Libertad's Review of The Genius Guide to Horrifically Overpowered Feats
Because It Must Be Done
Introduction
So basically the book opens up with a blurb of how these feats are not meant to be used in campaigns, for the sanity of players and Dungeon Masters. But it knows that those brave or foolish enough to implement them in Pathfinder games are going to ignore these warnings, so it lays out suggestions and general overview of
[Horrifically Overpowered] feats.
Yes, you read that right,
[Horrifically Overpowered] is its own type. Any feat marked as such can't ever be taken them as a bonus feat due to race or class; you can have a maximum of 1 Horrifically Overpowered Feat at 1st level, 2 at 3rd level, and an additional 1 every 3 levels thereafter. Keep in mind that the feat progression in Pathfinder is faster than normal 3.X, so you can't just unload all your feat slots on them.
And another (but no less important) reason for the new type is that in case anybody copies the feats as part of Open Game Content, interested parties can be properly warned ahead of time. This ends Owen Stephens' public service announcement.
The second type of feat descriptor is
[Meta-Attack]. Basically, they're like Meta-Magic feats, but for normal weapon and natural attacks. They can be used a certain number of times per day, and most of them are activated as a swift or free actions. All such feats are also
Horrifically Overpowered, and you can gain additional uses per day as you gain levels (1 additional use to be applied to the Meta-Attack feat of your choice at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter).
The Trial: For the purposes of this review, I'll be acting as judge, jury, and executioner. The accused party is Owen KC Stephens, and his crime is false advertising of overpowered feats. After each feat's description, I'll lay down the verdict as to whether the feat in question is Horrifically Overpowered. In the rare case I cannot decide one way or the other, I'll turn things over to the community to decide on my behalf. If you disagree with any of my conclusions, feel free to state your case.
And now that that's out of the way, here are the Feats:
Denied
[Horrifically Overpowered]
You can simply refuse to be affected by a specific attack, spell, or ability.
Benefit: Once per day as a free action, you can decide to not be affected by a single attack, combat maneuver, spell, or effect. All its effects on you are immediately negated. This decision must be made as soon as you are aware of the effect you wish to negate. Only a single use of the effect is negated -- if you prevent an ancient red dragon from grappling you, that does not prevent it from making a new grapple check on its next attack. You may use this twice per day at 8th level, and one more time per day for every additional 8 levels you gain, to a maximum of six times per day at 40th level.
The verdict: Overpowered. It's pretty much a versatile way of avoiding negative effects and will save the PC's bacon quite a bit. But you must be aware of the effect occurring, and in some circumstances the enemy can repeat the action on its next turn.
Edit: StreamoftheSky pointed out in his post that a no-fail ability to nullify any attack can indeed be overpowered in its versatility, while Sor0 said that it's poorly worded enough to cause many headaches (especially in regards to territorial effects). Concerned Ninja Citizen pointed out the lack of duration and specifics and ignoring "effects" such as gravity.
Empowered Attack
[Horrifically Overpowered, Meta-attack]
A limited number of times per day, you can focus all your power and rage into an attack.
Benefit: Two times per day as a swift action, you may declare one weapon attack, natural attack, or unarmed attack to be an empowered attack. You must make this declaration prior to making your attack roll. An empowered attack increases the damage it does by 50%.
The verdict: Not overpowered. This is a nice feat for chargers and damage-dealers, but given that straight hit point damage is not an overall effective forms of offense in Pathfinder, it's not going to get balls-to-the-wall crazy.
Enlarged Attack
[Horrifically Overpowered, Meta-attack]
A limited number of times per day, you can concentrate all your attention and will on the accuracy of one attack.
Benefit: Four times per day as a swift action, you may declare one weapon attack to be an enlarged attack. You must make this declaration prior to making your attack roll. If the attack is with a ranged weapon, the range increment of the attack doubles. If the attack is with a melee weapon, you may throw it as a ranged thrown weapon (not taking the normal penalty for throwing a melee weapon) with a range increment of 30 feet.
The verdict: Not overpowered. Spells with Long range increments can still outpace archers with this feat (who can get about 220 feet increments with a composite longbow). And turning any melee weapon into a thrown weapon isn't that bad.
Eschew Foci
[Horrifically Overpowered]
You have no need for idols and mirrors to cast spells.
Prerequisite: Eschew Materials
Benefit: You do not need to fulfill the focus or divine focus components of spells in order to cast them.
The verdict: Not overpowered. Foci are pretty much reusable material components, and are not very expensive to purchase. Now, if it allowed you to ignore material components, then it would be Horrifically Overpowered.
Eschew Gestures
[Horrifically Overpowered]
You have no need to wiggle your fingers to cast spells.
Prerequisite: Still Spell
Benefit: You do not need to fulfill the somatic components of spells in order to cast them. You effectively treat all the spells you cast as if they had been cast using the Still Spell metamagic feat, but the spell’s level does not change, and no extra time is required to cast it.
The verdict: Depends. The best use I can think of is for gish builds, who can swing around a greataxe or dual-wield scimitars while casting spells without having to drop and sheathe weapons all the time. Plus it also has a feat tax of a feat you won't be using anymore.
However, it allows spellcasters to cast spells while hindered, restrained, and grappled, but spells still provoke an attack of opportunity. It can get overpowered if combined with Supernatural Spell Monster, which takes care of the AoO problem.
Eschew Incantations
[Horrifically Overpowered]
You have no need to speak to cast spells.
Prerequisite: Silent Spell
Benefit: You do not need to fulfill the verbal components of spells in order to cast them. You effectively treat all the spells you cast as if they had been cast using the Silent Spell metamagic feat, but the spell’s level does not change, and no extra time is required to cast it.
The verdict: Overpowered. Silence is no longer a poor man's Anti-Magic Field for enemy spellcasters, and it eliminates a big weakness of spellcasters.
Extended Attack
[Horrifically Overpowered, Meta-attack]
A limited number of times per day, you can drive an attack deep into a foe to insure the wound continues to tear and bleed, at least briefly.
Benefit: Three times per day as a swift action, you may declare one weapon attack, natural attack, or unarmed attack to be an extended attack. You must make this declaration prior to making your attack roll. If the attack hits, the target suffers bleed damage at the beginning of its next round. For this bleed, roll the extended attack’s damage again, using the same modifiers as the original attack.
The verdict: Not overpowered. Since you have to declare it before the attack roll, there's a chance that you'll miss or roll low damage. It's pretty much a free second attack, but only on the next round. Very nice feat for martials.
Extra Lives
[Horrifically Overpowered]
You are just hard to kill.
Benefit: Your character can come back from the dead, with no penalty, three times in its total career. This happens at the end of whatever encounter you died in, unless that would cause your character to immediately die again (such as if your body was dropped into a pool of lava). In that case, you return to life at some safe location within a week, at the GM’s discretion. If you think your character is likely to be raised quickly and easily, you may choose not to use this ability when you die, in which case it does not count against your three total uses of this feat.
Special: This feat can be taken more than once. (Although, really, you need to take Toughness if you’re dying that often. Or maybe Dodge. Or just stand closer to the cleric.) Each time you take it, the number of times your character may freely return from the dead increases by three.
The verdict: Not overpowered, especially at higher levels. Unlike other feats, it has a limited use, and becomes useless after 3 deaths. At low levels it can help increase PC survivability, and at high levels Save or Die effects are increasingly common. Given the way the feat works, 'death' is still a penalty as it takes you out of the game for 1 week. You'll still have to sit things out if the party's in a dungeon or doesn't have time to wait around for you to come back.
More to come soon!