Feats of the Skilled,
Part III
Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting edition of Extraordinary Feats, where we bring you an ever-expanding list of new and exciting feats each week to outfit your characters. This week we’ll be continuing a series of articles relating to feats that expand the use of skills. Those of you who read the last article will no doubt remember that we had made it through an array of Knowledges, and so you might be thinking that we’re going to be starting with Linguistics today, and you would be right.
Expert Communicator
You have made a study of language itself as well as of the tongues of many a land and people.
Prerequisites: Linguistics 1 rank.
Benefit: By observing the speech patterns of another creature and comparing them to the speech patterns of languages with which you are familiar, you can discern certain commonalities that make communication possible. This allows you to accomplish a number of different things. Firstly, you can gain a hint of the language being spoken, and decipher some words, perhaps giving you insight into what is being said. This requires that you hear or observe the writing of an unfamiliar language as well as a successful Linguistics check with a base DC of 25. The difficulty of this check might be modified by additional circumstances, as outlined on the following table. A failure on this check does not prohibit the character from trying again, but does impose a cumulative -2 penalty on the roll until you gain a new rank in Linguistics. Success on this check is required for further use of this feat.
Once you have succeeded on the above check, you can attempt to establish a baseline of communication with a creature that is speaking the observed language. This might entail learning a smattering of each other’s speech, using words combined with gestures to communicate in a primitive fashion, or even constructing a translated alphabet or similar common reference. The DC of this check, as well as the time required, is outlined on the table below.
Finally, because of his familiarity with languages, a character with this feat recives a +1 bonus on all Charisma-based skill checks dependant on verbal communication in a language he speaks.
Aim
You take a moment to observe your foe and judge the best place to strike before making an attack.
Prerequisites: Perception 1 rank.
Benefit: As a swift action, you can take aim at a target in order to gain a bonus on the next attack roll you make against that creature this round. When you aim at a creature, you must make a special Perception check with a DC equal to the target’s AC. If you succeed, you gain a +1 bonus on the next attack roll you make against that target this round. For each 5 points by which your check exceeds the DC, this bonus is increased by +1. You must be able to see a creature in order to use this feat against it.
Practical Performance
You are skilled at performing and can use that skill to enhance your other pursuits.
Prerequisites: Perform 1 rank.
Benefit: You may make an appropriate Perform check to enhance a skill check as a free action made when you make the skill check. The DC for this check is equal to the DC of the skill check you are attempting to enhance, or 20 if no specific DC is required. If you succeed on this Perform check, you gain a +2 bonus on the associated skill roll. For every 5 points by which you exceed the DC, this bonus increases by an additional +1. The perform skills and the skills they are associated with are as follows: act (Bluff, Disguise), comedy (Bluff, Intimidate), dance (Acrobatics, Fly), keyboard instruments (Diplomacy, Intimidate), oratory (Diplomacy, Sense Motive), percussion instruments (Handle Animal, Intimidate), sing (Bluff, Sense Motive), string instruments (Bluff, Diplomacy), and wind instruments (Diplomacy, Handle Animal).
Great Professional
You are truly a master of your profession and can do in a day what it takes a week for lesser men to do.
Prerequisites: Profession 1 rank.
Benefit: By spending one full day working, you can attempt to accomplish a week’s worth of work. This requires a special Profession check, which results in you earning an amount of gold equal to ½ the check result.
So, next we would ordinarily be making a feat for the Ride skill. However, as the Ride skill was the inspiration for the articles, plainly a good feat already exists for this (see the Mounted Combat feat in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.). For those of you interested in more feats relating to mounted combat and the Ride skill, you can get some great ones by looking at the following articles: Mounted Feats, Mounted Mastery, and Advanced Mounted Feats.
Sense Danger
You always know when trouble’s coming.
Prerequisites: Sense Motive 1 rank.
Benefit: Whenever you get a hunch about an individual, you may make a special Sense Motive check with a DC equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice. If you succeed the check, you get a feeling of whether or not interacting with this person will be good or bad. This functions as the spell augury, except that there is always a 100% chance of receiving an answer.