Call of Cthulhu (d20), New Feats

Compiled by: Tzepish Tachman (Blaine Higdon)

These feats were taken from various sources on the internet, and from various D&D
sources. Some of them were modified by me to fit within Call of Cthulhu. I did not
create any of these feats, I only compiled them. They are probably not officially
supported. Use at your own risk. If you are from Wizards of the Coast, please don’t sue
me. I love D&D and CoC, and I play them all the time. Thank you. ☺

A Bullet is a One-Way Street

You command authority when holding a gun.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: When holding a firearm that you are proficient with, you receive a +3 bonus
to Intimidate checks against subjects that are aware of the weapon. If the subject is
unarmed, this bonus increases to +5. A subject with the Martial Arts feat is considered
armed for the purpose of this feat, unless that character is bound or otherwise unable to
defend him or herself.

Academic Intensity
You can go days without sleep while studying a mythos tome. You load up on caffeine
and keep yourself mentally sharp, driven by a burning drive to learn the tome's secrets.
Benefit: When rolling to determine the research period necessary to study an arcane
tome, subtract 2 from each die rolled. No die result can ever count less than a 1 because
of this feat.

Alluring
Others have an inexplicable urge to believe your every word.
Prerequisite: Persuasive, Trustworthy.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Diplomacy checks.

Anecdotal Thinking
You can call upon your background knowledge of history and science to aid in problem
solving.
Prerequisite: Int 15+, Knowledge (History) 5 ranks, Knowledge (any science) 3 ranks.
Benefit: While engaged in problem solving, be it making a tactical decision or solving
a strange puzzle, you can use this feat to recall similar instances of problems and their
solutions, and use a historic example as a guide to the present conundrum. After 2
minutes of contemplation, roll a Knowledge (History) check against a DC 20 (the GM
may raise the DC for strange situations). If the check succeeds, you gain a +5 bonus to
your next Intelligence-based check. You can use this feat only once per situation or
puzzle, though the GM may allow multiple uses for prolonged situations that last a few
days or so.

Attack Focus
You may sacrifice mobility and attacks to increase your ability to hit.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: With a full attack action, you can give up all of your attacks but one for the
round. This single attack gains a +2 bonus, and an additional +2 bonus for each attack
you gave up.
Special: This feat cannot be used in conjunction with Flurry of Blows, Rapid Shot, or
any other means of increasing your attacks. Only attacks calculated from your base
attack bonus apply.

Augment Summoning
Your summoned creatures are more powerful than normal.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast any Summon Creature spell.
Benefit: Creatures you conjure with any Summon Creature spell gain +1 hit point per
Hit Die and a +1 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls.

Blindsight, 5-foot Radius

You sense opponents without the use of your eyes.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +4, Wis 18+, Blind-Fight.
Benefit: Using senses such as acute hearing and sensitivity to vibrations, you detect
the location of opponents who are no more than 5 feet away from you. Invisibility and
darkness are irrelevant, though you cannot discern ethereal or incorporeal beings. Except
for the decreased range, this feat is identical to the blindsight extraordinary ability
defined on page 155.

Called Shot
You deal more damage with pinpoint attacks.
Prerequisite: Dex 13+.
Benefit: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to
subtract a number from all ranged attack rolls and add the same number to all ranged
damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on
attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next action.
Special: This feat can only be used within one range increment of the weapon you’re
using.
Charlatan
You’re adept at fooling people. You know how to tell them just what they want to hear.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Disguise checks.

Chink in the Armor

You are an expert at slipping a weapon between armor plates or into seams.
Prerequisite: Expertise.
Benefit: If you take an attack action to study an opponent, you can ignore half of his or
her armor bonus (round down) during your next single attack. Only bonuses from actual
armor (including natural armor) are halved, not those from shields, enhancement bonuses
to armor, or artifacts that provide an armor bonus.

Circle Kick
You kick multiple opponents with the same attack action.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Dex 15+, Martial Arts.
Benefit: A successful unarmed attack roll allows you to make a second attack roll
(with the same bonus) against a different opponent that is within your threatened area.
This feat requires the full attack action to use.

Clever Wrestling
You know how to escape or wriggle free from a big creature’s grapple or pin.
Prerequisite: Martial Arts, Small or Medium-size.
Benefit: When your opponent is larger than you are, you gain a circumstance bonus on
your grapple check to escape a grapple or pin. The bonus is +2 for every size category
your opponent is larger than you.

Close-Quarters Fighting
You are skilled at fighting close range and resisting grapple attacks.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: When an enemy attempts to grapple you, any damage you inflict with a
successful free attack provoked by the grapple attempt is added as a bonus to your
ensuing grapple check to avoid being grappled. Further, you are entitled to make a free
attack even if the attacking creature has the improved grab ability.
For example, a chthonian hits you with a tentacle. If you don’t have this feat, the
chthonian’s improved grab ability allows it to immediately attempt a grapple check,
provoking no free attack from you. However, with Close-Quarters Fighting, you are
entitled to a free attack. If you hit and score 6 points of damage, you gain a +6 bonus to
your grapple check to resist the chthonian’s grapple attempt.
Contacts
You have friends in high places who can help you out when you need them. Depending
on who your friends are and what position they hold, they can do different things for you.
Benefit: The benefits granted by this feat depend on the nature of your friends'
position in society. When you take this feat, choose one of the following contact types:
Business: You have contacts amongst several local businesses. Choose a particular
city. When shopping for any sort of equipment there, you receive a 10% discount on any
item you can legally purchase. You gain a +2 bonus when making Gather Information
checks relating to business, commerce, or business people in your chosen city.
Criminal: As a result of your past dealings or line of work, you know people who
commonly deal with criminals or actively engage in crime. Choose a single town or city.
While there, you can purchase black market goods, such as illegal firearms, at 125% of
their listed price and can in turn sell stolen goods at 50% of their listed price. You can
also buy stolen, legal goods at 75% of their listed price. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus
when making Gather Information checks that relate to crimes or criminals in your chosen
city.
Occult: Choose a city. You are active in the occult community in that city or have
several friends who are involved in the occult. You gain a +2 bonus to Gather
Information checks that involve the occult when you make them in your chosen area. In
addition, you can call on your friends to help you deal with anything related to the occult.
You gain a +2 bonus to all study checks when reading mythos tomes while in contact
with your friends. You contact your friends and ask them for help in decoding strange
references and other aspects of the book.
Police: Choose a particular city. You have friends on the police force in that city who
can pull strings to keep you out of trouble. You gain a +2 bonus to all Bluff, Diplomacy,
and Intimidate checks against cops. If you are arrested for a misdemeanor, you may
make a Diplomacy check (DC 25) to win a quick release from custody. You gain a +2
bonus when making Gather Information checks relating to crime in your chosen city.
University: Choose a particular university. So long as you have some way of
communicating with your friends there, you can ask them to do research on you behalf.
If you have direct access to the university, you gain a +2 competence bonus to all
Research checks made there. In addition, you can ask friends to make three Research
checks per week on your behalf. You make the check as normal, but do not have to
spend time working on it. Instead, you ask your contact to do the work for you.
Determine how long it would take you to finish the research and make a skill check as
normal. After this time, your contact calls or visits you with the result of your check.
You gain a +2 bonus when making Gather Information checks relating to academics and
your chosen university.
Special: You may select this feat more than once, choosing a different type of contact
each time.
Crude Medicine
You can use crude tools and common junk to perform first aid.
Prerequisite: Heal 5 ranks, Knowledge (Medicine) 5 ranks.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to all Heal checks. You can provide long-term physical
care (as defined in the Heal skill description, page 31) without hospital facilities and
special tools. You suffer a -2 penalty to your Heal checks when doing so (thus, returning
the modifier to 0).
Normal: Normally you need common first aid items such as bandages and antiseptics
to provide long-term physical care.

Dash
You move faster.
Benefit: If you are wearing light armor or no armor and are carrying a light load, your
speed is 5 feet faster than it normally would be.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Its effects stack. Each time it’s taken,
your movement speed increases by 5.

Death Blow
You waste no time in dealing with downed foes.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Improved Initiative.
Benefit: You can perform a coup de grace against a helpless defender as an attack
action.
Normal: Performing a coup de grace is normally a full-round action.

Determined Soul
You have an intense will to survive and press on.
Prerequisite: Iron Will.
Benefit: Add your Wisdom modifier to your hit points and maximum sanity. If your
Wisdom modifier ever changes (through ability damage or some other means), your hit
points and maximum sanity adjust to the new value.

Dirty Fighting
You know the brutal and effective fighting tactics of the streets and back alleys.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Knowledge (Streetwise) 3 ranks.
Benefit: Make a melee attack roll normally. If successful, you inflict an additional 1d4
points of damage. This feat requires the full attack action to use.
Special: This feat can be used in conjunction with Fists of Iron. The damage stacks.
Dual Strike
Your combat teamwork makes you a more dangerous foe.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Dex 13+.
Benefit: Your flanking bonus to attack increases from +2 to +4. If your flanking ally
also has the Dual Strike feat, this bonus increases to +6.
Normal: The standard flanking bonus to attack is +2.
Special: This feat can be used in conjunction with Pack Attack.

Eyes in the Back of Your Head

Your superior battle sense helps minimize the threat of flanking attacks.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Wis 18+.
Benefit: Attackers gain no flanking attack bonus when flanking you. This feat has no
effect whenever you are attacked without benefit of your Dexterity modifier to AC, such
as when you are flat-footed.
Normal: When you are flanked, the flanking opponents receive a +2 (or more, see
Dual Strike) attack roll bonus against you.
Special: This feat also negates the flanking bonus of the Pack Attack feat.

Fists of Iron
You have learned the secrets of imbuing your unarmed attacks with extra force.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Martial Arts.
Benefit: Declare that you are using this feat before you make your attack roll (thus, a
missed attack roll ruins the attempt). You deal an extra 1d4 points of damage when you
make a successful unarmed attack. You may use this feat a number of times per day
equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Special: This feat can be used in conjunction with Dirty Fighting. The damage stacks.

Fleet of Foot
You run so nimbly that you can turn corners without losing momentum.
Prerequisite: Dex 15+, Run.
Benefit: When running or charging, you can make a single direction change of 90
degrees or less. You cannot use this feat if you are wearing medium or heavy armor, or if
you are carrying a load heavier than light.
Normal: Without this feat you can run or charge only in a fairly straight line.
Flick of the Wrist
With a single motion, you can draw a light weapon and make a devastating attack.
Prerequisite: Dex 17+, Quick Draw.
Benefit: If you draw a light weapon and make a melee attack with it in a single round,
you catch your opponent flat-footed (for the purpose of this attack only). This feat works
only once per combat.

Flurry of Blows
You can attack with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Dex 13+, Martial Arts.
Benefit: When fighting unarmed, you may make one additional attack in a round at
your highest attack bonus, but this attack and each other attack made that round suffer a -
2 penalty apiece. This feat requires the full attack action to use.

Fortune
You are blessed with good fortune.
Benefit: You gain the power of good fortune, which is usable once per day. This
extraordinary ability allows you to reroll one roll that you have just made. You must take
the result of the reroll, even if it’s worse than the original roll.

Graduate Education
You have earned a master's degree, studied for a Ph.D., or attained a similar level of
advanced expertise in an academic field.
Prerequisite: Int 13+, age 28+.
Benefit: The maximum number of ranks you may invest in a Knowledge skill equals
your current maximum allowed ranks + 4. This applies to all Knowledge skills that you
count as core skills.
Normal: You normally may only invest your level + 3 ranks in any core skill.

Hardy Brawler
You really know how to take a punch.
Prerequisite: Con 13+, Toughness.
Benefit: You gain a subdual-based damage reduction equal to your Constitution
modifier. This only applies to subdual damage.
Special: Magical weapons and attacks ignore this damage reduction.
Hold the Line
You are trained in defensive techniques against charging opponents.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Dex 13+.
Benefit: You may make a free attack against an opponent who charges you when he
enters your threatened area. Your free attack happens immediately before the charge
attack is resolved.

Improved Disarm
You know how to disarm your opponents effectively in melee combat.
Prerequisite: Expertise.
Benefit: If you succeed in disarming an opponent and you have a free hand, you can
grab the weapon yourself instead of letting it fall. If you can wield that weapon in one
hand, you can immediately make a single attack with it, though you suffer the usual
penalties for a second attack with an off-hand weapon. Moreover, if your disarm attempt
fails, your opponent does not have the opportunity to react with a disarm attempt of his
own.
Normal: See the normal disarm rules, page 78.
Special: This feat is a combination of Improved Disarm and Snatch Weapon from
D&D.

Improved Dodge
You can focus on dodging all attackers.
Benefit: The dodge bonus to AC that you receive from the Dodge feat now applies
against all attacks, not only those of one specific opponent.

Improved Sunder
You are adept are destroying your opponents’ weapons.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Power Attack.
Benefit: When you strike an opponent’s weapon, you inflict double damage.

Improved Swimming
You swim faster.
Prerequisite: Swim 6 ranks.
Benefit: You swim at one-half of your land speed as a move action.
Normal: You normally swim at one-quarter of your land speed as a move action.
Improved Trip
You are trained not only in tripping your opponents but in following through with an
attack.
Prerequisite: Expertise.
Benefit: If you trip an opponent in melee combat, you immediately get a melee attack
against that opponent as if you hadn’t used your attack for the trip attempt. Essentially, if
the trip attempt succeeds, you got it for free – it doesn’t count against your number of
attacks.
Normal: See the normal trip rules, page 81.

Insight
You are more skilled than you would otherwise be.
Benefit: You gain 1 additional skill point per level. Upon taking this feat, you
retroactively gain skill points for previous levels (surge of insight). Effectively, your
skill point total is always your previous (default) total + your character level.
Special: This feat cannot be selected multiple times.

Intuit Direction
You have an innate sense of direction.
Prerequisite: Wis 13+.
Benefit: By concentrating for 1 minute, you can determine where true north lies in
relation to yourself with a successful Wilderness Lore check (DC 15). You roll for this
ability once each day. That roll represents how sensitive to direction you are for that day;
it is used for all other Wilderness Lore checks to determine direction on the same day. If
the initial check fails, you cannot determine direction with this feat that day (though you
may still be able to through other means).

Jack of All Trades

You’ve picked up a smattering of even the most obscure skills.
Prerequisite: Character level 8th+.
Benefit: You can use any skill untrained, even those that normally require training.
This does not apply to Cthulhu Mythos or Speak Other Language. Untrained Craft and
Performance checks suffer a -5 penalty.
Mantis Leap
You deliver a powerful attack after making a jump.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +5, Character level 7th+, Martial Arts.
Benefit: Designate an opponent who is within the maximum distance you can reach
with a successful Jump check. Make a normal Jump check; if your check is successful,
you can make a normal charge attack against the opponent you designated as part of the
same action. If your charge attack is successful, you inflict normal damage, plus your
Strength modifier multiplied by 2.

Mental Hardness
You maintain your composure in the face of supernatural horrors. This emotional control
may result from your experiences in dealing with such terrors or your natural grace and
stability.
Benefit: You acquire 1 point of mental hardness. When determining how much sanity
you lose due to a sanity check, whether that check is successful or not, subtract 1 from
the sanity lost. The total result can be 0, but cannot go below 0. Note that this feat does
not apply to sanity lost by casting spells or other sources that inflict sanity damage
without causing a sanity check.
Special: You may select this feat more than once. Its effects stack. Each time you
take this feat, you increase your mental hardness by 1.

Monkey Grip
You have a fantastic grip, and can hold heavier weapons in one hand.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Str 13+, Weapon Focus with weapon.
Benefit: You can use one melee weapon that is one size larger than you in one hand.
For example, a human with the Monkey Grip feat could wield a fire axe in one hand.
You suffer a -2 penalty on your attack roll when using this feat. This feat can be taken
multiple times, each time with a different weapon.
Normal: Only weapons of your size or smaller can normally be wielded with one
hand.

Musical Refuge
You can better deal with torment and trauma by comforting yourself with music.
Prerequisite: Performance (any music) 5 ranks.
Benefit: Within 1 hour of losing any amount of sanity, you may spend 30 minutes
retreating into your mind and focusing on a comforting song. You need not play this
song, you only need to think of it for 30 minutes. You recover 1d4 points of lost sanity,
though you cannot recover all of the sanity lost in the event. This does not counteract any
insanity brought on by the event.
Special: Using this feat requires concentration; anything that disturbs you calls for a
Concentration check (see the Concentration skill description on page 26). For the
purpose of calculating the Concentration DC, treat using Musical Refuge as casting a
spell. If your concentration is broken, the attempt to regain sanity is ruined. This feat is
usable once per day; the stresses of sanity loss prevent one from seeking out a Musical
Refuge too often, lest that person be stuck in the refuge permanently.

Occultist
You have a knack for picking up occult lore.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Knowledge (Occult) and Spellcraft checks.

Off-Hand Parry
You can use your off-hand weapon to defend against melee attacks.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Dex 13+, Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting.
Benefit: When fighting with two weapons and using the full attack action, you can on
your action decide to attack normally or to sacrifice all your off-hand attacks for that
round in exchange for a +2 dodge bonus to your AC. If you take this option, you also
suffer penalties on your attacks as if you were fighting with two weapons. If you are
using a buckler, its AC bonus stacks with the dodge bonus. You can use only bladed or
hafted weapons (with which you are proficient) of a size category smaller than your own
with this feat.

Pack Attack
You are trained to coordinate with others in combat.
Benefit: If an ally (with or without this feat) is flanking your opponent, you are
considered to be flanking that opponent as well, and gain all the benefits of flanking
(bonus to attack rolls).
Normal: You must be flanking an opponent to receive flanking benefits.
Special: This feat can be used in conjunction with Dual Strike.

Power Critical
Choose one specific weapon, such as a baseball bat or an M-16. With that weapon, you
know precisely how and where to strike.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +12, Improved Critical with weapon.
Benefit: Once per day, you can declare a single attack with your chosen weapon to be
an automatic threat before you make the attack roll. If the attack is successful, you roll to
confirm the critical, regardless of whether the actual attack roll was a threat.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you
take this feat, it applies to a new weapon.
Pressure Points
You utilize pressure points when fighting unarmed.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Martial Arts.
Benefit: Your unarmed strike damage die increases from 1d4 to 1d6. This higher
damage die applies only to living creatures with a discernable anatomy – undead,
constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack pressure points to target. Your
unarmed damage die against any creature that is immune to critical hits is likewise still
1d4.

Prone Attack
You attack from a prone position without penalty.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Dex 15+, Lightning Reflexes.
Benefit: You can make a melee attack from the prone position and suffer no penalty to
your attack roll. If your attack roll is successful, you may regain your feet immediately
as a free action.
Normal: Melee attacks while prone normally suffer a -4 penalty.

Pyro
You are good at lighting objects and opponents on fire.
Benefit: If you set someone or something on fire by any means (gasoline and matches,
for example), the flames do an extra 1 point of damage per die, and the Reflex save DC to
extinguish the flames increases by +5.
Normal: Fire generally does 1d6 points of damage. A successful Reflex save (DC 15)
extinguishes it.

Quicker Than the Eye

Your hands move so quickly that observers don’t see what you’ve done.
Prerequisite: Dex 18+, Sleight of Hand 5 ranks.
Benefit: While under direct observation, you can make a Bluff check as a move action,
opposed by the Spot checks of any observers. Those who fail their checks are
misdirected and look elsewhere, giving you the chance to take an attack or move action.
If your action is an attack against someone who failed the opposed check, that opponent
is denied a Dexterity bonus to AC. This feat cannot be used in combat, though its use
may result in combat.
Rapid Metabolism
You heal faster.
Prerequisite: Con 13+.
Benefit: You naturally heal a number of hit points per day equal to your Constitution
modifier in addition to the standard healing rate. These hit points heal regardless of
whether you rest during the day or not, unlike the standard healing rate.

Rapid Reload
You reload your firearms more quickly.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: You can reload a firearm with which you are proficient as a move action. If
you are using the reload time rule variant described on page 81, then belt and drum
reloading take only a full-round action.
Normal: Reloading a firearm normally takes a full-round action. Drum and belt
reloading take 2 rounds under the reload time rule variant.

Remain Conscious
You have a tenacity of will that supports you even when things look bleak.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Endurance, Iron Will, Toughness.
Benefit: After your hit points are reduced to 0 or below, you may take one attack or
move action on your turn every round until you reach -10 hit points.

Resist Disease
You have a natural resistance to diseases.
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on Fortitude saves against disease.

Shadow
You are good at following someone surreptitiously.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all Hide and Spot checks.

Sharp-Shooting
Your skill with ranged weapons lets you score hits others would miss due to an
opponent’s cover.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Precise Shot.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to your ranged attack rolls against targets with some
degree of cover. This feat has no effect against foes with no cover or total cover.
Skill Training
You have a couple more areas of expertise.
Benefit: You gain two more core skills. If you had ranks in your two new core skills
prior to taking this feat, you gain that many skill points upon taking this feat (just as if
you had spent those points on core skills). It is possible to acquire half a skill point with
this feat – it must be used to even out a skill with half a rank.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Each time, you acquire two more core
skills.

Steel Determination
You are able to hold on to your sanity in the face of terrible dangers. You still slide into
madness, but are able to maintain your composure for a short period before sliding over
the edge.
Prerequisite: Iron Will.
Benefit: When you fall victim to temporary or indefinite insanity, roll 2d6 and add
your Wisdom modifier. The result is the number of minutes you may act normally before
suffering the effects of insanity. If during this time period you suffer an additional sanity
loss that causes temporary or indefinite insanity, you immediately suffer the effects of
both bouts of madness. Determine the type of madness you suffer as normal. Your GM
may decide to apply both or one of the insanity effects, at his option.

Throw Anything
In your hands, any weapon becomes a throwing weapon.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +2, Dex 15+, Melee Proficiency, Throwing
Proficiency.
Benefit: You can throw any melee weapon, regardless of whether it is intended to be
used in this manner. The range increment of weapons thrown with this feat is 10 feet.

Touch of Grace
Fate is looking out for you.
Prerequisite: Cha 15+.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on all saving throws.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Its effects stack. For each time it is
taken after the first, the Charisma prerequisite increases by 2.

Zen Targeting
Your intuition guides your hand when you use a ranged weapon.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3, Wis 13+.
Benefit: You may use your Wisdom modifier instead of your Dexterity modifier when
making a ranged attack within 1 range increment.