Background Feats
Hello, and welcome to Foursaken Feature. As regular readers will be aware, this is Character Creation week, meaning that all this week’s articles have something to do with character creation. If you didn’t know that, we still love you, just not as much. Anyway, as those of you who are hip to the GSL know, if I even put “character creation method” and “new” in the same sentence, Wizards will send Nicol Bolas to our office to give me a very stern talking to (I really hope that this sentence doesn’t count. They’re in quotes, guys!). So don’t expect to see any conversions from The Book of Beginnings today, or encouragement—hell, even acknowledgment—that you could probably make such conversions yourself, with minimal effort, and no fear of planeswalking dragons kicking in your door.
You know what I can do, though? Background feats. If you’re like me, then you find the optional character backgrounds system introduced way back in the Player’s Handbook 2 very intriguing, but at the same time, you grind your teeth in frustration at the fact that, mechanically, it’s just giving PCs free stuff. As much as I could rant and rave about the evils of power creep, and how seemingly innocent things (like backgrounds) can, if not closely monitored, twist and warp the fabric of a game’s precarious balance (no matter how fine-tuned that balance was originally), this is Foursaken Feature, not Dark Designs. If you like backgrounds, and either wish that they were a bigger deal, or wish that they weren’t free (or wish that your jerk DM would let you take them, instead of telling you that he doesn’t allow them because they provide free benefits), this article is definitely for you. If not, well, hopefully you at least like feats.
Desert-Born
Prerequisite: Desert-Born can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Endurance checks made to ignore thirst, ignore hunger, or to endure extreme weather that is desert related (extreme heat, extreme cold, sandstorms, etc.). Additionally, you ignore any armor check penalty from light armor on any Endurance checks you make. Finally, you also gain a +4 feat bonus on Nature checks made to forage for food.
Forest-Born
Prerequisite: Forest-Born can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Nature checks involving forests and forest animals. Additionally, you gain a +4 feat bonus to Stealth checks while in a forest or similar terrain.
Mountain-Born
Prerequisite: Mountain-Born can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus to Athletics checks made to climb, and reduce any armor check penalty to such checks by 1. You also gain a +4 feat bonus to Dungeoneering checks made to forage underground or to gain useful knowledge about underground areas. This second bonus applies only to natural, and not man-made, or aberrant, features and topics.
Street Urchin
Prerequisite: Street Urchin can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Thievery checks made to pick pockets or use sleight of hand. You also gain a +1 feat bonus to Streetwise checks, which stacks with any bonus from Skill Focus or similar feats. Finally, you may use Streetwise to forage in urban environments. This functions like the forage use of the Nature skill, except it only applies in urban environments.
Swamp-Born
Prerequisite: Swamp-Born can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Athletics checks made to swim, as well as a +4 bonus to Nature checks involving swamps and wetlands, or animals native to those areas. Finally, you may ignore up to 1 square of difficult terrain each turn, as long as that difficult terrain is swamp- or wetlands-related.
Wealthy Family
Prerequisite: Wealthy Family can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus on Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion checks due to your extensive education. These bonuses stack with the Skill Focus feat. Additionally, you begin the game with 50 extra gold for buying equipment.
Nobility
Prerequisite: Nobility can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus on Diplomacy checks, which increases to a +4 bonus if the person you are interacting with knows of and recognizes your claim to nobility. You also gain a +2 feat bonus to Insight checks. Finally, you begin the game with 50 extra gold for buying equipment.
Academy Student
Prerequisite: Academy Student can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to two of the following skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, History, Nature.
Monastery Orphan
Prerequisite: Monastery Orphan can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on Religion checks made to identify facts about religions, but not to identify monsters. Additionally, you gain a +4 bonus on Heal checks made to give first aid, but only to stabilize the dying or grant a saving throw.
Raised with the Elves
Prerequisite: Non-elf, Raised with the Elves can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefits: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Diplomacy checks with elves. Replace one of your racial skill bonuses with a +2 bonus to Nature. Your racial languages are replaced by Common and Elven. Finally, you gain the elf’s Group Awareness racial trait, though you also count as an elf for the purposes of other characters who have that racial trait.
Raised with the Dwarves
Prerequisite: Non-dwarf, Raised with the Dwarves can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefits: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Diplomacy checks with dwarves. Replace on of your racial skill bonuses with a +2 bonus to Dungeoneering. Your racial languages are replaced by Common and Dwarven. Additionally, you gain a +2 feat bonus to Endurance, which stacks with the Skill Focus feat.
Raised with the Dragonborn
Prerequisite: Non-dragonborn, Raised with the Dragonborn can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefits: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Diplomacy checks with dragonborn. Replace one of your racial skill bonuses with a +2 bonus to History. Your racial languages are replaced by Common and Dragonborn. Finally, you gain a +2 bonus to your Will defense versus Intimidate checks.
Raised with the Eladrin
Prerequisite: Non-eladrin, Raised with the Eladrin can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Diplomacy checks with eladrin. Replace one of your racial skill bonuses with a +2 bonus to Arcana. Your racial languages are replaced by Common and Elven. Finally, you gain a +2 bonus to the skill of your choice.
Raised with the Halflings
Prerequisite: Non-halfling, Raised with the Halflings can only be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: You gain a +4 feat bonus on Diplomacy checks with halflings. Replace one of your racial skill bonuses with a +2 bonus to Thievery. Finally, you gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against fear.