Traits (4E)

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Talents are an optional set of rules that give characters more options out of combat. They are purchased separately from the skills, feats and powers described in the Player's Handbook. The talent rules can thus be dropped into a game without affecting existing characters, albeit at the cost of some extra bookkeeping.

Basics

Talents are non-combat versions of feats. They give special abilities that are used to define a characters background and Talents are used to represent your character’s livelihood outside of adventuring. This includes role-playing gimmicks and background options. They are also used to purchase professions (non-combat skills).

You gain talents at the same rate as you get new feats; at level 1, 11, 21, and every even level. You can retrain one talent every level, in addition to normal retraining limits.

Talent list

Agent

Prerequisite: Level 4

Benefit: You have an agent who will act on your behalf and represent you. While unwilling to risk his or her life, the agent will carry out instructions to the best of his ability, and look out for your interests when you are otherwise occupied. He will also travel to represent you in other places and can be sent on missions on his own. In return, the agent expects advice, patronage, and that you use your contacts on his behalf.

An agent is an NPC two levels lower than yours of a class and race agreed upon with the DM. If your agent is killed, you will want to retrain this talent.

Special: The agent is and NPC and is thus designed by the DM.

Artiste

Benefit: You get a +3 feat bonus to Actor, Dancer, Lover, Musician, Orator, and Singer.

Authority

Benefit: You get a +3 feat bonus to Lawman, Merchant, Sailor, Soldier, and Valet.

Blue Blood

Benefit: Your family is old and recognized for its nobility, one of the most prestigious in the land. In a campaign where most everyone is a noble (a chivalry campaign, for example) you may even be of royal blood.

Those who care about such things will see you as a born leader, and your career often benefits. It is easy for you to be invited to parties and social functions, and you have relatives in high places. Your word is given due consideration, you are a valuable and reliable witness, and you will mostly be assumed to have a good reason to be wherever you are doing whatever it is you are doing, even if it might seem fishy. Even those who don't respect nobility find it hard to ignore your manners and bearing, it is clear that you are a person not to be trifled with.

You're not automatically wealthy, some nobles are dirt poor. If you get caught with your hands dirty, Blue Blood may backfire; everyone loves a good scandal.

Celebrity

Prerequisite: Training in Fame.

Benefit: You get a +3 feat bonus to Fame.

Contacts

Benefit: Contacts are persons you know and who are friendly to you and sympathetic to the same cause as you, but not your direct servants or allies. They will gladly supply information, acting as your eyes and ears. They also willingly perform services for you at normal cost, which can be a boon if they deal in something that is outlawed, rare, or otherwise hard to come by.

Over time, your network of contacts grows, you gain new ones while some of your old contacts become obsolete. This talent gives you a number of contacts equal to half your level, with a minimum of one contact. You generally acquire a new contact once per level, replacing an old one on odd levels and gaining a new one at even levels. Sometimes, your contacts change slower or quicker than this, but can never have more contacts than your level indicates.

A contact should ideally be someone you met and befriended during play. In this way, you can gain influential contacts; kings, courtiers, important heroes and other famous individuals. You can flesh out your stable of contacts with NPCs of your own invention, but these are generally not as important or influential as the ones you meet during play; typical examples are city guardsmen, traders, shopkeepers, local clergy, or minor mystics.

Cute

Benefit: There is something about you that makes others care for you. Depending on their personality, this might make them want to kidnap and possess you or just give you a smile and favorable treatment. This makes it easy for you to get into social events, make acquaintances, and generally be very popular in a non-domineering sort of way.

Fame

Prerequisite: Trained in the Celebrity profession.

Benefit: Gain a +3 feat bonus to the Celebrity profession.

Followers

Prerequisite:' Leadership, Cha 11+

Benefit: You have a group of followers who work for you. They serve in some capacity; for example as a garrison, police force, ship’s crew, caravan drivers, or guild thieves. They report to you, and you can give them orders slightly outside the scope of their normal activity, but they will not generally accompany you on adventures and never enter dungeons.

You start out with ten followers who are all identical. Each play session you gain another follower, to replace ones you lost or to fill out your band. You can never have more followers than your Charisma score. If you do not recruit new followers for a while, you still accumulate followers who will all join you at once when you do recruit. Sometimes, you will be in a location where you cannot recruit, such as deep in a hostile dungeon, but your potential recruits still accumulate.

A follower is an NPC minion two levels lower than you of a class and race agreed upon with the DM.

Handyman

Benefit: You get a +3 feat bonus to Jeweler, Leatherworker, Mechanic, Smith, Stoneworker, and Tailor.

Honest Joe

Benefit: You have a way with people, and inspire trust and confidence without really trying to. Any basically good and law-abiding people gladly give you a hand, though there must be a reason if they are to accept discomfort or danger to help you. Sometimes, you can even inspire this trust in goons and villains, but usually only after you have soundly trounced them.

Language

Benefit: Choose a language. You can now speak, read, and write this language fluently.

Special: You can take this talent more than once. Each time you select this talent, choose a new language to learn. Unlike the Linguist feat, this has no prerequisite.

Leadership

Prerequisite: Training in at least one profession.

Benefit: You know how to lead other professionals workers. You know when to encourage or punish, when to give instructions, and how to keep up morale. As a leader, you direct others in tasks relating to your profession skills. Thus, a ship's captain is an Overseer with the Sailor profession (and possibly Stargazer as well), an officer is a Soldier with Leadership, a businessman is a Merchant with Leadership, and so on. When making rolls to lead and direct others, use the relevant profession skill.

Mentor

Benefit: You have mentor or employer that sees you as a trusted agent. The mentor is a constant source of information, employment opportunities, and often useless advice.

The DM is encouraged to use the mentor as an adventure hook and patron, and might tailor benefits and rewards to the mentor’s outlook on you. You can also turn to the mentor for help and advice, but a mentor will not accept being used and will avoid becoming directly involved in the action. The mentor is a powerful figure, which might or might not mean that he is a high-level character. A rich merchant, influential queen, or behind-the-scenes monster can also function as a mentor just as well as the classic warrior lord or wizard sage.

The exact details of your mentor are up to the DM and might even be unknown to you; a mentor might have a secret agenda.

Professional Training

Benefit: You gain training in one profession.

Special: You can take this talent more than once. Each time you select this talent, choose a profession in which you are not trained.

Scholar

Benefit: You get a +3 feat bonus to Architect, Alchemist, Governor, Painter, Scribe and , Stargazer.

Specialist

Prerequisite: Trained in one profession (except Celebrity).

Benefit: Select one profession you are trained in. You gain a +3 feat bonus to that profession. Also select one sub-field of this profession, such as a specific instrument for Musician, with this specific field you get a +5 feat bonus instead of the normal +3.

Subterfuge

Benefit: You know how to keep a low profile. Your personal life is your own, and people in general do not know who you are or what you can do. This might be because you have a secret identity or simply stand back and let your companions take the limelight.

If you are a Celebrity, you are a mysterious adventurer who’s true identity no-one knows. Streetwise rolls to find out things about you suffer a +5 difficulty modifier in addition to other modifiers. Regardless of how famous you are, you won’t be generally recognized unless you want to be.

Signature Item

Benefit: You possess an item that has a great potential as a magic item. You know a special ritual to transfer the power of other magic items into your signature item.

Choose one specific type of magic item to be your signature item. This must be a weapon, implement, suit of armor, or amulet/cloak. Your signature item does not start out with this enchantment, but you know a special variant of the Create Magic Item ritual that only works on your signature item. You can only enchant your signature item with the one enchantment you choose when you selected the item, or with a generic “plus only” enchantment if your level is too low to create an item of your chosen type. If your signature item is lost or destroyed, you will want to retrain this talent.

Special: You can take this talent several times. Each time you do, it applies to a different item.

Spin Yarn

Benefit: By continually speaking, you may keep your audience captive with outrageous tales, distracting them. You can keep this up beyond all reason. You must first engage the victim in conversation, and then make a Diplomacy roll against the targets' passive Insight. You can target several people at once with no penalties, but use the highest value in the audience for a difficulty. A successful roll lets you keep telling the story for five minutes before you need to make a second roll.

Combat, an alarm, and other direct threats and immediate situations will break your hold on people. You might have to use your Spin Yarn on someone who comes to interrupt, or lose your audience.

Item Companion

Prerequisite: Signature Item

Benefit: A signature item is sentient and can converse with you. It is has a score of 10 in all mental attributes and will converse and give advice to the best of its ability. It speaks a single language but is illiterate. The item can take no action and cannot use passive Insight or Perception. If your signature item is lost or destroyed, you will want to retrain this talent.

Special: You can take this talent several times. Each time you do, choose one of the following benefits:

• Your item can speak to others besides yourself
• Your item knows three additional languages and can read.
• Your item can make knowledge rolls for one skill. Choose Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Nature, or Religion. It cannot use the skill for other purposes. The item has a bonus on these checks equal to ½ your level +5.