NexH
First Post
I recently bought the Immortals Handbook Ascension. It is full of interesting ideas, and I´m enjoying it greatly.
Yesterday I arrived at the section of epic feats, and I found many that seemed very entertaining, so I started converting them to 4E.
I only converted a very small fraction of the total: those that were relatively straightforward to convert and also seemed highly fun. In any case, I hope this is useful for those who have the book but use 4E.
Amazing pockets [Epic]
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Thievery
Benefit: You can target objects one category larger than normal when attempting a Pick Pocket.
Normal: Typically you can lift and conceal about your person something three size categories smaller than you. For a medium creature, this means something the approximate size of an amulet, a crown, or a purse.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Each time, the size category of the objects you can lift is increased by one.
Cat’s fall [Epic]
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Acrobatics.
Benefit: When you fall, you reduce the falling damage you take by four times your Acrobatics check result instead of one-half your check result.
Update note: The heroic feat Slow Fall, from Dragon 373, changes the result from half the check result to the full check result.
Eclectic defense [Epic]
You can use your surroundings, such as adjacent furniture, obstacles, or even household utensils, to increase your defense.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: Whenever you use the Total Defense action, the bonus provided to all your defenses is +6 (instead of the normal +2).
Eclectic shot [Epic]
You can use irregular objects as deadly missiles. For example you could throw playing cards as if they were shuriken, throw feathers like daggers and so forth. In addition you can shoot these irregular items from your bow, including swords, spears or even animals, such as snakes or poultry.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: For the mechanical benefits, see Eclectic Strike, but the benefit only applies to improvised ranged weapons. Improvised thrown weapons usually deal between 1d4 and 1d6 damage.
Update notes: See eclectic strike.
Eclectic strike [Epic]
Any melee object you wield becomes as deadly as a weapon of the same size. For instance in your hands a spoon would be as effective as a dagger, a chair would be akin to a greatsword, and so forth.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: The number of objects you can consider as improvised melee weapons greatly increases.
You gain a +2 proficiency bonus to attack rolls with improvised melee weapons. Your attacks with one-handed improvised melee weapons deal 1d8 damage, and your attacks with two-handed improvised melee weapons deal 1d10 damage.
Also, for the purposes of combat, all the improvised weapons you use function as +3 magic weapons. The bonus increases to +4 at level 26.
Update note: This reproduces part of the benefits of the Arena Fighter talent for a Weaponmaster fighter. It also adds the effect of a magical +3/+4 weapon to the improvised weapons used.
Egg-born [Epic]
You can lay your young as eggs.
Prequisite: 21st level, must be capable of childbirth.
Benefit: Instead of carrying unborn within your womb, you can lay them as eggs (long before of the normal 9 month waiting period)
Haleness [Epic]
You can survive without breathing
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You no longer need to breathe.
Update notes: removed the feat prequisites, since they are not usual in 4E.
Hibernate [Epic]
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You can place yourself in a trance that halts your need for nourishment or air indefinitely. You are dimly aware of your surroundings and can end the trance as if sleeping.
Update notes: Trained in Nature could be added as a prequisite to be more in line with the original feat.
Incorruptible body [Epic]
Your body doesn’t decompose after death.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: There is no limit to how long you can be dead before being raised.
Normal: Raise Dead can´t be used on a creature that has been dead for more than 30 days.
Special: You still cannot be raised if you died of old age.
Inedia [Epic]
You no longer require sustenance of any kind.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You no longer require food nor drink to sustain you.
Update notes: removed the feat prequisites, since they are not usual in 4E.
Insomnious [Epic]
You have transcended the need for sleep.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You no longer require sleep, but must have at least 4 hours of very light activity to obtain the benefits of and extended rest.
Update notes: removed the feat prequisites, since they are not usual in 4E. 4 hours of rest is like a warforged, but I replaced the needed “inactivity” with “very light activity”.
Malifiecus [Epic]
Your dreams give glimpses into future events.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: The GM must adjudicate which clues about the current adventure/campaign he wishes to reveal to that player.
Special: The longer the sleep the greater the insight. So a short catnap may only give brief, cryptic insights.
Mathesis [Epic]
You can weigh up an opponent physical capabilities at a glance.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Perception or Heal.
Benefit: With a successful Perception or Heal check as minor action (moderate DC for the target’s level) you can accurately determine an opponents levels in a martial class and their physical ability scores (constitution, dexterity and strength).
Special: For monsters that are mainly “martial” powered (e.g. Ogre, Troglodyte Warrior, Marut Battlemaster), you can determine their level, group role, and main role.
Update notes: added Heal since it seems appropriate for anatomical analysis. Made the action a minor action to make it worthwhile.
Phrenology [Epic]
You have a keen eye for discerning an opponents mental faculties.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Perception or Insight.
With a successful Perception or Insight check as minor action (moderate DC for the target’s level) you can accurately determine an opponents levels in an arcane class and their mental ability scores (charisma, intelligence, and wisdom).
Special: For monsters that are mainly “arcane” powered (e.g. Oni Mage, Dragonborn Fire Adept, Spell Weaver), you can determine their level, group role, and main role.
Update notes: Insight seemed appropriate for the benefit, even if not for phrenology proper.
Plastic soul [Epic]
You can fit through the eye of a needle
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Acrobatics
Benefit: Your body has unearthly pliability. You can try to escape from restraints as a standard action without any increase in the DC (instead of in five minutes), or as a move action with +5 DC. You also can try to pass (with high Acrobatics DCs) through extremely narrow openings, such as below a door or through keyholes. You get a +5 feat bonus when trying to escape a restrain or pass through narrow openings.
Update notes: I toned down the power considerably; now those amazing feats are still possible, but with “high” (DM’s discretion) DCs, and not automatic.
Prehensile hair [Epic]
You have perfect control of your body’s hair.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: You can control your hair as you would any other limb. Even attacking with it (as it was an unarmed attack) or wielding a weapon with it, albeit you lose the weapon’s proficiency bonus and have an extra -2 to hit.
Special: Your hair needs to be at least as long as your arm to make attacks. If your hair is as long as your entire body it will count as having the Reach weapon property (With a reach weapon, you can attack enemies that are 2 squares away from you as well as adjacent enemies, with no attack penalty. You can still make opportunity attacks only against adjacent enemies. Likewise, you can flank only an adjacent enemy.)
Sideways stealing [Epic]
You can steal in the second dimension
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Thievery
Benefit: You can steal two-dimensional traits from objects, such as text from a page, the color from the eyes of a princess or the stripes of a tiger. The Thievery DC for this task is at least Hard DC for the target’s level.
Tensegrity [Epic]
You are a veritable beast of burden.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: Double the amount of weight you can carry, lift, and drag.
Underwalker [Epic]
You can burrow through solid ground.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: If you succeed on a Strength check, you can burrow (tunneling, that is, leaving a hole other creatures can pass through) half your speed as a move action. The DC is 26 for sand or very loose earth, and increases for harder materials. For example, the DC for digging through granite would be 32.
Special: You automatically fail to burrow through a material if your bonus for Strength checks +10 is smaller than the burrowing DC. Example: A 21 level character with 24 Strength has a +17 bonus to Strength checks, and, since 17 + 10 = 27 < 32, he/she/it cannot burrow trough granite.
Update notes: Gaining burrow seems to be hard; examples of items that grant burrowing, for short periods of time, are: Girdle of the Umber Hulk, Earthwalker's Boots, and Sandwalker Boots. Used “moderate” DC for a level 21 character as a starting point. For granite I used a "moderate" DC for a level 30 character.
Yesterday I arrived at the section of epic feats, and I found many that seemed very entertaining, so I started converting them to 4E.
I only converted a very small fraction of the total: those that were relatively straightforward to convert and also seemed highly fun. In any case, I hope this is useful for those who have the book but use 4E.
Amazing pockets [Epic]
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Thievery
Benefit: You can target objects one category larger than normal when attempting a Pick Pocket.
Normal: Typically you can lift and conceal about your person something three size categories smaller than you. For a medium creature, this means something the approximate size of an amulet, a crown, or a purse.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Each time, the size category of the objects you can lift is increased by one.
Cat’s fall [Epic]
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Acrobatics.
Benefit: When you fall, you reduce the falling damage you take by four times your Acrobatics check result instead of one-half your check result.
Update note: The heroic feat Slow Fall, from Dragon 373, changes the result from half the check result to the full check result.
Eclectic defense [Epic]
You can use your surroundings, such as adjacent furniture, obstacles, or even household utensils, to increase your defense.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: Whenever you use the Total Defense action, the bonus provided to all your defenses is +6 (instead of the normal +2).
Eclectic shot [Epic]
You can use irregular objects as deadly missiles. For example you could throw playing cards as if they were shuriken, throw feathers like daggers and so forth. In addition you can shoot these irregular items from your bow, including swords, spears or even animals, such as snakes or poultry.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: For the mechanical benefits, see Eclectic Strike, but the benefit only applies to improvised ranged weapons. Improvised thrown weapons usually deal between 1d4 and 1d6 damage.
Update notes: See eclectic strike.
Eclectic strike [Epic]
Any melee object you wield becomes as deadly as a weapon of the same size. For instance in your hands a spoon would be as effective as a dagger, a chair would be akin to a greatsword, and so forth.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: The number of objects you can consider as improvised melee weapons greatly increases.
You gain a +2 proficiency bonus to attack rolls with improvised melee weapons. Your attacks with one-handed improvised melee weapons deal 1d8 damage, and your attacks with two-handed improvised melee weapons deal 1d10 damage.
Also, for the purposes of combat, all the improvised weapons you use function as +3 magic weapons. The bonus increases to +4 at level 26.
Update note: This reproduces part of the benefits of the Arena Fighter talent for a Weaponmaster fighter. It also adds the effect of a magical +3/+4 weapon to the improvised weapons used.
Egg-born [Epic]
You can lay your young as eggs.
Prequisite: 21st level, must be capable of childbirth.
Benefit: Instead of carrying unborn within your womb, you can lay them as eggs (long before of the normal 9 month waiting period)
Haleness [Epic]
You can survive without breathing
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You no longer need to breathe.
Update notes: removed the feat prequisites, since they are not usual in 4E.
Hibernate [Epic]
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You can place yourself in a trance that halts your need for nourishment or air indefinitely. You are dimly aware of your surroundings and can end the trance as if sleeping.
Update notes: Trained in Nature could be added as a prequisite to be more in line with the original feat.
Incorruptible body [Epic]
Your body doesn’t decompose after death.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: There is no limit to how long you can be dead before being raised.
Normal: Raise Dead can´t be used on a creature that has been dead for more than 30 days.
Special: You still cannot be raised if you died of old age.
Inedia [Epic]
You no longer require sustenance of any kind.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You no longer require food nor drink to sustain you.
Update notes: removed the feat prequisites, since they are not usual in 4E.
Insomnious [Epic]
You have transcended the need for sleep.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Endurance.
Benefit: You no longer require sleep, but must have at least 4 hours of very light activity to obtain the benefits of and extended rest.
Update notes: removed the feat prequisites, since they are not usual in 4E. 4 hours of rest is like a warforged, but I replaced the needed “inactivity” with “very light activity”.
Malifiecus [Epic]
Your dreams give glimpses into future events.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: The GM must adjudicate which clues about the current adventure/campaign he wishes to reveal to that player.
Special: The longer the sleep the greater the insight. So a short catnap may only give brief, cryptic insights.
Mathesis [Epic]
You can weigh up an opponent physical capabilities at a glance.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Perception or Heal.
Benefit: With a successful Perception or Heal check as minor action (moderate DC for the target’s level) you can accurately determine an opponents levels in a martial class and their physical ability scores (constitution, dexterity and strength).
Special: For monsters that are mainly “martial” powered (e.g. Ogre, Troglodyte Warrior, Marut Battlemaster), you can determine their level, group role, and main role.
Update notes: added Heal since it seems appropriate for anatomical analysis. Made the action a minor action to make it worthwhile.
Phrenology [Epic]
You have a keen eye for discerning an opponents mental faculties.
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Perception or Insight.
With a successful Perception or Insight check as minor action (moderate DC for the target’s level) you can accurately determine an opponents levels in an arcane class and their mental ability scores (charisma, intelligence, and wisdom).
Special: For monsters that are mainly “arcane” powered (e.g. Oni Mage, Dragonborn Fire Adept, Spell Weaver), you can determine their level, group role, and main role.
Update notes: Insight seemed appropriate for the benefit, even if not for phrenology proper.
Plastic soul [Epic]
You can fit through the eye of a needle
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Acrobatics
Benefit: Your body has unearthly pliability. You can try to escape from restraints as a standard action without any increase in the DC (instead of in five minutes), or as a move action with +5 DC. You also can try to pass (with high Acrobatics DCs) through extremely narrow openings, such as below a door or through keyholes. You get a +5 feat bonus when trying to escape a restrain or pass through narrow openings.
Update notes: I toned down the power considerably; now those amazing feats are still possible, but with “high” (DM’s discretion) DCs, and not automatic.
Prehensile hair [Epic]
You have perfect control of your body’s hair.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: You can control your hair as you would any other limb. Even attacking with it (as it was an unarmed attack) or wielding a weapon with it, albeit you lose the weapon’s proficiency bonus and have an extra -2 to hit.
Special: Your hair needs to be at least as long as your arm to make attacks. If your hair is as long as your entire body it will count as having the Reach weapon property (With a reach weapon, you can attack enemies that are 2 squares away from you as well as adjacent enemies, with no attack penalty. You can still make opportunity attacks only against adjacent enemies. Likewise, you can flank only an adjacent enemy.)
Sideways stealing [Epic]
You can steal in the second dimension
Prequisite: 21st level, trained in Thievery
Benefit: You can steal two-dimensional traits from objects, such as text from a page, the color from the eyes of a princess or the stripes of a tiger. The Thievery DC for this task is at least Hard DC for the target’s level.
Tensegrity [Epic]
You are a veritable beast of burden.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: Double the amount of weight you can carry, lift, and drag.
Underwalker [Epic]
You can burrow through solid ground.
Prequisite: 21st level.
Benefit: If you succeed on a Strength check, you can burrow (tunneling, that is, leaving a hole other creatures can pass through) half your speed as a move action. The DC is 26 for sand or very loose earth, and increases for harder materials. For example, the DC for digging through granite would be 32.
Special: You automatically fail to burrow through a material if your bonus for Strength checks +10 is smaller than the burrowing DC. Example: A 21 level character with 24 Strength has a +17 bonus to Strength checks, and, since 17 + 10 = 27 < 32, he/she/it cannot burrow trough granite.
Update notes: Gaining burrow seems to be hard; examples of items that grant burrowing, for short periods of time, are: Girdle of the Umber Hulk, Earthwalker's Boots, and Sandwalker Boots. Used “moderate” DC for a level 21 character as a starting point. For granite I used a "moderate" DC for a level 30 character.
