Reading Rainbow [Feats for Crossroads Setting]

[zabbarot]

For Crossroads: The New World

In the Crossroads setting literacy is based on historic levels, so the average character is not literate. To represent this we've locked literacy up behind a feat instead of basing it on class, but a whole feat for just literacy might seem like a hefty tax to most players. So to that end I'm working on several feats that grant literacy and an additional benefit based on how the person learned.

Additional uses of Literacy:
Writing is a form of communication and as such skills related to communication have a place in writing. A literate character can use writing to perform Diplomacy, Bluffs, or Intimidation from a distance. This works as a standard use of the skill except it is sent through a letter.


Western Education (General)
Prerequisites: European Cultures (list to be compiled later)
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal European education. You can read your native alphabet. In addition you add one Knowledge skill of your choice to your class skills and gain one European language at the conversational level.

Eastern Education (General)
Prerequisites: Eastern Cultures (probably just China)
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal education in one of the Qin Dynasty. You can read your native alphabet(logograms?) In addition you gain the benefit of the Skill Focus feat for a single Knowledge skill.

Lettered (General)
Benefit: You either taught yourself to read or learned from a friend, because of this you have a strong understanding of the value of writing. You can read one alphabet used by any language you are fluent in. You gain a +2 bonus to written uses of conversational skills (bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate). When reading you gain a +2 bonus to Sense Motive against the writer.
Special: You may take these feat multiple times choosing a different alphabet each time. The additional bonuses do not stack.

Still to Come: Mesoamerican and Arctic reading feats

[Admiral Squish]

Very nice! I think this will work nicely with the Cultures system created, these could be culture bonus feats for a number of cultures.

[SuperDave]

Looks great; I've already linked to these to the Linguistics thread. Keep 'em coming!

[Arcanist]

I've got to ask if you did this, knowing this is an actual thing.

[Admiral Squish]

I've got to ask if you did this, knowing this is an actual thing.

Man, I remember that song. Waaaaaay back in the day.

[zabbarot]

I've got to ask if you did this, knowing this is an actual thing.

Of course I did it knowing that was a thing. It was a good show, and a good name for a thread about different ways people learn to read

[SuperDave]

I'd like to propose the following feats for representing literacy in Aztlan and Tuniitaq:

Calmecac Education [General]
Prerequisites: must possess an "Aztlan" Culture.
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal education in a calmecac, one of the Aztec Empire’s state-run religious schools. You can read (and write?) Aztec (and Mayan?) glyphs. In addition, you gain the benefit of the Skill Focus feat on all Knowledge (Religion) checks regarding Mesovespuccian beliefs, practices, and deities.

Runereader [General]
Prerequisites: must possess a "Tuniitaq" Culture.
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal apprenticeship under a Runescribe, and hence you can read and write runes. Because of this acrane tutelage you are highly-attuned to the vibrations of the future, and gain a bonus equal to [your class level?] on scrying and divination checks.

Would it be possible to obtain these feats later-on in your adventuring career, without gaining the prerequisite Culture first? It's not unreasonable that a learned person from outside these areas might learn their alphabet without learning how to blend in.

Edit: Then again, if they don't have the Culture then they wouldn't really understand local idioms or how to be polite, so maybe the Cultures should just stay as prerequisites after all. Never mind!

Edit 2: And I just realized that without the prerequisite Culture, they could already do what I just described by taking the "Lettered" feat. So never mind again!

[zabbarot]

I'm not even sure if that was an intended use of Lettered when I first wrote it, but it should have been so I'll reword it to make sure that is definitely what it means. On another note, most of these feats specifically mention going to a school so you'd probably pick up the culture if you were that involved with them.

We should probably break the Aztec feat in two. They basically had two school systems, one for nobles and one for everyone else, and school was mandatory for both. So I'm thinking one will do what you have, and the other might grant a bonus to a craft skill since the other school was more vocational. Still working on Mayans but it's probably safe to say that they did the same.

[SuperDave]

So, just for the purposes of consolidation, here's what we've got for reading-and-writing feats so far.

Literacy Feats
In the Crossroads: The New World setting, literacy is based on historic levels, so the average character is not literate. Rather than being based on class, literacy is based on one or more of a series of feats.

Writing is a form of communication, and as such, skills related to verbal communication also apply to the written word. A literate character can use writing to perform Diplomacy, Bluffs, or Intimidation via written letters, graffiti, smoke signals, or any other non-verbal non-bodily form of communication.

While not all literacy feats have Cultures as prerequisites, all of them do require the ability to speak the language being written, at the "Novice" level of proficiency or higher.

Cahokian Education [General]
Prerequisites: any "Cahokian League" culture
Benefit: You can read and write the Cahokian syllabary and gain [some kind of bonus we haven't decided on yet].

Calmecac Education [General]
Prerequisites: Mexica culture
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal education in a calmecac, one of the Aztec Empire’s state-run religious schools. You can read and write Aztec logograms. In addition, you gain the benefit of the Skill Focus feat on all Knowledge (Religion) checks regarding Mexica beliefs, religious practices, and deities.

Chinese Education [General]
Prerequisites: any "Han" culture
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal education in one of the Imperial Universities of Fúsāng, or in the Middle Kingdom proper. You can read and write Chinese logograms. In addition, you gain the benefit of the Skill Focus feat for a single Knowledge skill.

European Education [General]
Prerequisites: any "European" culture
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal European education. You can read and write the Roman alphabet. In addition, you add one Knowledge skill of your choice to your class skills and gain one European language at the "conversational" level.
Special: Taking this feat a second time grants you the ability to read and write the Greek alphabet.

Lettered [General]
Prerequisites: Intelligence 10
Benefit: You either taught yourself to read or learned from a friend, because of this you have a strong understanding of the value of writing. You can read and write one alphabet used by any language in which you are fluent. You gain a +2 bonus to written uses of conversational skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate) in your selected language. When reading in your selected language, you gain a +2 bonus to Sense Motive checks against the writer.
Special: You may take these feat multiple times, choosing a different alphabet each time. The additional bonuses do not stack.

Mayan Education [General]
Prerequisites: Mayan culture
Benefit: You were educated in B'alam or one of the other Mayan-speaking states. As a result, you can read and write Mayan glyphs and gain [some kind of bonus we haven't decided on yet].

Runereader [General]
Prerequisites: any "Tuniitaq" culture
Benefit: You were given the benefit of a formal apprenticeship under a Runescribe, and hence you can read and write runes. Because of this arcane tutelage you are highly-attuned to the vibrations of the future, and gain a bonus equal to your class level on scrying and divination checks.