D&D 5E How weak is Athlete Feat?

[DEFCON 1]

If there any good reason why the Athlete Feat shouldn't include Proficiency in Athletics?
This seems like a no-brainer & a really weird omission. Typo?

No, not a typo. I just think that at the time they were playtesting the game before it was released, there wasn't this huge swathe of players all bum-rushing Great Weapon Fighter / Sharpshooter / Polearm Master / Lucky along with maxing out primary stats... which completely skewed the view of what feats could / should / would be used for.

And I don't think it's that shocking, as I suspect this is extremely difficult to figure out prior to a game's release into the wild. When you're in playtesting, your large set of playtester groups are asked to test a lot of different stuff, not just "make what you want as often as you want"... and thus they probably had no idea of the the shear number of players who went straight to the massive utility and power of the super-combat feats and completely tossed away all of these more fluffy, story-and-character-defining feats. Then they saw for the first years after release, conventional wisdom determined that ASIs and the super-feats were the only things worthwhile in the system, everything else was "under-powered". Had the designers felt which way this wind was going to blow, I wouldn't be surprised if they HAD added Athletics as a proficiency and/or double-prof bonus to the feat to give it more oomph.

But this is why we all are free to house-rule the game... our 20/20 hindsight tells us what our tables need to have to make things like feats important and we can edit, amend, or create anew the feats we are going to need to make our players happy.

 

[Mistwell]

When you read a thread and find you replied to it previously but cannot recall the thread or reply at all.






.

 

[TwoSix]

If there any good reason why the Athlete Feat shouldn't include Proficiency in Athletics?
This seems like a no-brainer & a really weird omission. Typo?

Nah, not a typo, just the development a game goes through between its infancy and its middle age. The thinking around the game has changed over the last 6 years.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Its ok. As most +1 feats it is mostly flavour.
If your DM allows you to make use of it, it is also fun.
Imagine a wood elf rogue (thief). If you are fighting in an ally, you can go up and down as you wish, possibly gaining a big advantage.

 

[NotAYakk]

Athlete (doesn't suck);
You gain a +1 bonus to both dexterity and strength.

• Climbing speed doesn't require extra movement.
• Standing up from prone only costs 5 feet of movement.
• You can make a running long or high jump with only 5 feet of running room, instead of 10.
• Your speed increases by 5'.
• You add your proficiency bonus to your strength to determine how far you can jump and how much you can carry.
• When making a strength, dexterity or constitution saving throw and you don't already add your proficiency modifier, add 1/2 of your proficiency modifier. If you already add your proficiency modifier, add +1.

Why:

• Dex/Str has very weak synergy. A +1 to both is both flavorful and not that strong.
• 5' of extra speed is good, and makes sense for someone with athletic training.
• Extra bonus jumping distance is always good; jumping with less distance is great, but longer is more key. Carrying capacity as well if people track it.
• Half-proficiency in every single physical save is nice; the stacking +1 is so that people who already have 2 good saves aren't punished. It is on saves, and not checks, to not compete with "remarkable athlete" from fighter.

The intention is to make something as tempting as +2 to an attack stat or PAM/XBE/GWM/SS at level 4 for a character.

 

[DND_Reborn]

You gain a +1 bonus to both dexterity and strength.

And???

So, it is better than a normal ASI +2???

Dex/Str has very weak synergy. A +1 to both is both flavorful and not that strong.

LOL, try telling that to our half-orc fighter/rogue.

In all seriousness, I get your point, but it went from being a ho-hum feat to nearly a god-feat with your additions. If it works for you, great but MAN that is a way too much for a feat!

 

[Horwath]

Athlete (doesn't suck);
You gain a +1 bonus to both dexterity and strength.

• Climbing speed doesn't require extra movement.
• Standing up from prone only costs 5 feet of movement.
• You can make a running long or high jump with only 5 feet of running room, instead of 10.
• Your speed increases by 5'.
• You add your proficiency bonus to your strength to determine how far you can jump and how much you can carry.
• When making a strength, dexterity or constitution saving throw and you don't already add your proficiency modifier, add 1/2 of your proficiency modifier. If you already add your proficiency modifier, add +1.

Why:

• Dex/Str has very weak synergy. A +1 to both is both flavorful and not that strong.
• 5' of extra speed is good, and makes sense for someone with athletic training.
• Extra bonus jumping distance is always good; jumping with less distance is great, but longer is more key. Carrying capacity as well if people track it.
• Half-proficiency in every single physical save is nice; the stacking +1 is so that people who already have 2 good saves aren't punished. It is on saves, and not checks, to not compete with "remarkable athlete" from fighter.

The intention is to make something as tempting as +2 to an attack stat or PAM/XBE/GWM/SS at level 4 for a character.

As much as I love overpowered feats and as much Athlete sucks as written, this is a little too much.
But you have some things working nice:

so, a slight tweak;

feat:
agile athlete; requires proficiency in Athletics or Acrobatics.

1. +1 str or dex
2. +5ft base speed
3. all jumps count as running jumps
4. stand up with only 5ft of movement spent.
5. gain proficiency in Athletics or Acrobatics, if you are proficient in both, gain expertise in one of them.

 

[TwoSix]

And???

So, it is better than a normal ASI +2???

Certainly not. Not all +2s are created equal. If you can find a concept that benefits from both a +1 Dex AND +1 Str, other than unarmored barbarian, I'd be very surprised. And I'm fine with an Athlete feat being very good for unarmored barbarians. Your fighter/rogue isn't really going to benefit from this outside of some very odd build combinations.

LOL, try telling that to our half-orc fighter/rogue.

In all seriousness, I get your point, but it went from being a ho-hum feat to nearly a god-feat with your additions. If it works for you, great but MAN that is a way too much for a feat!

Honestly, this where feats have to be to compete with SS/GWM/PAM/XBE/Lucky. The bonuses to saves elevate it from being "OK" to actual strong contender to be taken on Str or Dex builds.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Your fighter/rogue isn't really going to benefit from this outside of some very odd build combinations.

I disagree. I see this potentially helping any PC really unless you had both even scores, in which case (for now) the +1's won't help because neither would bump your modifier. shrug

Honestly, this where feats have to be to compete with SS/GWM/PAM/XBE/Lucky. The bonuses to saves elevate it from being "OK" to actual strong contender to be taken on Str or Dex builds.

Not really. If you see those feats as being too strong, it is easier to nerf those to a more common level with all the other feats. Because this "fix" to Athlete is only elevating the problem.

However, IME, none of those feats (SS/GWM/PAM/XBE/Lucky) get taken often. Heck, we see Alert, Dual Wielder, Healer, HAM, Magic Initiate, MAM, Observant, Resilient, Sentinel, Shield Master, Spell Sniper, and War Caster ALL taken more often than SS, GWM, PAM, XBE, or Lucky. I would guess our most commonly taken feats are Alert, Observant, Resilient, and War Caster.

While I agree Athlete is lack-luster, several simpler and more balanced fixes would make it more enticing IMO. I mean, after all, with the +1 to STR or DEX, the other features aren't supposed to be crazy good. Giving +1 to two scores and a bunch of extra stuff would makes it overkill.

 

[CleverNickName]

Change the name to Parkour and add a note about DM's might give you a little latitude in stunts and I think more people would take it.

A simple way to make it a little more comparable to the other feats, and to make it a little more tempting for players, would be to add proficiency with Athletics or Acrobatics (player's choice). Maybe a blurb about "if you're already proficient, you add double your proficiency bonus" would be nice as well.