D&D 5E Feats Redux II

Thanks to feedback from the previous thread* I've dropped the idea to have ranged attacks default to no ability damage.

*) http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?547594-Feats-Redux

Since the changes are significant, and also are drawn from the earlier threads, I am starting this new thread for clarity. Thanks to several posters from various threads!

I've tried to indicate the main differences from the rules as written in blue. Not every little change is marked blue, however. My comments in green.

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First two related changes that aren't feats:

Running
When you take the Dash action, you may take the Dash action as your bonus action, as long as you move in a straight line and don't move through difficult terrain.
This is the most elegant implementation of faster movement I've seen. Thanks! Also, see Charger below, which depends on everybody being able to do bonus dashes.

Archery fighting style
You gain +2 to ranged weapon attacks against targets with cover.
A very small and smart change, without having to remove or replace the style entirely. It does mean you never gain an actual bonus, only ever a reduction in penalty - that's the whole point!

Charger Feat
When you use your bonus action to Dash, and you move at least 10 feet in a straight line towards a creature, you can make one melee weapon attack or shove on that creature.
You either gain a +5 bonus to the attack’s damage roll (if you chose to make a melee attack and hit) or push the target up to 10 feet away from you (if you chose to shove and you succeed).
Switching from action to bonus action makes the feat much less sucky. Of course, unless you're a Rogue, you still need to spend your action on Dash, so it still doesn't easily allow what players really want to make a charge attack and then also 1-4 attacks with their Attack action...

Crossbow Expert Feat
• +2 to attack with two-handed crossbows
• +5 to damage with heavy crossbows
• You don't suffer disadvantage when making a ranged attack with a hand crossbow when within reach of a hostile creature
• When you use the Attack action and attack with a onehanded weapon, you can use a bonus action to load and attack with a hand crossbow.
I've settled on making crossbows a good choice for the non-trained fighters. Bonuses to both attack and damage but only one attack per turn. With Extra Attack, you're likely to prefer Bows. Also fixes the Rapier plus Hand Crossbow archetype. As for why the old feat is gone, please see previous (very extensive!) discussion.

Cleave Feat
• Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• On your turn, when you reduce a creature within 30 feet to 0 hit points with a weapon attack, or score a critical hit on one, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.
The, by far, most recommended replacement for the bothersome -5/+10 mechanism was the simple +1 Strength. As you can see, I've otherwise removed as many restrictions on what weapon you can use: you can even use thrown or ranged weapons

Defensive Duelist
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher
You master several fighting techniques, gaining the following benefits while you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no shield:
• You gain a +1 bonus to AC provided you hold a light weapon.
• When another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.
• You can use two-weapon fighting even when the onehanded melee weapons you are wielding aren’t light.
• You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
Play careful attention to wording here. I have removed a few restrictions from the original feat(s) - hopefully without opening up abuse - such as the inexplicable inability to parry with a Longsword. Also, if you want the +1 AC, you need to keep at least one of your TWF weapons light. In fact, you don't need to TWF, you gain it even if you go shortsword+lantern.

Dual Wielder
See Defensive Duelist

Great Weapon Master
You've learned to trade accuracy for momentum.
Before you make a melee attack with a weapon you are wielding with two hands, you can choose to take disadvantage on the attack, unless you already have disadvantage on the attack. If the attack hits, you add your proficiency bonus to the attack's damage.
Also see Cleave

Lucky Feat
• Resolve Disadvantage and Advantage before applying the effects of Lucky
I vehemently disagree disadvantage should become super-lucky, but I acknowledge that's how the rules are written, hence this "change". Feel free to consider this a mere clarification, I know I will
• If more than one character in any given party takes this feat, the DM is free to give this feat to selected enemies as well


Metaphysics Adept
Prerequisite: You are a spellcaster
You have magical training that allows you to twist your spells to suit your needs. You gain two of the following Metamagic options of your choice: Careful Spell, Distant Spell, Empowered Spell, Extended Spell, and Subtle Spell. See the Sorcerer for details. In place of your Charisma modifier you may use your Spellcasting ability modifier, if higher. You can use each Metamagic option once per long rest, and never both at the same time.
I have it in a separate thread if you want to offer feedback

Savage Attacker Feat
• Once on your turn, when you roll damage for a melee weapon attack you made with two hands, you get to roll the weapon's damage dice twice.
Still not so hot, eh? At least it's better than the printed feat.

Sharpshooter Feat
You have mastered ranged weapons and can make shots that others find impossible. You gain the following benefits:
• Increase the short and long ranges of all ranged and thrown weapons by a distance equal to the weapon's short range. A shortbow, for instance, has a short range of 80 ft. Its range goes from 80/320 to 160/400.
• If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to gain advantage on all ranged weapon attacks until the end of your turn
2nd bullet one of the best suggestions I've recieved, out of many. Possibly still problematic, however.

Nifty.

Now, you've nerves GWM down to Disadvantage for +Prof to damage. Why do you think it needs to be separate now? Shouldn't it be with cleave, or at least have something else if it's on it's own? Also, what's the numbers on this? When is it a good idea?


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Xeviat said:

Nifty.

Now, you've nerves GWM down to Disadvantage for +Prof to damage. Why do you think it needs to be separate now? Shouldn't it be with cleave, or at least have something else if it's on it's own? Also, what's the numbers on this? When is it a good idea?


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Click to expand...

Right.

I want to separate "cleave" from "two handed power attack" mainly because I want people that don't use greataxes to have a feat they can take without feeling they miss out on half the feat.

It is entirely possible the feat needs more. I've done so much thinking on this my head starts to swim... I simply can't crunch these numbers too, but looking at it from a minmaxer's side, I'm thinking it will be used when you already have advantage, so the disadvantage is cancelled out.

What you end up with is +6 on every attack for +30 damage a round, best case.

This is hopefully good without being THAT good. +6 is, after all, less than +10. And Cleave is its own thing.

But let the number crunching commence!

CapnZapp said:

Right.

I want to separate "cleave" from "two handed power attack" mainly because I want people that don't use greataxes to have a feat they can take without feeling they miss out on half the feat.

It is entirely possible the feat needs more. I've done so much thinking on this my head starts to swim... I simply can't crunch these numbers too, but looking at it from a minmaxer's side, I'm thinking it will be used when you already have advantage, so the disadvantage is cancelled out.

What you end up with is +6 on every attack for +30 damage a round, best case.

This is hopefully good without being THAT good. +6 is, after all, less than +10. And Cleave is its own thing.

But let the number crunching commence!

Click to expand...

I'm sure someone will beat me to it, but I'll do some crunching on my break.


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I should add one aspect from my notes I apparently forgot to take into consideration:

The way Polearm and Great mastery stacks in the original rules make that combo a given minmax point.

I have apparently lost this in my doc above. I don't believe there is a single keyword to distinguish "weapons you hold on two hands but don't qualify for Polearm Mastery", so that needs a bit of Polish to do properly.

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Not perfect but a very solid start

I'm liking them. What I'd really like to do but don't have the time this moment is to think of common weapon wielder archetypes (sword + board, big axe, rapier & main gauche (dagger), net & trident, dagger thrower, 1H and hand free, light infantry, ranged+melee switching, etc.) including ones that aren't covered by 5e right now and look for where there'a a dearth or too much feat coverage.

I'm not going to quote it, but I love what you did with Running. Crossbow Expert also packs a lot of goodness in a straightforward package.

CapnZapp said:

Charger Feat
When you use your bonus action to Dash, and you move at least 10 feet in a straight line towards a creature, you can make one melee weapon attack or shove on that creature.
You either gain a +5 bonus to the attack’s damage roll (if you chose to make a melee attack and hit) or push the target up to 10 feet away from you (if you chose to shove and you succeed).
Switching from action to bonus action makes the feat much less sucky. Of course, unless you're a Rogue, you still need to spend your action on Dash, so it still doesn't easily allow what players really want to make a charge attack and then also 1-4 attacks with their Attack action...

Click to expand...

At one point the bottom talks about using your action to Dash, but everywhere else says bonus action to Dash. Not sure I'm following. Is this only usable for Rogues (+ Bard (Jester) and those with the Running feat?

I have two suggestions for Defensive Duelist, the first of which is just to call it Duelist since that seems to encompass it's larger role, the second is to change the first bullet point to:

• You gain a +1 bonus to AC provided you hold a light weapon or have a hand free.

This would open up some other classic archetypes as well as working well for casters.

I'm worried Savage Attacker is still too little for most except the paladin. Oh, and if it's ever used in a game that allows a finessable two-handed or versatile weapon (like the katana in the D&D Next playtest) it would become mandatory for rogue builds.

Finally, I'm not sure of the consistency of taking away a bonus to hit with Ranged Fighting style, and then giving a bigger bonus that also ensure SA with the new Sharpshooter feat. I know you want to detune ranged combat, but this seems like it Ranged now joins Protection as the "fighting styles that won't get taken". Perhaps if it was "+2 to hit whenever you have a penalty or disadvantage to a ranged attack". This way it can be used to partially offset cover, or partially offset long ranged, or poor visibility, still without giving a boost.

My other comment about Sharpshooter is that the penalty for long range is disadvantage, and it's just a bonus action to get advantage and offset that, so this does grant long ranges without penalty still, just at an additional cost (the bonus action) but with the additional bonus of an increased range. Not saying this is bad, just seeing if it's intended.

CapnZapp said:

Archery fighting style
You gain +2 to ranged weapon attacks against targets with cover.
A very small and smart change, without having to remove or replace the style entirely. It does mean you never gain an actual bonus, only ever a reduction in penalty - that's the whole point!

Click to expand...

It also means that you often don't actually get to apply your Fighting Style benefit: - this would be a better mechanic for a feat, which by their nature can get away with being verysituational. A Fighting Style ability should be something that consistently improves your preferred choice.

Crossbow Expert Feat
• +2 to attack with two-handed crossbows
• +5 to damage with heavy crossbows
• You don't suffer disadvantage when making a ranged attack with a hand crossbow when within reach of a hostile creature
• When you use the Attack action and attack with a onehanded weapon, you can use a bonus action to load and attack with a hand crossbow.
I've settled on making crossbows a good choice for the non-trained fighters. Bonuses to both attack and damage but only one attack per turn. With Extra Attack, you're likely to prefer Bows. Also fixes the Rapier plus Hand Crossbow archetype. As for why the old feat is gone, please see previous (very extensive!) discussion.

Click to expand...

The wording of the last part here doesn't seem to change the Rapier plus Hand Crossbow archetype: You can still get the bonus attack when holding just a single hand crossbow, and it doesn't mention removing the free hand requirement to load the hand crossbow, only changes the action.

Defensive Duelist
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher
You master several fighting techniques, gaining the following benefits while you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no shield:
• When another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.
Play careful attention to wording here. I have removed a few restrictions from the original feat(s) - hopefully without opening up abuse - such as the inexplicable inability to parry with a Longsword. Also, if you want the +1 AC, you need to keep at least one of your TWF weapons light. In fact, you don't need to TWF, you gain it even if you go shortsword+lantern.

Click to expand...

Seems a little odd that you can't use that longsword to parry if you're holding it in both hands.
Or that you can parry a blow with a stick, but not a shield.
Mechanically, can't see too much of an issue, other than being superior defensively style to using a shield. Its just trying to visualise the concept seems counterintuitive to me.

Savage Attacker Feat
• Once on your turn, when you roll damage for a melee weapon attack you made with two hands, you get to roll the weapon's damage dice twice.
Still not so hot, eh? At least it's better than the printed feat.

Click to expand...

Probably worth specifying whether you're picking one of the weapon damage rolls, or adding them both together.

Overall I like most of these tweaks to feats. I do feel that the power attack feature of great weapon master should probably be -proficiency to attack and +proficiency (or +2×Proficiency) to damage, as it is way too easy to cancel out disadvantage to make the feat a meaningful choice. The player should ideally not want to *always* use it.

My only other gripe is the feat proposed for Metaphysics Adept. Like it or not, this feat should NOT exist. Wizards do not need access to metamagic and sorcerers already have a bit of an identity crisis on their hands. Metamagic is literally the only thing they have going for them as a unique feature, and while the proposed feat is admittedly weaker than it would be than the normal class features, it seriously threatens the class's "thing". A feat like this is only acceptable if one of two things is done alongside: 1) The sorcerer class is somehow altered/buffed or 2) Another feat equally desirable for sorcerers is created (i.e. outright additional spells known, and not in a magic initiate sort of way).

Okay, so I sat down to take a look at your GWM changes. First, I need to establish a baseline: what's typically the highest and lowest AC you'll run into by level? This is very tough to define. The "baseline" ACs from the DMG define a 65% hit chance if someone starts with a 16 and ups their attack stat at 4 and 8. But, bounded accuracy means you can use low CR things for a long time. Levels generally limit how high of an AC you'll run into, though.

Your changes do something interesting, though, so you MIGHT be onto something. I've compared a super basic, no magic item, level 20 fighter's single attack at Str 20 vs. Str 18 and GWM with a great sword with Great Weapon Fighting. Yes, this is all currently stacked against GWM, because I've added the most to the base weapon without going into magic items.

Without advantage, the only time the Great Weapon Master is going to beat Str 20 is against ACs of 14 and lower. With advantage, you're better off at AC 16 and lower. The "standard" AC at this level is 19. Averaged across an AC window of 12 to 25, with the GWM only using the feat when it would increase their own damage (requiring perfect metagame knowledge, so this shouldn't happen in play too often), the GWM deals 0.5 less damage on average than the Str 20, and 0.01 more damage with advantage (advantage negated to standard).

But, this is with a +6 proficiency bonus. This collapses immediately with lower. At +6 proficiency, though, your GWM is nearly even with +1 to hit and damage, which is where I'd want it to be. It will be weaker, though, with magic items, as the disadvantage would be more and more painful when your base damage per hit is increased.

Rather than disadvantage/negating disadvantage paired with a scaling damage bonus, you either need disadvantage with a fixed damage bonus or a scaling attack penalty with a scaling attack bonus. I'll test out -Prof/+Prof. If your GWM is even with +1 to hit and damage, it's only half a feat, though.