Cinco: Feat Experiment, Part III

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Alex from To Distant Lands had been considering Cinco! to play his Gran Carcosium setting (which I had played in a little bit ago!), and he asked me where I was at with feats since he wanted to play with that sort of approach. He wrote a couple of his own, which made me realize why I had been struggling with it on my end. My prior approach was to use feats to gatekeep specialized rules for characters, which was a fine thought, but I was too granular in splitting up and encapsulating those rules in feats. They didn’t have the pizzazz of, how Alex had put it, being excited to do something new and unique. So I consolidated those—from seven granular feats to just one feat for arcana rules and another for weapon rules—and had fun with all the rest.

I hope these are more fun! I still haven’t played with feats because when I asked some of my friends how they felt about them, they preferred having a minimal character sheet and letting me handle the rules stuff—which is real and why I’m hiding feats in the appendices (think of them as socks). But I might ask now having tried this new approach, since I think they add just the right amount of extra toys to play with. Also note as per some feedback from Alex and also my friends, I’ve renamed aspects to abilities. Yes, abilities. No, they still work the way they have and are custom to each character. I’ve also adjusted travel so the whole party participates every round by picking tasks rather than one rolling and deciding what goes wrong (too much spotlight). Thank you all for your interest in this! It means a lot :)

Arcane Feats

  1. Spend 1 inspiration to invoke a magic-related ability as if it were an arcana.
  2. Spend 1 inspiration to invoke or enhance an arcana without making it go dormant.
  3. When you roll [20+] to use an arcana, you gain a free enhancement.
  4. Spend 1 inspiration to illude one of the five senses for as long as you focus.
  5. Ignore elemental resistances when casting magic against a target.
  6. Spend 1 inspiration to act upon something within sight, without touching.

Clerical Feats

  1. If you fast in the wilderness, you can multiply one ration to feed your crewmates.
  2. Project your spirit outward. Shares stats. Can only harm or be harmed by spirits.
  3. Spend 1 inspiration to ask your patron a question. They offer a different question.
  4. Spend 1 inspiration to ritually clean something to make it safe for consumption.
  5. Spend 1 action and x inspiration to heal a creature you can touch for x hearts.
  6. Once daily, open a portal from your location to another from earlier that day.

Exploratory Feats

  1. See in dim light as one does in the day, and in darkness as one does in dim light.
  2. Discern feelings of plants or animals. Spend 1 inspiration to communicate to them.
  3. You know if something is off about your surroundings, without foreknowledge.
  4. Spend 1 inspiration to ‘spot’ something valuable, whether treasure or information.
  5. Gain free advantage when sneaking, hiding, climbing—any effortful movement.
  6. Flawlessly recall details about what you’ve seen or heard over the past season.

Exploratory Feats

  1. Unlock critical moves on weapons. Spend 1 inspiration to add 10 to an attack roll.
  2. When you attack with advantage, you may treat the D20 rolls as separate attacks.
  3. Give allies advantage on melee attacks against lesser opps in your zone.
  4. If an opp moves after you used your last action to attack them, attack them again.
  5. Make a free melee attack if you spend both actions on your turn moving.
  6. Gain advantage against a distracted opp with whom you are not already engaged.

Social Feats

  1. Discern intent of one whose emotion is legible, or otherwise discern emotion.
  2. Intuit someone’s insecurities or fears from speaking with them. Invoke wisely.
  3. Mimic another’s mannerisms, speech, or knowledge effortlessly.
  4. Garner and command a crowd’s attention. Negotiate as with an individual.
  5. Crew can rest at locked havens if you spend your night providing a service there.
  6. On a middling conversation result, you can make promises without proof.

Traveling Feats

  1. Collect a ration on any successful travel check; if you are foraging, collect two.
  2. During downtime, study a creature. Navigate with advantage while tracking them.
  3. Once per season, seek out local nature divinities. Roll D20 for their reaction!
  4. Gain advantage while navigating on the island at which you spent downtime.
  5. Never suffer disadvantage from traveling in unfamiliar areas.
  6. After you fail a navigation check, gain advantage on your next attempt.

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