Skill Mastery Feats II
Feats like Acrobatic and Alertness offer a decent bargain for your feat when compared to Skill Focus, providing more overall bonus, but spreading it across two different skills, one of which you may not really want. Further, they don’t actually let you do anything new or exciting with those skills, just give you a flat, numerical bonus. This seems like a shame, so I decided to sit down and make some “next step” versions of these feats, which provide a small mechanical bonus, in the form of a reroll, and then grant you a pair of special abilities, one for each skill. There are ten feats like Alertness in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook. Earlier this year, we provided you with feats that built upon the first five. Today, we finish the set.
Avoidance Mastery
You can get out of the most difficult bonds and avoid even superhuman detection.
Prerequisites: Stealthy, character level 5th.
Benefit: Once per day, after making an Escape Artist or Stealth skill check, but before the result is revealed, you can reroll the check. You must use the new result, even if it is worse. Additionally, you gain the following abilities.
Incredible Escape (Ex): Once per day, when attempting to escape from bindings whose DC is between 21 and 30 higher than your Escape Artist bonus, if you roll a natural 20 on the Escape Artist check, you successfully escape, even if the result is less than the DC. You must declare that you are using this ability before the roll is made, and this applies only to a single roll, so it does not allow you to take 20 on the check. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Escape Artist you possess.
No Trace (Ex): Whenever you make a Stealth check, you can hide yourself even from superhuman senses, such as scent, blindsense, blindsight, and darkvision. Creatures are not able to detect you using those senses, although they can still make Perception checks to attempt to detect you normally (even if the creature does not have normal senses, such as creatures that are blind and possess blindsense). This effect lasts for 1d4 rounds for every 5 ranks of Stealth you possess. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Stealth you possess.
Deft Mastery
Your delicate control of your hands allows you to perform intricate maneuvers quickly and with precision.
Prerequisites: Deft Hands, character level 5th.
Benefit: Once per day, after making a Disable Device or Sleight of Hand skill check, but before the result is revealed, you can reroll the check. You must use the new result, even if it is worse. Additionally, you gain the following abilities.
Safe Disable (Ex): Before making a Disable Device check, you can spend 1 minute taking special precautions to avoid accidentally setting off the device or having some other mishap. If you do, there is no penalty for failing that Disable Device check by 5 or more. This applies only to the next Disable Device check that you make on that particular object. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Disable Device you possess.
Swift Legerdemain (Ex): Whenever you make a Sleight of Hand check to draw a hidden weapon, hide an object, or take something unnoticed, you can do so as a swift action, instead of the normal type of action. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Sleight of Hand you possess.
Magical Mastery
Your understanding of magic allows you to learn spells swiftly and use magic items effortlessly.
Prerequisites: Magical Aptitude, character level 5th.
Benefit: Once per day, after making a Spellcraft or Use Magic Device skill check, but before the result is revealed, you can reroll the check. You must use the new result, even if it is worse. Additionally, you gain the following abilities.
Eagle Eye (Ex): When you witness a spell being cast, if that spell is on your spell list at a spell level you are currently able to cast, you can attempt a Spellcraft check to identify the spell. If you beat the DC by 5 or more, you can immediately learn the spell. If you have a spellbook or familiar that stores your spells, you can add the spell to it for free. If you have a limited number of spells known, you treat the spell as known only for 24 hours. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Spellcraft you possess.
Steady Use (Ex): You can take 10 on Use Magic Device checks made to use or activate magic items that you have successfully used or activated at least once before. You must declare that you are using this ability before the Use Magic Device check is made. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Use Magic Device you possess.
Persuasion Mastery
No one is better than you at getting others to do what you want.
Prerequisites: Persuasive, character level 5th.
Benefit: Once per day, after making a Diplomacy or Intimidate skill check, but before the result is revealed, you can reroll the check. You must use the new result, even if it is worse. Additionally, you gain the following abilities.
Friendly Favor (Ex): Whenever you successfully use Diplomacy to increase a creature’s attitude towards you to friendly or helpful, you gain a +10 bonus on the next Diplomacy check you make to request a favor from that creature that day. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Diplomacy you possess.
Lasting Intimidation (Ex): When you successfully use Intimidate to influence a creature’s attitude, you can choose to have that creature continue acting friendly towards you indefinitely, rather than acting friendly towards you for only a short time. The creature is not actually friendly towards you, and may take steps to act against you, but only if it believes it can do so without getting caught. You can only have one creature remain indefinitely intimidated in this way for every 5 ranks of Intimidate you possess. If you choose to release a creature from this effect, its attitude towards you immediately reverts to hostile.
Survival Mastery
You know everything you need to know to get by, including how to heal wounds, and the dangers of local wildlife.
Prerequisites: Self-Sufficient, character level 5th.
Benefit: Once per day, after making a Heal or Survival skill check, but before the result is revealed, you can reroll the check. You must use the new result, even if it is worse. Additionally, you gain the following abilities.
Healing Hands (Ex): Whenever you use the Heal skill to treat deadly wounds or provide long-term care, you can tap into natural healing talents to do so more effectively. The target regains twice as many hit points and points of ability score damage as they otherwise would. Each use of this ability affects only a single creature, even if the check in question applies to multiple characters. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Heal you possess.
Survival Lore (Ex): You can use Survival in place of the relevant Knowledge check to identify a monster, albeit at a –5 penalty. You can use this ability once per day for every 5 ranks of Survival you possess.