Post/Author/DateTime	Post
billybob79 10-10-04, 04:04 PM	Howdy I thought about to allow my players to choose one of those +2 bonus to two skills Feats for free. I think they are not worth it to spend a feat-slot but would be great to help develop the charecter more. Of course they will have to do something therefore, I thought about writing a short (1 page) summary about their character, which mentions the feat in his bio.
ieattrollsforbreakfast 10-10-04, 04:26 PM	I dont see any real problem in that. It will increase the power of the characters slightly, but not enough to worry about it. And hey, if it encourages your players to role play and use their background, then what harm can it do?
Setherial 10-10-04, 04:28 PM	Yeah they are a bit weak to spend a valuable feat slot on, I never saw anyone actually take them. Feats like these can be given as rewards by the DM however when the players go trough some sort of training program or something. Always cool to give something other then gold and items. Some sort of Guild background is also great to give the feat as part of the characters former training.
Brastan 10-10-04, 05:09 PM	Agreed, if all of your PCs get one free and you are willing to except any increase in ability. The point of these feats are to increase a set of skills that are supposed to work well together. Although specific, if you want your character to have every edge when bluffing, or searching, or hiding its good to take the appropriated +2 Skill feat and a Skill Focus or two. Its all about the game you run in. Most combat orientated games do not make good use of them, but more social settings with story awards find them more useful. What Eberron style of game are you running?
billybob79 10-10-04, 05:36 PM	a good mix i think/hope: equal parts of fighting, riddles, quests, interaction and yes, i wanted every player to have get one
Bubba333 10-10-04, 06:40 PM	I think every 1st Level character should be able to pick one of those Feats for free. That way that thief can take "Nimble Fingers" and such. Great idead guys!
Caul 10-10-04, 07:07 PM	I know it was dropped with the coming of the PGtF, but I really liked how players that created characters to fit their background and homeland were rewarded in the FRCS, and this is an idea that I continue to use now that I play Eberron. So long as the player takes a suggested class from the region that their character comes from (as listed on pages 24-27 in the ECS), I grant them the following: A bonus feat that they can select from those suggested by their region, Skill Focus in one of their region's suggested skills, or one that is approved by me. They must qualify for the feat though. An item of some sort, usually a masterwork weapon or piece of armor, but sometimes others (ex. a Valenar riding horse for a Valenar ranger) that the player can choose as important to their character. Sometimes, particularly in the case of weapons and armor, these may become leveled magic items, as I dislike how it is the common thing to do in D&D to constantly upgrade such equipment and just dump used items. The item that they recieve will never be magic (at least at first) and usually does not cost more than 500 gp. I think that this gives more life to the characters, allowing them to gain a feat that they might never have taken and an item that they identify with their character (as is common with characters in literature). Anyone think that this is too unbalancing?
tete 10-12-04, 04:59 AM	Best method IMO is to use a point buy then give extra points (1-4) for a good back story and start them at level 3-5 with 0 XP. Then do some one on ones (when you get the time, mabey someone will be gone that week) with the PC playing their backstory (and giving them the XP for it) This makes a much more character driven campaign and allows you to start the group as a group without the "you look honorable and trustworthy" thing. I also let the PCs buy feats with their starting points at 2pts per feat. Another tip Ive found for getting characters in game mode from the start is a james bond opening, start out with some action (this does not have to be combat) and let them know how they got themselves into this spot as the game progresses. Its a little more TV serialish but so is Eberron.
CzarGarrett 10-12-04, 11:49 AM	I've done stuff like that before. The little +2 bonus feats are good for flavor.
Xeraph 10-12-04, 02:25 PM	In my RPG ring we sometimes, depending on campaign, start of game with an extra 10 skill points at first level. These points are used for personality building and reflects the characters life. They may be class or cross class skills depending on the starting class of the character. This houserule made our common fighter brute more playable, he couldnt depend on his skills, but he was more like a person, not needin to spend his 4 - 8 starting skill points on jump and climb.. now he could afford to get some proffession and craft skills, maybe even some cross class knowledge skills. Even with the other classes this houserule worked fine. Now, in my new Eberron campaign, all the PCs are intelligent characters, which i stated from the beginning would be helpful, cause it would be filled with intriques and plots, and a character with low mental stats would not have any fun. So we didnt use the 10 skill point houserule. Me, being a nice DM to start of with, gave each of them a extra feat, feats i chose. This has worked out aswell, a little biggering, but you all know PCs right? :) Another houserule is that as a Feat, a character can gain a "Free Class Skill", lets say a character liked the Fighter class, but felt like it held him from being a real swashbuckling type (im not a big fan of the CW Swashbuckler core class) He could spend one or two of his feats to, forever, gain Tumble and Balance as class skills. Nobody has used this yet, but the possibility is there. It all comes down to one thing, when your messing with these things, if the characters are balanced with each other. Cause you can always scale your adventure to give them challange... right? ;)