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Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2)

Fantasy Player’s Requires the use of the


Dungeons & Dragons ®
Player’s Handbook

Companion: by James Maliszewski

Hard to Kill Special thanks to Bruce Baugh


for the name “Survivor Feats”

The life of an adventurer is a difficult one, fraught with all The feats presented here vary greatly in their level of power
manner of threats to one’s body, mind, and soul. There are two and DMs are advised to consider carefully the effects of introduc-
types of successful adventurers: those who, either by accident of ing any of these feats into his campaign. Some are quite powerful
birth or the favor of the gods, are naturally better able to confront in nature, in that they circumvent the special abilities of certain
certain types of perils and then there are those who learn from opponents (particularly undead), while others are more mundane,
their experiences and look upon defeats as momentary setbacks providing only a small advantage to characters. Of course, most
rather than permanent conditions. Rather than give up, those of the Survivor Feats are quite specialized in nature. Likewise, their pre-
second type pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and try requisites can be quite steep, such as permanent level loss for
again, despite the odds. Hardened by adversity, these adventurers example, which might make them less attractive options than their
often find themselves better able to confront obstacles and foes power level might suggest. In the end, the DM remains the final
than they would have been had they not suffered earlier. arbiter of what is permissible in his campaign and care should be
Hard to Kill is a collection of thirty new feats designed to pro- taken in deciding which of the following feats to permit players to
vide players of both types of characters with ways to ensure the select.
success of their characters. In addition to a handful of feats for All too often roleplaying gamers eschew failure and see value
adventurers of the first type, the bulk of the feats presented here only in glorious victories. Survivor Feats are intended to show that
are for the second type. Called “Survivor Feats,” these feats offer failure can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, even a gateway to
a wide range of new abilities to characters, but these abilities come hidden power.
at a price. To take a Survivor Feat, a character must have in his
past suffered a setback of some sort, in some cases a very signifi- Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2) is copyright © 2004
cant one. It is said “that which does not kill me makes me James Maliszewski. All text in this book is designated as open game content.
stronger” and that is certainly the basis for Survivor Feats – You may not distribute this PDF without permission of the author. Dungeons
although being killed is in fact the prerequisite for several of these & Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are Registered Trademarks of
Wizards of the Coast and are used with permission.
feats!

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Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2)

BAD BLOOD (SURVIVOR) DEXTEROUS DODGE


Your blood is unwholesome to creatures that subsist on this
vital fluid.
(SURVIVOR)
Prerequisite: Dex 13, You must have been successfully
Prerequisite: You must have had your Constitution score
trampled by an opponent
reduced to 0 and been restored to life.
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to all Reflex saving throws to
Benefit: You are immune to the extraordinary ability blood
avoid being trampled by an opponent.
drain. Any opponent that attempts to use the ability against you
will be unsuccessful, even if he meets all the requirements for
the use of the ability. D R
ISEASE ESISTANCE
(SURVIVOR)
DAMAGE CONVERSION You are resistant to the effects of diseases.
(GENERAL) Prerequisite: You must have survived infection by a disease,
whether non-magical or magical
You can make your opponent’s blows less damaging.
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to any saving throw made to
Prerequisite: Con 13, Toughness
resist the effects of diseases, including magical diseases.
Benefit: You convert a limited number of normal damage
from each hit you take to subdual damage. The amount you can
convert is equal to your Constitution modifier. Thus, a character ENERGY RESISTANCE
with Constitution 15 converts 2 points from every hit to subdual
damage. You must be conscious for this feat to function, how-
(GENERAL)
You are resistant to damage caused by one type of energy.
ever. That is, if reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, any further dam-
age you take is normal damage and is not converted to subdual Prerequisite: Con 15, Great Fortitude
damage. Benefit: You gain a resistance of 5 against one type of ener-
gy (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic). This feat does not stack
DEAD MAN’S EYES (SURVIVOR) with energy resistance granted by magic items or nonpermanent
magical effects.
You have seen the face of death and it no longer holds power Special: A character can take this feat multiple times. Its
over you. effects do not stack. Each time, he chooses a new energy type.
Benefit: You must have died and been restored to life
Benefit: You are immune to the supernatural ability Death
Gaze or any similar supernatural ability that causes death by
F
AST BILITY A H
EALER
sight. Beams or rays emitted from the eyes of a creature fall (G
ENERAL )
under this immunity so long as they are supernatural in origin You heal ability score damage faster than normal.
and not spells or spell-like abilities. This feat does not, howev- Benefit: Your ability score damage heals at 1.5 times the nor-
er, grant immunity to the supernatural ability Petrifying Gaze, mal rate. This increase is effective while under the care of some-
since it does not cause immediate death but petrification. one using Heal as well.

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Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2)
Normal: Characters naturally heal 1 ability score point for a Prerequisite: Dex 13, You must have suffered paralysis and
full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 2 ability score points for each day recovered
of complete rest. Under the care of someone using Heal, the Benefit: You are immune to the extraordinary ability paraly-
recovery rates are 2 ability score points and 4 ability score points sis, such as that possessed by a ghoul or a ghast. Against spells,
respectively. spell-like or supernatural abilities, or magic items, however, you
gain a +2 bonus to your Fortitude saves but you are not immune
F AST H EALER (G ENERAL ) to their effects.
Your wounds naturally heal faster than normal.
Benefit: Your wounds naturally heal at 1.5 times the normal G RAY W ANDERER (S URVIVOR )
rate. This increase is effective while under the care of someone The passage from death to life is less traumatic to you than to
using Heal as well. others.
Normal: Characters naturally heal 1 hit point per level for a Prerequisite: You must have died and been restored to life
full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 2 hit points per level for each day Benefit: If you die and are restored to life by magical means,
of complete rest. Under the care of someone using Heal, the such as raise dead or resurrection, you suffer no loss of either
recovery rates are 2 hit points per level and 4 hit points per level Constitution or character levels as a result.
respectively.
HARD OF HEARING (SURVIVOR)
FEARLESS (GENERAL) You cannot hear as well as you once could.
Nothing can frighten you. Prerequisite: You must have taken sonic damage equal to
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to all saves made against fear twice your Wisdom score
effects of any sort, including magical fear. Benefit: You are immune to spell-like or supernatural abili-
ties that depend on music to be effective, such as a harpy’s song
FLOW LIKE WATER (GENERAL) or a grig’s fiddling. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to saves
Your body is extremely supple and difficult to grasp. against sonic attacks of other types.
Prerequisite: Escape Artist 1 rank
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to Escape Artist checks when I
NDIGESTIBLE (G
ENERAL )
used to break a grappling pin. In addition, you suffer only a –2 Even the most ravenous creature finds itself unable to con-
penalty to AC while pinned by an opponent. sume your body.
Normal: While a character is pinned, he takes a –4 penalty Benefit: You are immune to any and all Engulf or Swallow
to his AC against opponents other than the one pinning him. Whole attacks made against you. Creatures with these extraor-
dinary abilities simply cannot use them against you, even if they
F REEDOM OF M OVEMENT succeed in meeting all the conditions for their use. This does not
prevent such creatures from successfully doing bite damage
(S URVIVOR ) against you, however.
You cannot be paralyzed.

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Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2)

LIGHT STEP (GENERAL) Prerequisite: Con 15, You must have permanently lost at
least one level due to energy drain.
You walk gently on the ground and leave little evidence of Benefit: You gain negative energy resistance equal to your
your passage. total number of levels lost due to energy drain by creatures like
Benefit: You are treated as two size categories smaller for the wights or spectres at the time you take this feat. Thus, a charac-
purposes of determining the DC of Survival checks made to ter who had previously lost two levels due to energy drain would
track you. Thus, a Medium creature is treated as Tiny, increas- gain negative energy resistance 2, while one who had lost only
ing the DC to +2, while a Huge creature is treated as Medium, one level would gain negative energy resistance 1. Should you
with no penalty or bonus to the check. In addition, you gain a +2 lose additional levels after taking this feat, your negative energy
bonus to Move Silently checks. resistance does not increase unless you choose to take this feat
again, in which case your resistance increases to your new total
MAGIC RESISTANCE levels lost.
(GENERAL) This feat overlaps (and does not stack with) the feat Negative
Energy Buffer. If a character possesses both feats, the level of
You are resistant to the effects of magic. Negative Energy Resistance is deducted first, with any remain-
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to any saving throw made to ing negative levels being absorbed by Negative Energy Buffer.
resist the effects of spells, spell-like or supernatural abilities, or
magic items. OLFACTORY FORTITUDE
NEGATIVE ENERGY BUFFER (SURVIVOR)
No smell, no matter how unpleasant, can adversely affect
(GENERAL) you.
You can ignore the effects of a limited number of negative Prerequisite: You must have failed a saving throw against a
levels per day. spell, spell-like or supernatural ability, or magic item whose
Prerequisite: Great Fortitude, Con 13 effects depend on the sense of smell
Benefit: You can ignore a number of negative levels per day Benefit: You are immune to spells, spell-like or supernatural
equal to your Constitution modifier. Thus, a character with a abilities, or magic items whose effects depend on overwhelming
Constitution of 13 who gains two negative levels from a vam- your sense of smell, such as stinking cloud or a troglodyte’s
pire’s successful slam attack instead gains only one negative stench.
level, while a character with a Constitution of 15 would gain no
negative levels. POISON RESISTANCE
NEGATIVE ENERGY (GENERAL)
You are resistant to the effects of poison
RESISTANCE (SURVIVOR) Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to any saving throw to resist
You are less susceptible the life draining power of negative the effects of poisons, including magical poisons.
energy.

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Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2)

REST IN PEACE (SURVIVOR) Special: This +4 bonus to Spot checks does not stack with
the bonus gained through the Alertness feat.
Should you die, your body and soul will gently repose unless
called back by your deity.
Prerequisite: You must have been reduced to 0 or fewer hit
STEADY FEET (GENERAL)
Your feet are solidly planted on the ground.
points by an undead creature that can create spawn and survived;
Patron deity Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to Dexterity checks used to
resist trip attacks made against you. In addition, an opponent
Benefit: You cannot become the spawn of any undead crea-
must be two size categories larger than you before he gains a +4
ture. Should you be killed by an undead create that can create
bonus to his trip attempt.
spawn, you will not rise as one of them but will remain dead
until restored to life by a cleric of the deity you worship. Normal: An opponent gets a +4 bonus for every size catego-
ry he is larger than Medium.
SCHOOL RESISTANCE STEELY RESOLVE (GENERAL)
(GENERAL) You have a firm grasp on reality and few things can under-
You are resistant to the effects of a single school of magic. mine it.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to any saving throw made the Prerequisite: Wis 13
resist spells, spell-like or supernatural abilities, or magic items Benefit: You can ignore a limited amount of Wisdom ability
whose effects come from a particular school of magic, such as damage from the effects of madness per day. The amount of
evocation, divination, or enchantment. ability damage ignored is equal to double your current Wisdom
Special: A character can take this feat multiple times. Its modifier. Thus, if a character has Wisdom 13, he may ignore 2
effects do not stack. Each time, he chooses a new school of points of Wisdom damage from madness effects per day, while
magic. a character with Wisdom 17 may ignore 6 points of Wisdom
damage. Should your Wisdom modifier increase after you have
SECOND SIGHT (GENERAL) taken this feat, so do its effects.
Your mind is attuned to the energies of the Ethereal Plane,
allowing you to sense invisible creatures and objects. STONE FACED (SURVIVOR)
Prerequisite: Wis 15, Alertness Neither the gaze of the medusa nor the basilisk holds any fear
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to Spot checks to notice the for you.
presence of an active invisible creature within 30 feet of your- Prerequisite: Must have been petrified and restored to nor-
self. In addition, you do not lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor mal.
Class when attacked by an invisible opponent. Neither does an Benefit: You are immune to the supernatural ability
invisible opponent get a +2 bonus to hit you as usual. However, Petrifying Gaze. You are not, however, immune to petrification
ranged attacks by an invisible opponent still ignore your by other means, such as a cockatrice’s bite or the flesh to stone
Dexterity bonus to Armor Class and gain a +2 bonus to attack. spell.

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Fantasy Player’s Companion: Hard to Kill (Feats 2)

STRONG WILLED (GENERAL) ral ability lifesense are immune to the effects of this feat and can
detect you as normal.
Your mind is particularly unruly and difficult to control.
Prerequisite: Iron Will NSHAKEABLE ENERAL U (G )
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to Will saves against all spells, Nothing can cause you to lose your grip on reality.
spell-like abilities, magic items, or other effects that attempt to
Prerequisite: Steely Resolve
control your mind. In addition, you have twice as many oppor-
tunities to break free from any effects that give you one. For Benefit: You are immune to the spells confusion and insani -
example, an aboleth’s supernatural enslave ability grants anyone ty, as well as other spells, spell-like or supernatural abilities, and
affected by it the opportunity to make a Will save in order to magic items that cause madness. Nothing short of a miracle or
break free every 24 hours. A character with this feat gets an wish can cause you to go insane.
opportunity every 12 hours.
Special: This bonus stacks with other bonuses to Will saves, ALK ITHOUT HYTHM W W R
including those that specifically resist mind-affecting magic. ENERAL (G )
You can disguise your footfalls so that they are harder to
TOUCH OF DEATH (SURVIVOR) detect.
The cold hand of death protects you from beyond the grave. Prerequisite: Light Step
Prerequisite: You must have died and been restored to life Benefit: The special quality tremorsense does not work
Benefit: Mindless undead, such as skeletons and zombies, against you. Thus, a purple worm cannot detect you simply
ignore you unless you attack them. Intelligent undead ignore because you are moving within 60 ft. of it. The creature must
you if they fail a Will save whose DC is 10 + the reverse of your instead detect you through normal means. In addition, you gain
Charisma modifier. Thus, if you have Charisma 13, the DC is 9, a +2 bonus to your Move Silently checks. This bonus stacks
because your +1 ability modifier is in this case a –1 modifier. On with that from the feat Light Step and any other feat that grants
the other hand, if your Charisma were 9, the DC would be 11, a similar bonus (such as Stealthy).
since the –1 modifier becomes +1. Undead with the supernatu-
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