So here's what I've found interesting about the actor feat - it's actually more powerful than most people realize because of how it handles skill proficiencies. When you pick it up, you're getting a nice +1 to charisma (which helps spellcasting if you're into that), but the real magic happens with those social skills.

You don't actually need any existing proficiency in deception or performance to make it work - in fact, it's better if you don't! This happens because the feat gives you both proficiency and expertise if you didn't have them before, which means you're getting a bigger bonus (+4) than if you had started with proficiency (+2). Pretty clever design, when you think about it.

Here's something that might help - if you're planning a character build, consider skipping those skills during creation and grabbing them through actor instead. You'll end up with better bonuses overall. The feat really shines on charisma-focused characters like bards or sorcerers, because everything just stacks so nicely together.

And just between us, this can turn your character into an absolute powerhouse for social situations, making those tricky dialogue checks feel almost trivial. Makes sense why so many veteran players consider it essential for any face character build.