Skilled at mimicry and dramatics, you gain the following benefits:
Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You have an advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Charisma (Performance) checks when trying to pass yourself off as a different person.
You can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking, or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. A successful Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check allows a listener to determine that the effect is faked.
Actor: Human Chameleon
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Some of the greatest, dumbest, most likely to fail D&D plans start with the worst impersonation you could ever think of. Despite being the wrong race, size, and disposition, the half-orc barbarian might be the only one who could possibly pass off as an elven diplomat to get into the lavish ball. The bard convinces the group they can definitely impersonate the officer that arrested them perfectly with a Disguise Self, and convince the judge it was all just a big misunderstanding. If you love these plans, and want to engage with them more, Actor is the feat for you.
Like the other ability score increasing feats, the modifier really only matters if it's opening up a multi-class for you or bumping an odd ability score value up to an even one. If you’re choosing between this or an ability score increase, and your goal is to be overall more Charismatic while you’re sitting on a 12, 14, or 16, the +1 really doesn’t do anything. Turning a 17 into an 18, though, is functionally as good as an ASI, and the rest of the spell’s text is gravy.
Actor isn’t particularly powerful, but man, it's super fun. It turns you into a vocal chameleon with the tools you need to pass for whatever creatures you’re interacting with in a competent way. How often you’ll get use out of it will have two major contributing factors: your imagination, and the DMs willingness to put you in places with important people you can interact with personally before major events. The biggest hurdle you’ll face with Actor is needing to be in the presence of whomever you’re aiming to impersonate; with things like expertise and charm effects, the actual impersonation portion of the plan should be pretty straightforward.
If you’re a variant human looking for a fun bonus feat for your bard, Actor can be that. It's not anywhere close to as powerful as something like Magic Initiate, even outside of initiative, but if you’re not in the market for more particularly powerful stuff, this is a delightful tool to have, especially if you live for the big dumb plans with a one in twenty chance of success.
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