Does D20 Future make D20 Modern too feat-heavy?

[Peterson]

Okay, D20 Modern does provide large amounts of feats (something like 18 under optimal conditions - Human, Occupation Feat, only multiclass once, 20th level), especially when compared to D&D, but - is it enough?

With the addition to D20 Future (and I haven't seen D20 Past yet, so I can't compare that), all the feats listed in that book are not on a Class Feat List. There's 7 feats in that book that are just related to Starships, which would make you 15th level before you could get them all (right?). That seems a bit extreme to me, but maybe it's just me.

Additionally, if you use any of the fine 3rd party products (Blood and Fist comes immediately to mind, as does DW2's superior Mutations - in my opinion), then the amount of "Non-Class" feats increase dramatically.

Am I just wanting the "power" that feats provide too fast (and at too low of level), or do others feel the same way I do?

Peterson

 

[C. Baize]

It's all about the options, baby.
If you want to be THE starship guy, then at 15th level, when you have them all... you're THE starship guy (or gal)... I think it's okay, actually.

 

[Emiricol]

I never have enough feat slots to get everything I want, but it's not too bad. Advanced Classes are really where its at for specializing in something, in lieu of more feats.

 

[The Shaman]

Am I just wanting the "power" that feats provide too fast (and at too low of level), or do others feel the same way I do?

I understand the desire to complete two or three different feat trees, but the game is also about choices - there are trade-offs to be made everywhere.

 

[ragboy]

To take examples from Action! System (and Grim Tales to some degree), you could run a 'high action' game where you grant feats every second level, rather than every third level. Or allow any feat to be taken as a class feat, or provide more feats at 1st level... or any combination...

 

[zenld]

i would much rather there be more feats than i can ever get, than being able to get every feat. thats how characters grow, by making choices. i love that.

zen

 

[wingsandsword]

It just provides more options. As with the starship feats, a lot of those feats won't feature into many campaigns. Also, d20 Modern/Future is low magic (with psionics and magic only going up to 5th level), characters are a lot more fragile (the lowered MDT) and they are slower to pick up big class powers (no AdC's until 4th level at least, and AdC's are often weaker than D&D core classes), so side-by-side with D&D characters d20 Modern characters are often apparently weaker.

The ready access to feats is the only place where d20 Modern is seemingly more powerful than D&D, and the feats are modular so it doesn't always mean vastly more power. Feats still have prereqs that slows gaining them, and some big power-feats in D&D mean a lot less in d20 Modern. Whirlwind Attack and Great Cleave mean less when everybody can fight from range easily thanks to guns, and doing big damage with Power Attack is less important when 15 points of damage has a good chance of dropping a 20th level character thanks to the MDT. The most outrageous feats in D&D have never appeared for d20 Modern, like Sudden Metamagic.

Having run plenty of d20 Modern, I don't see the game as imbalanced. Actually I see it as more balanced and more solid than D&D. The ready access to and wide variety of feats just makes the game more modular and characters more customizable.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I was thinking that it tends to breed specialization and few people will master all the 'related' feats although for certain cultures, granting each member of that culture atuomatic feats in exchange for an ECL boost isn't inappropraite. usually not a problem if everyone has the same number of bonus feats.

 

[Vigilance]

When I did Blood and Fists some reviewers sited as a "problem" with the book that few characters would ever get enough feats to master A style of martial arts, much less become a master of multiple styles.

Given that this is the way the martial arts work in the so-called real world made me think this wasn't a problem

Chuck