The Tongue is Quicker than the Sword (New Feat)

Sometimes your glib scoundrel doesn’t have the time to actually worm his way out of a dangerous situation… just because, somehow, the orc’s big axe was quicker than his tongue. No more!

The tongue is quicker than the sword

You can spell “The Ixitxachitl is itching for which witch?” thrice than most master swordsmen can draw their blades.

Prerequisite: Dex 13+, Cha 13+.

Benefit: If you’re conscious and not suffering of any speak- impairing or mental condition (like confused) you can, at the first round of any combat, choose to gain a special action and act before all other participants.

You must declare, after rolling initiative but before anyone has yet to act, that you’re using this feat. 

The special action is a standard action that must be used solely to make a Diplomacy or Bluff check. These skills work under the normal rules.

You can’t use this feat if you’re surprised. 

If two or more characters possess this feat and declare that they’re using it, roll a second initiative just among the “talkers” to determine who speaks first. Remember that a character can choose to go last, to better undermine whatever the other character is going to say.

This feats was inspired by the Doctor Who RPG (which I hadn’t yet read), where talkers go before combatants. It’s a nice way, in my opinion, to valorize pacifist (or mellifluous) characters.