D&D 5E Durable Feat is weak, Healer feat is too strong

jgsugden · Jun 14, 2019

While both feats are towards the ends of the power spectrum, they both exist between the boundaries of balanced. No change required.

Garthanos · Jun 14, 2019

Tony Vargas said:
Step one was clearing out the chaff.

Not convinced that it worked.

phantomK9 · Jun 14, 2019

I've been doing a lot of work to change many of the feats so that any numbers are changed to be the character's Proficiency bonus. For the next campaign I'm also going to change Durable and Tough to put them into one feat with the following change.

Durable
- You gain +2 hit points each level.
- When you roll your hit dice to heal, you add your Proficiency Bonus to the roll (for each die).

Xeviat · Jun 14, 2019

tglassy said:
So the Healer Feat is worth a lvl 1 Cure Wounds at lvl 2? And isn't worth a 5th lvl Cure Wounds until lvl 20?

Would you let someone get regenerate or mass heal from a feat? My point was the healer feat is, in effect, giving a spell slot, refreshing on a short or long rest, for every person in your party for the low low cost of a healer's kit. My point was the amount of healing it gets is really high.

I've seen it taken twice. I've also seen Inspiring Leader taken once. And I haven't gotten to be in too many 5E games. When I do get a chance to play and not DM, the character I'm planning on making is a Bard built like a Warlord and both of those feats are on my docket to take.

Fenris-77 · Jun 14, 2019

Encumbrance can help with the healer's kit. The bloody thing weighs three pounds and a character or party can only carry so much stuff (STR is a dump stat for some whole parties...). I know, a lot of campaigns don't really use encumbrance, but in this case it's helpful. When the party is going through them at the rate of one every other day that 50gp cost does (or at least should) start to feel prohibitive at the lowest levels. You know what's super easy too? Make them cost X where X is enough that the party doesn't want to buy them 6 to a pack like bon bons every time they hit a market.

DEFCON 1 · Jun 14, 2019

bedir than said:
What else have you combined in this way?

Nothing too outrageous. Grappler and Tavern Brawler for one. Athlete and Mobile for another. Moderately Armored and Medium Armor Master. Observant and Alertness (with a few changes.) Probably a couple others I can't think of at the moment.

Mistwell · Jun 14, 2019

Xeviat said:
I'm really frustrated with the way Errata has worked in 5E. They've only been using it for clarification, not rebalancing.

And I think this is one of the best things about this edition, and one of the things which, over time, started to turn me off to 4e though I loved 4e.

I hate using errata for balance issues. It results in pages and pages of errata, and sometimes errata on the errata. The 4e stealth rules for example did that. And polymorph. It was a horrible experience.

I much, MUCH prefer the answer of, "If something is a problem for your game, here are some example alterations you can make as a DM to address it" as advice than hard-fixing it with errata. Rulings not rules is, for me at least, a much more functional game.

Tony Vargas · Jun 14, 2019

Garthanos said:
Not convinced that it worked.

How many 5e feats would you identify as chaff?

If it's less than 100*, I'd say it's an improvement. ;P

* Yeah, I know.

jgsugden · Jun 14, 2019

OOC: How many people play a level 12 or above PC with the Healer feat and find it to be something they use a lot in combat?

Tony Vargas · Jun 14, 2019

Mistwell said:
I hate using errata for balance issues. It results in pages and pages of errata, and sometimes errata on the errata. I much, MUCH prefer .. advice than hard-fixing it with errata.

I think, ultimately, errata comes down to attitude. Is your product something that's supposed to work, and when it doesn't, that's a bad thing? Then you fix it, promptly, and free of charge if at all possible.

Is your product not really supposed to work until the customer has kitbashed it into what he was actually looking for when he bought it? Then why worry, trying to change it is just going to screw with the kitbashing your customers have already done.

Rulings not rules is, for me at least, a much more functional game.

It's a motto, not a game. ;P
By definition, "rulings not rules" embraces system disfunction - but also encourages a can-do attitude on the DM's part. The former is not good for a functional game, but the latter /is/.