What feats are "missing"?

[Thank Dog]

Daggermaster


Prerequisite: Dexterity 15 or higher.


You are a master of using daggers in every situation. You gain the following benefits with daggers:


• Daggers you wield do 1d6 damage instead of 1d4.
• You can draw or stow two daggers when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
• Attacking at long range with a dagger doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
• Your ranged attack rolls with a dagger ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.

 

[Ratskinner]

OK, missing is the wrong word. However, to help those who want to try their hands a designing a feat or two, what feats (concept-wise) do you feel are missing, if any?

I've been mulling this over quite a bit since you posed the question. The more I think about the more I am confident that the "basic" or "default" ground for D&D is pretty well covered...so long as you're willing to squint a bit and re-skin things. I can see the most room for feats that correspond with some of the "lesser" prestige classes and whatnot (lesser in mechanical weight/terms.) Arcane archer is perhaps the poster child there. However, I also feel like those may only be appropriate for a fraction of games, so I'd rather see those (and related advice) in the DMG.

I must also sound agreement with the thought that its very easy to design bad feats. This is ground to tread lightly! I'm very apprehensive about feats like the sneak attack feat above.

 

[Runny]

Daggermaster


Prerequisite: Dexterity 15 or higher.


You are a master of using daggers in every situation. You gain the following benefits with daggers:


• Daggers you wield do 1d6 damage instead of 1d4.
• You can draw or stow two daggers when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.
• Attacking at long range with a dagger doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
• Your ranged attack rolls with a dagger ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.

I really like this feat work up. Take one feat and it gives you all you need for your core concept. Not overpowered, just adding another character concept in one stroke.

 

[77IM]

I've been thinking about feats that I don't want in the game.

1. Feats that make a member of a class better at what that class already does. There's already some of these in 5E and I look at them with a wary eye (Skulker, for example).

2. Feats without a clear connection to a specific character concept; something that too many characters would want. Savage Attacker, I'm looking at you.

3. Feats that are demonstrably worse than just getting +2 to your primary stat. I'm having trouble justifying things like Actor or Athlete. (Some people say, "Well you can just take that feat once you are already at 20." I say, "If a feat is important to my character concept I want to take it as early as possible; if it's NOT important to my character concept I don't want it at all.") I guess any feat that's redundant with an ability score or skill or background trait is probably a bad idea.


I guess at I high level I think of each feat as a mini-class; it should represent some very strong character type in a way that sets your character apart from others, but overlaps with too many other concepts too much to be its own class.

 

[kerleth]

Thrown Weapon Master

Here's one I actually just came up with last night.

Thrown Weapon Master
You have become a master with thrown weaponry, able to surprise your opponents by swiftly switching between melee and ranged combat.
-Whenever you make an attack with a thrown weapon you may choose to draw a weapon either immediately before or after the attack. This does not count against your one free use of use an object each turn.
-You may make a ranged attack with a thrown weapon in melee without suffering disadvantage.
-If you make a ranged attack with a thrown weapon against an enemy, you gain advantage on your next melee attack against that enemy this turn. Once you have used this ability against an enemy it doesn't function against that enemy again until you finish a long rest.

 

[Morrus]

I'm going to slip this over the House Rules since it's morphed into a feat development thread (which is awesome!)

Just as a reminder, if you make a feat, be sure to add it to the database so folks can find it forever!

 

[RangerWickett]

How about?

Swift Striker

You gain +1 Dex. Also, choose one weapon. You gain proficiency with that weapon if you don't already have it. Finally, when using the named weapon it gains the Finesse trait.

Please, I don't want feats that are this niche. If you know how to swing an 8 pound slab of metal around with finesse, why does it matter whether it's a greatsword, a glaive, or a greataxe? Also, it lets you sidestep the drawback of playing a high-Dex low-Str fighter.

Basically, in this rule system I don't think you're supposed to be able to have an agile guy fight with a greatsword and be as effective as someone with a high strength. Maybe instead have a generic "agile armsman" feat, which gives you perks when wielding finesse weapons, and lets you treat any weapon you can hold as a finesse weapon (but changing the damage dice to d6 if one-handed or d8 if two-handed). Other perks might include letting you use Acrobatics instead of Athletics checks for tripping and shoving maneuvers, and letting you move through difficult terrain without penalty.

 

[GameDoc]

I'd like to see something that lets characters other than rogues and bards get expertise in skills. I think that skills make lots of space to develop a character concept. Some ideas:

- Simply have a feat that grants Expertise as written. Pick two skills or tools you are proficient with and double your proficiency bonus when you use them.

- A feat that increases an ability score by 1 and grants expertise on 2 skills you are already proficient with hat key off that specific ability.

- feats that are thematic to specific to character concept that grant expertise on 2 related skills or tools (e.g. Medic = medicine; herbalist kit; Charioteer = animal handling; vehicles (land); Archaeologist = history, religion).

Alternatively, advantage could be used in place of double proficiency bonus so as not to be identical to the Expertise class feature.

Thoughts?

 

[Kobold Stew]

I'd like to see something that lets characters other than rogues and bards get expertise in skills. I think that skills make lots of space to develop a character concept. Some ideas:

- Simply have a feat that grants Expertise as written. Pick two skills or tools you are proficient with and double your proficiency bonus when you use them.

- A feat that increases an ability score by 1 and grants expertise on 2 skills you are already proficient with hat key off that specific ability.

- feats that are thematic to specific to character concept that grant expertise on 2 related skills or tools (e.g. Medic = medicine; herbalist kit; Charioteer = animal handling; vehicles (land); Archaeologist = history, religion).

Alternatively, advantage could be used in place of double proficiency bonus so as not to be identical to the Expertise class feature.

Thoughts?

Ha! That's exactly what I would like to avoid -- it further waters down the already heavily-diluted concept of the skill-monkey rogue. A single level dip will give you this.

You're right that "Expertise" as written is roughly the power-level of a given feat, but I'd be reluctant to see it come into being.

As for your other two wishes, they are both already covered more or less by the skilled feat -- which grants proficiency in three skills and/or tools.

 

[GameDoc]

Ha! That's exactly what I would like to avoid -- it further waters down the already heavily-diluted concept of the skill-monkey rogue. A single level dip will give you this.

You're right that "Expertise" as written is roughly the power-level of a given feat, but I'd be reluctant to see it come into being.

As for your other two wishes, they are both already covered more or less by the skilled feat -- which grants proficiency in three skills and/or tools.

I guess without having realized it explicitly until now I have a problem with the rogue and bard owning the skill monkey role. The charlatan, criminal, urchin, sage, and entertainer backgrounds allow other classes to assume to role of thief, thug, lorekeeper, and minstrel themes. These define those two classes to me as much as wide skill sets.

I would actually like an option for other classes to improve a skill they have beyond base proficiency with options other than rogue class skills (which a dip into the rogue class restricts you to). The skilled feat only lets you get new skills, not advance new ones.