2000+ Feats

[Joshua Randall]

It seems like feats can generally be broken up into several categories:

* Combat feats that allow you to take an action in combat without an AOO and with a bonus or as a "faster" action. Examples, Improved Bull Rush and Improved Feint (lets you use Bluff in combat as a move action instead of a standard action).
* Class ability feats that allow you to use an ability more times/day, or with fewer restrictions on the ability, or with some bonus to the ability. Examples, Extra Rage or any of the sneak attack feats.
* Metamagic feats. Which begs the question -- with 2000+ feats, are there any ways to metamagic a spell that have not been covered?
* Item Creation feats. Same question -- are there any magic items for which a corresponding feat to create it, does not exist?
* Skill feats. Alertness and its friends.

Then there are the dozens or hundreds of feats that are "patches" to cover other in-game situations. Want to multiclass as a rogue/monk more effectively? There's a feat for that (Ascetic Rogue, from Complete Adventurer). Want to multiclass as an xxx/wizard but not screw up your spellcaster level? There's a feat for that (Practiced Spellcaster). Want to be an archer but your Dex is too low? There are (at least) two feats for that (Zen Archery lets you use Wis and, uh, the one that lets you use Str for thrown weapons).

Now, when I started this response I was going to say that all these feats annoy me. But you know what? They really don't. If a player wants to craft his PC in a certain way, and wants to spend a feat to "break the rules" in some fashion, great! I'm happy that I don't have to make up a house-rule and worry about player resistance to it being nonstandard. I can simply point to the mega list of feats and tell them to pick one that fits.

 

[Li Shenron]

* Combat feats
* Class ability feats
* Metamagic feats
* Item Creation feats
* Skill feats

I think that what are missing from published books are feats which allows a PC to break a boundary of something, similar to those you mention as combat feats.

For example, I don't remember (there may be...) feats to overcome some wizard's specialization restrictions, or to help arcane casting in armor, or to lower multiclassing restrictions (I mean general feats, not feats that allows a specific combo to work), or to avoid AoOs when shooting a bow...

Those are basic ideas to think about, and everything can be balanced by feat prerequisites or splitting the feat into more feats.

Instead, I don't like feats which work too complicately, and have a long description, or feats that are too specific for a single case.

 

[Crothian]

What I don't like is the very incorrect impression that publishers who churn out feats by the boat load give hobby newcomers (i.e., that feats are necessary to create unique characters).

I don't think that is the impression it gives at all. I think you are misreading something somewhere. Unique characters comes from the players and not their stats.

 

[green slime]

.... creating individual characters is possible without needing to have each facet of their personality boiled down to a die roll bonus or other mechanical widget.

Sacrilege!!

Tie the heathen to a stake!! May his heresies be striken from the record!

 

[Storm Raven]

For example, I don't remember (there may be...) feats to overcome some wizard's specialization restrictions, or to help arcane casting in armor, or to lower multiclassing restrictions (I mean general feats, not feats that allows a specific combo to work), or to avoid AoOs when shooting a bow...

I believe that FFG's Legends & Lairs series has feats that fill several of these gaps (and a lot of others).

 

[jdrakeh]

Unique characters comes from the players and not their stats.

I know this, and you know this, but a lot of people overlook this and focus only on the stats (a lot of the 'critique my character' threads here and on RPGnet showcase this approach to character definitiion). In fairness, that is a valid style of play (and, possibly, the most popular style of play), but I frequently hear it pushed as the only style of play, and that just isn't true

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

but I frequently hear it pushed as the only style of play, and that just isn't true

Where do you hear that?

 

[jdrakeh]

Where do you hear that?

In pretty much any discussion which can be summed up as 'D&D vs System X' - such threads don't pop up a lot here, but they're frequently spotted crawling out from beneath rocks at RPGnet.