is the crux -- you're not paying for the effect.

Quote:
An empowered CLW increases the healing amount by between 2 and 4 hp (1d8 - 4.5, plus 1-5 depending on level, meaning a base amount of 5.5-9.5). CMW - 6 to 9 extra hp healed on average CSW - 9 to 14 extra hp healed on average CCW - 12 to 19 extra hp healed on average

[Don't forget mass versions of same for even more grotesque boost-ups.]

And yes, that doesn't seem like much -- until you realize that healing spells are the most common spells in the game by almost an order of magnitude and you're giving each and every one of them a free 50% bonus.* That's literally the difference between life and death in more combats than I can remember; it can easily be the difference between burning a spell slot and a standard action or casting, say, holy smite; the knock-on potential is simply staggering, and that's primarily coming from a class that's already too powerful to begin with.

As an aside: I'm keenly sensitive to the ridiculous dependence on healing in the D&D system due to the Martyr PrC I've been working on. It's simply astonishing how much healing the average character will go through (let alone the average cleric will dish out) in an average adventure.

* Assuming a standard one-healer load-up. With multiple sources of healing this gets a little dicier.

Quote:
Heal - between 55 and 75 extra hp (but heal is overpowered as written, so I take no responsibility here)

Oh, I'm blaming you anyway Eye-wink

Quote:
(An idea: how about if I state that the empowering effect applies only to the dice roll and not the +1 per caster level bonus part?)

That seems powerful but much more balanced; whether it's balanced enough is still somewhat open to question. Note that there's already a factional feat in PSCS Chapter 4, Helping Hand, that's both not as powerful and has much higher prereqs than this. In fact, if I've crunched the numbers right, it's usually more powerful than taking the Healing domain, which is kinda silly...

Another alternative: you can virtually Empower a healing spell CHA modifier times per day, and maybe cap its effect to spells that are at half your maximum spell level rounded up? That's still potentially grotesque, especially at low levels, but might minimize the magnitude of the abuses...

Quote:
[Homeless] Come on, how often do you get banished, anyway? Also, you might regret having this feat when you need to get off-plane quicklym like when a blasphemy is cast at you by a balor...

I fully intend on banishing the hell out of my players when they get too big for their britches. And the scenario you've listed above doesn't work AFAICT because banishment requires that the banisher be native to that plane.

Quote:
[Mighty Breather] Yeah, I know... any suggestions?

Heavy Breather? Laughing out loud

Quote:
[Portal Sense] Huh? Oh. I somehow managed to miss both the barbarian substitution level and the PSCS 3.0 feat. Do these really give portal analyzation ability?

Variations on that theme, yes.

Quote:
[Pure Blood] Sure, knock yourself out. BTW, the celestials have htis as a racial trait.

Yeah, I don't really have any feel for how powerful that is. I'm tempted to say, given the various class progressions, that you ought to gain immunity to magical disease at a higher level, e.g. 6th.

Quote:
I'm glad you liked these. Thanks for your comments (and the "superior system mechanist" title. Laughing out loud )

Well, it's true. Although you should probably know that in the original draft of this comment, I call you the "superior system mechanic" Eye-wink

Nemui's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
33 More Regional Feats

'Anarch' wrote:
Yeah, because it renders you functionally invulnerable to the most ubiquitous, damaging part of planewalking in the Outer Planes. ... to remove it entirely seems contrary to the spirit of the planes and to the spirit of Planescape.

Good point, but IMX, few GM's have really bothered with the check penalties in 3E. To keep things more in line with 2E PS, I use a HR that applies the same penalty (-2 to -4) to effective divine caster level. It's somewhere in the House Rule section I think...

But this feat is supposed to make you special, not to remove the AL rule entirely. Everyone else has a hard time on cross-aligned planes, but you don't. Because you're just so damn neutral it hurts, you know? Eye-wink

Quote:
Disturbing Mind:

We clearly play with different players

What, your NPCs regularly scan the thoughts of your PCs? Why? Don't you... I mean they, already know what they're thinking from OOC talk? Metagaming is obligatory for the GM, you know Eye-wink

Quote:
Evil Eye My point is that the feat's effect is 10 times more powerful than the base effect. That's hugely powerful; in fact, I can't think of a proportionally comparable effect in any published feat I've ever seen, although I'm sure some exist.

BTW, is there a hierarchy of effects somewhere, e.g. "shaken", "panicked", etc?

You're looking at this the wrong way. It does not matter if it's 10 x more powerful than the base effect. The bottom line is, the feat makes your intimidatee remain in awe of you for 1 minute instead of 1 round, and there's only so much use you can draw from that. And as I said before, since the panic thing applies only on creatures with 1/2 your HD or less, that effect is 90% fluff, since you can usually dispose of these weaklings easily.

In d20 Modern, which is low-power compared to core D&D, there's a feat called Frightful Presence that lets you make all creatures of lower level than yours shaken; the DC is 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha, and it's usable at will, no Intimidate chek, no nothing.

See here for a list of conditions. Or, in brief:
- Shaken: You take -2 on all d20 rolls.
- Frightened: As shaken, plus you must flee if possible (if you're ocrnered, you can act normally, but with that -2)
- Panicked: You flee if possible, and cower if not (using total defense)

These three conditions are cumulative (2 x shaken = frightened, etc.)

Quote:
Ethereal's "no gravity", Astral's "subjective gravity", neither gives the PC a flight speed. Am I just completely missing the point?

Well, kinda:
- In the Ether, you are ethereal. All ethereal creatures have a fly speed (MM 3.5, I think).
- In the Silver Void, you have a fly speed equal to 10 x your Int score (according to the MotP, which IMO is more relevant than the short version in the DMG 3.5).
- On any "subjective directional gravity" plane, you can fly by choosing a direction and falling, 150 ft. in the 1st round, 300 in the 2nd... (DMG 3.5, and I think MotP also). You set the direction with a DC 16 Wis check.

The Freefall Flyer feat is supposed to let you maneuver better by giving you a fixed fly speed with a fixed maneuverability, without the Wis checks; it's redundant on the Astral and Ethereal, AFAICT.

Quote:
[Healing Touch] Another alternative: you can virtually Empower a healing spell CHA modifier times per day, and maybe cap its effect to spells that are at half your maximum spell level rounded up? That's still potentially grotesque, especially at low levels, but might minimize the magnitude of the abuses...

Hmm... I'll think about it.

Quote:
I fully intend on banishing the hell out of my players when they get too big for their britches. And the scenario you've listed above doesn't work AFAICT because banishment requires that the banisher be native to that plane.

My balors tend to be native to the Abyss, thank you very much, so they can banish from there.

Also, don't you think it would be sweet if the party comes up to that balor (on his home plane), and he banishes everyone except the PC with the feat? Wouldn't the player rather be banished with the rest of them than face an angry balor on his own? :twisted:

Quote:
Heavy Breather?

Oh, do shut up. Sticking out tongue

Bob the Efreet's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2004-05-11
33 More Regional Feats

'Nemui' wrote:
To keep things more in line with 2E PS, I use a HR that applies the same penalty (-2 to -4) to effective divine caster level.

Wow, creepy. That's exactly what I had decided to do.

__________________

Pants of the North!

Anarch's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2004-05-19
33 More Regional Feats

'Nemui' wrote:
Good point, but IMX, few GM's have really bothered with the check penalties in 3E.

Really? I do it all the time. Although sometimes I raise the DC by the appropriate amount because I don't want my PCs to know what the DC of the check is.

Quote:
To keep things more in line with 2E PS, I use a HR that applies the same penalty (-2 to -4) to effective divine caster level. It's somewhere in the House Rule section I think...

Isn't that explicitly stated in the DMG? I'm at work, though, so I can't check this; certainly, though, that's how I (intend to) play it.

Quote:
But this feat is supposed to make you special, not to remove the AL rule entirely.

Special, sure, but unless you happen to be a priest from a transitive plane that's the de facto result, no?

Quote:
What, your NPCs regularly scan the thoughts of your PCs? Why? Don't you... I mean they, already know what they're thinking from OOC talk? Metagaming is obligatory for the GM, you know.

I try to keep my bad guys in character Eye-wink There are other nifty things that you can do with mindreading too... circumtance bonuses to initiative, tinking with memories, oh, all kinds of fun stuff.

Quote:
You're looking at this the wrong way. It does not matter if it's 10 x more powerful than the base effect. The bottom line is, the feat makes your intimidatee remain in awe of you for 1 minute instead of 1 round, and there's only so much use you can draw from that. And as I said before, since the panic thing applies only on creatures with 1/2 your HD or less, that effect is 90% fluff, since you can usually dispose of these weaklings easily.

First, I think it does matter that it's 10 x more powerful than the base effect since (nominally) the base effect is balanced as is. [It isn't, which is why I'd support a House Rule beefing it up, but I don't think fixing it with a feat is the appropriate solution.] Second, I'm not sure how much "weakling" we're talking here -- that is, I didn't compute the relative disparity of PC level to NPC level -- but I've had a lot of fun running low-level hordes against the PCs. It's surprisingly effective, at least at low to mid-range levels, especially if we're talking an ambush-like situation or, better yet, puds with tactics. At higher levels the disparity might make it irrelevant, I'm not sure, but I think you're doing the horde a disservice here.

Quote:
- In the Ether, you are ethereal. All ethereal creatures have a fly speed (MM 3.5, I think).

Again, I'm at the office, but I'm fairly sure that only applies to ethereal creatures on the Prime. Ethereal creatures in the Ethereal are not ruled there, IIRC.

Quote:
- In the Silver Void, you have a fly speed equal to 10 x your Int score (according to the MotP, which IMO is more relevant than the short version in the DMG 3.5).

Ah, I'd missed that. My MotP got... delayed, let's just say. Is it officially a "fly speed" or is it simply omnidirectional movement?

Quote:
- On any "subjective directional gravity" plane, you can fly by choosing a direction and falling, 150 ft. in the 1st round, 300 in the 2nd... (DMG 3.5, and I think MotP also). You set the direction with a DC 16 Wis check.

Yep, but that's not a fly speed in the parlance of the system. [I'm not sure what it counts as; a "fall" speed?]

Quote:
The Freefall Flyer feat is supposed to let you maneuver better by giving you a fixed fly speed with a fixed maneuverability, without the Wis checks; it's redundant on the Astral and Ethereal, AFAICT.

Is it though? It certainly beefs up the Astral maneuverability (viz. not having to make the Wis checks) and the feat doesn't say that you get a fly speed only if you don't already have one so I'm thinking it probably applies in the Ethereal as well. That's why I'm asking about the intent of the feat: do you intend for a background in the Plane of Air to provide benefits to the Astral and the Ethereal, given that you've stated in the past that you think their methods of locomotion* should be distinct?

* Actually, it was probably that you thought that their morphic traits should be distinct, as in not rolled into the same Control skill, but since motion in both planes is a form of morphism I'd say it applies here too.

Quote:
My balors tend to be native to the Abyss, thank you very much, so they can banish from there.

Not if they're casting blasphemy, which was the scenario you'd listed above. I completely agree that the balor could, and conceivably would, cast banish (see below) but that's not particularly in keeping with their character.

Quote:
Also, don't you think it would be sweet if the party comes up to that balor (on his home plane), and he banishes everyone except the PC with the feat? Wouldn't the player rather be banished with the rest of them than face an angry balor on his own? :twisted:

Yeah, but I was also the guy who killed half the party at the first convention he GMed Eye-wink

[By the end of the convention, in fact, I think I had the highest kill ratio of any GM within recent memory. Ah, bliss.]

As to the scenario... I mean, yes, it's sort of got potential for backfire but that looks a lot more like a bug than a feature if you know what I mean. [The whole point of dismissal and/or banishment is that it's supposed to be a bad thing for the dismissed or banished, especially given the 20% chance to get lost along the way; if you're looking forward to being banished by your enemy, someone's done something wrong.] Plus, it seems kind of silly that being born on the Plane of Shadow, say, makes you immune to dismissal from the Abyss when they're not even remotely connected, or being born in the Astral prevents you from being banished from the Plane of Dust. I like the basic idea of the feat (see my version in my thread, 'frex), I just think that as written it's a little misshapen.

ripvanwormer's picture
Offline
Factol
Joined: 2004-10-05
33 More Regional Feats

'Anarch' wrote:
Isn't that explicitly stated in the DMG?

I don't think so. That doesn't seem very fair to other spellcasters.

Nemui's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2004-08-30
33 More Regional Feats

'Anarch' wrote:
Quote:
To keep things more in line with 2E PS, I use a HR that applies the same penalty (-2 to -4) to effective divine caster level. It's somewhere in the House Rule section I think...

Isn't that explicitly stated in the DMG? I'm at work, though, so I can't check this; certainly, though, that's how I (intend to) play it.

No, it's just a house rule. See here:
Power Keys and the Outer PLanes

Quote:
Again, I'm at the office, but I'm fairly sure that only applies to ethereal creatures on the Prime. Ethereal creatures in the Ethereal are not ruled there, IIRC.

Well, how would you move on the Ethereal Plane then? No, it's pretty much like I said, and MotP confirms: "One moves through the Ethereal Plane as one owuld move on the Material Plane. Hoewever, due to the misty nature of the protomatter of the plane itself, a traveler can move up and down just as easily as along solid surfaces. However, all movement is at half speed..." This translates to "fly speed equal to 1/2 land speed, perfect maneuverability".

Quote:
It certainly beefs up the Astral maneuverability (viz. not having to make the Wis checks)

... at the expense of speed. An Int 18 wizard normally flies at 180 ft. per round, and this feet would slow hom down on the Astral (although he would get meneuverability without the Wis check). The intent was to let characters native to Air-ish, non-gravity-ish planes become easily adapted to conditions on other non-gravity-ish planes.

Quote:
Not if they're casting blasphemy, which was the scenario you'd listed above. I completely agree that the balor could, and conceivably would, cast banish (see below) but that's not particularly in keeping with their character.

Not that it matters, but blasphemy banishes (and balors have blasphemy usable at will, DC 25). From the SRD:

"Furthermore, if you are on your home plane when you cast this spell, nonevil extraplanar creatures within the area are instantly banished back to their home planes. Creatures so banished cannot return for at least 24 hours. This effect takes place regardless of whether the creatures hear the blasphemy. The banishment effect allows a Will save (at a –4 penalty) to negate."

Planescape, Dungeons & Dragons, their logos, Wizards of the Coast, and the Wizards of the Coast logo are ©2008, Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. and used with permission.