D&D 5E Feats that equal +1 ability score

[Szatany]

How, in your mind, should such feats look? Give some examples.

My idea:
(those two are based on some of original feats presented as the ambusher speciality). Unless otherwise noted, all benefits stack.

Ambusher
Prerequisites: Dex 11+
* You gain a +2 bonus to initiative checks.
* When you strike someone you are hidden from, you have advantage on the attack.
* Your attacks deal an extra 1d6 damage against enemies that have lower initiative count than you.

Master Ambusher
Prerequisites: Ambusher feat, Dex 13+, Level 8+
* You gain a +2 bonus to initiative checks.
* If you hit someone on your turn, you may move away and hide from them as a part of the same action. Any movement you takes counts from your total movement allowed for this turn.
* On your first turn of combat, you get advantage and +10 bonus to damage on all attacks.

(deconstructed survivor speciality)
Survivor
Prerequisites: Con 11+
* Whenever a die roll determines how many HP you regain, you instead regain HP as if maximum number was rolled.
* You gain 1 extra Hit Point per level.
* You have advantage on saves against weather, disease, poison, fatigue and starvation.
* You gain Survive in Wilderness skill.

Everlasting
Prerequisites: Survivor feat, Con 13+, level 8+
* You have resistance to damage from poisons and disease.
* You suffer no penalties for being at 0 or negative HP.
* You gain advantage on all Survive in Wilderness checks.
* At the beginning of your turn, if you're at half HP or less, you regain 1 HP.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

It's just.. too weird to balance these things against ability score increases. If you optimise, you start with a 17, so a +1 feat is excellent value. If you don't, or you reach 18 and consider going for 20, then that +1 to your attack rolls, some class features, some skills, has to be balanced against 2 feats. It's stupid. If you have an odd score it's a no-brainer, but if you have an even score it won't be worth it, unless you have feats coming out your ears to spend.

 

[Szatany]

It's just.. too weird to balance these things against ability score increases. If you optimise, you start with a 17, so a +1 feat is excellent value. If you don't, or you reach 18 and consider going for 20, then that +1 to your attack rolls, some class features, some skills, has to be balanced against 2 feats. It's stupid. If you have an odd score it's a no-brainer, but if you have an even score it won't be worth it, unless you have feats coming out your ears to spend.

Maybe, but wotc thinks they can do it. And while going from even to odd might seem like a no brainer to avoid, it's a necessary step towars that next even.

 

[Kinak]

If they eliminated the automatic stat increase for leveling and let you trade in feats for attribute points... I'm not sold on it, but I'd be willing to test it.

What I don't understand is why they don't just hold off choosing feats until a few levels in. That's exactly the sort of complexity their "apprentice" levels could fix.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Blackbrrd]

I like the +1 stat feat, since it's obviously a good choice. I will use it as my default feat if I don't find a feat I really like. The best part of it is that it doesn't add any complexity to the character.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I like the +1 stat feat, since it's obviously a good choice. I will use it as my default feat if I don't find a feat I really like. The best part of it is that it doesn't add any complexity to the character.

My guess though is that we're going to see the exact same result as we did when they created Expertise Dice for the Fighter. Using them for Deadly Strike (IE extra damage) every single round just became the most useful, powerful, and default choice, and thus all the special maneuvers apparently never got any play (and as a result they felt like they had to split the extra damage component out of the Expertise Dice mechanic after all). I suspect we're going to see the same thing here-- no one's going to select any Feats until their primary ability score gets maxed to 20 and quite possibly their secondary score as well, since that option will be the most useful, powerful and become the default choice. Thus defeating the entire purpose of the change.

 

[GX.Sigma]

My guess though is that we're going to see the exact same result as we did when they created Expertise Dice for the Fighter. Using them for Deadly Strike (IE extra damage) every single round just became the most useful, powerful, and default choice, and thus all the special maneuvers apparently never got any play (and as a result they felt like they had to split the extra damage component out of the Expertise Dice mechanic after all). I suspect we're going to see the same thing here-- no one's going to select any Feats until their primary ability score gets maxed to 20 and quite possibly their secondary score as well, since that option will be the most useful, powerful and become the default choice. Thus defeating the entire purpose of the change.

I think you underestimate WotC's ability to make very powerful feats.

Zombie Master
Any limit to the amount of undead you can control is tripled.

Celestial Aura
You have protection from evil active all the time.

Linguistic Cunning
You can understand and speak to any creature or object.

Magic Resistance
You have advantage on all saving throws against magical effects.

Magic Immunity
Prerequisite: Magic Resistance, high level
You have an antimagic field surrounding you at all times. As an action, you can deactivate or reactivate the field.

 

[jadrax]

I think you underestimate WotC's ability to make very powerful feats.

Zombie Master
Any limit to the amount of undead you can control is tripled.

Celestial Aura
You have protection from evil active all the time.

Linguistic Cunning
You can understand and speak to any creature or object.

Magic Resistance
You have advantage on all saving throws against magical effects.

Magic Immunity
Prerequisite: Magic Resistance, high level
You have an antimagic field surrounding you at all times. As an action, you can deactivate or reactivate the field.

I am not actually convinced any of those are better than +1 to your prime stat.

They are all very dependent upon an actual situation where they are useful coming up frequently in game.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

No one's going to select any Feats until their primary ability score gets maxed to 20 and quite possibly their secondary score as well, since that option will be the most useful, powerful and become the default choice. Thus defeating the entire purpose of the change.

They could handle this if there was a module that let 1st level players start off with 20s in scores of their choice: "Start your character with 10s in all abilities, add X number of points, no score can be higher than a 20, you can reduce any stat to 8 to get extra points."

Yes, this means that most builds would get a 20 in their prime attribute, but that would happen after a few levels anyway. Strip out the current bonus points for race and class with advice for races ("Dwarves typically have a high constitution") and class ("This is the recommended stat build for a melee fighter. Str 20....).

It is a heck of a lot easier than the current systems and min-maxing basic attributes doesn't seem problematic with me with flatter math.

 

[Henry]

Even if there are limitations on the number or frequency of times you can take a +1 ability feat?

So far no limitations have been mentioned, and I think that a limit of "may take this feat once per X levels" or "no more than Y times" is perfectly reasonable and easy for a player to figure out.

Plus, I'd definitely jump on several of those feats depending on my class and alignment.