Zodiac Birth Feats [Archive] - Wizards Community

Zodiac Birth Feats [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Darth Sephiroth
03-28-07, 06:20 PM I was looking around on Realms Help and noticed the Birth feats section recently and had lunch at a local Chinese place which led me to think about making Birth feats for the chinese zodiac for a game. These are all 1st level only feats and each character can only have one of them. I'm making them about on par with the Regional feats.

Chinese Zodiac Birth Feats
Birth feats may only be taken at 1st level, each character may only have 1 Birth feat.
Rat [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rat.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Ox [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Ox.
Benefit: Your Strength and Constitution scores are each treated as 4 higher for the purposes of carrying, lifting, and resisting fatigue.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Tiger [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rabbit
Benefit: You gain a +3 to Initiative and Intimidate checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Rabbit [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rabbit.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all saves.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Dragon [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Dragon.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and you gain a +2 increase to your Leadership score.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Snake [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Snake
Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Listen and Spot checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Horse [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Horse.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and may use Charm Person as a spell like ability 1/day at a caster level equal to your HD
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Sheep [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Sheep.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Monkey [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Tiger
Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Knowledge checks. Further you may select any 1 Knowledge skill as a class skill.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Rooster [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rooster.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to all Craft and Knowledge checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Dog [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Dog.
Benefit: You may use Discern Lies as a Spell Like ability 2/day at a caster level equal to your HD
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Boar [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Boar
Benefit: You gain a +2 to all saves against fear. You may cast Remove Fear as a spell like ability of a caster level equal to your HD. If you gain immunity to fear, you may use Remove Fear 3/day
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.
jarzium
03-28-07, 09:54 PM very interesting!!!
quite balance as well, i would use it if im in an eastern setting.
narukagami
03-28-07, 10:05 PM quite balance as well I have to disagree, the balance of these feats are very... well, off balance. Some of them only give skill bonuses while others give bonuses to initiative, saves, and even grant spell like abilities? The ones that give the latter mentioned bonuses are far more powerful and desirable than the former. Some of them are plain, while others are just plain powerful.
On another side of that, a +3 bonus seems a bit off whack compared to similar feats. The standard for most multi-skill boosters is +2.

I like the idea, but the execution needs work.
Darth Sephiroth
03-28-07, 10:05 PM I based most of the abilities off of the little blurbs on the placemat so if anyone sees a better choice for any of them, I'm open to options.
narukagami
03-28-07, 10:14 PM I'd also like to add that since the "Chinese zodiac", unlike the "Western zodiac", is based on what year you were born, these could add some complications.

It could make things difficult on players and DMs when they have to lay out a calender of what year falls under what sign. Also, when a player wants to be a specific age they are limited to picking a specific sign (I don't know if that was your intent or not), which makes for some "its this or nothing" scenarios unless the player is willing to change the character's age. And with 12 different birth signs, a player would have to deviate his character concept's age up to 11 years to be able to take the feat they want.
Ventilatory_Threshold
03-28-07, 10:20 PM What about making them traits? Small benefits with small penalties.
Darth Sephiroth
03-28-07, 10:31 PM I modeled them after the Birth feats that already exist. They're around the power level of Regional feats listed on Realms Help which are based on phases of the moon. They are meant to be for people who accept the myths of their birth.

In what I saw on wikipedia they list that at least 3 of them cover each person (Year, Month, and Hour)
HidaAkira
03-29-07, 02:59 AM Sheep [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Sheep.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

In case anyone wonders, you'd be surprised at how bloody silent sheep can be. Green, moss, green trees, brown earth, white sheep...they can be standing 20 meters away and you might not see them.

There's a reason we put bells on them.
Darth Sephiroth
03-29-07, 03:27 AM In case anyone wonders, you'd be surprised at how bloody silent sheep can be. Green, moss, green trees, brown earth, white sheep...they can be standing 20 meters away and you might not see them.

There's a reason we put bells on them.

Elegant and creative, you are timid and prefer anonymity.

Figured that seemed like stealth fit rather well into that because I couldn't think of anything else. Most of these come from a placemat's blurbs on each of them.
Sudnji_cas
03-29-07, 03:49 AM Snake [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Snake
Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Listen and Spot checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

But snakes are half-blind, and half-deaf.

If my friends hear I'm getting +3 to craft, they'll laugh all day long.
Darth Sephiroth
03-29-07, 04:17 AM But snakes are half-blind, and half-deaf.

If my friends hear I'm getting +3 to craft, they'll laugh all day long.

In what I used it lists them as Wise and Intense, not really sure what to do with that so I figured perception would cover it.

The one that has a craft bonus also has a Knowledge bonus as well. I tried to make them better than normal feats which would be a +2 to 2 skills, this has a +3 to 2 skills.
Salla
03-29-07, 02:29 PM In what I used it lists them as Wise and Intense, not really sure what to do with that so I figured perception would cover it.

Intense = Concentration bonus? Intimidate bonus?

Oh, as far as the power level goes, the 3.5 OA Update states that part of the design philosophy of regional feats (which these closely resemble), and the retooled Ancestor feats, is that since they're 1st level only and tie the character more closely to the setting, they can be a little more powerful.
PuppyKhan
03-29-07, 04:11 PM I'd also like to add that since the "Chinese zodiac", unlike the "Western zodiac", is based on what year you were born, these could add some complications.

I am in the middle of working on an Asian campaign setting and have been toying with nearly the same idea. The prereq for any such abilities (I have others besides feats) is that you are stuck with specific choices based on the year in which you were born. Then added a footnote about DMs being leniant on calculating ages. If two players want a Tiger and a Horse ability, they can't be the same age. This gets much easier with races that have long life spans... adding 8 years to a 1st level elf makes far less difference that to a 1st level human.

I agree that these are a bit unbalanced though. Spell like abilities beat the Init bonus which beats some of the varying skill only bonuses. You can balance this somewhat by changing the numbers.

I am still undecided between 2 different paths:

1. Make the zodiac based ability only a minor skill enhancement (+1 or +2 tops) and give it to everyone automatically. And don't give players much leniency on rolling ages as its a freebie.

or

2. Make it a regular powered feat, available as a 1st level choice.
ArisenFromTheDead
03-30-07, 03:16 AM Tiger [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rabbit
Benefit: You gain a +3 to Initiative and Intimidate checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Rabbit [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rabbit.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all saves.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

???
Darth Sephiroth
03-30-07, 04:33 AM The Tiger is listed as Agressive and Courageous, Initiative and Intimidate seemed to fit it.

The Rabbit is listed a the luckiest creature, so I went with a boost to saves. Perhaps it ought to be a few rerolls per day of failed checks and saves
Occam
03-30-07, 04:59 PM Darth, I hope you don't mind, I liked this idea but not some of the individual feats, so I've tweaked them a bit for balance (and fixed a couple of typos). The changes below are in red. Briefly:

The +2 bonus on all saves for the Rabbit was just too good (it's like 3 feats in one!), so I reduced it to +1. Alternatively, a reroll on failed checks, as you suggested, might also work. Once a day to save your bacon seems like enough, but I don't know.
For the Snake and the Sheep, I wanted to avoid overlapping the pair of skills with any of the existing +2/+2 skill bonus feats (Alertness and Stealth, in these cases). Otherwise it seems just too tempting a stacking opportunity, especially for some very useful skills. For the Snake I went with a pair that seemed to reflect the "wise and intense" thing you mentioned; for Sheep I replace Hide with Craft, as that seemed to reflect the "creative" aspect you quoted. However, I'm tempted to substitute Disguise instead, as you also said they "prefer anonymity", and it seems to echo the "wolf in sheep's clothing", albeit in reverse. ;)
For the Horse, Dog, and Boar, I wanted to replace the spell-like abilities. I added the (perhaps too-)obvious Ride bonus for the Horse, I chose a couple of likely-seeming skills for the Dog, and just increased the Boar's save bonus vs. fear.
A +3 bonus to all Knowledge checks for the Monkey and Rooster seemed too good to me, so I forced a selection. Perhaps that's not universally the case for all campaigns, but in mine, the Knowledge skills come in really handy. The fact that the choice of Knowledge skills is given to the player, rather than pre-determined by the feats, still makes them more flexible.

Rat [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rat.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Ox [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Ox.
Benefit: Your Strength and Constitution scores are each treated as 4 higher for the purposes of carrying, lifting, and resisting fatigue.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Tiger [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Tiger.
Benefit: You gain a +3 to Initiative and Intimidate checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Rabbit [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rabbit.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all saves.
Alternate: Benefit: Once per day, you may reroll any failed saving throw, skill check, or ability score check.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Dragon [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Dragon.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and you gain a +2 increase to your Leadership score.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Snake [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Snake.
Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Concentration and Sense Motive checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Horse [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Horse.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and Ride checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Sheep [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Sheep.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Craft and Move Silently checks.
Alternate: Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Disguise and Move Silently checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Monkey [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Monkey.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to checks for any two Knowledge skills, chosen when this feat is selected.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Rooster [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Rooster.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to all Craft checks, and to checks for any single Knowledge skill, chosen when this feat is selected.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Dog [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Dog.
Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Intimidate and Sense Motive checks.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.

Boar [Birth]
You were born in the year of the Boar
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to all saves against fear.
Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.
Darth Sephiroth
03-31-07, 12:00 AM Like them better, I'd basically rushed them togather with mine because I liked the idea
Hochiu
04-01-07, 12:41 PM Alternatively, if you're running a game where the zodiac is important, you can automatically give these feats to people at 1st level, instead of it taking up their 1st level feat. Its not any more balanced, but it at least fair that everyone gains the benefit from something so universally used instead of wasting an important starting feat.
Darth Sephiroth
04-02-07, 02:47 AM Yep, it works nicely for that as well
ArisenFromTheDead
04-03-07, 01:59 PM If you were born in the year of the rabbit, why would you be a tiger?

For that matter, if you were born in the year of the tiger, why would you be a monkey?
Joni-san
04-03-07, 03:55 PM If you were born in the year of the rabbit, why would you be a tiger?

For that matter, if you were born in the year of the tiger, why would you be a monkey?

In what I saw on wikipedia they list that at least 3 of them cover each person (Year, Month, and Hour)

There
spyone
04-04-07, 12:03 PM If you were born in the year of the rabbit, why would you be a tiger?

For that matter, if you were born in the year of the tiger, why would you be a monkey?

Typos, I assume. Actually, cut-and-paste errors. :)

Shifting gears: I also remember those placemats listing guidelines for compatability. IIRC, you should get along well with someone who is 4 years older or younger than you. I can't recall where your "nemesis" falls, though. :)
Darth Sephiroth
04-04-07, 11:14 PM That changes, but that part never really made sense, especially with the three signs thing

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Darth Sephiroth 03-28-07, 06:20 PM	I was looking around on Realms Help and noticed the Birth feats section recently and had lunch at a local Chinese place which led me to think about making Birth feats for the chinese zodiac for a game. These are all 1st level only feats and each character can only have one of them. I'm making them about on par with the Regional feats. Chinese Zodiac Birth Feats Birth feats may only be taken at 1st level, each character may only have 1 Birth feat. Rat [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rat. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Ox [Birth] You were born in the year of the Ox. Benefit: Your Strength and Constitution scores are each treated as 4 higher for the purposes of carrying, lifting, and resisting fatigue. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Tiger [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rabbit Benefit: You gain a +3 to Initiative and Intimidate checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Rabbit [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rabbit. Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all saves. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Dragon [Birth] You were born in the year of the Dragon. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and you gain a +2 increase to your Leadership score. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Snake [Birth] You were born in the year of the Snake Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Listen and Spot checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Horse [Birth] You were born in the year of the Horse. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and may use Charm Person as a spell like ability 1/day at a caster level equal to your HD Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Sheep [Birth] You were born in the year of the Sheep. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Monkey [Birth] You were born in the year of the Tiger Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Knowledge checks. Further you may select any 1 Knowledge skill as a class skill. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Rooster [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rooster. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to all Craft and Knowledge checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Dog [Birth] You were born in the year of the Dog. Benefit: You may use Discern Lies as a Spell Like ability 2/day at a caster level equal to your HD Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Boar [Birth] You were born in the year of the Boar Benefit: You gain a +2 to all saves against fear. You may cast Remove Fear as a spell like ability of a caster level equal to your HD. If you gain immunity to fear, you may use Remove Fear 3/day Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.
jarzium 03-28-07, 09:54 PM	very interesting!!! quite balance as well, i would use it if im in an eastern setting.
narukagami 03-28-07, 10:05 PM	quite balance as well I have to disagree, the balance of these feats are very... well, off balance. Some of them only give skill bonuses while others give bonuses to initiative, saves, and even grant spell like abilities? The ones that give the latter mentioned bonuses are far more powerful and desirable than the former. Some of them are plain, while others are just plain powerful. On another side of that, a +3 bonus seems a bit off whack compared to similar feats. The standard for most multi-skill boosters is +2. I like the idea, but the execution needs work.
Darth Sephiroth 03-28-07, 10:05 PM	I based most of the abilities off of the little blurbs on the placemat so if anyone sees a better choice for any of them, I'm open to options.
narukagami 03-28-07, 10:14 PM	I'd also like to add that since the "Chinese zodiac", unlike the "Western zodiac", is based on what year you were born, these could add some complications. It could make things difficult on players and DMs when they have to lay out a calender of what year falls under what sign. Also, when a player wants to be a specific age they are limited to picking a specific sign (I don't know if that was your intent or not), which makes for some "its this or nothing" scenarios unless the player is willing to change the character's age. And with 12 different birth signs, a player would have to deviate his character concept's age up to 11 years to be able to take the feat they want.
Ventilatory_Threshold 03-28-07, 10:20 PM	What about making them traits? Small benefits with small penalties.
Darth Sephiroth 03-28-07, 10:31 PM	I modeled them after the Birth feats that already exist. They're around the power level of Regional feats listed on Realms Help which are based on phases of the moon. They are meant to be for people who accept the myths of their birth. In what I saw on wikipedia they list that at least 3 of them cover each person (Year, Month, and Hour)
HidaAkira 03-29-07, 02:59 AM	Sheep [Birth] You were born in the year of the Sheep. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. In case anyone wonders, you'd be surprised at how bloody silent sheep can be. Green, moss, green trees, brown earth, white sheep...they can be standing 20 meters away and you might not see them. There's a reason we put bells on them.
Darth Sephiroth 03-29-07, 03:27 AM	In case anyone wonders, you'd be surprised at how bloody silent sheep can be. Green, moss, green trees, brown earth, white sheep...they can be standing 20 meters away and you might not see them. There's a reason we put bells on them. Elegant and creative, you are timid and prefer anonymity. Figured that seemed like stealth fit rather well into that because I couldn't think of anything else. Most of these come from a placemat's blurbs on each of them.
Sudnji_cas 03-29-07, 03:49 AM	Snake [Birth] You were born in the year of the Snake Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Listen and Spot checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. But snakes are half-blind, and half-deaf. If my friends hear I'm getting +3 to craft, they'll laugh all day long.
Darth Sephiroth 03-29-07, 04:17 AM	But snakes are half-blind, and half-deaf. If my friends hear I'm getting +3 to craft, they'll laugh all day long. In what I used it lists them as Wise and Intense, not really sure what to do with that so I figured perception would cover it. The one that has a craft bonus also has a Knowledge bonus as well. I tried to make them better than normal feats which would be a +2 to 2 skills, this has a +3 to 2 skills.
Salla 03-29-07, 02:29 PM	In what I used it lists them as Wise and Intense, not really sure what to do with that so I figured perception would cover it. Intense = Concentration bonus? Intimidate bonus? Oh, as far as the power level goes, the 3.5 OA Update states that part of the design philosophy of regional feats (which these closely resemble), and the retooled Ancestor feats, is that since they're 1st level only and tie the character more closely to the setting, they can be a little more powerful.
PuppyKhan 03-29-07, 04:11 PM	I'd also like to add that since the "Chinese zodiac", unlike the "Western zodiac", is based on what year you were born, these could add some complications. I am in the middle of working on an Asian campaign setting and have been toying with nearly the same idea. The prereq for any such abilities (I have others besides feats) is that you are stuck with specific choices based on the year in which you were born. Then added a footnote about DMs being leniant on calculating ages. If two players want a Tiger and a Horse ability, they can't be the same age. This gets much easier with races that have long life spans... adding 8 years to a 1st level elf makes far less difference that to a 1st level human. I agree that these are a bit unbalanced though. Spell like abilities beat the Init bonus which beats some of the varying skill only bonuses. You can balance this somewhat by changing the numbers. I am still undecided between 2 different paths: 1. Make the zodiac based ability only a minor skill enhancement (+1 or +2 tops) and give it to everyone automatically. And don't give players much leniency on rolling ages as its a freebie. or 2. Make it a regular powered feat, available as a 1st level choice.
ArisenFromTheDead 03-30-07, 03:16 AM	Tiger [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rabbit Benefit: You gain a +3 to Initiative and Intimidate checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Rabbit [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rabbit. Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all saves. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. ???
Darth Sephiroth 03-30-07, 04:33 AM	The Tiger is listed as Agressive and Courageous, Initiative and Intimidate seemed to fit it. The Rabbit is listed a the luckiest creature, so I went with a boost to saves. Perhaps it ought to be a few rerolls per day of failed checks and saves
Occam 03-30-07, 04:59 PM	Darth, I hope you don't mind, I liked this idea but not some of the individual feats, so I've tweaked them a bit for balance (and fixed a couple of typos). The changes below are in red. Briefly: The +2 bonus on all saves for the Rabbit was just too good (it's like 3 feats in one!), so I reduced it to +1. Alternatively, a reroll on failed checks, as you suggested, might also work. Once a day to save your bacon seems like enough, but I don't know. For the Snake and the Sheep, I wanted to avoid overlapping the pair of skills with any of the existing +2/+2 skill bonus feats (Alertness and Stealth, in these cases). Otherwise it seems just too tempting a stacking opportunity, especially for some very useful skills. For the Snake I went with a pair that seemed to reflect the "wise and intense" thing you mentioned; for Sheep I replace Hide with Craft, as that seemed to reflect the "creative" aspect you quoted. However, I'm tempted to substitute Disguise instead, as you also said they "prefer anonymity", and it seems to echo the "wolf in sheep's clothing", albeit in reverse. ;) For the Horse, Dog, and Boar, I wanted to replace the spell-like abilities. I added the (perhaps too-)obvious Ride bonus for the Horse, I chose a couple of likely-seeming skills for the Dog, and just increased the Boar's save bonus vs. fear. A +3 bonus to all Knowledge checks for the Monkey and Rooster seemed too good to me, so I forced a selection. Perhaps that's not universally the case for all campaigns, but in mine, the Knowledge skills come in really handy. The fact that the choice of Knowledge skills is given to the player, rather than pre-determined by the feats, still makes them more flexible. Rat [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rat. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Ox [Birth] You were born in the year of the Ox. Benefit: Your Strength and Constitution scores are each treated as 4 higher for the purposes of carrying, lifting, and resisting fatigue. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Tiger [Birth] You were born in the year of the Tiger. Benefit: You gain a +3 to Initiative and Intimidate checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Rabbit [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rabbit. Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all saves. Alternate: Benefit: Once per day, you may reroll any failed saving throw, skill check, or ability score check. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Dragon [Birth] You were born in the year of the Dragon. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and you gain a +2 increase to your Leadership score. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Snake [Birth] You were born in the year of the Snake. Benefit: You gain a +3 to all Concentration and Sense Motive checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Horse [Birth] You were born in the year of the Horse. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Diplomacy and Ride checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Sheep [Birth] You were born in the year of the Sheep. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Craft and Move Silently checks. Alternate: Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Disguise and Move Silently checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Monkey [Birth] You were born in the year of the Monkey. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to checks for any two Knowledge skills, chosen when this feat is selected. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Rooster [Birth] You were born in the year of the Rooster. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to all Craft checks, and to checks for any single Knowledge skill, chosen when this feat is selected. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Dog [Birth] You were born in the year of the Dog. Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus to Intimidate and Sense Motive checks. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat. Boar [Birth] You were born in the year of the Boar Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to all saves against fear. Special: You may only take this feat at 1st level. If you take this feat, you cannot take any other birth feat.
Darth Sephiroth 03-31-07, 12:00 AM	Like them better, I'd basically rushed them togather with mine because I liked the idea
Hochiu 04-01-07, 12:41 PM	Alternatively, if you're running a game where the zodiac is important, you can automatically give these feats to people at 1st level, instead of it taking up their 1st level feat. Its not any more balanced, but it at least fair that everyone gains the benefit from something so universally used instead of wasting an important starting feat.
Darth Sephiroth 04-02-07, 02:47 AM	Yep, it works nicely for that as well
ArisenFromTheDead 04-03-07, 01:59 PM	If you were born in the year of the rabbit, why would you be a tiger? For that matter, if you were born in the year of the tiger, why would you be a monkey?
Joni-san 04-03-07, 03:55 PM	If you were born in the year of the rabbit, why would you be a tiger? For that matter, if you were born in the year of the tiger, why would you be a monkey? In what I saw on wikipedia they list that at least 3 of them cover each person (Year, Month, and Hour) There
spyone 04-04-07, 12:03 PM	If you were born in the year of the rabbit, why would you be a tiger? For that matter, if you were born in the year of the tiger, why would you be a monkey? Typos, I assume. Actually, cut-and-paste errors. :) Shifting gears: I also remember those placemats listing guidelines for compatability. IIRC, you should get along well with someone who is 4 years older or younger than you. I can't recall where your "nemesis" falls, though. :)
Darth Sephiroth 04-04-07, 11:14 PM	That changes, but that part never really made sense, especially with the three signs thing