Hi guys,
Another book has popped onto my desk today - Ultimate Feats - Supplementary Rulebook II. Boasting over one thousand feats (1,000!!!) in between its hard covers, this has to be the definitive feat resource, with literally something for everybody. Some of you may have already seen Ultimate Prestige Classes - well, I think we have out done ourselves with Ultimate Feats, as I believe we have improved its production values in every way, from layout to artwork. I'll be interested in hearing what you all think!
What has it got inside? Well, everything! The section 15 of the Open Game Licence is enourmous, and just skimming down I see entries from the SRD, Netbook of Feats, AEG, Avalanche, Bastion, Chaosium, Sovereign Press, Atlas, FFG, Green Ronin, Holistic, Pinnacle, Quiklink, Natural 20, S&SS, Thunderhead, MEG and, of course, Mongoose. Did we miss anyone out?
The extended Introduction takes a look at designing feats, limits of feats, planning your feat progression, as well as the many types of feats either already in existence or introduced within this mighty tome. I hope you will forgive me, but I won't go through every last page of Ultimate Feats as I usually do when previewing other books - once you get a chance to flick through this one at the local store, you'll understand just how much has been packed into it! Instead, I'll just pick a few highlights to whet your appetite. . .
Feats of the Arcane is dedicated to the arcane spellcaster (though divine users may find a fair bit here for themselves). Just picking a few examples, Bloodburn allows sorcerers and bards to fuel their magical energies with their own life force, greatly boosting their capabilities to blast through any defence, yet sustaining hideous amounts of damage to do so. Counterspell Riposte will ensure any magical duel can become just as intricate as any fencing match, while Thrifty Wizard will be a great boon to any spellcaster struggling to fit every incantation into his spellbook.
Feats of Arms is, naturally, a large chapter as it is here we have placed all the directly dcombat-orientated feats. Canny Attack will allow a character to take advantage of an enemy's natural weakness, while Collective Fury can be of immense advantage to any barbarian leading a crazed horde into battle (it really is quite frightening!). Hair Trigger Reflexes boosts the response of anyone unwilling to rely on Improved Initiative alone and, when combined with Power Attack and Monster Slayer, can ensure a fighter deals a hideous amount of damage to a large creature before it has time to react. If your party has two front-line fighters, both may like to consider Twin Warriors, learning to compliment each other's fighting style, and gaining attack and defensive benefits when battling close together.
Feats of Blood covers those available only to members of specific races - Elves may gain an Arcane Birth Gift (gaining the free use, once per day, of a 0-level spell), and Dwarves can become expert Goblin Slayers. Halflings may enjoy Perfidious Storytelling, Gnomes can learn Burrowmastery (and so gain a burrow speed, with the right tools), while Half-Orcs can have a notorious Short Temper that can be of great benefit if they can rage.
The next three chapters, Feats of Creation, Feats of the Divine and Feats of the Mind, cover item creation, divine spellcasters and psionicists respectively. Characters can now create far more than the usual magical items, and influence existing ones greatly - manikins are now possible, for example, as well as dragonsmithing (ever needed a use for that dead dragon you just slew?). If you have access to turning attempts, Faithful Sustenance can allow you to survive days, even weeks, without food or water (a useful ability for an adventurer, whereas druids will naturally be drawn to such feats as Terrain Focus, allowing them to mold their special abilities to the landscape around them.
I can see that Games Masters are going to have as much a field day with this book as players - all the while players are cunningly putting together their nastiest feat progression dedicated to slaying the next demon that comes along, the GM will be arming up his evil fighter to thwart their schemes. However, Feats of the Monstrous gives the GM even more ammunition by providing feats useable only by monster races. Focused Primeval Ability allows a supernatural or spell-like attack from a creature to be boosted against the players' defences, while Juggernaut while see even a reasonably weak Minotaur able to bowl players over in a stampede. These feats are spread between those for specific races (such as dragons, trolls, derro and more) and those designed for general use by creatures with exceptional abilities and powers, allowing GMs to fine tune their creations to challenge their players as much as possible.
Feats of Power takes a look at those that have been crying out for expansion ever since 3rd edition was released - Metamagic. Whether you are looking to turn fire damaging spells to ice or greatly increasing the burst radius of a fireball, there are plenty of methods for fine-tuning your incantations so your ebnemies will never know what to expect next.
Feats of Skill is designed to hold all the non-combat related feats within this book, though I can see that it may not take long for players to figure out how to use them in battle! A Cast-Iron Stomach will allow a character to derive nourishment from the most unpromising of foods, while Campaigner will be _very_ popular among adventurers, once they find it tucked away in this chapter - imagine being able to sleep in heavy armour without becoming fatigued. Very useful for those constant night time ambushes (something, incidentally, that my own Paladin has become paranoid about of late). Cantrips will allow anyone to learn 0-level spells while Poweful Voice will allow you to command your comrades from a great distance (sounds just right for my Paladin actually. . .).
Feats of Stealth and Song concentrate on the abilities of rogues and bards (Fancy trying Skill Sacrifice, losing skill poimts to gain more spells, or perhaps Wounding Strike may be more your kind of thing, causing ability damage with sneak attacks). Encyclopaedia Arcane: Necromancy is about to go out of print (if you were wanting it, grab it soon!), so we took this opportunity to reprint the Necromantic feats from that sourcebook - Necromancers can gain a great range of new powers with the Feats of the Unliving chapter, but they will also have to contend with the delapidating effects of the Negative Energy check. Sooner or later, you will fail that check. . .
Aside from a comprehensive rules summary and index (yay!), this book winds up with Feats of Today and the Future, a full chapter dedicated to non-fantasy based games. I am not going to let on too much here, but we have included a few feats from Armageddon 2089 (WarMech) and the game-that-still-cannot-be-mentioned, so we'll be interested to hear how you get on with this chapter!
Ultimate Feats has already come back from the printers and will be available within local shops in a fortnight or so (depending exactly where you are).
Another book has popped onto my desk today - Ultimate Feats - Supplementary Rulebook II. Boasting over one thousand feats (1,000!!!) in between its hard covers, this has to be the definitive feat resource, with literally something for everybody. Some of you may have already seen Ultimate Prestige Classes - well, I think we have out done ourselves with Ultimate Feats, as I believe we have improved its production values in every way, from layout to artwork. I'll be interested in hearing what you all think!
What has it got inside? Well, everything! The section 15 of the Open Game Licence is enourmous, and just skimming down I see entries from the SRD, Netbook of Feats, AEG, Avalanche, Bastion, Chaosium, Sovereign Press, Atlas, FFG, Green Ronin, Holistic, Pinnacle, Quiklink, Natural 20, S&SS, Thunderhead, MEG and, of course, Mongoose. Did we miss anyone out?
The extended Introduction takes a look at designing feats, limits of feats, planning your feat progression, as well as the many types of feats either already in existence or introduced within this mighty tome. I hope you will forgive me, but I won't go through every last page of Ultimate Feats as I usually do when previewing other books - once you get a chance to flick through this one at the local store, you'll understand just how much has been packed into it! Instead, I'll just pick a few highlights to whet your appetite. . .
Feats of the Arcane is dedicated to the arcane spellcaster (though divine users may find a fair bit here for themselves). Just picking a few examples, Bloodburn allows sorcerers and bards to fuel their magical energies with their own life force, greatly boosting their capabilities to blast through any defence, yet sustaining hideous amounts of damage to do so. Counterspell Riposte will ensure any magical duel can become just as intricate as any fencing match, while Thrifty Wizard will be a great boon to any spellcaster struggling to fit every incantation into his spellbook.
Feats of Arms is, naturally, a large chapter as it is here we have placed all the directly dcombat-orientated feats. Canny Attack will allow a character to take advantage of an enemy's natural weakness, while Collective Fury can be of immense advantage to any barbarian leading a crazed horde into battle (it really is quite frightening!). Hair Trigger Reflexes boosts the response of anyone unwilling to rely on Improved Initiative alone and, when combined with Power Attack and Monster Slayer, can ensure a fighter deals a hideous amount of damage to a large creature before it has time to react. If your party has two front-line fighters, both may like to consider Twin Warriors, learning to compliment each other's fighting style, and gaining attack and defensive benefits when battling close together.
Feats of Blood covers those available only to members of specific races - Elves may gain an Arcane Birth Gift (gaining the free use, once per day, of a 0-level spell), and Dwarves can become expert Goblin Slayers. Halflings may enjoy Perfidious Storytelling, Gnomes can learn Burrowmastery (and so gain a burrow speed, with the right tools), while Half-Orcs can have a notorious Short Temper that can be of great benefit if they can rage.
The next three chapters, Feats of Creation, Feats of the Divine and Feats of the Mind, cover item creation, divine spellcasters and psionicists respectively. Characters can now create far more than the usual magical items, and influence existing ones greatly - manikins are now possible, for example, as well as dragonsmithing (ever needed a use for that dead dragon you just slew?). If you have access to turning attempts, Faithful Sustenance can allow you to survive days, even weeks, without food or water (a useful ability for an adventurer, whereas druids will naturally be drawn to such feats as Terrain Focus, allowing them to mold their special abilities to the landscape around them.
I can see that Games Masters are going to have as much a field day with this book as players - all the while players are cunningly putting together their nastiest feat progression dedicated to slaying the next demon that comes along, the GM will be arming up his evil fighter to thwart their schemes. However, Feats of the Monstrous gives the GM even more ammunition by providing feats useable only by monster races. Focused Primeval Ability allows a supernatural or spell-like attack from a creature to be boosted against the players' defences, while Juggernaut while see even a reasonably weak Minotaur able to bowl players over in a stampede. These feats are spread between those for specific races (such as dragons, trolls, derro and more) and those designed for general use by creatures with exceptional abilities and powers, allowing GMs to fine tune their creations to challenge their players as much as possible.
Feats of Power takes a look at those that have been crying out for expansion ever since 3rd edition was released - Metamagic. Whether you are looking to turn fire damaging spells to ice or greatly increasing the burst radius of a fireball, there are plenty of methods for fine-tuning your incantations so your ebnemies will never know what to expect next.
Feats of Skill is designed to hold all the non-combat related feats within this book, though I can see that it may not take long for players to figure out how to use them in battle! A Cast-Iron Stomach will allow a character to derive nourishment from the most unpromising of foods, while Campaigner will be _very_ popular among adventurers, once they find it tucked away in this chapter - imagine being able to sleep in heavy armour without becoming fatigued. Very useful for those constant night time ambushes (something, incidentally, that my own Paladin has become paranoid about of late). Cantrips will allow anyone to learn 0-level spells while Poweful Voice will allow you to command your comrades from a great distance (sounds just right for my Paladin actually. . .).
Feats of Stealth and Song concentrate on the abilities of rogues and bards (Fancy trying Skill Sacrifice, losing skill poimts to gain more spells, or perhaps Wounding Strike may be more your kind of thing, causing ability damage with sneak attacks). Encyclopaedia Arcane: Necromancy is about to go out of print (if you were wanting it, grab it soon!), so we took this opportunity to reprint the Necromantic feats from that sourcebook - Necromancers can gain a great range of new powers with the Feats of the Unliving chapter, but they will also have to contend with the delapidating effects of the Negative Energy check. Sooner or later, you will fail that check. . .
Aside from a comprehensive rules summary and index (yay!), this book winds up with Feats of Today and the Future, a full chapter dedicated to non-fantasy based games. I am not going to let on too much here, but we have included a few feats from Armageddon 2089 (WarMech) and the game-that-still-cannot-be-mentioned, so we'll be interested to hear how you get on with this chapter!
Ultimate Feats has already come back from the printers and will be available within local shops in a fortnight or so (depending exactly where you are).
