General feats

General feats are the most basic sort of feats. Anyone can take a general feat provided they satisfy the prerequisite.

Aerial Balance (General)

You are skilled at maintaining and regaining your feet during the worst conditions while airborne.

Benefit: You receive a +4 bonus to any Balance (or Profession (Air Sailor)) skill check made to keep your feet as a result of extreme aerial maneuvers or the effects of attack aboard an airship.

Combat Casting (General)

You are adept at casting spells in combat.

Benefit: You get a +4 bonus on Concentration checks made to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability while on the defensive or while you are grappling or pinned.

Dream Speaking (General)

Sometimes dreams are important missives sent from above, or from within. You can interpret the dreams that you have, or that others have.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 15

Benefit: When someone tells you about a dream, or when you consider your own dream, you can tell automatically if it was a dream of importance, or a sending dream. If it was a sending dream, you can attempt a Wisdom check (DC 15) to interpret its meaning. If your Wisdom check succeeds, the GM should give you some clue as to the meaning of the dream.

For example, a character might dream of a threatening rider dressed in black, surrounded by ravens. On a successful Wisdom check, the player learns that the dream foretells an encounter with a foe named “raven”. Later the party does indeed go up against a villains named Kevris Killraven. Retries are not allowed.

Eschew Materials (General)

You can cast spells without relying on material components.

Benefit: You can cast any spell that has a material component costing 1 gp or less without needing that component. (The casting of the spell still provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.) If the spell requires a material component that costs more than 1 gp, you must have the material component at hand to cast the spell, just as normal.

Exotic Spell (General)

Because of your special magical training, you can cast a single exotic spell of your choosing.
Prerequisite: Level 1 Faercana spellcaster.

Benefit: You may choose any exotic spell and add it to your list of known spells.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time, you choose a new spell.

Eye of Justice (General)

You have a keen eye for ferreting out the guilty. Your glare casts terror into your enemies, opening their souls to the knowledge that your divine patron can see through their lies. Needless to say, victims of this ability become and nervous and jittery.
Prerequisite: Divine caster level 1st, Wisdom 13.

Benefit: Three times per day, you can force an opponent to suffer a -4 penalty to all Bluff checks and saves against fear-based effects for a number of rounds equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. You invoke your divine patron to strike the target with holy or unholy fear. You must be within 60 feet of your target and able to see him. Using this ability counts as a standard action. This feat does not affect creatures immune to mind-affecting effects.

Natural Spell (General)

You can cast spells while in a wild shape.
Prerequisites: Wisdom 13, wild shape ability

Benefit: You can complete the verbal and somatic components of spells while in a wild shape. For example, while in the form of a scorpion you could substitute clicks of the pincer and gestures with your stinger for the normal verbal and somatic components of a spell. You can also use any material components or focuses you possess, even if such items are melded within your current form. This feat does not permit the use of magic items while you are in a form that could not ordinarily use them, and you do not gain the ability to speak while in a wild shape.

Power Attack (General)

You can shift focus from striking a foe to damaging him.
Prerequisite: Strength 13

Benefit: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all melee attack rolls and add it to all melee damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage applies until your next action.

Vatic Sight (General)

You can call upon the powers that be in the universe to grant you visions or dreams.
Prerequisite: Caster level 1st, Wisdom 13

Benefit: You can choose a general topic about which to have an informative dream while you sleep or a vision while you are in a trance. Topics can include an individual, a place, an object, a group, and so on.

For example, you might choose as a topic: ’Anwen’s orrery’, ‘The city of Ishtaduk’, ‘the elves of the oceans’, or ‘this ring I’ve found’. But asking a specific question, such as “How do I get into the palace vault?” is too specific, as is the question “Do these people mean me harm?”

To succeed, you must make a Concentration check with a Difficulty Class set by the GM depending on the topic. In general, the simplest topics have DC 20 and the most obscure, complex or forbidden topics have DC 40 with most others falling somewhere in between.

As with all dreams and visions, the GM remains in complete control of the actual details and the images presented. Sometimes they may seem difficult to interpret. Other times, the information on the topic might not pertain directly to any matter at hand. The dream might tell you about the Seelie’s distant past rather than their disposition toward you, for example.

Visions require at least an hour of meditative trance (whether successful or not) and dreams require at least an hour of sleep (whether successful or not). You cannot attempt to use this feat more than once per day, nor more than three times per week.

Weapon Focus (General)

You are skilled with a particular type of weapon.
Prerequisite: Proficiency with weapon, base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: You add a +1 bonus to all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon.
Special: You can choose ‘unarmed strike’, ‘bite’ or ‘grapple’ as a weapon for the purposes of this feat. You can also choose ‘ray’, which makes you good at hitting targets with ray spells. You gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new weapon.
Improved: If you have a base attack bonus of +15 or higher you can take this feat again and apply it to a weapon already chosen. You gain another +2 bonus to attack rolls with the weapon.

Ceremonial Feats

A ceremonial feat is one a character gains as the direct result of participating in a ritual of power. Most characters get a ceremonial feat for free at 1st level as part of their naming ceremony, a ritual usually held during a character’s adolescence. At this ceremony the character learns her truename in a vision. Only characters with truenames can take ceremonial feats (except in the case of bonus feats).

A character’s truename is the name of her soul. Because it is the key to the lock of her innermost self, most people keep their truenames a secret from all but their closest comrades. Enemy spellcasters can use a character’s truename against her by casting spells against her. Friendly spellcasters can use them to cast beneficial spells more effectively. In fact, sometimes, without a truename, a spell cannot be cast at all. If you’d like more information on truenames, see Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved (or ask me on the forum).

A character can choose a ceremonial feat whenever she gains a new feat and meets all its prerequisites. However, gaining a ceremonial feat also carries associated costs in money and time.

Ceremonial feats involve a daylong ritual that takes one week to prepare. Necessary supplies and ingredients cost a character 100 gp per level. None of these costs apply to the ceremonial feat gained at 1st level – that ritual took place before the character entered play.

Unlike other feats, ceremonial feats involve magic and grant supernatural abilities. All ceremonial feats are supernatural abilities.

Bonded Item (Ceremonial)

A ceremony involving you and a particular item as the central figures ties you magically to the item.
Prerequisite: Truename

Benefit: Any time you use the bonded item in its straightforward function, you gain a +1 luck bonus for the attempt. For example, if it is a weapon, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with it. If it is a harness of armor or a shield, you enjoy a +1 bonus to Armor Class. If it is a lockpick, you gain a +1 bonus to use it.

If the item is lost or destroyed, you must go through the ceremony again to bond with a new item (but you do not need to take the feat again).

Fleet of Foot (Ceremonial)

After a ceremony held with you and at least five others, you become much faster than you look.
Prerequisite: Truename

Benefit: The character adds +10 feet to her ground speed.

Mage Blade Feats

Mage blade‘s practice a form of magic that is distinguished by its martial focus. While other spellcasters have a variety of incantations to call upon, mage blades focus on spells that can aid them in battle. A mage blade could ready and use benign spells, but her methods of casting center on combining a spell and a blade into one unstoppable combination. This specialized study has led to the development of a variety of unique combat methods and ceremonies known only to mage blades. Several of these abilities further develop a mage blade’s unique talents, such as the shimmering shield class ability.

You must have at least one level in mage blade to select these feats. Mage blade’s may add all mage blade feats to the list of bonus feats they can select as a class feature. If the feat is also a ceremonial feat, the character does not need to go through the ceremony or pay for it; even Unbound characters can gain ceremonial feats in this way.

Born to the Blade (Mage Blade, Talent)

From a young age you showed an aptitude for the mage blade’s unique version of magic. You have an almost instinctual sense for the specific motions required to cast spells through an athame, and you enjoy a primal, empathic connection.
Prerequisite: Character level 1st only.

Benefit: You were born to become a mage blade. In your hands, an athame is an extension of your body. Your blade is always ready for a battle, and you can sense its keening thirst as combat draws near. By the same token, your deep connection to the weapon allows you to channel and control spells with greater ability than normal. You gain a +2 bonus on initiative and a +1 bonus on the Difficulty Class of all spells you cast with your athame’s assistance.

Talents

These are special feats a character can take only at 1st level. They represent not training, but natural born gifts. Since most people have only one talent (Unbound characters could have two), they can really help to distinguish a character.

Natural Archer (Talent)

You have an innate affinity for bows of all kinds.
Prerequisite: Character level 1st only.

Benefit: You gain a +1 competence bonus to damage rolls made from attacks with bows or crossbows. Further, if a foe attacks you with a bow, you gain a +1 dodge bonus to Armor Class.

Special: A condition that makes you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) also makes you lose dodger bonuses. Your character must be aware of the attack to gain the bonus. Also, dodge bonuses stack with each other, unlike other types of bonuses.

Natural Swordsman (Talent)

You have a natural affinity for swords of all kinds.
Prerequisite: Character level 1st only.

Benefit: The character gains a +1 competence bonus to damage rolls made from attacks with swords (short swords, sickle swords, longswords, greatswords, bastard swords, double-bladed swords, sword-staves and so on). Further, if a foe attacks her with a sword, the character gains a +1 dodge bonus to Armor Class.

Special: A condition that makes the character lose her Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) also makes her lose dodge bonuses. The character must be aware of the attack to gain this bonus. Also, dodge bonuses stack with each other, unlike most other types of bonuses.

Special: Players wishing to create similar feats for other melee weapons (such as axes or polearms) may do so. Only the flavor of the rule and the resulting setting will change.