Everyman Unchained: Teamwork Feats

This installment of the Everyman Unchained-series clocks in at 12 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 7 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

So, I’ve always felt that teamwork feats are a good idea, but not one that has been implemented well – I wholly concur with the assessment of the introduction, that they cost two feat slots for the benefit of one, which is, to boot, situational. This book thus aims to upgrade teamwork feats to make them useful for characters that don’t have a class feature that makes them more viable. Let’s dive in!

Teamwork feats require that you establish a team: 1/day, you can form one by spending a 10-minute drill. A team can consist of a maximum of half your character level + Charisma modifier or ranks in Profession (soldier) + Charisma modifier, whichever is higher. Once founded, all characters in the team count as teammates, and you can only be in one team at a given time.

-Allied Spellcaster: Adjacent teammates get +2 to CL to overcome SR, +1 to determine spell variables, provided the ally knows how to cast the spell or has it prepared.

-Back to Back: No more flanking bonuses versus two or more teammates adjacent. Sneak still works.

-Improved Back to Back: Teammates can’t be flanked when adjacent.

-Broken Wing Gambit: Feign weakness, incur +2 atk from enemy, to grant all other teammates threatening the target. Can also be used as an immediate action.

-Close Formation: Push past teammates while charging (heck yeah) and the feat properly codifies this movement; also, teammates can end their movement in another mates’ space (max 2 creatures per square); gets mount right. This one is really evocative.

-Combat Medic: No AoO for Heal, take 10 even in dire situations.

-Coordinated Charge: When a teammate charges, charge as an immediate action the same target. Ouch! BAB +10 keeps this in check, fyi.

-Coordinated Defense: +2 to CMD when adjacent, +4 versus targets that are larger. And suddenly, gnomes and halflings look less yummy…

-Coordinated Maneuvers: +2 to CMB; +4 when attempting to grapple or escape a grapple.

-Coordinated Shot: +1 to ranged atk vs. targets threatened by teammate; bonus can increase to +2 when mates are flanking. Accounts for cover.

-Distracting Charge: +2 to atk versus the target of a charge until the start of the charging teammate’s next turn.

-Duck and Cover: Has a confusing glitch; should read that they gain a +2 circumstance bonus to AC and Reflex saves, not “AC against Reflex saves;” additionally, all teammates roll Reflex saves normally and take the highest d20 result rolled for their save. (Cool!) If the difference between the roll used and the own roll is 5+, the character is knocked prone (or staggered, if already prone or being incapable of being knocked prone).

-Improved Duck and Cover: Allows characters with evasion to take part of the damage for their allies. Nice! (Also has an anti-cheese caveat – kudos!)

-Escape Route: When a teammate provokes an AoO for moving out of another teammate’s square, the attacker takes -10 to atk on the AoO. OUCH! Potent, but I like it, as it rewards tactical positioning.

-Ensemble: Bolster performances within 30 ft. as an immediate action, increasing range.

-Feint Partner: Makes the target lose Dex-mod versus the next attack of the teammate as well, provided they’re executed soon enough.

-Improved Feint Partner: Foe feinted provokes AoO from all mates.

-Harder They Fall: Makes teammate count as larger for relevant combat maneuvers; increases aid another bonuses based on teammates threatening the target. Oh, and the opponent takes falling damage when successfully affected by the maneuvers. NICE! Attack on Titan, anyone?

-Improved Spell Sharing: Divide duration of spells targeting familiar, eidolon, etc. evenly.

-Intercept Charge: Immediate action move up to speed, blocking the charge – at the cost of movement next round. Cool!

-Lookout: When 2 or more teammates are adjacent, they get to act in the surprise round, as long as at least one would be able to act. Teammates that’d be unable to act treat their initiative in the surprise round as 1. If all would be able to act, they may take more actions! Brutal! Like it.

-Outflank: Increases flanking bonus to +4.

-Pack Attack: Immediate action 5 –foot step when teammate attacks.

-Pack Flanking: Considered flanking, regardless of position while adjacent.

-Paired Opportunists: Typo: Doubled “Whenever” at the start. +2 to AoOs when teammates are adjacent; also allows a teammate to get an AoO when an ally gets one, regardless of own situation. Thankfully has an anti-chain caveat.

-Seize the Moment: Foe provokes an AoO after being critically hit by teammate.

-Shake It Off: +2 on all saves while adjacent.

-Share Healing: You can divide healing between teammates.

-Shield Wall: 2 or more teammates adjacent increase the shield bonus, depending on shield type. Shield bash does not end this bonus for team members. Also nets cover to adjacent teammates when using a tower shield, making that more viable.

-Shielded Caster: +4 concentration checks while adjacent; also, penalties imposed on concentration are halved.

-Stealth Synergy: When 2 or more mates attempt Stealth with line of sight to each other, use the highest d20 roll.

-Swap Places: Lets you move into a teammate’s space, provoking AoOs; the teammate may move out as an immediate action – no AoOs. Size restrictions apply, though. Cool one!

-Improved Swap Places: No longer provoke AoO, slightly delimits size limitations. Also has a bull rush-y option. Nice.

-Tandem Trip: Roll twice, take better result.

-Target of Opportunity: When a teammate hits a target within 30 ft. of another teammate, that teammate can use an immediate action to shoot the target.

-Team Pickpocket: Bluff to enhance an immediate action Sleight of Hand.

-Wounded Paw Gambit: Ranged weapon follow-up version of Broken Wing Gambit.

The pdf then takes a look at class features: The holy tactician’s battlefield presence is rewired to allow for the exceeding of maximum team size; the drill instructor ability of the strategist cavalier can add up to 4 allies to the team via resource expenditure and a drill; the field instruction of the exemplar brawler can use his action to make allies count as members of the team for a short while. Hunter Tactics make the animal companion not count as a team-member for the purpose of determining maximum. The inquisitor’s solo tactics make all allies count as teammates, but don’t bestow these benefits on the allies…making solo tactics work for the first time really as I envisioned it. The cavalier’s tactician class feature is also rewired to interact with the teammate mechanic.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are still very good on a formal level, with just a few typo-level minor hiccups; on a rules-language level, the pdf is extremely precise and top-notch, with only one autocorrect glitch that could cause minor confusion. Layout adheres to Everyman gaming’s two-column full-color standard, and the pdf has plenty of really nice artworks, with the expected kitsune focus. The pdf has no bookmarks, and is at the length where I consider that still okay without warranting the penalizing of the final verdict.

What happens when Alexander Augunas, David N. Ross and none other than Owen K.C. Stephens join forces? Awesomeness. The refined versions of the teamwork feats and the engine, which is elegant and only minimally intrusive, are pretty impressive indeed. You could easily slot this into pretty much all ongoing campaigns without much hassle, and the team-building component makes more sense for me as well. All in all, I consider this to be a success indeed, though I did wish we’d have gotten a couple of far out new ones and feats that supplement further the base component of the team-building aspect of the engine. Still, highly recommended – 5 stars.

You can make teamwork feats stop sucking by getting this here on OBS!

Endzeitgeist out.

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