Extraterrestrial Feats
Alien Week rolls on here at Necromancers of the Northwest, as we continue to celebrate the release of Cosmic Threats: A Bestiary of Alien Creatures. Those of you who have already bought the book will no doubt be eager to fight—or more likely, force the PCs to fight—creatures armed with weird physiologies and advanced tech. To that end, I’ve devised these feats so that players can even the playing field against their alien foes.
Alien Grenade
You have learned to use chemicals from beyond the stars to create more powerful explosives.
Prerequisite: Throw Anything, character level 6th.
Benefit: Any thrown splash weapon you create, including the bombs created by the alchemist bomb class feature, can be infused with alien chemical compounds, making them more explosive. Infusing the splash weapon with these compounds is a move action (in the case of alchemist bombs, infusing the bomb with these compounds increases the time it takes to create and throw the bomb to a full-round action, instead. All such splash weapons deal an additional 2d6 points of damage, and all damage dealt by the splash weapon is half fire damage and half untyped damage which cannot be resisted by any form of energy resistance. The compounds are highly volatile, and if the splash weapon is not used by the end of the turn that it was infused with them, it explodes, dealing damage as though it had scored a direct hit on any creature that has the splash weapon in his possession, and splash damage to other creatures within range. It costs 50 gp in raw material components to infuse a splash weapon in this way.
Alien Languages
You have studied linguistics to the point that you can discern similarities in speech in order to understand alien languages after a short time.
Prerequisite: Linguistics 10 ranks.
Benefit: After listening to an alien language for 1 hour, you can speak it for a number of hours equal to the number of ranks in Linguistics you possess. Further, if the language is secret, or you would otherwise be restricted from learning it by taking a rank in Linguistics, you can choose to learn that language the next time you gain a rank in Linguistics, as though those restrictions did not exist.
Alien Tech Proficiency
Through careful study, you have learned to master the secrets of the operations of a piece of alien technology.
Benefit: Choose a single type of alien tech described under the alien tech section of a creature whose CR is less than or equal to your character level. You are proficient in the use of that item and understand how to use it intrinsically.
Special: You can gain Alien Tech Proficiency multiple times. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of alien tech.
Space-Age Weapons
The advent of alien technology and the threat posed by extraterrestrials has prompted advances in weapon designs, which you have learned to integrate into existing weapons.
Prerequisites: Craft (any) 1 rank, Exotic Weapon Proficiency.
Benefit: You can upgrade any weapon of masterwork quality to space age efficiency. The cost to do so is equal to 100 gp x the price of the base item (minimum 100 gp, maximum 10,000 gp) (for example, a dagger could be made a space age weapon for 200 gp, while a revolver could be made a space age weapon for 10,000 gp). A space age weapon is always an exotic weapon and requires exotic weapon proficiency to use. A space age weapon deals twice the normal amount of base weapon damage and has its critical multiplier increased by 1. Additionally, space age ranged weapons have their range increment increased by 50 feet, and space age firearms misfire only on a roll of 1.
Xenostudies
You have studied alien creatures and learned much about their biology and culture.
Prerequisites: 1 rank in 5 different Knowledge skills.
Benefit: Whenever you use a Knowledge skill to identify a creature which is not native to your home world, you gain a +10 bonus on that check.