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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6905567" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Reviewing the Feats:</p><p></p><p>'A Chance' - This is a general utility that should not be silo'd off into a feat, or if it is silo'd off into a feat should be much broader and more general in utility. Basically, this lets a spellcaster directly target the unborn child (with healing spells only). Why not allow a spellcaster to target any spell on the unborn? Or if you want this to require some special skill, why not just allow a skill check to perform this stunt? If you feel you must silo this ability off into a feat, make this one benefit of a more general 'Midwife' feat, such as merging it with 'Midwife'.</p><p></p><p>'Abortionist' - Effectively, this is +10 to +20 on heal checks to perform an abortion. Ok... I can see that would be a thing. </p><p></p><p>'Midwife' - This appears to be referencing rules that aren't in the document.</p><p></p><p>'Best of Us' - This is a great candidate for having a 'Normal' entry in the feat description explaining what happens normally without the feat. Otherwise, this is a highly narrow feat in that it only matters in a game that goes on long enough for a child to become a playable character, and only when we are talking about inter-species marriage. Can't you find something to merge this with?</p><p></p><p>'Breeding Instinct' - This moves into squick. </p><p></p><p>'Birth Control' - Having conscious control over your own fertility would seem to be something either a species has or it doesn't. At the very least, should be merged with 'Great Fertility' to broaden this feats utility. This one, if you feel the need to have it at all, suggests it needs Prerequisites, like 5 ranks in Concentration and an appropriate background with some sort of fertility cult. See 'Love has No Barriers' where you suggest an appropriate background requirement. This also potentially moves into squick in ways I don't feel comfortable talking about, but let's just say that the notion that a woman only gets pregnant when she wants to could introduce unintended controversy. </p><p></p><p>'Change the Chances' - Ugggh. You seem rather naïve about the ugly implications of the sort of things you are creating here. Much like 'A Chance', if you allow this at all, you might as well not silo this off into a narrow feat, but just make it a stunt a spellcaster could perform with a skill check. </p><p></p><p>'Elven Mother' - It would seem that this doesn't need to be a feat, but just a little known racial trait within your campaign world. Just make it something all elven females can do. It doesn't really do that much, and infants aren't noted conversationalists with much in the way of life experiences to share. Being able to talk to your infant, is going to turn out to be not that different from not being able to talk to your infant (in that pregnant women who aren't elves often talk soothingly to their unborn child).</p><p></p><p>'Feature Added' - Maybe it's the language barrier, but I'm not even clear on what this does. Again, this would be a great candidate for having a 'Normal' entry in the feat to explain what normally happens in the absence of the feat. And this is definitely the sort of thing that is so narrow, that I'm not really seeing why you don't combine it with 'Feature Inherited' and 'Best of Us' and similar feats into one, "Best of Us" feat that makes you a great candidate for bearing a hybrid child. Weird and still narrow, but at least interesting.</p><p></p><p>'Feature Inherited' - Again, I can't understand exactly what this does or how it is different than 'Feature Added'. You mention English isn't your first language. I think you need a better translator.</p><p></p><p>'Gift from the Gods' - This is one of those things that sounds like a benefit, that is actually a bit of a curse. So all of your children are born from the moment of birth as 1st level Favored Souls. Fine, that would be cool.... if we were using 1e Dual Classing rules. As it is, in 3e rules, this just means that all your kids are saddled with a class that isn't their favored class and which they may not be suited for, and which doesn't multi-class well, that will hamper their education in whatever class that they would be suited for. Plus, you end up with a family which won't have a diversity of skills. And the only benefit is that your kids are a bit creepy and get a 9-12 year head start on gaining levels in a class that they might not even want. Some gift. Plus, the requirements aren't that stringent. Shouldn't you at least be a pious follower, and perhaps have asked for this sort of thing? The idea of having divinely favored offspring is cool, and I understand why you latched onto 'favored soul' in context, but this needs a complete rewrite - probably after you've thought out the maturation process and when children can start earning XP and take their 1st class level. You might also want to look at the 3.0e DMG's 0th level 'apprentice' rules.</p><p></p><p>Great Fertility - See Birth Control</p><p></p><p>Great Pregnancy - This is one of your better designed feats, but I wonder if you realize just how powerful 'reroll everything and take the better' actually is. Plus, this feat references rules that aren't actually in the document, that is to say, how the attributes of the new born child are to be determined. For example, is the default 3d6 straight up, or 4d6 take the best three? Or do you have some sort of inheritance mechanism in mind where two strong people are more likely to have strong offspring. We need to know what 'reroll' means in this context.</p><p></p><p>Let Me Guess - This should just be a rare spell such as midwives might know, rather than a feat.</p><p></p><p>Love has No Barriers - Rather than making this sort of thing a feat, this might be a blessing that a person who performs a quest or demonstrates true love might receive from a sympathetic deity. It's more interesting that way than it is as an aspect of character build. For that matter, all your 'I'm Particularly Adept at Creating Hybrid' children feats might be more interesting that way. </p><p></p><p>Mother Nature - This might be more interesting as a rare spell than it would be as a Feat. It's also not clear what it actually does, as you've not really specified how unborn infants take damage, and its also for that matter not much useful protection seeing as poisons and diseases are probably the more serious threats. While I'm thinking about it, it would be a good idea to specify whether mothers in general have the ability to share spells with their unborn child the way wizards can share spells with familiars or paladins share spells with mounts. And a really good Feat in this context might extend that to allow mothers to share spells with their (born) children, if they are holding them. Now that I can imagine a maternal spellcaster taking as a feat.</p><p></p><p>Natural Knowledge: You don't need a feat to do this. This is just an ordinary skill use - roll Sense Motive vs DC whatever. My wife can do this IRL. Good feat design doesn't trample on skill usage. Practically anything that says, "You can now use your skill to do this X", probably should just be an addendum to the skill itself. Good feats make your skill usage more effective in particular areas, but they don't act as gates that limit access to things.</p><p></p><p>No Time to Waste: Uggghh.. Seriously, you want babies to be born in mere days? There are actually serious body horror implications to this feat I don't think you are taking seriously enough. Just for a second, imagine using this to create veal. Ok, now you want to apply this to sentient beings as well... Really, I would just not go there.</p><p></p><p>Orc Seed: Ditto.</p><p></p><p>Party Member: What?? Again with the conscious control of fertility. And this is just going to encourage the worst sort of juvenile stereotyped approach to the subject matter. If we are going to do this, let's be grown ups about it.</p><p></p><p>Premature: As the parent of premies IRL, this just isn't amusing and makes me think maybe you aren't a parent. Being premature isn't a benefit generally speaking, nor is it a subject you cover.</p><p></p><p>Protective Mother: One of your best and most interesting feats, but I think this feat is still too narrow and should be combined with your other 'Protective Pregnancy' feats into a single feat granting all the benefits.</p><p></p><p>Reincarnation: In addition to not making it clear what this does, it's a mechanical mess. It also mucks around in the future, which you as a DM can't really guarantee. And oddly, it ultimately seems more of a flavor thing than anything else. And it does weird things like, if you kill the unborn kid, can you think have them suddenly as a mature child the next round by using one spell? Spells that by pass growing up have weird implications on a campaign world. And why is this a Feat? Couldn't I do this to any aborted or miscarried child without the feat? Is 'instant maturity' the only real effect of this spell?</p><p></p><p>Strong Genes: Sort of like Orc seed. Isn't clear how it interacts with the crossbreeding tables and is open to interpretation.</p><p></p><p>Strong Woman: One of your better feats. Could be named better, as even 'Strong Mother' is better. Prerequisites for feats are generally never even numbers. Should be either 13 or 15 Con. I'm not sure why strength should be a part of the Prerequisites, as Con and Str may be realistically intertwined to some extent, but never are in D&D.</p><p></p><p>Two is Better than One: This is insanely narrow, and has more weird implications for breeding. Why would you want this to be a thing? I mean, if you want this in your campaign, couldn't you just have fertility potions increase the chances of having multiple births?</p><p></p><p>What I Want: Again, you don't seem to understand the implications of your stuff. I mean, it's bad enough people abort infants because they are girls, or throw them into rivers, or like the ancient romans put them in pots and leave them to die of exposure. Now you want to magically turn them into boys? Why would you even make this a part of your campaign? </p><p></p><p>Ultimately, this is just not an interesting collection of feats. There is nothing here I want to steal. A feat in and of itself, should represent a solid concept that describes your character and enables you to play out that description. I'm a midwife. I'm a great mother. I'm a protective parent. Whatever. Figure out what your core concepts are and enable them. Don't just write feats that twiddle your mechanics in minor ways.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6905567, member: 4937"] Reviewing the Feats: 'A Chance' - This is a general utility that should not be silo'd off into a feat, or if it is silo'd off into a feat should be much broader and more general in utility. Basically, this lets a spellcaster directly target the unborn child (with healing spells only). Why not allow a spellcaster to target any spell on the unborn? Or if you want this to require some special skill, why not just allow a skill check to perform this stunt? If you feel you must silo this ability off into a feat, make this one benefit of a more general 'Midwife' feat, such as merging it with 'Midwife'. 'Abortionist' - Effectively, this is +10 to +20 on heal checks to perform an abortion. Ok... I can see that would be a thing. 'Midwife' - This appears to be referencing rules that aren't in the document. 'Best of Us' - This is a great candidate for having a 'Normal' entry in the feat description explaining what happens normally without the feat. Otherwise, this is a highly narrow feat in that it only matters in a game that goes on long enough for a child to become a playable character, and only when we are talking about inter-species marriage. Can't you find something to merge this with? 'Breeding Instinct' - This moves into squick. 'Birth Control' - Having conscious control over your own fertility would seem to be something either a species has or it doesn't. At the very least, should be merged with 'Great Fertility' to broaden this feats utility. This one, if you feel the need to have it at all, suggests it needs Prerequisites, like 5 ranks in Concentration and an appropriate background with some sort of fertility cult. See 'Love has No Barriers' where you suggest an appropriate background requirement. This also potentially moves into squick in ways I don't feel comfortable talking about, but let's just say that the notion that a woman only gets pregnant when she wants to could introduce unintended controversy. 'Change the Chances' - Ugggh. You seem rather naïve about the ugly implications of the sort of things you are creating here. Much like 'A Chance', if you allow this at all, you might as well not silo this off into a narrow feat, but just make it a stunt a spellcaster could perform with a skill check. 'Elven Mother' - It would seem that this doesn't need to be a feat, but just a little known racial trait within your campaign world. Just make it something all elven females can do. It doesn't really do that much, and infants aren't noted conversationalists with much in the way of life experiences to share. Being able to talk to your infant, is going to turn out to be not that different from not being able to talk to your infant (in that pregnant women who aren't elves often talk soothingly to their unborn child). 'Feature Added' - Maybe it's the language barrier, but I'm not even clear on what this does. Again, this would be a great candidate for having a 'Normal' entry in the feat to explain what normally happens in the absence of the feat. And this is definitely the sort of thing that is so narrow, that I'm not really seeing why you don't combine it with 'Feature Inherited' and 'Best of Us' and similar feats into one, "Best of Us" feat that makes you a great candidate for bearing a hybrid child. Weird and still narrow, but at least interesting. 'Feature Inherited' - Again, I can't understand exactly what this does or how it is different than 'Feature Added'. You mention English isn't your first language. I think you need a better translator. 'Gift from the Gods' - This is one of those things that sounds like a benefit, that is actually a bit of a curse. So all of your children are born from the moment of birth as 1st level Favored Souls. Fine, that would be cool.... if we were using 1e Dual Classing rules. As it is, in 3e rules, this just means that all your kids are saddled with a class that isn't their favored class and which they may not be suited for, and which doesn't multi-class well, that will hamper their education in whatever class that they would be suited for. Plus, you end up with a family which won't have a diversity of skills. And the only benefit is that your kids are a bit creepy and get a 9-12 year head start on gaining levels in a class that they might not even want. Some gift. Plus, the requirements aren't that stringent. Shouldn't you at least be a pious follower, and perhaps have asked for this sort of thing? The idea of having divinely favored offspring is cool, and I understand why you latched onto 'favored soul' in context, but this needs a complete rewrite - probably after you've thought out the maturation process and when children can start earning XP and take their 1st class level. You might also want to look at the 3.0e DMG's 0th level 'apprentice' rules. Great Fertility - See Birth Control Great Pregnancy - This is one of your better designed feats, but I wonder if you realize just how powerful 'reroll everything and take the better' actually is. Plus, this feat references rules that aren't actually in the document, that is to say, how the attributes of the new born child are to be determined. For example, is the default 3d6 straight up, or 4d6 take the best three? Or do you have some sort of inheritance mechanism in mind where two strong people are more likely to have strong offspring. We need to know what 'reroll' means in this context. Let Me Guess - This should just be a rare spell such as midwives might know, rather than a feat. Love has No Barriers - Rather than making this sort of thing a feat, this might be a blessing that a person who performs a quest or demonstrates true love might receive from a sympathetic deity. It's more interesting that way than it is as an aspect of character build. For that matter, all your 'I'm Particularly Adept at Creating Hybrid' children feats might be more interesting that way. Mother Nature - This might be more interesting as a rare spell than it would be as a Feat. It's also not clear what it actually does, as you've not really specified how unborn infants take damage, and its also for that matter not much useful protection seeing as poisons and diseases are probably the more serious threats. While I'm thinking about it, it would be a good idea to specify whether mothers in general have the ability to share spells with their unborn child the way wizards can share spells with familiars or paladins share spells with mounts. And a really good Feat in this context might extend that to allow mothers to share spells with their (born) children, if they are holding them. Now that I can imagine a maternal spellcaster taking as a feat. Natural Knowledge: You don't need a feat to do this. This is just an ordinary skill use - roll Sense Motive vs DC whatever. My wife can do this IRL. Good feat design doesn't trample on skill usage. Practically anything that says, "You can now use your skill to do this X", probably should just be an addendum to the skill itself. Good feats make your skill usage more effective in particular areas, but they don't act as gates that limit access to things. No Time to Waste: Uggghh.. Seriously, you want babies to be born in mere days? There are actually serious body horror implications to this feat I don't think you are taking seriously enough. Just for a second, imagine using this to create veal. Ok, now you want to apply this to sentient beings as well... Really, I would just not go there. Orc Seed: Ditto. Party Member: What?? Again with the conscious control of fertility. And this is just going to encourage the worst sort of juvenile stereotyped approach to the subject matter. If we are going to do this, let's be grown ups about it. Premature: As the parent of premies IRL, this just isn't amusing and makes me think maybe you aren't a parent. Being premature isn't a benefit generally speaking, nor is it a subject you cover. Protective Mother: One of your best and most interesting feats, but I think this feat is still too narrow and should be combined with your other 'Protective Pregnancy' feats into a single feat granting all the benefits. Reincarnation: In addition to not making it clear what this does, it's a mechanical mess. It also mucks around in the future, which you as a DM can't really guarantee. And oddly, it ultimately seems more of a flavor thing than anything else. And it does weird things like, if you kill the unborn kid, can you think have them suddenly as a mature child the next round by using one spell? Spells that by pass growing up have weird implications on a campaign world. And why is this a Feat? Couldn't I do this to any aborted or miscarried child without the feat? Is 'instant maturity' the only real effect of this spell? Strong Genes: Sort of like Orc seed. Isn't clear how it interacts with the crossbreeding tables and is open to interpretation. Strong Woman: One of your better feats. Could be named better, as even 'Strong Mother' is better. Prerequisites for feats are generally never even numbers. Should be either 13 or 15 Con. I'm not sure why strength should be a part of the Prerequisites, as Con and Str may be realistically intertwined to some extent, but never are in D&D. Two is Better than One: This is insanely narrow, and has more weird implications for breeding. Why would you want this to be a thing? I mean, if you want this in your campaign, couldn't you just have fertility potions increase the chances of having multiple births? What I Want: Again, you don't seem to understand the implications of your stuff. I mean, it's bad enough people abort infants because they are girls, or throw them into rivers, or like the ancient romans put them in pots and leave them to die of exposure. Now you want to magically turn them into boys? Why would you even make this a part of your campaign? Ultimately, this is just not an interesting collection of feats. There is nothing here I want to steal. A feat in and of itself, should represent a solid concept that describes your character and enables you to play out that description. I'm a midwife. I'm a great mother. I'm a protective parent. Whatever. Figure out what your core concepts are and enable them. Don't just write feats that twiddle your mechanics in minor ways. [/QUOTE]
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