GlassEye
Adventurer
Could you elaborate on this, please? I'm interested in how more flavorful or circumstantial traits might work.
Streamlining Traits
- Thread starter Systole
- Start date
Could you elaborate on this, please? I'm interested in how more flavorful or circumstantial traits might work.
Ramaster
Adventurer
I like to make up traits (the name and the fluff) and then asign them a mechanic that some trait already has.
For example, I made a particulary cruel character that is always looking for a fight, so he has this trait:
No Mercy
You are always looking for your next victim
+2 Initiative
He is also a sorcerer of the draconic bloodline but took a couple levels of some other class, so...
Dragon Heart
Your heart pumps arcane energy, your power never ceases to grow
+2 Caster level (maximum = hit dice)
Those are actual benefits of actual traits. Right there, I integrated story and mechanics and made my character a bit more unique (if that is possible...)
For example, I made a particulary cruel character that is always looking for a fight, so he has this trait:
No Mercy
You are always looking for your next victim
+2 Initiative
He is also a sorcerer of the draconic bloodline but took a couple levels of some other class, so...
Dragon Heart
Your heart pumps arcane energy, your power never ceases to grow
+2 Caster level (maximum = hit dice)
Those are actual benefits of actual traits. Right there, I integrated story and mechanics and made my character a bit more unique (if that is possible...)
tylermalan
First Post
I might be misinterpreting your question here, but I think he means that he prefers flavorful traits over mechanical traits, and not that he's looking for traits to be MORE flavorful than they already are.
SteelDraco
First Post
I think traits are a good place for things like contacts, allies, and organizational support. I've played lots of games that give you the option of paying for that kind of thing somehow but d20 games don't have the point-based options that allow for that kind of detail. Traits are a good mechanical way to include that sort of thing, as they're rarely worth a feat slot. It's also nice to use as a character's backstory and to round out skill lists.
The AP feats Paizo puts out are great for this, in my opinion. They're odd and conditional don't feel like you're just taking a crappy feat, like a lot of the generic ones do.
The AP feats Paizo puts out are great for this, in my opinion. They're odd and conditional don't feel like you're just taking a crappy feat, like a lot of the generic ones do.
GlassEye
Adventurer
Thanks for the responses. That opens traits up quite a bit, and in a direction that I hadn't previously considered. With less emphasis on the mechanical and more on the flavor they could even continue to be acquired through play and as a reward for certain events without drastically altering a character's level of power.
Systole
First Post
Question: In my Prodigy trait, I specifically ruled out Perception as a choice. What do you guys think about allowing Perception as a choice? What if the trait simply allowed Perception as a class skill, but did not give the extra +1?
I'm interested in hearing opinions. I'll throw an [MENTION=35909]StreamOfTheSky[/MENTION] out here as well.
I'm interested in hearing opinions. I'll throw an [MENTION=35909]StreamOfTheSky[/MENTION] out here as well.
SteelDraco
First Post
It's clearly one of the most powerful skills, but not something I think is so powerful as to cross it off the list allowed for Prodigy.
I don't know if I'd include the +1 for any skill, though, not just Perception. The +3 bonus from class skill is good as it is. Maybe add the +1 in if you later gain it as a class skill from class levels?
I don't know if I'd include the +1 for any skill, though, not just Perception. The +3 bonus from class skill is good as it is. Maybe add the +1 in if you later gain it as a class skill from class levels?
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
Perhaps you ought to consider 3pp traits.
Rite Publishing's Way of the Yakuza have a few outside the ordinary:
Lucky Tattoo
You were plagued by bad luck, until you purchased a 'lucky tattoo' from a mysterious traveling artist. On that day, your luck, indeed, seemed to change for the better.
Benefit: Once per game session when called upon to make a d20 roll, you may roll twice and choose the better result.
Yakuza Child
You were exposed to the yakuza at an early age, for your father was a member of the yakuza, constantly in debt, always drunk, and often angry. You learned to remain out of sight, but you were always listening as the gang was talking.
Benefit: You can speak a specific Yakuza Cant and gain a +2 bonus to stealth.
Rite Publishing's 101 Pirate and Privateer Traits contains, you guessed it, 101 traits especially suited to ocean going adventures. Here's just a sampling of the many variety of traits from this supplement.
At Ropes End
Rite Publishing's Way of the Yakuza have a few outside the ordinary:
Lucky Tattoo
You were plagued by bad luck, until you purchased a 'lucky tattoo' from a mysterious traveling artist. On that day, your luck, indeed, seemed to change for the better.
Benefit: Once per game session when called upon to make a d20 roll, you may roll twice and choose the better result.
Yakuza Child
You were exposed to the yakuza at an early age, for your father was a member of the yakuza, constantly in debt, always drunk, and often angry. You learned to remain out of sight, but you were always listening as the gang was talking.
Benefit: You can speak a specific Yakuza Cant and gain a +2 bonus to stealth.
Rite Publishing's 101 Pirate and Privateer Traits contains, you guessed it, 101 traits especially suited to ocean going adventures. Here's just a sampling of the many variety of traits from this supplement.
At Ropes End
You are well acquainted with the harsh discipline of life aboard ship having been flogged many times for your transgressions so that now you know how to prepare yourself to be inured to pain and abuse.
Benefit: Once per week as a swift action you can choose to gain damage reduction X/— for 1 minute where X is equal to your character level.
Benefit: Once per week as a swift action you can choose to gain damage reduction X/— for 1 minute where X is equal to your character level.
Child of the Bloody Captain
Your father or mother was an abusive pirate captain who mistreated you at every opportunity, yet you still strive for your parent’s approval with every deed, having learned to overcome many different kinds of physical abuse.
Benefit: Once per day you can ignore the effects of any one of the following conditions for 1 round per character level you possess: bleed, cowering, disabled, frightened, panicked, shaken, staggered, or unconscious.
Your father or mother was an abusive pirate captain who mistreated you at every opportunity, yet you still strive for your parent’s approval with every deed, having learned to overcome many different kinds of physical abuse.
Benefit: Once per day you can ignore the effects of any one of the following conditions for 1 round per character level you possess: bleed, cowering, disabled, frightened, panicked, shaken, staggered, or unconscious.
Raise from the Deep
In your past, you bound yourself by a geas/quest to perform a particular service to be named at a later date by some fell power.
Benefit: In exchange, you have been granted the power to raise a sunken ship from the sea and make it sea worthy again (but see below). Once it is raised, you are (and are recognized as) the captain of this ship. This requires a ritual that takes 30 minutes to perform. You can only perform this ceremony once, as it will never work for you again. Once raised, the ship is battered, and only you and your first mate know how to command it properly. When it is not under your command (or that of your first mate), all other creatures treat the ship as if it had the broken condition. This ship can only be sold for scrap.
In your past, you bound yourself by a geas/quest to perform a particular service to be named at a later date by some fell power.
Benefit: In exchange, you have been granted the power to raise a sunken ship from the sea and make it sea worthy again (but see below). Once it is raised, you are (and are recognized as) the captain of this ship. This requires a ritual that takes 30 minutes to perform. You can only perform this ceremony once, as it will never work for you again. Once raised, the ship is battered, and only you and your first mate know how to command it properly. When it is not under your command (or that of your first mate), all other creatures treat the ship as if it had the broken condition. This ship can only be sold for scrap.
So if you know where to look, there lots of good options for traits, other than the usual.
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StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
I'm pretty sure there's already a trait to get Perception as a class skill. If there is, then there's no reason to shy away from offering it yourself.
If there is not and I'm mistaken, then you are correct, it is the most powerful skill and I'd hestitate to give it out as a trait. That said, my ideal solution is to de-power the skill itself to make it less glaringly blatantly obvious a choice to gain as a class skill...
If there is not and I'm mistaken, then you are correct, it is the most powerful skill and I'd hestitate to give it out as a trait. That said, my ideal solution is to de-power the skill itself to make it less glaringly blatantly obvious a choice to gain as a class skill...
Systole
First Post
The trait is called Ears and Ears of the City and requires that the character worship Abadar. The trait gives class skill +1. I tend to think of that restriction as balancing the overpoweredness of the trait, but I could see it the other way as well.
I agree with you that the real solution is to de-power Perception. In my games, I use Perception only as a last resort. Every other skill gets priority if it can possibly apply.
I agree with you that the real solution is to de-power Perception. In my games, I use Perception only as a last resort. Every other skill gets priority if it can possibly apply.
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