Feats of the Skilled
Hello everyone, and welcome to another extraordinary edition of Extraordinary Feats, where we bring you the best in new feats to outfit your characters, be they heroic, villainous, or just plain miscellaneous in style. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about mounted comba- wait, where are you going? Come back! I promise this article won’t actually have anything to do with fighting on horseback, or dragonback, or even from the backs of more exotic and fantastic creatures of which I can only dream. No, what I mean to say is that I’ve been thinking a lot about Mounted Combat, the feat. Mounted Combat is a feat which lets you do something cool with a skill, and was the inspiration for this article, where I will attempt to provide you with similar feats for skills (other than Ride). Fans of skill tricks and of skills in general, I will keep you waiting no more. In the famous words championing something awful: Here we go!
Aerial Evasion (Combat)
Your skill at flying means that while you’re in the air, few creatures can outmaneuver you.
Prerequisite: Fly 1 rank.
Benefit: As long as you are currently flying at least 10 feet above the ground, when a combat maneuver is used against you, you may make a special Fly check, adding the result to your CMD against that maneuver. You may only use this ability once per round.
Backflip
You leap gracefully through the air, turning and twisting in a stunning feat of aerial acrobatics.
Prerequisite: Acrobatics 1 rank.
Benefit: As a swift action, you may make an Acrobatics check to make a standing aerial somersault that carries you through the air and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The DC for this check is equal to twice the number of feet to be jumped (for example, it would be DC 10 for a 5-foot backflip, DC 20 for a 10-foot backflip, and DC 30 for a 15-foot backflip, etc.). You may not travel more than your movement speed in this fashion. You may not use Backflip more than once in a given round. If you fail this check, you fall prone, landing 5 feet short of your target square for every 10 points (rounded up) by which you failed to meet the DC. If that square is occupied, you suffer 1d6 points of damage and land in an adjacent unoccupied square.
Special: You may not take a 5-foot step in any round you use Backflip.
Double Bluff
You are adept at convincing others that your ability to deceive them is dramatically less than it actually is, making it easy to bluff them when it counts.
Prerequisite: Bluff 1 rank.
Benefit: You can make a special Bluff check against a target, who opposes it with a Sense Motive check. If you succeed in this check, the target believes that you are inept at deceit and are incapable of lying to them. This overconfidence causes all your lies to be more believable, increasing their believability by one step. See the Bluff skill in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information. If you fail this check, the target becomes aware of what you are trying to do and becomes suspicious of everything you say, decreasing the believability of your lies by one step. This process takes one minute and cannot be used on a single individual more than once per day. The effects of this ability do not stack, but fade if you do not make another successful check against the target in this way within one week.
Escape Grasp (Combat)
Your skill at escaping can get you out of the clutches even of creatures who have not caught you yet.
Prerequisite: Escape Artist 1 rank.
Benefit: Once per round, whenever you would be subject to a melee touch attack, you may choose to make a special Escape Artist check, with a DC equal to the attacking creature’s attack roll. If successful, you negate any effect of the attack, exactly as though the attack had missed. You must declare that you are using this ability before determining whether or not the attack would hit you normally. Further, dodging in this way leaves you off-balance, and you suffer a -2 penalty to AC until the beginning of your next turn.
Mimicry
You are practiced at replicating voices and speech patterns and can produce impressions that would fool even close friends of the subject.
Prerequisite: Disguise 1 rank.
Benefit: You may make a Disguise check to mimic the voice and manner of speech of any creature for 1 minute, provided you have heard that creature speak for at least 1 minute and you are fluent in that creature’s language. You gain a +1 bonus to this check for each continuous minute you speak in this fashion, to a maximum of a +5 bonus. This Disguise check is opposed by Perception. Creatures who can see you and do not believe you to be the subject gain a +2 bonus on their Perception check. Creatures who believe you are the subject suffer a -2 penalty on their Perception check.
Plead
You are especially adept at convincing others that they don’t want to do you harm.
Prerequisite: Diplomacy 1 rank.
Benefit: As a standard action, you may plead with a creature, making a special Diplomacy check with a DC equal to 10 + the target’s base attack bonus + the target’s Wisdom bonus; if the target has ranks in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + the target’s base attack bonus + the target’s ranks in Sense Motive (if that would be higher). If you succeed on the check, the next attack the target would make against you suffers a penalty equal to your Charisma bonus. The target must be able to see and hear you for this ability to be effective. Multiple instances of this ability are not cumulative.
Recycle Goods
You never let goods go to waste.
Prerequisite: Craft (any) 1 rank.
Benefit: By spending 1 hour per 1,000 gp of the cost of an item (rounded up), you can break it down into raw material components. This requires you succeed on the appropriate Craft check required to make a week’s progress in creating the item, and compensates you with raw components equal to that item’s cost, which can be used to craft similar items. Magic items can be broken down in this way, but the item or items to be created must carry at least one special property that the original item had.
Sabotage (Combat)
You are an expert at causing mechanical things to suddenly cease functioning.
Prerequisite: Disable Device 1 rank.
Benefit: As a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, you can attempt to sabotage a construct. This ability requires a melee touch attack that, if successful, allows you to make a special Disable Device check to damage the creature. This damage is equal to the result of your Disable Device check and overcomes all damage reduction the creature might possess.
Scholarly Appraisal
By looking at the markings and styling of an item and comparing it to those in the records, you can learn the secrets of its past.
Prerequisite: Appraise 1 rank.
Benefit: You may use the Appraise skill on any item whose value you have accurately determined to learn about that item’s history. This process typically takes 1 full day of research, but may take longer or shorter depending on the fame and reputation of the item. This ability essentially functions like the spell legend lore, except that it only functions for items. In order to use this ability, you must succeed on an Appraise check with a DC equal to 20 + the caster level of the item to be appraised in this fashion. If the item does not have a caster level (such as because it is not magic), treat its caster level as 0.
Spider’s Defense (Combat)
You can scramble out of the way of oncoming attacks while climbing, much the same way a spider can.
Prerequisite: Climb 1 rank.
Benefit: Once per round, whenever you are the target of an attack while climbing, you may choose to make a special Climb check with a DC equal to the attacking creature’s attack roll. If successful, the attack misses you. Using this ability also requires you make an additional Climb check against the surface you are climbing, as you scramble for new hand- and footholds; if you fail this check, you lose your grip and fall. You must choose to use this ability before learning whether the attack will hit or not.