[D&D 3E] Social Feats

[pyrephox]

In the third edition core rules, the social types get no love when it comes to feats, and with two classes relying on Charisma as their primary spellcasting stat, that's pretty sad. Add in Rogues with their class social skills and uber skill points, and the social guys deserve a few feats devoted to them. So, I scribbled up some.



The last feat is primarily meant for characters who wish to have a bit of fey, celestial, or draconic blood in their backgrounds, which have come out unexpectedly. All of these are for high Charisma, high-attractiveness characters.

Sex Appeal (No Prereqs): The character gains a +2 modifier to all social rolls dealing with people who would normally find the character attractive. The DM can feel free to reduce the modifier to +1 for races with similar, but not exact, standards of beauty to the PC's own, or dispense with it entirely for races that have radically different standards.

Beauty's Shield (Prereqs: Sex Appeal, Chr 13+): The character's features make others reluctant to strike at them, and interfere with defending against them. Those who would normally be attracted to the character must make all attack and defense rolls at a -1 penalty, as long as they can percieve the character's features. Spells are not affected.

Stunning Features (Prereqs: Sex Appeal, Beauty's Shield, Chr 17+): The PC's heritage shines through with supernatural allure. Anyone, whether they would normally be attracted by the PC or not, who sees their true features or body exposed must make a Will save at DC 20, or be paralyzed for 1d4 rounds. This feat cannot be shut down voluntarily, and counts as a supernatural ability. Once a person successfully resists the stun, they are not affected by it again, however if they continue to fail, then they must roll each new time they come in contact with the character after a physical seperation.





These feats have value for a wide variety of PC types, although only those with a strong social concentration are likely to pursue them very far. Bards, Rogues, and Sorcerers, especially, find these feats of use when they attempt political actions.

Inscrutible (No prereqs): A PC with this feat has a face that is naturally hard to read. The PC recieves a +1 to all Bluff checks, while anyone attempting to Sense Motive on the PC recieves a -1 penalty.

Silver Tongue (Prereq: Int 13+): Your character has studied the nuances of language and communication, and can now apply that gift to their attempts to persuade. The PC adds their Int modifier as a bonus to all social rolls involving communication in a known language.

Indomitable (Prereq: Inscrutible, Wis 13+): A PC with this feat has learned to turn his talent for deception into a shield against magical commands, slipping free of such with mental acrobatics. They gain a +2 to Will saving throws against effects meant to charm or command them.

Social Mask (Prereq: Inscrutible, Indomitable, Chr 15+): A PC with this feat has perfected his social mask, and none but the most wise and perceptive of characters can pierce it. Sense Motive will no longer give any information against this character except what he wishes, and he gains a Will saving throw against spells and spell-like abilities meant to detect alignment or truth. The saving throw's DC is 15 + spellcaster's level + spellcaster's relevant modifier. This feat counts as an extraordinary ability.

Comments

[edg.livejournal.com]

Hm! I am intrigued. These certainly seem interesting, although I can't judge the play balance at the moment. :)

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

I don't /think/ they should be much of a problem as far as play balance goes. Everyone but humans isn't going to get access to the most powerful ones until level 8, at least, and that's only if they spend all their feat slots on social stuff, which means no Expertise, no Combat Casting or Combat Reflexes, etc. They will be very useful for social characters, but I don't think terribly more so than Power Attack or Improved Two Weapon Fighting or Brew Potion, etc.