Heretical Feat (Wyre)

Cheiromancer · Jun 12, 2005

I'm brainstorming some feats that would be appropriate to the setting of Sepulchrave's story hour. Here's one. Comments as to balance and clarity are appreciated!

Edit: Please see post 3 for the current version. Or check the spoiler to see what it was when I first wrote it.

Heretical (general)

The character's actions reflect an unusual personal philosophy.

Benefit: This feat changes how a character’s alignment functions in terms of game mechanics. The change in functional alignment does not require a change of a character's behavior, that is, the character's actual alignment. Rather, the character chooses a target alignment and either the moral (good/evil) or ethical (law/chaos) axis. The character's alignment and all actions count as being one step closer to the target alignment along the chosen axis. For example, a heretical cleric might choose neutral good as the target alignment along the ethical axis. Although the character's true alignment might be chaotic good, the character will count as neutral good as far as a lawful good divine patron is concerned, and all good actions will count as neutral good ones.

Characters who are lawful neutral or neutral good sometimes take this feat to become paladins. They may be less than perfectly good or lawful (respectively) without losing their paladin abilities. Heretical outsiders with this feat can act differently from their usual alignment while retaining their subtype and alignment based abilities. Magical effects do not reveal or act on a heretical character’s true alignment, only the functional alignment.

Special: If you are the Ahma, gain this feat as a bonus feat.

Stormborn · Jun 13, 2005

I'm afraid I am not familiar with the story hour you mention, but I would say this would only be appropriate in a setting where a lot of attention is paid, both in terms of mechanics and role play, to allignment.

In terms of its value as a feat, its really one of those "character" choices. Only someone focused on roleplay would take it, its not really balanced against most of the other feats, IMO. Not that flavor over mechanics is bad, but its def a feat that would only work with certain group and certain campaigns.

I don't know if "heretical" is the right name though. Schismatic, perhaps? Heretical implies a much stronger philosophical shift than I think is described here.

You might also consider the possible combination of this feat and some of the ones in Eberron and other campaign settigns that allow someone to return to the paladin or monk class after taking levels in something else.

Cheiromancer · Jun 13, 2005

So it needs a bit more of a mechanical advantage, huh?

How about a +2 on wisdom and charisma based checks when interacting with creatures of your target alignment? You know [insert alignment here] so well that you understand and can influence others of that alignment. With this change the text might read:

Heretical (general)

The character's actions reflect a profound but unusual personal philosophy.

Benefit: The character chooses a target alignment (which may be the same as the character’s actual alignment) and either the moral (good/evil) or ethical (law/chaos) axis. The character gains a +2 morale bonus to Charisma and Wisdom based skill checks when interacting with creatures of the target alignment. Furthermore, the character’s alignment and actions count as being one step closer to the target alignment along the chosen axis. For example, a heretical cleric might choose lawful good as the target alignment along the ethical axis. Although the cleric’s true alignment might be chaotic good, the character will count as neutral good as far as a lawful good divine patron is concerned.

Characters who are lawful neutral or neutral good sometimes take this feat to become paladins. They may be less than perfectly good or lawful (respectively) without losing their paladin abilities. Heretical outsiders with this feat can act atypically while retaining their subtype and alignment based abilities. Magical effects do not reveal or act on a heretical character’s true alignment, only the alignment as modified by this feat.

Special: If you are the Ahma, gain this feat as a bonus feat.

Note that this feat allows evil clerics of good deities to still cast spells, and not detect as evil. It also allows fiends to behave out of character. More material on fallen angels and risen demons is in the works.

Oh, and Sepulchrave's story hour is *highly* recommended.

Quickleaf · Jun 13, 2005

I really like the flavor of the feat.

Alignment breaks down to the following mechanics:
-Using certain magic items
-Access to certain classes/organizations
-Experience penalties for switching alignment
-Guideline to detect someone's motives

Essentially, this feat greatly reduces the impact alignment has on mechanics, namely allowing greater access to classes/organizations (LN and NG can qualify as paladin), and making detect alignment spells less reliable (NE could appear as N, LE, or CE).

I see it as a player's way to deal with a GM who just won't let the whole alignment concept go, when all the player wants is to have the character they've envisioned.
Correct me if I'm wrong...

Cheiromancer · Jun 13, 2005

Quickleaf said:
Correct me if I'm wrong...

You're not wrong.

Sepulchrave's story hour is very philosophical, and ethical and metaphysical issues have a cosmic significance in his game world. This feat is a homage to those issues as well as a way of addressing the mechanics you allude to. It is a way to allow grey areas to be demarcated, and to model the growth of a character's personal insight in ways not contemplated by the alignment descriptions in the player's handbook.

BTW, I will presume that people are commenting about the latest version of the feat unless they say otherwise. Currently it is the one in post 3.