A few new Feats from my Campaign.

My campaign features a few new or modified feats. Tell me what you think.

Arcane Talent [General]
Your very blood sethes with arcane energies, and even though you have chosen another path, some of that power answers the call of your will.
Prerequisite: Charisma 11+.
Benefit: You may choose three 0-level arcane spells which you may cast once per day each. You are treated as a sorceror of your arcane spellcaster level (minimum 1st level) for determining the spells effects.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character. You may choose only from the list in the PHB. You may not choose Arcane Mark or Read Magic.

Call Familiar [General]
Some small portion of the power in your blood has manifested in the ability to call a familiar creature in a similar manner ot wizards and sorcerors.
Prerequisite: Charisma 11+.
Benefit: You may call a familiar as per a Sorceror. You are treated as a sorceror of half your character level with respect to abilities gained by the familiar.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

Militia [General]
You served in a local militia, training with weapons suitable for use on the battlefield.
Benefit: You get Martial Weapon Proficiency (warhammer) and both Martial Weapon Proficiency and Shield Proficiency (light shield).

Seaborn [General]
Born by the seaside, you took to it at an early age and never looked back.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Profession (sailor) checks and Swim checks.

Temple Training [General]
You were raised in a major temple as a foundling, and while you have chosen not to devote your lifes work to serving the gods, your time spent in the cloisters was not wasted.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 11+.
Benefit: You may cast the 0-level divine spells cure minor wounds, guidance, and purify food and drink once per day each. You are treated as a cleric of your divine spellcaster level (minimum 1st level) for determining the spells effects.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

wargear said:

My campaign features a few new or modified feats. Tell me what you think.

Arcane Talent [General]
Your very blood sethes with arcane energies, and even though you have chosen another path, some of that power answers the call of your will.
Prerequisite: Charisma 10+.
Benefit: You may choose three 0-level arcane spells which you may cast once per day each. You are treated as a sorceror of your arcane spellcaster level (minimum 1st level) for determining the range at which these spells can be cast.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character. You may choose only from the list in the PHB. You may not choose Arcane Mark or Read Magic.

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The Netbook of Feats has one very similar to this, called Cantrip:
http://www.datadeco.com/nbofeats/nbofeats012.html#Cantrip

The NBOF limits this to a number of cantrips equal to one's Int bonus, and you effectively have one slot a day that you can use to cast from the list of cantrips you know. You can take the feat multiple times, each one giving you another spell slot you can use. This feat got pretty good ratings overall.

Yours is a bit more powerful than that, in that you get three (and most people that aren't arcanists aren't walking around with a 16+ Int, so you're likely giving them more spells known. Additionally, you are giving them more slots for spell casting.

Now, that's just in comparison to the NBOF feat of a similar nature. That being said, I'd suggest that the power level isn't too bad with what you've proposed, and I think it could work as written.

If you want something to consider, here's what I would suggest: Rewrite the feat with a little more clarity. Treat them as a "zero-level" Sorcerer in some regards, by stating how many cantrips known they get, and how many spell slots they get, and letting them choose how they want to spend their slots on the fly, in a rather Sorcerer-like manner. The old 3E DMG had info on "zero-level" characters in it, info missing from the v3.5 DMG, and I can't find my 3E DMG, so I'd suggest either one or two spell slots, and two or three spells known, and go from there.

wargear said:

Call Familiar [General]
Some small portion of the power in your blood has manifested in the ability to call a familiar creature in a similar manner ot wizards and sorcerors.
Prerequisite: Charisma 10+.
Benefit: You may call a familiar as per a Sorceror. You are treated as a sorceror of half your character level with respect to abilities gained by the familiar.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

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I'd suggest using the character's highest arcane spellcaster level, minimum of 1st level, to determine abilities gained. Also, ability scores as Prerequisites are given in odd numbers, to encourage non-min/maxing, so I'd suggest the Prereq be Charisma 11+.

wargear said:

Militia [General]
You served in a local militia, training with weapons suitable for use on the battlefield.
Benefit: You get Martial Weapon Proficiency (warhammer) and both Martial Weapon Proficiency and Shield Proficiency (light shield).

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In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, feats similar to this granted you two specific simple/martial weapons, and must be taken at first level. In Unearthed Arcana, a similar weapon group would be created as follows:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/weaponGroupFeats.htm#creatingNewWeaponGroups

Unearthed Arcana said:

When creating a new weapon group, you should limit each group to three or fewer simple weapons and one to three martial weapons. The Weapon Group proficiency feats described below provide examples of how much versatility each weapon group should provide a character.

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By the way, the Shield Proficiency works on all shields (except Tower shields), and personally, I would suggest that this feat require Shield Proficiency as a prereq, and grant the martial weapon proficiency (Light Shield) as a benefit, just to keep a more consistent flavor to the feat.

wargear said:

Seaborn [General]
Born by the seaside, you took to it at an early age and never looked back.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Profession (sailor) checks and Swimming checks.

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Looks good to me!

wargear said:

Temple Training [General]
You were raised in a major temple as a foundling, and while you have chosen not to devote your lifes work to serving the gods, your time spent in the cloisters was not wasted.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 10+.
Benefit: You may cast the 0-level divine spells cure minor wounds, guidance, and purify food and drink once per day each. You are treated as a cleric of your divine spellcaster level (minimum 1st level) for determining the range at which these spells can be cast.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

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Discussion as above, and prereq should be Wisdom 11+.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

I appreciate the clear, concise suggestions and arguements.

I will definately take the zero level spellcasting ideas and see what i can make of them.

There is precedent for limiting the breadth of skill gained from a feat, Martial Weapon Proficiency when bought separately rather than gained as a Class feature only grants a single weapon skill. Thus the Militia feat grants only Shield Proficiency (light shield).

wargear said:

There is precedent for limiting the breadth of skill gained from a feat, Martial Weapon Proficiency when bought separately rather than gained as a Class feature only grants a single weapon skill. Thus the Militia feat grants only Shield Proficiency (light shield).

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From:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#martialWeaponProficiency

SRD said:

Martial Weapon Proficiency [General]
Choose a type of martial weapon. You understand how to use that type of martial weapon in combat.

Benefit
You make attack rolls with the selected weapon normally.

Normal
When using a weapon with which you are not proficient, you take a -4 penalty on attack rolls.

Special
Barbarians, fighters, paladins, and rangers are proficient with all martial weapons. They need not select this feat.
You can gain Martial Weapon Proficiency multiple times. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.

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The Martial Weapon Proficiency feat gives proficiency in only one weapon, so I wouldn't consider it precedence. I haven't seen separate shield skills like that, even in feats. That's why I made my comment. YMMV, of course.

In the end, if it works for your campaign, do it. That's what's most important.

With Regards,
Flynn

Obviously a point of view difference.
The Martial Weapon Proficiency Class Feature grants access to all weapons for the martial classes. The Martial Weapon Proficiency Feat grants but a single weapon.

If I had wanted to give them access to all shields, I would have given them the Shield Proficiency Feat.

The idea is to have a feat that a 1st level Commoner can take to become vaguely competant against low level undead, but which is still worth the effort for PCs to consider taking.

First off, the green color of text you use sometimes is a bad choice, it's hard to read on the default background colors of EN World's forums. Use a brighter color please.

wargear said:

Arcane Talent [General]
Your very blood sethes with arcane energies, and even though you have chosen another path, some of that power answers the call of your will.
Prerequisite: Charisma 11+.
Benefit: You may choose three 0-level arcane spells which you may cast once per day each. You are treated as a sorceror of your arcane spellcaster level (minimum 1st level) for determining the range at which these spells can be cast.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character. You may choose only from the list in the PHB. You may not choose Arcane Mark or Read Magic.

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This is like a feat from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, but just a tad different. Also, cantrips aren't all that useful, anyway. I never really liked that FRCS feat. I would suggest changing this to 1 sorcerer spell of 0-level and 1 sorcerer spell of 1st-level, each castable once per day as arcane spells. Your line about range should say they count as a sorcerer of that caster level for purposes of determining these spell's effects. Since range isn't the only thing that caster level will matter for.

I have no idea where the concept of a cantrip being really strong or useful comes from. Makes no sense to me. Prestidigitation and one or two others are certainly handy for general cleanliness and personal entertainment, but they're not all that useful otherwise. And if you're in an adventuring party, there's almost certainly someone around who can cast Detect Magic or whatnot several times per day if they feel like it, so that's not really a great use for the feat (still has some use, just not all that useful in an adventuring party, where you're likely to have an actual primary spellcaster around).

Call Familiar [General]
Some small portion of the power in your blood has manifested in the ability to call a familiar creature in a similar manner ot wizards and sorcerors.
Prerequisite: Charisma 11+.
Benefit: You may call a familiar as per a Sorceror. You are treated as a sorceror of half your character level with respect to abilities gained by the familiar.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

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This is fine to me, I suppose, though it's debateable whether or not a sorcerer is more valuable. I'm kind of inclined to say a familiar deserves at least 2 feats initial investment (and another one for full familiar advancement), but I dunno. Anyway, there's a feat from some book by Wizards of the Coast that grants a familiar somehow, so in any case the company at least finds such a thing okay. Though WotC has rather dubious balancing half the time.

Only thing I really see needs mention is that you should either put "rounded up" in the part where it mentions your effective sorcerer level for the familiar's benefits, or "minimum 1st-level sorcerer." I don't think you can have a familiar when you count as only a 0-level sorcerer (1st character level with this feat).

Militia [General]
You served in a local militia, training with weapons suitable for use on the battlefield.
Benefit: You get Martial Weapon Proficiency (warhammer) and both Martial Weapon Proficiency and Shield Proficiency (light shield).

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This is similar to various Forgotten Realms feats. MWP is a weak feat generally, especially since anyone who'd want to take it would probably be just as inclined to dip 1 level or so into Fighter, Ranger, or Barbarian for the extra bit of combat ability, and other proficiencies. Your Militia feat is similar or a bit weaker than some FRCS feats, but those are generally restricted to acquisition at the 1st character level (and are regional feats, though that's a dubious balancing point; many are no better or even weaker than general feats, only a few might just barely warrant being restricted to particular regions). I don't think it's a big deal though.

I'd suggest just a few tweakings to the wording and effects of your feat. As follows:
"You gain proficiency in the warhammer as a martial weapon. You also gain proficiency in shield bashes and shield spikes as martial weapons, but only with light shields. Lastly, you gain proficiency in the use of light shields and bucklers."

Seaborn [General]
Born by the seaside, you took to it at an early age and never looked back.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Profession (sailor) checks and Swimming checks.

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Seems fine, though I'm inclined to make it a bit different in one of three ways. Also, note that the skill is normally called Swim, not Swimming. Just nitpicking there. And, I think this feat deserves to have a limitation that it only be taken at the 1st character level, given its background and all. Otherwise I'd just suggest changing the name to Sea Dog or Seafarer, and changing the flavor text to reflect simply having some seafaring experience in general.

First possible change: Make it +3 Profession (sailor) and +2 Swim, or +2 P(s) and +3 Swim, since the first skill is kinda limited and less generally-useful (though handy in a seafaring campaign, it depends; it has no real use when on land, and can't really earn you money when you're ashore), while Swim gets a worse armor check penalty than normal if you're wearing armor or carrying a medium or heavy load.

Second possible change: Make it grant both of those skills as permanent class skills for the character, as well as granting +1 on Balance and Use Rope skill checks (though not changing those two skills' status). Add a requirement that the character must spend at least 1 skill point on Profession (sailor) at the level they gain that feat, and likewise for Swim.

Third possible change: Have it do the following instead: Give +1 on Balance, Profession (sailor), and Swim skill checks, as well as removing the doubling of Armor Check Penalties for Swim checks, at least in light armor if nothing else (and maybe also with light shields and buckler shields). This will be useful to privateers, pirates, marines, and such, as well as Player Characters who fight at sea, and it will still give some minor skill bonuses.

Temple Training [General]
You were raised in a major temple as a foundling, and while you have chosen not to devote your lifes work to serving the gods, your time spent in the cloisters was not wasted.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 11+.
Benefit: You may cast the 0-level divine spells cure minor wounds, guidance, and purify food and drink once per day each. You are treated as a cleric of your divine spellcaster level (minimum 1st level) for determining the range at which these spells can be cast.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.[/QUOTE]

This feat is weaker than the arcane version, though it is mildly more useful to joe commoner with its bit of healing and purification. Make the same change to the caster level part as I mentioned for the arcane version ('cept it'd be effective cleric level of course). I'd suggest adding both Mending and Light to the set of orisons gained.

Changing it in the same manner as the arcane version may be too effective given the 1st-level cleric spells available (and far less useful to joe commoner, except for joe commoner the backstabbing jerk who wants to kill his neighbor bob). So the addition of just another useful everyday orison or two would probably be better. And at least the 0-level divine spells have a bit more adventuring use than 0-level arcane spells.


Hope the suggestions are helpful.

Arkhandus said:

I'm not sure where Flynn's coming from.....he's quoting Forgotten Realms material, while ignoring some of the FRCS feats.

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I would have to blame that on a lack of exposure to FRCS feats over the last few years, and a desire not to misquote the new v3.5 versions of said feats. Not sure where you were going with that statement, but my apologies if somehow I led to any confusion on anyone's part. Thanks for clarifying that for us.

With Regards,
Flynn

Wasn't meaning offense. Just seemed wierd how stuff was mentioned while ignoring or forgetting other stuff from the same book.

wargear said:

Call Familiar [General]
Some small portion of the power in your blood has manifested in the ability to call a familiar creature in a similar manner ot wizards and sorcerors.
Prerequisite: Charisma 11+.
Benefit: You may call a familiar as per a Sorceror. You are treated as a sorceror of half your character level with respect to abilities gained by the familiar.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

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The monetary cost of a familiar can be pretty steep for a 1st-level character. It's entirely possible someone could take this feat and then discover they couldn't afford a familiar right from the start. Which is fine, although it's kinda disappointing to spend a feat and not really get anything for it, for a while.


Cheers,
Roger

wargear said:

Call Familiar [General]
Some small portion of the power in your blood has manifested in the ability to call a familiar creature in a similar manner ot wizards and sorcerors.
Prerequisite: Charisma 11+.
Benefit: You may call a familiar as per a Sorceror. You are treated as a sorceror of half your character level with respect to abilities gained by the familiar.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

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Flynn said:

I'd suggest using the character's highest arcane spellcaster level, minimum of 1st level, to determine abilities gained. Also, ability scores as Prerequisites are given in odd numbers, to encourage non-min/maxing, so I'd suggest the Prereq be Charisma 11+.

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There is only one arcane spellcasting class in my campaign, and they don't get the Call Familiar class feature. In fact, this feat is restricted to a particular human subrace, and members of that subrace who manifest the ability to become battle mages tend to be hunted into extinction by the Inquisition