Feats

Planar Handbook Feats

ACHERON FLURRY [GENERAL]

You master the secret technique developed by Acheron- native special forces of limiting a foe’s options in hand-to- hand combat.

Prerequisites: Dex 15, Wis 15, Improved Unarmed Strike, Knowledge (the planes) 4 ranks.

Benefit: During your turn, designate an opponent within reach to whom you have dealt damage during this encounter using an unarmed strike. You can spend a standard action to confound and distract your chosen foe with a constant flood of distracting mock attacks. While doing this leaves you open to attacks (applying a –2 penalty to your Armor Class), your foe may take only a single standard action or move action on his next turn. If you move away (or are otherwise no longer conscious and adjacent to your foe) before your chosen foe’s next turn, he may act normally.

AIR HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Air. You share some of your ancestors’ natural agility and grace.

Benefit: Your fly speed increases by 30 feet (up to a maximum increase equal to your normal fly speed). If you don’t have a fly speed as a racial ability, this benefit has no effect. You also gain a +2 bonus on Balance and Jump checks when carrying a light load or no load and wearing light armor or no armor.

ANARCHIC HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the planes of chaos. You share some of your ancestors’ natural resistance to effects that would reshape your form, and you are resistant to the magic of lawful foes.

Prerequisite: Nonlawful alignment.

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against polymorph or petrification effects. You also gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against spells or other effects created by lawful creatures.

AXIOMATIC HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the planes of law. You share some of your ancestors’ natural resistance to charms, and you are resistant to the magic of chaotic foes.

Prerequisite: Nonchaotic alignment.

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on Will saving throws against enchantment (charm) spells and effects. You also gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against spells or other effects created by chaotic creatures.

CELESTIAL HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Upper Planes. You share some of your ancestors’ natural resistance to disease, and you are resistant to the magic of evil foes.

Prerequisite: Nonevil alignment.

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on Fortitude saving throws against disease. You also gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against spells or other effects created by evil creatures.

CELESTIAL SUMMONING SPECIALIST [GENERAL]

You can select from a larger number of options when summoning good creatures.

Prerequisites: Nonevil alignment, Knowledge (the planes) 2 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, ability to cast any summon monster spell.

Benefit: Add one good-aligned creature to the list of creatures for each summon monster spell that you can cast. (Work with the DM to select creatures appropriate to the spell’s list of summonable creatures). Each time you gain the ability to cast a new summon monster spell, you may add one good-aligned creature to the list.

Normal:Without this feat, adding a creature to your summoning list requires you to remove one that is already on the list.

EARTH HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Earth. You share some of your ancestors’ natural stability and physical power.

Benefit: Your stability grants you a +4 bonus on checks to avoid being bull rushed or tripped while standing on the ground. This bonus stacks with the benefits of similar effects, such as a dwarf’s stability. You also gain a +1 bonus on weapon damage rolls if both you and your foe touch the ground.

ELEMENTAL SPELLCASTING[GENERAL]

Choose an element (air, earth, fire, or water). You cast spells with that descriptor more effectively than normal.

Prerequisite: Knowledge (the planes) 2 ranks.

Benefit: You cast spells with the chosen descriptor at +1 caster level.

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take this feat, it applies to a new element.

FIENDISH HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Lower Planes. You share some of your ancestors’ natural resistance to poison, and you are resistant to the magic of good foes.

Prerequisite: Nongood alignment.

Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on Fortitude saving throws against poison. You also gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against spells or other effects created by good creatures.

FIENDISH SUMMONING SPECIALIST[GENERAL]

You can select from a larger number of options when summoning evil creatures.

Prerequisites: Nongood alignment, Knowledge (the planes) 2 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, ability to cast any summon monster spell.

Benefit: Add one evil-aligned creature to the list of creatures for each summon monster spell that you can cast. (Work with the DM to select creatures appropriate to the spell’s list of summonable creatures). Each time you gain the ability to cast a new summon monster spell, you may add one evil-aligned creature to the list.

Normal:Without this feat, adding a creature to your summoning list requires you to remove one that is already on the list.

FIRE HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Fire. You share some of your ancestors’ natural reaction speed, and your natural attacks are red-hot. Benefits: You gain a +1 bonus on initiative checks. In addition, your unarmed attacks and natural weapons deal an extra 1 point of fire damage.

IMPROVED ELEMENTAL HERITAGE[HERITAGE]

You have manifested an even stronger tie to your elemental ancestor, resulting in a minor resistance to elemental effects.

Prerequisite: Air Heritage, Earth Heritage, Fire Heritage, or Water Heritage.

Benefit: You gain resistance 5 to a specific type of energy, based on your elemental heritage: acid (earth), cold (water), electricity (air), or fire (fire). You also gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells with the descriptor that matches your chosen elemental heritage (air, earth, fire, or water).

IMPROVED OUTER PLANAR HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

Your ancestral tie to the Outer Planes manifests as an ability to deal damage with your natural attacks as if they matched the alignment of your ancestors.

Prerequisite: Anarchic Heritage, Axiomatic Heritage, Celestial Heritage, or Fiendish Heritage.

Benefit: Your unarmed attacks and natural weapons (but not the weapons you wield) are treated as having an alignment for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. The alignment depends on the heritage feat you used to qualify for this feat: chaotic (Anarchic Heritage), evil (Fiendish Heritage), good (Celestial Heritage), or lawful (Axiomatic Heritage).

NATURAL HEAVYWEIGHT[HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to a plane of heavy gravity. On planes with normal gravity, you feel light and buoyant.

Benefit: Your carrying capacity is doubled. Double the values given in Table 9–1, page 162 of the Player’s Handbook, to determine what your light, medium, and heavy loads are. On a plane with normal gravity, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on Climb and Jump checks, but you also take a –2 penalty on Balance, Ride, Swim, and Tumble checks. On a plane with light gravity, these bonuses and penalties are doubled (and replace the normal bonuses and penalties on these skill checks).

NERAPH CHARGE [GENERAL]

You master the Limbo-native neraph martial art of motion camouflage when you charge a foe.

Prerequisites:Wis 15, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks.

Benefit: You can charge in such a way as to fool your foe into believing that you are not moving closer, or moving closer too slowly to attack effectively. A victim of your Neraph Charge attack may not apply its Dexterity bonus to its Armor Class.

All conditions that pertain when a foe cannot apply his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class also pertain to the Neraph Charge attack, if any (for instance, a sneak attack also could be made with this attack if you can make such an attack). Once you have used a Neraph Charge attack against an enemy (regardless of the attack’s success), any later attempts to use Neraph Charge against that enemy in the same encounter automatically fail. Once a foe sees the attack in action against himself, the foe can discern it for what it is for the duration of that combat.

Special: Neraph Charge has no effect against foes who can’t see you.

NERAPH THROW [GENERAL]

You master the Limbo-native neraph martial art of motion camouflage for your thrown weapons.

Prerequisites: Dex 15, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks.

Benefit: You can throw a weapon in such a way as to fool your foe into believing that the thrown weapon is not moving closer, or moving closer too slowly to be an effective attack. A victim of your Neraph Throw attack may not apply its Dexterity bonus to its Armor Class.

All conditions that pertain when a foe cannot apply his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class also pertain to the Neraph Throw attack, if any (for instance, a sneak attack also could be made with this attack if you can make such an attack). Once you have used a Neraph Throw attack against an enemy (regardless of the attack’s success), any later attempts to use Neraph Throw against that enemy in the same encounter automatically fail. Once a foe sees the attack in action against himself, the foe can discern it for what it is for the duration of that combat.

Special: Neraph Throw has no effect against foes who can’t see you.

NONVERBAL SPELL [GENERAL]

You can cast spells that have verbal components without actually verbalizing the words.

Benefit: You can cast spells with verbal components without needing to utter the actual verbal components. You still make noise when casting such a spell (which may be anything from recognizable speech to elaborate song to simple growls), but the noise is unrecognizable as a verbal spell component. (A silence spell still would prevent you from completing the spell, for example).

Spells without verbal components are not affected. This feat is most beneficial to races incapable of speech in the traditional sense, but still capable of communication. However, it also can prove helpful to characters wishing to disguise the verbal components of their spells.

PERSONAL TOUCHSTONE[GENERAL]

You draw more power from one of the planar touchstone locations to which you have forged a link.

Prerequisites: Planar Touchstone, a portable object of at least 250 gp value native to a chosen planar touchstone plane, Knowledge (the planes) 8 ranks.

Benefit: Choose any planar touchstone for which you have previously fulfilled the higher-order recharge condition (see page 154); this is now your personal touch stone. Each time you visit your touchstone from now on, you gain double the number of uses of the higher-order ability when you fulfill the recharge condition.

You may continue to visit other touchstone sites and gain the standard number of higher-order uses with each visit to those sites (and you lose the higher-order uses left unused at your personal site, unless you have taken Planar Touchstone enough times to allow you to keep the higher- order uses of more than one planar touch stone simultaneously).

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take this feat, it applies to a new planar touchstone.

PLANAR FAMILIAR [GENERAL]

When you are ready and able to acquire a new familiar, you may choose one of several nonstandard familiars.

Prerequisite: Ability to ac quire a new familiar, compatible alignment, sufficient arcane spellcaster level, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks.

Benefit:When choosing a familiar, you may add the following creatures to your list of options. You may choose a familiar with an alignment up to one step away from yours on each of the alignment axes (lawful- chaotic and good-evil). The improved familiar is magically linked to its master in the same way as a normal familiar. The familiar uses the basic statistics for a creature of its kind, as given in the Monster Manual or this book, except as noted below.

Hit Dice: For effects that depend upon Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal Hit Dice total, whichever is higher.

Hit Points: Use one-half the master’s total or the familiar’s normal total, whichever is higher.

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus or the familiar’s, whichever is better.

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use the master’s base save bonus (as calculated from his character level) or the familiar’s, whichever is better.

Familiar Special Abilities: Use the second table in the Familiars sidebar, page 53 of the Player’s Handbook, to determine additional abilities, just as you would for a normal familiar. With the exception of anarchic, axiomatic, celestial, and fiendish animals, planar familiars do not grant their masters any of the benefits that appear on the first table in that sidebar.

PLANAR TOUCHSTONE [GENERAL]

Forge a link between you and power-rich planar locations, referred to as planar touchstones (see Planar Touchstones, page 153).

Prerequisite: Portable object of at least 250 gp value native to any designated planar touchstone site, Knowledge (the planes) 8 ranks.

Benefit: Choose any site designated as a planar touchstone for which you also possess an object native to that location, as noted in this feat’s prerequisite. When this feat is first taken, forging a link between yourself and a chosen planar touchstone takes 24 hours of uninterrupted concentration. To forge a link, you must spend 10 experience points and expend the object described in this feat’s prerequisite. Once the link is forged, you gain the base ability described for that touchstone. If you physically visit the planar location once you’ve forged a link, you also gain a higher-order ability with a limited number of uses, as described for that planar touchstone. You may repeatedly visit the planar touchstone, each time recharging your usages of the higher-order ability. Usages of a higher-order ability do not stack, so visiting your planar touchstone prior to using up any of your higher-order usages confers no additional benefit.

Once you’ve established a link with one planar touchstone site by taking this feat, you may also freely visit other planar touchstones. When you do so and fulfill the higher-order ability’s recharge condition for the alternate site, you immediately gain the base ability of the new planar touchstone site and lose the base ability of the previous site. You also lose any remaining uses of the higher-order ability of your previously selected site (if any), and instead gain the specified number of higher-order ability uses appropriate to the new site.

In this way, you can “unplug” from one site and “plug in” to a new planar touchstone site as often as you desire. Thus, after expending the raw materials and experience points for making your first connection, making subsequent connections with different sites is as easy as fulfilling the higher-order recharge condition.

Special: You can take this feat more than once. Each time, you gain the base ability to retain one more planar touchstone location in addition to your previous ability. You also gain the capacity to retain uses of one more planar touchstone’s higher-order ability. Thus, you could retain the base abilities for both the Breaching Obelisk and Echolost (planar touchstone locations described in Chapter 7), as well as both sites’ higher-order uses, simultaneously.

If you then visit a third planar touchstone and fulfill its recharge condition, unless you have taken this feat three times, you must choose which of your two previous touchstone site abilities to lose when you gain the abilities of the third touchstone site.

SHADOW HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Plane of Shadow. You share some of your ancestors’ natural stealth, but only in areas of dim or no illumination. Benefits: You gain a +3 bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks when in an area of darkness or shadowy illumination.

STALWART PLANAR ALLY[GENERAL]

The allies you summon from a specific plane are tougher than normal.

Prerequisites: Cha 13, Spellcraft 5 ranks, Planar Touchstone.

Benefit:When you use a spell or spell-like ability to summon a creature native to a plane that has a planar touchstone site to which you have forged a link (see the Planar Touchstone feat), you imbue the creature with exceptional resilience. The creature gains a +4 bonus to its Armor Class and on saving throws for the duration of the summoning effect. Furthermore, the duration of the summoning effect that brought the creature is doubled. (Effects with a duration of concentration, instantaneous, or permanent are not affected).

For example, a cleric who has used his Planar Touchstone feat to forge a link between himself and Empyrea Mere (a touchstone located on the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia) grants these bonuses to any creature he summons from Celestia, such as a hound archon.

Special: If a creature’s indicated environment doesn’t specify a particular home plane, but rather a group of related planes (such as “any good-aligned plane”), you may choose to summon a creature of that kind that is native to your chosen plane and thus apply the feat’s effect normally. However, no component of the alignment of the creature to be summoned may be opposed to any alignment traits of your chosen plane for the feat to work.

For instance, the cleric in the example above could apply the feat’s effect to a summoned celestial black bear (lawful good) or a celestial bison (neutral good), since celestial creatures have an environment of “any good-aligned plane”. He couldn’t apply it to a summoned celestial lion (chaotic good), since the lion’s alignment has at least one component (chaotic) that is opposed to the alignment traits of the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia (lawful).

WATER HERITAGE [HERITAGE]

You are descended from creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Water. You share some of your ancestors’ natural aquatic talents. Benefits: You gain a swim speed of 20 feet, or your existing swim speed increases by 20 feet. Also, you gain a +4 bonus on Constitution checks made to hold your breath.

Special: A creature with a swim speed also gains a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks made to perform some special action or avoid a hazard, and can take 10 on a Swim check even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.