Hitters, Grifters, and Thieves, Oh My!
It’s Crime Week this week at Necromancers of the Northwest, and that means that today’s feats are … not precisely oriented towards law-abiding citizens. Now, crime is its own entire genre, when it comes to movies and television, but there’s no reason that fantasy characters can’t get involved in daring heists and back-stabbing schemes. And when I think of daring heists and backstabbing schemes, one of the things that comes to my mind is the TV show Leverage, which makes quite a big deal about constructing a team of specialists, each of whom covers a different area. In the show, there are four main roles (well, technically five, but you try playing a “mastermind” at the table and see how long your group lets you get away with it): the grifter, the thief, the hacker, and the hitter. It is from these four roles that today’s feats have been drawn (although the “hacker” got adjusted a bit to fit a more fantasy-oriented setting, where computers don’t exist). I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Dirty Fighting Specialist
You know how to fight dirty, and aren’t afraid to do so.
Prerequisite: Greater Dirty Trick.
Benefit: You can reduce the length of the dirty trick’s effects in order to increase their severity: for every 2 rounds by which you reduce the duration of the effect, you can impose an additional condition on the target. All conditions added in this way are removed by a single standard action. This decision must be made when the dirty trick combat maneuver is performed, after rolling to determine the duration of the effect. It cannot be made later. If this would reduce the duration to less than 1 round, you cannot use this ability.
Additionally, whenever you successfully perform a dirty trick combat maneuver, if the result of your combat maneuver check exceeded the target’s CMD by 5 or more, you may choose to inflict one of the following conditions, instead of the normal options: confused, deafened, or fatigued.
Size Them Up
You know how to size up your targets at a glance, and adjust your approach accordingly.
Prerequisite: Bluff or Diplomacy 5 ranks.
Benefit: Whenever you meet someone for the first time, you may make a Sense Motive check (DC 20). This functions as the hunch use of the Sense Motive skill, but, in addition to the normal benefits, if the check is successful, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks made against that creature for the next 5 minutes.
Skillful Lockpick
You have a knack for opening locks, and, with enough time, can get past nearly anything.
Prerequisite: Disable Device 5 ranks.
Benefit: Even when you fail a Disable Device check made to open a lock, you make progress that you can use to eventually open it. If the result of your Disable Device check was no more than 10 lower than the DC, you gain a +2 competence bonus on any Disable Device checks made to open the same lock on the following round. If the result of your Disable Device check was no more than 5 lower than the DC, the bonus is +4, instead. If you do not attempt to open the lock again on the following round, the bonuses are wasted.
Squeeze Mastery
You are adept at fighting while in claustrophobic environments.
Prerequisite: Escape Artist 5 ranks.
Benefit: You do not suffer the normal penalties for squeezing through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Further, you can squeeze through or into spaces that are at least one-quarter as wide as your normal space, but if they are less than half as wide as your normal space, you suffer the normal squeezing penalties while doing so (-4 to attack rolls and AC, each square of movement counts as 2 squares). Finally, you gain a +5 bonus on Escape Artist checks made to fit through a tight space (but not other Escape Artist checks).