Social Feats from Fading Suns D20

DMaple · Feb 12, 2002

What did people think about the idea of Social Feats and how they were presented in Fading Suns?

Skywalker · Feb 13, 2002

I thought they were on the whole an excellent idea. Feats in D&D focus on combat and FS has a good chunk of social conflict etc in it.

Interestingly FS moved very close to a kit idea for classes. Guilder, Noble and Priest were bland classes for the most part made interesting by multiclassing and social feats.

Feats strated to become like merits and flaws in a way and I think this is good provided that feats reflect more than just combat.

Sen Udo-Mal · Feb 13, 2002

I really liked them also

I will probably allow a number of them into any D20 that I might run in the future...

Kaptain_Kantrip · Feb 15, 2002

I haven't seen Fading Suns anywhere! These social feats sound really cool, though. Can somebody give me more info on them, like citing some specific examples? Also, would it be worth getting Fading Suns for them if I had no interest in the actual setting?

DMaple · Feb 15, 2002

I haven't got the book with me at the moment but I'll try and remember to post some of the information tonight.

Fading Suns has a load of rule type information that could be adapted to other D20 games and all the OGL contect is clearly marked by being in a different font.

DMaple · Feb 16, 2002

Okay I promised some examples....

Church Ordination [Social]
You are a recognised member of the Universal Church.
Prerequisite: Brother Battle, Priest or Theurgist level 1+, any class level 4+

Benefit: Your bear a Church rank. Its title depends on how many levels of this stackable feat you possess. Each successive level raises you in rank one title (see chart below).

In addition, each rank grants you +1 Diplomacy among the faithful (all believers, even those of other sects). This bonus is stackable with each successive rank (ie. A canon gets a +2 Diplomacy bonus).

Rank
1st - Novitiate
2nd - Canon
3rd - Deacon
4th - Priest
5th - Bishop
6th - Archbishop

There are similair feats for Noble titles and ranks within the Guilds.

Comeliness [Social]
You are well-groomed and/or have an attractive appearance, either naturally or through surgery.

Benifit: You gain a +2 bonus to Charisma based skill checks in situations where your appearance matters (such as in seducing others).

Nice to see Comeliness make a come back.

Diplomatic Immunity [Social]
You have a certain immunity from legal prosecution for acts commited while on business for your affiliated faction.

Prerequisites: Noble Title, Church Ordination, or Guild Commission.

Benefit: long explanation I'm not going to type now....

There are 52 new Social feats in all some rooted in the setting but could inspire such feats in your own setting. Others suitable for any setting such as Comeliness.

Some classes get social feats every level they don't get a normal feat (like Nobles) some don't get any but can still buy them with their normal feats.

rook111 · Feb 16, 2002

I have added most of the social feats to my Wheel of time games as well as integrated the bonus feats into the nobel class. This has made that class much more attractive to my players and I now have a much more intresteing game that doesn't have to have sword play every session for there to be conflict.

Kaptain_Kantrip · Feb 17, 2002

DMaple said:
Okay I promised some examples....

Thanks! Sounds interesting. Is the Fading Suns setting itself any good? What's it about?

Horacio · Feb 17, 2002

The setting is very good. If you want a good introduction to it, go to Fading Suns website, you will find tons of tales and explanations...

Skywalker · Feb 17, 2002

Fading Suns is a great setting. It also suits d20 very well, more so in my opinion than Star Wars. I also find it mixes things up to make it interesting instead of say Dragon Star.

The social feats were a nice addition. Adding so many allows another dimension to any d20 game. I liked the new classes and thought conversion like the change in Magic Item Creation feats to be well done.