D&D 5E A Couple Homebrew Feats For Discussion

[DND_Reborn]

In reviewing all the feats, we realized you have a Medium Armor Master and Heavy Armor Master, but no Light Armor Master. So, our group decided to try this:

Light Armor Master
Prerequisite: Proficiency with light armor

You are adept at gaining the most protection from wearing light armors. While wearing light armor you gain a +2 bonus to your armor class. You cannot be wielding a shield to gain this benefit (this is still up in the air...).

Reasoning: The new UA assuming a Fighting Style is equal to a feat, so this is better in AC bonus than the Defensive Style, but it only applies to Light Armor as wear the fighting style applies to any armor.

The idea of no wielding a shield is both for balance and the idea without the shield your ability to move against an attack will be better.

We thought about simply a +1 AC bonus, but that is not really equal to a straight DEX +2 (which improves other things than just AC). So, an option is to reduce it to a AC +1 bonus and a DEX +1 ASI, but that might be too much?

Another related feat idea:

Armor Training

You gain proficiency in all armors and shields. You can don and doff armor in half the normal time. You can don and doff a shield as a bonus action.

Reasoning: Since the other armor proficiency feats are half-feats, and most classes have some armor proficiency, we decided to lump them into one. We added the don/doff ideas so this might still appeal to PCs with more proficiencies in armor already.

This feat removes the feats: Lightly Armored, Moderately Armored, and Heavily Armored.

We don't see anyone ever taking the armor proficiency feats, otherwise, so we're hoping this will make this more appealing.

So, overall thoughts or suggestions about either of these?

 

[NotAYakk]

So my philosophy for feats is that your PC gets 1 from level 1 to 7 (at level 4). And in that period you should be picking feats that define your PC.

This means that many of the existing core 5e feats don't measure up. The ones that do are the strong ones, like SS/GWM/XBE/PAM/Healer/Lucky/War Caster/Alert/Magic Initiate/Sentinal/Mobile. All of them basically change how you play part of the game, or veto part of the environment in somewhat interesting ways.

In addition, from this perspective, feats are rare; I think they should be something you invoke and do, not just things that passively change numbers on your character sheet. (this is why feats that grant combat styles are a bit meh to me)

"I wear put armor off and on faster" doesn't define a PC. And Light Armor Master just changes a number on your character sheet.

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We can replicate the feel of Light Armor Master, where you are harder to hit in light armor.

While wearing light armor, when Y you can expend a reaction to do X. You can do this a number of times equal to your dexterity modifier (min 1) before completing a long rest.

Example Y/X pair:

"When hit by an attack"/"Gain resistance against the damage (this is a weakened charge-counted Rogue 5)

"When hit by an attack"/"Force the target to reroll the attack. If the attack hits regardless, you have resistance against the damage".

"When hit by an attack"/"Force add half proficiency modifier (round up) to your AC against the attack."

"When hit by an attack"/"make an acrobatics check opposing the attack roll. If it beats the attack roll, the attack misses".

"When hit by less than your dex bonus"/"gain resistance against the damage".

Note I'm using "resistance" here instead of half damage; that is weaker than Rogue 5, because it doesn't stack with resistance from other sources (barbarian rage for example).

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Armor Training has the additional downside that it is worse for people who have heavy armor skill already than for those who don't.

What I did was (a) boost the value of heavy armor, and (b) rework light/medium armor training.

Shields (not a feat) When you take damage you can block it with your shield. Your shield loses 1 AC and you gain resistance against the damage. You cannot do this if you are unable to take reactions or freely choose your action on your turn, or if your shield has been reduced to 0 AC. Magic shields repair themselves over a short rest, regaining 1 AC, and fully repair over a long rest.

This makes being able to have, and having, a shield really nice. A bit less so for barbarians. Disposable shields are also useful.

Lightly Armored (feat)
You gain 1 strength and 1 dexterity, and are proficient in light armor.

Str and Dex have horrible synergy in 5e. A feat that gives +1 to both and a feature is not overpowered. I don't like it that much because it doesn't fit the requirements I have above, so maybe I can do better.

Heavy Armor (not a feat)
Heavy Armor can be custom-fit; if mundane, this costs 1/2 of its base price. When custom fit, it grants the person wearing it +1 additional AC. Magic Armor custom-fits itself when you attune it, and loses the benefit when you unattune it. (you can attune heavy armor that usually doesn't require attunement to gain this benefit).

The goal is to make the Heavy Armor feature a better one, which might make the feat worth taking.

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But, balance wise, I don't see anything abusive with your stuff.

 

[auburn2]

I like the half-feat idea better +1 Dex (or strength?) and some other benefit in light armor. I really wanted a light armor master feat for one of my characters, but my DM allows RAW feats only.

That said, I don't think the AC bonus is the way to go, the game is already biased toward light armors and I don't think people in them should not get more bonuses than they do already. I think a better idea would be a bonus on saves against damaging things or resistance to things that target you - you can add a+ 2 bonus to dexterity saves that target specifically you by interposing your the armor to deflect the attack or ... or alternatively ..... you get resistance to acid, fire, electricity, radient and necrotic damage that targets specifically you by making the armor take the brunt of the damage.