Feats for Cheats... or Rules-Benders (to be more polite)!

You've got a cheatin' bastard at your table? Meet him or her halfway with these new Meta feats for most d20 System games!

If You're Not Cheating, You're Not Trying [Fast Hero, Bard, Rogue, Metagaming]
Failure is not an option!
   Prerequisite: 3rd level
   Benefit: Each game session, you may ignore and re-roll any failed d20 roll a number of times equal to your character's Charisma bonus. You must tell the GM you want to re-roll, but it is the GM's responsibility to keep track of the number of times you use this ability. After all... you're a cheater, so you're going to get away with what you can!

Rules Are For Other People [Fast Hero, Bard, Rogue, Metagaming]
Gain any feat available to your race!
   Benefit: When you select this feat, you instantly trade it for any feat available for your character's race, ignoring all listed prerequisites.
   Special: if at any time in the future you meet the prerequisites for the feat traded for Rules Are For Other People, you may immediately select a new feat available for your character's race.

All text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced within its terms. Copyright Steve Miller 2018.

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A d20 System feat for our time: Magnificent Mustache!

All text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced according to its terms. Copyright 2018 Steve Miller.

NEW FEAT!

Magnificent Mustache [General]
You have spectacular display of hair on your upper lip!
   Benefit: Gain +2 bonus to all Buff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate skill checks. The bonus increases to +4 if the character is female.
   Special: If you fail a Buff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate skill check. You may immediately attempt to recover, and you may re-roll the check with a -4 penalty. If this second skill check fails, you suffer a -4 penalty to all Intelligence- and Charisma-based skill checks for 24 hours.
If your mustache is shaved off , you lose all benefits of this feat. It takes 1d2+2 weeks for your mustache to return to its former glory and regain the feat's benefit.

This feat was inspired by the events leading up to the cancelling of the US/North Korean Summit, as well as NUELOW Games' announced tie-in ROLF!: For the Love of Cake. 

A d20 System feat in observance of Mother's Day!

And its text is presented under the Open Game License, so you can republish it accordingly. Copyright Steve Miller 2018.

MOM VOICE [General]

You can make people knock that crap off with just a few words.

   Prerequisite: Mom

   Benefit: Roll a Bluff or Intimidate skill check. All beings with an Intelligence of 3 or higher must roll Will saves with a target equal to your skill check +6. Those who fail the saving throw must immediately stop whatever they're doing for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus, during which time you may attempt to reason with them using Diplomacy or Bluff.

    Those who save against the Mom Voice suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls and skill checks for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus. If they attack a target who didn't save, the target may attack back with the same -2 penalty.

    All initiatives must be re-rolled at the beginning of the round following the use of Mom Voice.

    Special: Targets of the Mom Voice must be able to hear the user, but they do not need to understand the words spoken; the tone is universal.

The Power of the Finger Gun!

They've been suspending kids for making "finger guns" at school. We have the Minor Power feat and talent tree to explain why. (This d20 System material is presented under the Open Game License. Copyright Steve Miller 2018. It was designed by L.L. Hundal & Steve Miller.)

FINGER GUN [Minor Power]
Your imaginary gun is deadly.
Benefit: Make a gun-shape with your hand and point at a living target. Roll a ranged attack as if using a weapon you’re proficient in. If you hit the target, it suffers 1d6+2 points of damage. Making a finger gun is a free action. Using your finger gun is a standard attack action. The range increment is 20 ft.

FINGER GUN TALENT TREE
Your imaginary gun is versatile and potentially very deadly.
   Finger Cannon: Make a gun-shape with your hand and point at a living or inanimate target. Roll a ranged attack as if using a weapon you’re proficient in. If you hit the target, it suffers 2d6+4 points of damage. Making a finger cannon is a free action. Using your finger cannon is a standard attack action. The range increment is 60 ft.
   Prerequisite: Finger Gun Minor Power feat.

   Finger Flame Thrower: Make a gun-shape with your hand and point at a living target. Roll a ranged attack as if using a weapon you’re proficient in. If you hit the target, it must roll a successful Fortitude (DC12+your Will bonus) or momentarily bursts into flame, suffering 2d6+2 points of fire damage. If the save is successful, the target takes half damage. The range increment is 20 ft.
   Prerequisite: Any Minor Power feat.

   Finger Stun Gun: Make a gun-shape with your hand and point at a living target. Roll a ranged attack as if using a weapon you’re proficient in. If you hit the target, it must roll a successful Fortitude (DC12+your Will bonus) or fall unconscious six rounds. If the save is successful, the target is disoriented and loses all actions for the rest of the round and must re-roll initiative with a -2 penalty on the following round.
Making a finger gun is a free action. Using your finger gun is a standard attack action. The range increment is 20 ft.
   Prerequisite: Any Minor Power feat.
  Two-Finger Firing: You attack as described in other Finger Gun feats, but you make gun-shapes with each hand. Gain an extra Finger Gun attack at your full attack bonus.
   Prerequisite: Any one talent from the Finger Gun Talent Tree. 

Suddenly... Jazz Hands!

Here's a new feat for your  all d20 System games! (The following text is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2018 Steve Miller.)

JAZZ HANDS! [General]

When your foe least expects it... jazz hands!

   Prerequisite: Perform (dance) 1 rank, Charisma 12

   Benefit: On a round where you are first in the initiative order, as full round action, your character can strike a pose, hold out his or her hands with the palms facing front and fingers splayed, and start to shake them while saying something like "razzamataaz" or "yeeeaaah".

   Foes who are in the character's forward arc, and who witness the display, must roll a successful Will save (DC18+the character's Charisma bonus), or be so startled that they lose all actions for that round. If affected foes who are not attacked during the round, they suffer an initiative penalty equal to the character's Charisma bonus on the following round.
   Special: Jazz Hands can only be used every other round.

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A Valentine's Day feat!

A little something in the spirit of Valentine's Day for your d20 System games!

TRUE LOVE [General]
The character has found the love of his or her life. This gives the character something to live for, even when things seem at their most dire and hopeless.
   Benefit: When the character is reduced to less than 10 hit points, a fond memory about his or her beloved flashes into his or her mind. As a free action, you may roll a Will save (DC12). If successful, the character immediately regain 1d10+2 hit points.
   This feat can be used once per game session. You must choose to invoke the feat or not as soon as the character is reduced to less than 10 hit points, and if you choose not to, you may do so again during the following combat round if the character suffers additional damage.
   If a character with this feat is reduced to less than 0 hit points, you may immediately invoke this feat in order to attempt to regain hit points. If the character is returned to above 0 hit points, he or she does not fall unconscious or have to worry about making stabilization rolls.
   Special: If you write a description and a history for your character's true love (who the true love is, how the characters met, and so on), and the GM approves it, your character gains a permanent +1 bonus to Will saves to resist fear and mind-affecting magic and spell-like effects. This bonus increases to +2 if you generate stats for the true love and give the character to the GM for possible use in the game. (The true love must be at least two character levels lower than the lowest-level PC in the campaign, or 1st level.)

Photo by Gavin Hoey

Two Feats of Questionable Quality (but we like 'em!)

We hope these get your February off to a fun start.

BABY ROLL [Combat]
You may use babies as distractions in combat.
   Benefit: When fighting, you may roll or throw a baby per round at opponents with a standard attack action. Any lawful good character must give up a combat action in order to either dodge or attempt to catch the baby by making a Reflex save (DC equals your attack roll). If the target fails to avoid or catch the baby, he or she and the baby both take 1d2 points of damage. If your attack roll misses, the baby still takes 1d2 points of damage.
   Special: If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you may roll or throw two babies each round.

BAD IDEA [General, Metagame]
You knew it was a bad idea, but you did it anyway.
   Prerequisite: One talent from the Too Dumb to Die tree.
   Benefit: Whenever you fail an attack roll or skill check that had a DC of 22 or higher, the GM must let you roll 2d6 and add the result to your check total. If the new total means a successful check, that's exactly what it is. If it fails, you deserve what you get for being overconfident and stupid.

(This material is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2018 Steve Miller.)

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d20 Supers: The Reports of My Death Were Exaggerated!

A couple superpower feats, yet more parts of the d20 Supers game that we may or may not ever produce. This pair of feats exist to explain how certain characters can come back from the dead over and over and over. (As always, these are released under the Open Game License. Copyright Steve Miller 2017.)

LUCKY [Minor Power, Meta-Gaming]
You lead a charmed life.
   Prerequisite: One attribute above 12

   Benefit: Once per game session, you may declare a single attack roll, skill check, or saving throw that faled to be a success. The success is never a critical.
   Special: This feat can be replaced with The Reports of My Death... under the right circumstances. See The Reports of My Death... for more details.


THE REPORTS OF MY DEATH... [Minor Power, Supernatural]
You were dead... but you got better!
 Benefit: If the character dies (reduced below -10 hit points, disintegrated, blow to tiny bits, lost and drowned at sea, eaten by rabid weasles--any death, no matter hor mundane or terrible), this feat allows them to instantly return from the dead. The character reappears somewhere out of harm's way, with 1/4 of his or her hit points and a semi-plausible explanation of how he or she survived (the GM or player may invent something).

Art by Everett Raymond Kinstler

     The feat can only be used once. After the character has miraculously (perhaps literally) escaped death, the feat must be replaced by one of the following (with all prerequisites needing to be met): Attentive, Better Lucky Than Good, Cautious, Dodge, Lucky, Never Say Die
   Special: There is no benefit from this feat until the character dies. If the character possesses the Lucky feat, the character can replace it with this feat after he or she is killed, essentially getting a two-for-one on rising from the dead.
   If the character replaces this feat with Lucky, the cycle can repeat itself.

You can see the first parts of this game approach here, and everything on this topic that's been posted here. Much more (and refinements of these posts) have also been featured in many of our comics/rpg hybrid releases.

The feat to prevent TPK!

Here's another Metagame feat for your enjoyment. It's inspired by a plot device that appears in many horror films and a handful of sci-fi ones, too, and the Alan Hewetson/Pablo Marcos short story "An Event in the Night" that will appear in a forthcoming NUELOW Games release, which is tentatively titled Events in the Night: Horror Stories Illustrated by Pablo Marcos.

WAS IT ALL JUST A NIGHTMARE? [Minor Power, Metagame]
Was that horrible dream of death and carnage just that--a dream--or was it a preminition?
   Prerequisite: Foresight
   Benefit: You may invoke this feat once per game session after your character dies or is horribly maimed, or after the party suffers a total defeat. Your character wakes up, covered in cold sweat with heart pounding in the chest. The entire day that led up to the disastrous defeat was just a dream. Any items gained, XP earned, and character injuries that occurred during it are completely undone. It's as if the events never happened, because they didn't.
The events are now played again, and the players may used player knowledge (assuming your character shares the details of the dream with his or her comrades). The GM may make alterations to the scenario (and should, to keep ir fresh), but the broad strokes remain the same. But your character and the rest of the party will have a chance to at least attempt to correct their mistakes and avoid death.
    Special: After this feat has been evoked and the disastrous encounter has been successfully survived, roll a d20. If the result is 4 or 13, you suffer a -2 penalty to all saving throws for the entirety of the next game session... as Fate and Death stalk your character, angry that he or she eluded their grasp. (If you use "Was It All A Nightmare" again during that session, the saving throw penalty increases to -4 during the next game session and so on.

d20 Modern Metagaming Feats for Our Times

Gamers are always going on about whether this or that RPG is realistic. Well, we aim to please here at NUELOW Games, so here are two feats that will make your d20 Modern games super ultra modern by bringing the feel of the world around us to your gaming table!


All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2017 Steve Miller

Alternative Fact [General, Metagaming]

You roll whatever you say you roll.

   Benefit: Whenever you roll a failed saving throw, skill check, or attack you, you can invoke this feat and instead declare that you rolled a 20 (or any other possible result that you choose).

   Special: Your character permanently loses 1 rank in the Diplomacy or Intimidate skill (your choice, or random roll by the DM/GM) whenever this feat is invoked. If the character has no ranks in either skill, it loses 250XP. (Using this feat CAN cause a character to lose a level if enough XP are spent.)

Protest [General, Metagaming]

Your dissatisfaction and hate may change the course of destiny!

   Benefit: Whenever you roll a failed saving throw, skill check, or attack roll, you may invoke your right to protest. At this time, all normal actions and play stop. You roll a Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate skill check (whichever is highest for the character) with a DC18. If this skill check is successful, play resumes at the point you failed the previous roll and you reroll as if the initial roll never happened,

   Special: Each time you invoke this feat, all other players receive a -1 penalty to skill checks, saving throws, and attack rolls for the rest of the game session, just to make sure they understand how important it is that you get to win.

Venting Your Righteous Anger [General, Metagaming]

(from an idea by Scott Kankelborg)
You're peaceful, and no one better dare say otherwise!
    Prerequisite: Protest
    Benefit: As Protest, but after the initial failed d20 roll, you may also break 1d4 common household items present in the home of whoever is hosting the game session. You or the GM may roll to determine how many.
    Special: If you ever attempt to compensate the other players for their loss you lose access to the Protest feat.

These feats should be added to the list of bonus feats available to the Hardcore Activist advanced class.

More topical and modern than ever!

More d20 System superpowers: The Dreamwalkers

Here's another minor power feat and talent tree to expand upon it. It will probably end up in the upcoming d20 System book about the Atlantean survivors and descendants  that walk among us in the modern world, or maybe in the one about Satan's offspring that are also among us. Or maybe it will sit around until the superpowers system finally becomes a reality.

The rest of this post is presented under the Open Game License, and it may be reproduced in accordance with those terms. Copyright 2017 Steve Miller.


Dream Viewer [Minor Power Feat]
 You are able to passively observe the dreams of others and with a great exertion of willpower calm nightmares.
   Prerequisite: Wisdom 12
   Benefit: Before you go to sleep, focus on a person you have previously met and make a Will save (DC18 if only met in passing, DC12 if a conversation was had, DC8 if a great deal of time was spent together, DC4 if close family member or loved one). If that person is also sleeping, you will share his or her dreams as if they were your own. You will generally speaking only be a spectator, but you will follow the dreamer as closely and as unnoticed as his or her shadow. If the dream is a nightmare, you may roll a second Will save, with a +4 increase to the DCs as above, to calm it and make it less terrifying to the dreamer.
   When you awaken, you always remember the dream witnessed with crystal clarity. As you watch the dream, you are able to recognize which parts of it are the most important, even if they are metaphorical dream symbols. If they are especially obscure, the GM may ask you to roll a Knowledge (Psychology) skill check to recognize them instead of simply revealing them. If the skill check fails, you will have a sense that something is important about a particular element of the dream, but you will not be able to quite put your finger on what it is.

Dream Walker Talent Tree
When you are sleeping, you may move as easily between the dreams of others as you move from one room to another when awake.
Dream Walker: After entering a target's dream using the Dream Viewer feat, you may attempt to enter the dreams of someone they know by picturing that person in your mind and making a successful Will save (DC18 if only a passing acquaintance, DC12 if a conversation was had, DC8 if a great deal of time was spent together, DC4 if a close family member or loved one. If you succeed, you may now observe or control that person's dream to the extent your talents will allow.
   Prerequisite: Dream Viewer feat
Dream Hub: Once you have entered the dream of a target, you able to bring an additional number of sleepers into the dream equal to the total of your Wisdom and Charisma modifiers. If those you wish to draw into a shared dream are unwilling or unprepared to enter the dream (like you, they must have focuses on the target prior to going to sleep, although they need not have met him or her), you must make a successful Will save (DC6, plus the individual's Wisdom modifier). The characters drawn into the dream can interact with the environment at the level permitted by the feats possessed by the character with Dream Hub.
   Whether willing or not, characters who are drawn into a dream must roll a Wisdom check to realize they are in a dream. If they fail the roll, their actions are dictated by the direction of dream rather than their own. The GM temporarily gains control of the character. Additional Wisdom checks may be made whenever something particularly strange or the character does something that is usually against his or her nature. The player decides when such rolls are to be made, and once the check is successful, the player once again fully controls the character.
   You can also use Dream Hub to draw others into your own dreams in the same fashion. To do this, you must first have constructed a Dream Palace (see the Dream Shaper talent).
  If you draw a character into your own dream or a dream you control, and that character possesses the Dream Shaper talent, they can collaborate with you to create complete Dreamscapes within your Dream Palace (see the Dream Shaper talent) that others can be drawn into.
  Prerequisite: Dream Stalker, Dream Shaper
Dream Stalker: You have the ability to enter the dreams of any person who you have at least seen a picture of. From there, you can determine his or her exact location by making a successful Wisdom check (DC11). The location is revealed within the context of the dream, as a map or a picture of where the target is, and you remember the location when you wake up.
  Prerequisite: Dream Walker
  Dream Shape: Create a second character. When you enter a dream using the Dream Stalker talent, this is your basically who you are. All attributes are 12, but one is increased by +6, one by +4, one by +2, and one by +1. Your character classes and levels remain the same, but you may reassign skill points and feats for this dream character in any way you like, except that your dream-self always possesses the Dream Viewer minor power feat and whatever talents from the Dream Walker talent tree you possess. Additionally, you gain three bonus Minor Power feats and three bonus talents from any trees except the Dream Walker talent tree.
   With a Will save (DC12) you may change the appearance of your dream character, but all attributes remain the same.
   Prerequisite: Dream Stalker
   Dream Shaper: With a successful Will save (DC11 plus the total of the target's Wisdom and Intelligence bonuses), you may alter the dream of that you have entered. You can choose to control the behavior of characters in the dream, change the setting of the dream, and any other change you wish to make. The Will save target is the same DC whether you are attempting a minor change or a major change. Each change you wish to make to the dream requires an separate roll. (Changing the behavior of minor characters or location of the dream can be done with one roll each, but important characters require a separate roll for each one.)
   If you attempt to impact part of the dream and fail, you may attempt that change again, but the DC increases by +2. The DC increase is only for the retry on already failed changes; if you try something different, the DC is still at the base.
   If you attempt to alter a person's dreamworld in a way that they find too shocking or upsetting, you risk losing control. This triggers a Will save on the part of the target (DC15) and if it is successful, you are ejected from the dream and you cannot reestablish contact for at least three days. (The target's subconcious mental defenses realialized something was up, and natural mental defenses kicked in.)
   Dream Shaper can also be used to create a "Dream Palace." This is a mental structure that exists in your mind, with any appearance you wish it to have. Each room is either a memory you wish to examine, or a pre-constructed dreamscape that either you or another character with the Dream Shaper talent can create in collaboration with you--and into which you may draw other dreamers if you desire.
   If using the Dream Palace to examine your own memories, you watch as an invisible spectator as events unfold. You may make Knowledge, Search or Spot skill checks (with a +10 bonus) to see something out of the ordinary or notice whatever it is you are looking for in your own mind. You may also roll Sense Motive skill checks (also with a +10 bonus)
This environment is one that is under your control, and the targeted dreamer that you wish to draw into it will not receive a second saving throw due to extreme changes, and any changes you or other characters allied with you wish to make to the dream environment are made with straight DC11 Will saves with no DC increases due to failed attempts.

Telepaths for the d20 Supers System

Here's another addition to the feats and talent-based superpowers system that's been developing here at the NUELOW Games blog, and in our comics/RPG-hybrid books over the past few years. All text in this post is released under the Open Game License. Copyright 2016 Steve Miller.

New Feat
Telepathy [Minor Power]
You can communicate telepathically with other intelligent beings.
   Benefit: As a free action, you may broadcast your thoughts to a number of intelligent beings (Intelligence score 3 or higher) up to your Wisdom bonus, and you hear their thoughts in return. If you wish to perform other actions, or take damage while maintaining telepathic contact, you must roll a Concentration skill check (DC12, plus the amount of damage suffered if injured). You may re-establish contact on the following round if it is lost. Ending the telepathic connection with a target is also a free action.
   The range of your telepathy is line-of-sight and a 50-foot radius. The telepathic link is always two ways; you broadcast your thoughts to the targets and you in turn can hear theirs. Unwilling targets may roll Willpower saves (DC15) to push you from their minds.
   If you establish a connection with multiple minds at once, making sense of the babble of thoughts you receive back from them as difficult as if you were trying to keep track of several conversations at once. You may roll an Intelligence check (+1 to the roll for each being beyond the first one linked to) to successfully keep the mind-babble straight in your head.




New Talent Tree
Telepathy Superpower Talent Tree
The talents in this tree grant or enhance telepathic powers.
   Enhanced Telepathy: As the Telepathy feat, but you may choose to broadcast your thoughts to all intelligent beings within a 100-foot radius, or to a number of specified intelligent beings up to twice your Wisdom bonus. With a standard action and a successful Will save (DC12), you can isolate the thoughts of a specific being, causing all the others to fade into background noise. You may switch to a different mind to emphasize every round you maintain mental contact.
   Prerequisite: Telepathy minor power feat
   Mental Eavesdropping: As the Telepathy minor power feat, except the connection is one-way; you hear the thoughts of the targets, but they cannot hear yours. The GM should roll a secret Will save (DC12) for each target. If the Will save is successful, they feel as though someone is watching them. Targets that possesses the Telepathy feat or talents from the Telepathy tree are certain that someone is listening in on their thoughts if they successfully save and may make a second Will save (DC15) to force the eavesdropping telepath from their minds.
    Prerequisite: Any one minor power feat
   Superior Telepathy: As Enhanced Telepathy, but you may choose to broadcast your thoughts across great distances. The range and number of people you contact depend on level of success you have with a Willpower save, made as a free action when establishing the telepathic links.
   DC11: 10-mile radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 5 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC13: 100-mile radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 10 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC15: 1,000-mile radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 20 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC17: 10,000-mile radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 50 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC19: 100,000-mile radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 100 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC21: One million-mile radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 200 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC23: 10 light year radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 500 times your Wisdom bonus.
   DC25: 100 light year radius, choose to limit contact to targets up 1,000 times your Wisdom bonus.
   Further, with Superior Telepathy, you only hear the thoughts of those specific beings you choose to hear; this is strictly a one-way broadcast unless you wish otherwise.
   Prerequisite: Enhanced Telepathy
   Telepathic Hub: Establish telepathic contact with other characters possessing the Telepathy minor power feat. For each such character contacted, every person gains a +2 bonus to telepathy-, Intelligence-, and Wisdom-related skill checks and saving throws while the link is maintain. If more than one character possesses the Telepathic Hub talent, the bonus is still only applied once.
   Prerequisite: Telepathy minor power feat

d20 Feat: Portable Safe Space

A d20 System feat for our times....

Portable Safe Space [General]
You can retreat to your safe space, anytime, anywhere.
    Benefit: On a round during which you have initiative over a foe, you can use your first action to declare, "My character goes to his safe space." For the rest of that round, you may not take any other actions, but you gain a +1 to all saving throws and to AC/DR for the rest of the round.
    On the following round, you gain a +2 bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy skills checks, and a +2 bonus to Dodge rolls. The bonus lasts a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus.
   Special: Dedicated Heroes (d20 Modern) may choose this feat as one of the bonus feats earned through level advancement.

(This text is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2016 Steve Miller)

Modern Basics of 2016

The latest from NUELOW Games is a collection of feats, talents, and templates that have been revised from material that originally appeared in posts here or on the NUELOW Games Facebook page.

The cover for a collection of tools to make your d20 System gam ultra postmodern!

The Modern Basics 2016 Annual features work by NUELOW Games regulars L.L. Hundal, Dave Mendez, and Steve Miller, and it was mostly inspired by things you've seen in the news during the year that will (thankfully) soon be over.


You can see previews and get your copy of the one product you need to accurately replicate the aura of 2016 in your d20 Modern games at RPGNOW and DriveThruRPG. Get yours today and fix flaws in the game system you didn't even know existed!

Martial Arts Ranma 1/2 Style!

In Rumiko Takahashi's classic Ranma 1/2 series anything can be turned into a martial art--ice skating, fine dining, cheerleading... anything. With the following feat, you can do the same in your d20 System games.

The following text is presented under the Open Game License, and it may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2016 Steve Miller.

Specialty Martial Artist [Fighter, Fast Hero, Strong Hero] 
You have mastered an unusual fighting style that turns normally harmless pursuits deadly.
   Prerequisite: Combat Martial Arts or Defensive Martial Arts
   Benefit: When this feat is selected, specify a Craft, Knowledge, or Perform skill. You are the master of a fighting style that weaponizes that activity. You add ½ your number of ranks in the designated skill (round up) to your to-hit and damage rolls when making unarmed attacks. You may use objects associated with the activity as improvised melee or ranged weapons without suffering a non-proficiency penalty. In general, the objects deal a base of 1d4 points of damage with a base crit range of 19-20.
   Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time, a different Craft, Knowledge, or Perform skill must be specified. You must declare which version of the feat (if any) you are using at the beginning of each round if making a martial arts attack.

Martial Tea Ceremony (Illo by Rumiko Takahashi)

Whatchagonna do when they come for you?! It's d20 Cops!

Cops are a hot topic these days, although not always in a good way. Maybe some of you out there are contemplating d20 System campaigns where the heroes are cops--well, if you are, we have just the product to help you add the right flavor to the player characters!

Cop Feats Galore!

Although designed with d20 Modern in mind, the feats in Modern Basics: Good Cop, Bad Cop can easily apply to any d20 System variant you're using, be it something with Finder as part of the name or something entirely different. Happy crime-busting (or bribe-taking, depending on the nature of the campaign).

Modern Basics: Good Cop, Bad Cop is available at RPGNow and DriveThruRPG. Click on the link to your favorite site to see previews or to get your own copy.

And here's a song from Rucka-Rucka Ali that may or may not help inspire your game!

The power of the burp!

The element of surprise can mean the difference between defeat and victory in conflicts. Here are two feats for all d20 System games that will allow characters to seize that all important element of surprise by burping! (All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2016 Steve Miller.)

Power Burp [General, Minor Superpower]
You can issue a burp with an astonishing volume.
   Benefit: As a standard action, you can burb extremely loudly. All characters who have not previously been exposed to your special gift must roll Will saves (DC12+your Cha bonus) or suffer a -4 adjustment to their initiative, because they're so startled.
   Special: You gain a +2 adjustment to your initiative when doing a Power Burp. Subsequent actions that round are taken on your regular initiative.

Toxic Burp [General, Minor Superpower]
You can weaken a grappled foe with a foul-smelling burb.
   Prerequisite: Power Burp
   Benefit: After making a successful grapple attack, as a free action, you may burp into your foe's face, delivering a particularly vile blast of air that smells like it wafted up from the depths of Hell itself. The target must roll a Fortitude save (DC13) or lose all actions for the rest of the round. The target is sickened for 1d3 subsequent rounds.

The material is this post is a perfect compliment to the rules for drinking and getting drunk that we presented here. (Scroll past the video.)


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New Superpower Feat and Talent Tree: Emotion Manipulation

Heroes and villains with the power to manipulate the emotions of their targets--inspiring courage, fear, or sorrow, to name a few--can be found in the pages of comics ranging from Nedor's Exciting Comics to Marvel's Uncanny X-Men. Now, you can bring characters like that to d20 System campaigns that use NUELOW Games' feats and talent tree-based superpowers system. (Click here to see the basics.)
   All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.


MINOR POWER FEAT: EMPATHY
You detect the surface emotions of any creature you can see that is in the power’s area.
   Benefit: As a full round action, you can focus your attention on a single creature within your line of sight. Roll a Willpower save (DC10). If the roll is successful, you know the target's exact emotional state--afraid, angry, hate-filled, curious, friendly, or any other emotion. The following round, you gain a +4 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive checks you make directed at the target.
   Special: This feat serves a prerequisite for any talent from Superpower trees.

SUPERPOWER TALENT TREE: EMOTION MANIPULATION
The powers from this tree allows a character to sense and manipulate emotions in other beings. The creature must have a mind or be able to feel emotions in order to be a target of these powers.
   Master Manipulator: You can inherently sense the emotional state of beings you interact with. Gain a +4 bonus all Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, and Sense Motive skill checks.
   Prerequisite: Any Minor Power feat.
   Emotion Controller: Name a number of targets within 30 feet and your line of sight up to your Charisma bonus. As a full round action, you can either suppress or instill an emotion of your choosing (fear, anger, hate, curiosity, romantic attraction, and so on). The subjects of the emotion you wish to instill is also dictated by you instill the emotion. Targets may roll Willpower saves (DC15+your Charisma bonus) to avoid being affected by this ability. The emotion persists in the targets for a number of minutes equal to your Charisma bonus. If circumstances fuel the emotion further (such as anger toward someone who is already despised by the target prompting a physical fight that causes the target injury), the emotion can become indefinite.
   Prerequisite: Master Manipulator.
   Master Emotion Controller: As Emotion Controller, except the limit is line-of-sight, and you can instill different emotions in each specified target.
   Prerequisite: Emotion Controller
   Crippling Emotions: Name a number of targets within 30 feet and your line of sight up to your Charisma bonus. They must roll Will saves (DC15+your Charisma bonus) or be filled with an overwhelming sense of fear, sorrow, uncertainty, or some other negative emotion. If the Will save fails, the targets suffer a -6 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks, The penalty is -3 if the save was successful. The penalty lasts for a number of rounds equal to 1d6+your Charisma bonus.
   Prerequisite: Emotion Controller.


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If you found this material interesting or useful, you can see the NUELOW Games d20 Superhero rules in action in our comics/rpg hybrid books like Madden's Boys, Master Key, and Wildfire (just to name a few).

d20 Redheads

Redheads are everywhere in the sort of popular entertainment that we write RPG rules to emulate and/or spoof here at NUELOW Games, be it fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. It's almost embarrassing that it took us this long to come up with this post, especially since we have several redheads among our line up of characters (Linda "Black Cat" Turner, Vic "The Question" Sage, Carol "Wildfire" Vance, Tara, and, of course, Judy of the Jungle.) Well, better late than ever, as they say!
   All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced within its terms. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.

D20 REDHEADS

Are they mutants? Are they magical? No one can really say, but since ancient times and through today, they have been walking wondrously among us. This material lets you bring redheads and their special powers and abilities into your d20 System games. Included in this post are:
   The Redhead Template. It can only be gained at 1st-level, and it is applied at the expense of a starting feat. It is useful in all d20-based roleplaying games--perhaps even the shiny new hotness known as Fifth Edition. (It follows the mechanics of the Racial Templates found here, and is applied in place of one.)
  The Redhead Feat. This is for characters who have unlocked their inner redheaded god/goddess. It, too, is useful in all d20-based roleplaying games.
   The Redhead Talent Tree. For redheads who truly master their special abilities--for good or evil. This material is designed with OGL d20 Modern in mind, but it is easily adaptable to games that include talents or traits.

The Redhead Template
During character generation, a player may assign this template to any Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, or Halfling or Demihuman character. The player can apply the template and modifications at any point during the character generation process before the initial feats are selected. This template is chosen in place of a starting feat.
  Benefit: +3 Charisma, permanent -2 modifier to all Disguise skill checks.
  Special: Redheads suffer a -4 penalty to all Survival skill checks made in desert and tropical environments.


The Redhead Feat
For redheads who know they're special!
   Prerequisite: Redhead Template
   Benefit: Gain a +3 bonus to all Bluff and Diplomacy skill checks. Gain a +2 bonus to all Will saves. (If the game includes seduction rules, the +4 bonus applies to any checks related to those as well.)
   Special: This feat is considered a Minor Power feat for the purpose of gaining access to Superpower Talents.

Lina Inverse,
one of our favorite redheads

The Redhead Talent Tree
These are talents for redheads who have unlocked the mysterious potential that exists inside each and every one of them.
   Deathly Pale: Double your ranks in Bluff or Perform (Acting) when attempting to convince someone you are sick.
   Prerequisite: Redhead feat
  Disease Resistance: Because the Redhead's body produces lots and lots of Vitamin D naturally, you a +4 bonus to all Fort saves made to resist natural and magical diseases and infections.
   Prerequisite: Redhead feat
  Magic Use: Select a 0-level spell (arcane or divine) when this talent is chosen. You may cast that spell at will, without the need for material components, a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom bonus. Whenever you gain a level, you gain another 0-level spell of your choice. You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus each day. These spells are considered bonus spells, and they are added to any spells you already gain from class abilities, talents, and feats.
   Prerequisite: Redhead feat
   Reflective Skin: When in a brightly lit area (full sunlight or brighter), you may take a standard action to strip down to the point of being bare-chested. All who are looking at you must roll a Fort save (DC10+your Constitution bonus+your Charisma bonus) or be blinded for 1d6 rounds.
   Prerequisite: Deathly Pale
   Soul Eater: You have the ability to drain the life and soul out of foes and the unwitting. Make a successful unarmed attack. If you are injured, you regain a number of hit points equal to the damage dealt, up to your starting maximum. You also drain a number of XPs from the target equal to the damage dealt times 100. The target receives a Fort save against a DC12 to avoid the drain. The loss of XP causes the victim to fall below the minimum threshold for his current level, he loses a level. This ability works only on living beings from the Prime Material Plane with an Int score of 4 or higher.
   You can use Bluff or Diplomacy skill checks to trick the victim into allowing you to use your deadly life-draining touch upon him or her. In such an instance, you do not need to roll an attack or to deal actual unarmed damage, but you must still make a damage roll to determine how many XP the target loses. The target still receives a saving throw to avoid the drain. If you use this ability on a sleeping target, it wakes up after the first attempted drain, successful or not.
  If you kill a victim through this attack, you gain an Int, Wis, or Cha attribute point (roll randomly 1-2 Int, 3-4 Wis, 5-6 Cha). You also gain another freckle somewhere on your body.
   Prerequisite: Deathly Pale, Magic Use
  

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If you found this post amusing or useful, be sure to check out our d20 System releases at RPGNow or DriveThruRPG!

Remains of Atlantis: Mastering Magic (OGL d20)

Here's another preview of The Love Witch, a comics/rpg hybrid book from NUELOW Games. We present five feats that unlock special abilities for each of the major Atlantean spellcasting traditions. The material is expands upon the information in this post and this post. Ultimately, the rules work best with games that use both feats and talent trees, but the feats in this post work with any d20 System variant where characters can cast spells.
   All content in this post is released under the Open Game License and it may be reproduced in accordance with it. Copyright 2016 by Steve Miller.

Art by Larry Elmore

MASTERING ATLANTEAN MAGIC:
THE FIRST STEPS
Technology, science, and magic were equally respected in Atlantis, and anyone who had even the slightest aptitude for magic was encouraged to explore one or more of the magical orders to see if that was a suitable career path for them.  Magic-wielders could come from all walks of life--so in d20 System games, they could be of any character class. (Limitations and penalties for casting spells while wearing armor still apply, but access to spells in the system modeling Atlantean magic is tied to feats and talent trees, not class abilities.)
   The following feats represent the lowest level of mastery someone who aspired to a mage in time-lost Atlantis would have. The majority of such aspirants never made it past the point of having one of these feats. Although there were dozens of different magical traditions, and hundreds of schools within each of them, these five feats represent those that had the most practitioners. (They also represent the Atlantean magical traditions that have survived to modern times.)
   For GMs setting games in the time of ancient Atlantis, or where the heroes have been raised in an Atlantean enclave or have had knowledge of Atlantean magical traditions from an early age, one of these feats may be chosen as one of the starting feats. Otherwise, they can only be selected whenever a bonus feat is gained, after the character has become aware of Atlantean magic and has encountered someone to teach them some basic techniques and rituals. (For games using the rules from Feats of Mysticism & Magic, these feats are available to characters who may select Arcane feats.)


Aeromancy
The elemental power of air and fire flow through your body.
   Prerequisite: Int 12, Con 11
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Message, Spark
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Intelligence bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Biomancy
You have a strong connection to the physical world, and you turn that into magical energy.
   Prerequisite: Wis 12, Con 11
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Detect Poison, Touch of Fatigue.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Wisdom bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Geomancy
The elemental power of earth and water flow through you body.
   Prerequisite: Int 11, Con 12
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Ray of Frost, Resistance.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Constitution bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Philiamancy
Your magic is created by the bond between friends and lovers.
   Prerequisite: Cha 13
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Dancing Lights, Open/Close.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Charisma bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.


Technomancy
You hope to master the pinnacle of Atlantean sorcery--the union of technology and magic.
   Prerequisite: Int 13
   Benefit: You know and may cast the following 0-level spells, at will: Grease, Mending.
   You may cast a combination of these spells a number of times equal to your Int bonus each day.
   Special: The casting time, somatic, and verbal components of the spells remain, whatever is listed in the spell description, but all material components are replaced by this feat. The caster level is equal to your total number of character levels.