Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
[imager]http://www.skortchedurfstudios.com/images/MegaFeatsCover300.jpg[/imager]Mega-Feats: New Paths to Victory
Prelude
Scanning this product over, it looks like it contains many useful feats that can be used with just a little modification that can be dropped in an existing campaign. There are a handful of feats meant to replace feats found in the Player’s Handbook, which I will elaborate on later. The uniqueness of the product is how much it screams for the fusion of fantasy and [future] tech.
Overview
I have to say that I am impressed with the detail that went into this product. There are plenty of feats to gorge yourself on, and they are well thought out. One of the things I want to point out right away is that the use of action points is integrated into the use of feats. If your campaign doesn’t use action points, it should be fairly simple to modify/remove the specificity of the feats that require the use of action points.
Also worth pointing out is that Dungeon Masters that are using settings that blend the arcane with tech will find that this product tailors to their needs. Eberron and the Iron Kingdoms campaign settings leap to mind as settings that will benefit from the inclusion of feats from this product.
Core Replacement Feats
There are feats within the product that you can choose to use in place of or to complement those feats in the Player’s Handbook. Such feats are Comfort in Armor, Intellectual Combat, Soulbound Familiar, Summoner, Summoner from Nature, Summon Armory, Summon Exemplar, Summon Thrall, Templated Summoner, Weapon Familiarity, Weapon Mastery and Wise Combat.
With Comfort in Armor the character’s Strength score reflects what type of armor can be worn before suffering from skill check penalties. This would be the equivalent of proficiency in said type of armor and fringes upon the secondary effect of the Endurance feat (sleeping in armor).
Intellectual Combat allows the character to apply their Intelligence modifier to their attack roll instead of their Strength score when using any light weapon that is crafted for creatures of a specific size category. This is seen as the replacement to Weapon Finesse. It also proves highly effective when playing a multiclass warrior type with an arcane spellcasting type.
Soulbound Familiar allows the character to tie their essence into their familiar and thereby allows for the storage of the familiar in a tattoo or a brand. You can store/call the familiar as a full round action. I don’t see how this is a replacement feat, but love the idea. It reminds me of the scene from Elektra where one of the characters calls forth an animal from within them.
The Summoner feat is the base feat in a line up of feats (Summoner from Nature, Summon Armory, Summon Exemplar, Summon Thrall, Templated Summoner) that allows a character to summon beings through an act of sheer will and have it fight or perform a task.
Weapon Familiarity can be used in conjunction with Weapon Proficiency or as a replacement. The feat allows proficiency in one category weapons much like Weapon Group Proficiency feats found in Unearthed Arcana (pgs. 94-97). The categories presented are widened to reflect a world that has a modicum of technology.
Weapon Mastery rolls the benefits of both Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization into one feat.
Item Creation Feats
The item creation feats presented within the product is an alternate Item Creation system and a different beast than that which is in the PHB. All Item Creation feats start with one feat – Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries. This one feat is the prerequisite of all other Forge Gift feats. Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries allows the character that takes it to craft all manner of magic items; from charged magical items, the ability to recharge magic items to penultimate power of crafting magic items that recharge themselves. This one feat, in one fell swoop, replaces Craft Rod, Craft Staff, Craft Wand and Forge Ring.
The other Forge Gift equivalent of PHB feats are as follows. Forge Gift: Armory/Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Forge Gift: Minor Arcana/Scribe Scroll & Brew Potion. Craft Wondrous Item is broken into the two feats Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries and Forge Gift: Minor Arcana.
In addition these Item Creation feats span the gamut of technological magic items as well. Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries allows for the creation of magical guns, but instead of firing bullets the gun releases a spell at their target. Forge Gift: Armory allows the creation of magical vehicles and another feat allows for the enhancement and replacement of the flesh.
Forgeblood Feats
Forgeblood feats are a unique way of allowing a player to become a cybernetic being, without having to spend money on doing so. A character needs to needs to be infused with a forgeblood seed which does have a monetary cost attached to it, or the character can be the descendent of a forgeblood parent that has taken a feat that modifies their reproductive capability.
The base feat of the chain, Forgeblood heart, is the prerequisite of all other forgeblood feats. Game Masters that run D20 Modern/Future games will find these feats useful as well, as the forgeblood feats within the product are written for fantasy, modern and futuristic campaigns.
As a character becomes more of a fusion of flesh and steel and lose a little more of their mortality with each forgeblood feat they take
House Rules
New Paths to Victory has a section of house rules included in it which elaborates on the use of action points in a game that incorporates the feats presented that require the expenditure of them. The house rules also deletes/modifies some of the core skills and goes into detail over the changes. Also touched on is modification to the crafting rules; adding an unusual material to an item increases the DC to craft it. Finally, a world where tech and magic meets is bound to change the laws of metamagic; thus house rules are presented for how this is changed as well.
The Rest of it
Well thought out, the rest of the feats are mostly original and do have balance. The majority of the feats are meant for a world where magic and tech meet, but a good portion of them are usable in a standard fantasy campaign.
Conclusion
This is one product in a sea of feat products that stands out. It is not a blend of bland feats slapped together and published for the sake of making money, but rather was part of a beginning to a unique campaign setting in the eyes of an individual. The marriage of fantasy and future tech isn’t brand new, but feats that accommodate such a setting have not fully been realized before. This is what makes the product unique. This reviewer gives New Paths to Victory: Feats to Change the World 5 out of five stars.
Prelude
Scanning this product over, it looks like it contains many useful feats that can be used with just a little modification that can be dropped in an existing campaign. There are a handful of feats meant to replace feats found in the Player’s Handbook, which I will elaborate on later. The uniqueness of the product is how much it screams for the fusion of fantasy and [future] tech.
Overview
I have to say that I am impressed with the detail that went into this product. There are plenty of feats to gorge yourself on, and they are well thought out. One of the things I want to point out right away is that the use of action points is integrated into the use of feats. If your campaign doesn’t use action points, it should be fairly simple to modify/remove the specificity of the feats that require the use of action points.
Also worth pointing out is that Dungeon Masters that are using settings that blend the arcane with tech will find that this product tailors to their needs. Eberron and the Iron Kingdoms campaign settings leap to mind as settings that will benefit from the inclusion of feats from this product.
Core Replacement Feats
There are feats within the product that you can choose to use in place of or to complement those feats in the Player’s Handbook. Such feats are Comfort in Armor, Intellectual Combat, Soulbound Familiar, Summoner, Summoner from Nature, Summon Armory, Summon Exemplar, Summon Thrall, Templated Summoner, Weapon Familiarity, Weapon Mastery and Wise Combat.
With Comfort in Armor the character’s Strength score reflects what type of armor can be worn before suffering from skill check penalties. This would be the equivalent of proficiency in said type of armor and fringes upon the secondary effect of the Endurance feat (sleeping in armor).
Intellectual Combat allows the character to apply their Intelligence modifier to their attack roll instead of their Strength score when using any light weapon that is crafted for creatures of a specific size category. This is seen as the replacement to Weapon Finesse. It also proves highly effective when playing a multiclass warrior type with an arcane spellcasting type.
Soulbound Familiar allows the character to tie their essence into their familiar and thereby allows for the storage of the familiar in a tattoo or a brand. You can store/call the familiar as a full round action. I don’t see how this is a replacement feat, but love the idea. It reminds me of the scene from Elektra where one of the characters calls forth an animal from within them.
The Summoner feat is the base feat in a line up of feats (Summoner from Nature, Summon Armory, Summon Exemplar, Summon Thrall, Templated Summoner) that allows a character to summon beings through an act of sheer will and have it fight or perform a task.
Weapon Familiarity can be used in conjunction with Weapon Proficiency or as a replacement. The feat allows proficiency in one category weapons much like Weapon Group Proficiency feats found in Unearthed Arcana (pgs. 94-97). The categories presented are widened to reflect a world that has a modicum of technology.
Weapon Mastery rolls the benefits of both Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization into one feat.
Item Creation Feats
The item creation feats presented within the product is an alternate Item Creation system and a different beast than that which is in the PHB. All Item Creation feats start with one feat – Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries. This one feat is the prerequisite of all other Forge Gift feats. Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries allows the character that takes it to craft all manner of magic items; from charged magical items, the ability to recharge magic items to penultimate power of crafting magic items that recharge themselves. This one feat, in one fell swoop, replaces Craft Rod, Craft Staff, Craft Wand and Forge Ring.
The other Forge Gift equivalent of PHB feats are as follows. Forge Gift: Armory/Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Forge Gift: Minor Arcana/Scribe Scroll & Brew Potion. Craft Wondrous Item is broken into the two feats Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries and Forge Gift: Minor Arcana.
In addition these Item Creation feats span the gamut of technological magic items as well. Forge Gift: Arcane Batteries allows for the creation of magical guns, but instead of firing bullets the gun releases a spell at their target. Forge Gift: Armory allows the creation of magical vehicles and another feat allows for the enhancement and replacement of the flesh.
Forgeblood Feats
Forgeblood feats are a unique way of allowing a player to become a cybernetic being, without having to spend money on doing so. A character needs to needs to be infused with a forgeblood seed which does have a monetary cost attached to it, or the character can be the descendent of a forgeblood parent that has taken a feat that modifies their reproductive capability.
The base feat of the chain, Forgeblood heart, is the prerequisite of all other forgeblood feats. Game Masters that run D20 Modern/Future games will find these feats useful as well, as the forgeblood feats within the product are written for fantasy, modern and futuristic campaigns.
As a character becomes more of a fusion of flesh and steel and lose a little more of their mortality with each forgeblood feat they take
House Rules
New Paths to Victory has a section of house rules included in it which elaborates on the use of action points in a game that incorporates the feats presented that require the expenditure of them. The house rules also deletes/modifies some of the core skills and goes into detail over the changes. Also touched on is modification to the crafting rules; adding an unusual material to an item increases the DC to craft it. Finally, a world where tech and magic meets is bound to change the laws of metamagic; thus house rules are presented for how this is changed as well.
The Rest of it
Well thought out, the rest of the feats are mostly original and do have balance. The majority of the feats are meant for a world where magic and tech meet, but a good portion of them are usable in a standard fantasy campaign.
Conclusion
This is one product in a sea of feat products that stands out. It is not a blend of bland feats slapped together and published for the sake of making money, but rather was part of a beginning to a unique campaign setting in the eyes of an individual. The marriage of fantasy and future tech isn’t brand new, but feats that accommodate such a setting have not fully been realized before. This is what makes the product unique. This reviewer gives New Paths to Victory: Feats to Change the World 5 out of five stars.
