Story Feats

A story feat reflects a goal—sometimes an all-consuming one—that shapes your life. Each story feat incorporates a trigger event (which comes from either a campaign occurrence or your background), an immediate benefit, a goal, and a further benefit for achieving that goal.

All PCs and Important NPCs start play with one Story feat.

You may gain a new one during play, but you can have only one uncompleted story feat at a time.

Unlike typical feats, story feats have nebulous prerequisites, and you should chose one only after talking with the GM. The GM should weave a story feat into the greater story of the campaign and even adjust it as needed to fit the campaign’s long-term goals and the specifics of your background. Story feats should work organically within the story of the campaign, rather than be chosen purely for their mechanical benefits.

Like the prerequisites, the completion conditions for a story feat might require GM adjudication. If the events of the campaign are not likely to resolve the story implied by the story feat, the GM should consider shifting the goal to something you can achieve. Establishing a meaningful story arc is more important than adhering to the letter of the feat.

Because a story feat represents both your motivation and character development, the GM should make an effort to incorporate elements related to the feat into the ongoing campaign. These can be direct elements, like the appearance of a villain or hated creature, or indirect elements, such as rumors of the fate of a lost relative or NPCs who are impressed by a PC’s artistic endeavors. A good rule of thumb is to work in a reference to each PC’s story feat once every three to five sessions.

In most cases, allies can assist in completing a story feat. At the GM’s discretion, if you do not take a leadership role in tasks or conflicts related to your own story feat, you might need to complete additional goals to resolve the story feat, or might even be denied completion altogether.

Common Rules

Many story feats share similar terminology in their prerequisites and completion conditions. The following terms have special meanings when used in story feats.

Appropriate Number

These are either creatures whose individual CRs add up to 20, or creatures whose individual CRs add up to 5 times your character level, whichever is greater. For example, if you’re at 6th level, an appropriate number of creatures have CRs that add up to 30. This calculation is based on your current character level, not the level at which you selected the story feat. Overly easy challenges (encounters with CRs of 3 or more below your character level) don’t count unless circumstances make them much more difficult to handle.

Challenging Foe

This is a foe or group of foes with a total CR of 10 or a CR of 3 plus your character level, whichever is higher. If this refers to a distinct individual, the foe’s CR is set when the feat is taken, but the foe advances in power as you do. Otherwise, it refers to your current level. A typical recurring foe advances in CR by 1 for every 1–2 levels you gain.

Character’s Level

Normally, this is your actual character level. If you’re a creature best represented by CR rather than character level (such as most monsters with more than 1 HD), use your calculated CR instead of your character level.

Decisively Defeat

You overcome a foe in some way, such as by killing the creature, knocking it unconscious, causing it to be taken prisoner, or (in a fair amount of cases) cause them to be shamed, dishonored, removed from office, or any other way you can think of that leads to their removal as a threat to you. You must be a significant participant in the conflict to defeat the opponent, even if another strikes the final blow. Whether or not merely causing the enemy to f lee qualifies is up to the GM. Generally, driving off an enemy while causing little actual harm does not qualify as a decisive defeat.

Slay

Slaying a foe includes killing it or otherwise eliminating it in a fashion that is not reversible without the interference of creatures significantly more powerful than you or the foe. Unless otherwise noted, you must deal the final blow yourself to slay a creature.

Thwart

Distinct from defeating a foe, thwarting a foe involves disrupting its plans in a substantial and essentially permanent fashion. Deposing a lord, bringing down a priest’s temple, or banishing a sorcerer to the depths of Hell all qualify as thwarting. You keep any benefits gained by thwarting a foe even if it survives defeat and returns more powerful than before. You must be a significant participant in the events that lead to your foe being thwarted for your actions to count toward fulfilling a story requirement.

Story Feats and Stacking

Most story feat bonuses are untyped, and stack with almost any other bonus. However, if you have multiple story feats, their untyped bonuses do not stack with each other. For example, if two story feats gave you a bonus on your defenses, you would add only the higher bonus.

Story Feats List

Name	Prerequisites	Description
Armchair General	You must have studied history, tactics, and strategy extensively, whether or not you are an actual soldier; or have the Fall of a Major Power, Private Academy, or The War background. You must also possess at least one [Team] feat.	Whether through personal drive or intense training, you are destined to lead an army to victory.
Artifact Hunter	You must have at least one alien artifact.	You’ve somehow managed to come into possession of an artifact from a long-lost or long-dead civilization. The black market is sometimes teeming with these things, but any of these artifacts sold openly are usually snatched up by governments and think tanks “for the good of everyone” (and we all know what that means). However, those governments and think tanks might come gunning for your artifact.
Aspiring Noble	Must be a member of an established family that is yet unrecognized as nobility. Must be from a culture or society that would allow new noble families to arise.	You strive to be seen as a legitimate noble.
Betrayed	You must have had a valuable item stolen by a former ally, have been left for dead by a former ally, or have the Betrayal or Imprisoned background.	Believing in a just cause left you with a knife in your back. Now you hoard your trust in others, rarely sharing it.
Blow This Joint	You must have been born in a settlement no larger than a small town (population 4,000), or have parents with the Nature-Wise profession.	You’re embarrassed by your small-town roots, and seek to compensate by being a cosmopolitan connoisseur of cities.
Bygone Relic	You must have travelled a number of years into the future equal to (or greater than) your character race’s maximum age, with no foreseeable way back to your own time – this can either be via cryofreeze, relatavistic travel, or other methods – or have the Reincarnated trait.	You come from an age long past, and you struggle to understand modern ideas.
Champion	You must have defeated a single challenging foe without any aid from another.	You must prove yourself through single combat.
Colony Builder	You must have explored and claimed an area of at least 100 square miles.	The land calls to you to conquer it and forge a realm all your own.
Conspiracy Theorist	You must have overheard details about or witnessed an event pertaining to a secret plot on your own, or have the Betrayal, Met a Spirit, or The War background. WW3 Veterans also qualify for this story feat if they encountered the Shadow Wars.	Various events you have witnessed have led you to believe that a secret master or sinister cabal manipulates these incidents for their gain, and you aim to expose the conspiracy.
Contract Complications (Life)	Magic specialization with the Spirit Binding (Life) subspecialization	Life spirits are strange things – they can restore vitality to living creatures, but to be able to do that they must pull vitality from another living thing. Contractors of Life spirits can learn to use this to instead boost their own vitality and abilities, but learning to control such an ability without giving in to the urges of your bound spirit takes time.
Cursed Love	You must have a romantic interest who has fallen to some dark influence and rejects you out of shame or fear of newfound capabilities, or must have the Troubled First Love or Temptation background.	Your love forces you to endure the harshest of endeavors, despite the fact that most people would view your romance as madness.
Dead Inside	You must have been successfully affected by at least five different fear effects, or you have the Betrayal, Bullied, Death in the Family, Troubled First Love, Major Disaster, or The War background.	You are devoid of both hatred and joy. While many regard you as callous, you have no particular malice in your heart.
Deny the Reaper	You must have witnessed the death of a close companion in battle—a death that could have been prevented, such as from bleeding, failure to stabilize, or ongoing poison damage—or have the Death in the Family or The War background.	The lives you could not save stay with you to your final breath.
Derring-Do	You must be trained in Acrobatics and have taken damage from a failed Acrobatics check, or have the Competition Champion background, or have the Acrobat or Soaring Sprinter titles.	You aspire to perform a ridiculous stunt witnessed by a crowd of observers.
Explorer	You must have crossed at least 100 miles of wilderness without map or guide or some other similar accomplishment.	You dream of discovering new vistas.
Face Your Fear	You must have confronted a challenging foe and run away, resulting in a serious injury or death for a close relative or friend. Being injured in a spirit beast attack qualifies, as does having The War background.	You ran away from a terrifying foe when you were younger, and it harmed—or killed—a loved one. You have since vowed to destroy the object of your fear when you meet it again.
Forgotten Past	You must have suffered permanent memory loss or have the Reincarnated background.	A pivotal event from your past eludes your memory.