D4's Mini-Guide to Feats: Shikigami Style

 D4's Mini-Guide to Feats: Shikigami Style


    Welcome back to another mini-guide! This guide will be about improvised weapons and the Shikigami Style line of feats. Shikigami Style is... weird. Essentially, it allows you to deal increased damage with anything you find on the ground, from broken bottles to frying pans, to anything in-between. In any case, let's get started.

Shikigami Style


     Prerequisite(s): Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything.

     Benefit(s): While in this style, you deal damage with improvised weapons as if they were one size category larger. For every style feat you have that lists Shikigami Style as a prerequisite, treat the improvised weapon as an additional size category larger, to a maximum of three sizes larger than its actual size.


     First thing to note is very easy to meet prerequisites: all you need is either Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything, which are both mandatory feats to take for improvised weapons. Counting as an extra size larger means more damage when you swing or throw your frying pan! This feat also retroactively increases in strength the more feats you receive in the chain, making it that much better.


Shikigami Mimicry

     Prerequisite(s): Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything, Shikigami Style.

     Benefit(s): While in Shikigami Style, you can take a –2 penalty on attack rolls to treat an improvised weapon as if it had one of the following weapon special qualities until the start of your next turn: blocking, brace, disarm, distracting, nonlethal, performance, or trip. If the weapon has the fragile special quality or broken condition, you can treat it as if it had the jagged special quality.

     The features you're allowed to use with this are pretty amazing. Randomly having a frying pan that can trip enemies is both hilarious and effective, especially when you combine it with the Trip line of feats. The jagged quality will come up more often than you think if you fight in bars, as broken bottles make great weapons with Shikigami style. Taking a -2 penalty does hurt if you aren't a full base attack bonus class such as Fighter or Paladin. The other special qualities are useful in their own case: disarming an opponent or dealing nonlethal are probably the better options on that list.


Shikigami Manipulation

     Prerequisite(s): Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything, Shikigami Mimicry, Shikigami Style, Use Magic Device 5 ranks.

     Benefit(s): While using Shikigami Style, you can treat any magical item you’re using as an improvised weapon as if it granted an enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to the item’s caster level divided by 4 (minimum +1), to a maximum bonus of +5.

     Special: A character with this feat and Equipment Trick who uses magical equipment to perform a trick can add a bonus equal to the item’s caster level divided by 4 (minimum +1) on skill or combat maneuver checks attempted as part of the trick.


The main draw of taking this line of feats; the ability to gain pluses to hit and damage with your enhanced weapons. The only major problem is the requirement of the Use Magic Device ranks on a frontliner, but if it means making your `broken bottles magical then it's probably worth it. I'd ask your Dungeon Master if they'd allow your special items to be enchanted: otherwise, you're down to using items such as magic staves, wands, etc.


FINAL THOUGHTS


Shikigami Style requires four feats to get up and running (a minimum entry point of level 7) and requires a lot of hoops to jump through. However, fighting with random items you find on the ground with the same effectiveness as someone with a real weapon opens up a lot of flavorful options. A few that come to mind include a barroom fighter who uses broken bottles, a traveling cook swinging a frying pan, a large orc that tosses tables at people... the possibilities are endless!

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