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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rystil Arden" data-source="post: 4267535" data-attributes="member: 29014">So, I've been playing Keep on the Shadowfell for a while now, and I noticed something--people were talking about the lack of a variety of feats at the highest tiers, but there's actually a surprisingly low number of feats at the Heroic Tier depending on your stats and class.  I couldn't see this at all until I actually made my character and started playing.  Now, there's plenty if you're a martial character, but I'd like to use my character as a case study.  I honestly had incredible trouble selecting a 2nd-level feat for my character because there was very little available.  I basically had no viable options except Skill Focus, Skill Training, Improved Init, and Toughness.She's a Dwarven Cleric with high Wis, Con, and Cha (all 13 or above) and low Str, Dex, and Int (all lower).  She is focused on healing and Wis-based powers.  The concept is a Cleric with strong holy powers but slow reflexes and little competence with weapons.  It's easy to find at least a few useful powers for her at any given level.  But the trouble came with selecting feats.  For certain character classes, 4e has deceptively few feats that you can take.You start with a little over 80 feats.  Remove 14 for racial feats for other races.  Remove 10 for Channel Divinity feats of a god you don't worship (if you're not a Cleric, remove one more).  Remove the three Ranger feats, the three Warlock feats, one for Paladin, two for Rogue, two for Warlord, one for Wizard, three for Fighters.  That's nearly half that you simply can't take.  It leaves around 40.Now for some specifics related to Clerics.  First off, you already get Hide, Chain, and Leather proficiency plus Ritual Casting, so those 4 feats are irrelevant.  Now for my Cleric.  Any higher armour proficiency (or shields, which clerics don't get this time) requires more strength than she has, knocking off 4 more feats.  For the +Energy Damage feats, 3 of them require high Dex or Int, and the other one (Dark Fury) only works for evil priests who do Necrotic Damage, so that's 4 more.  Blade Opportunist requires high Str and Dex is generally irrelevant for a Warhammer-wielding Dwarf.  Combat Reflexes requires high Dex.  Far Shot and Throw require high Dex and Str respectively.  Jack of all Trades and Linguist require high Int.  Power Attack and Powerful Charge require high Str (in Power Attack's case, very high Str).  Nimble Blade and Quick Draw requires high Dex, as do the two TWF feats.There are now 18 feats left.  I will add in Sure Climber, Long Jumper, and Escape Artist--they require training in Athletics or Acrobatics, which she doesn't have but could get.  Still, they aren't choices for her right now and they don't fit the character concept (the latter a secondary concern, but still there).That leaves 15 feats.  The Dwarf feats first.  Getting more damage on her weapon attacks is worthless--they don't hit and she almost-never tries them.  Dodge Giants is not useful in Keep on the Shadowfell, though she would obviously be able to retrain for that feat if we ever actually fight an extended campaign against giants.  Still, it isn't at all a helpful pick for this adventure, so it's out.  Now, the Paragon Dwarf feat is pretty awesome, but these Heroic ones are rather terrible.  Okay, that leaves us with 13.Alertness--we've rarely been surprised, and if so, not me.  The Elf Ranger and I have very high perception, and the Ranger tends to scout ahead.  She's the only one who ever really gets surprised.  As such, it is less useful by far to me than just getting training in Perception.Defensive Mobility--I almost-never provoke opportunity attacks.  This would not help appreciably.Durable--Thanks to my powerful healing abilities, we get a lot out of each surge.  Also, I have a lot.  I've never even used half before we had to stop for the day.Fast Runner--Doesn't really help at all.  This could be useful for a character who already has 6 or better speed for chasing enemies, but I'm a Dwarf.  Actually, it would be awesome for an Orc Charge-monkey, considering the Orc racials.Mounted Combat--We have no mount and couldn't bring them into the keep without penalties anywaySehanine's Reversal--My character's goddess's divinity feat.  I made a thread about this before.  Unless you exploit it for death saves, it is basically worthless.Weapon Focus--Worthless for her, since she rarely hits with melee attacks anyway.Weapon Prof--She already has Warhammers, which are good enough, particularly since she hardly uses weapons.Wintertouched--Pretty much useless except for Rogues or Ice Mages using the combo with Lasting Frost (or when you know you're going to fight tons and tons of Ice Vulnerable things)That leaves us with 4 feats.Improved Init--Remains an option, but it doesn't fit my character concept and high Init is less important in 4e when you expect to exhaust your main abilities each encounter anyway and capacity is more linear and less nova.Toughness--Has been nerfed greatly since the preview.  I mean, it's still an option, I guess, but it's only one level worth of HP until Paragon tier.  I really don't want to take it Skill Focus and Skill Training--Other than the two above, these seem to me like the only real options.  And of course, Skill Training+ (otherwise known as multiclassing).At level 1, I multiclassed into Warlock with my feat because there was so little else to do.Has anyone else made a character and found the feat system so constraining?  By the time I finish the Heroic Tier, even if I bite the bullet and take Improved Init and Toughness, I'm guaranteed to have taken Training and/or Focus in a bunch of skills for lack of anything interesting to take, and I find that rather boring.I guess the new books will be vastly expanding feat options--pity the Martial book comes out first; those characters already had enough feat options to get along.</blockquote>

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