D&D 5E Choosing between ASI and Feats; how important is a maxed stat?

[Eric V]

What I dislike about the current system of feats vs ASI is that for any Dex based character the ASI always seems way better. It amounts to +1AC, +1to hit, +1 damage, +1 initiative, +1 to dex saves, +1 to stealth/acro. Feats don't really compete with that. For a Str based guy, they don't get the AC or Init, so feats are far more tempting for them.

My group feels that they are being sub-optimal to get feats before 20dex, so they would not get any before the end of the campaign. For Str types, they feel feats are a bit better, but vastly more interesting. For casters, they just got for stats, since caster feats tend to suck or not exist. Adding in some more interesting caster or out of combat feats could help.

I definitely feel that struggle, but...my elf rogue felt Skulker was worth more.

 

[Rhenny]

For my 4th level tempest cleric, I ended up taking the healer feat instead of boosting my wisdom which is still only 14. (We rolled for abilities straight across the abilities. I have an 18 Dex) Too many times have I had to use my spells to get unconscious allies up after combat. The healer feat builds my character in concept and it will be helpful at least for a bunch more levels. I don't feel as if I need the attribute boost to be effective.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Of course, everything I say is theoretical because I haven't been playing too long. I feel like I'm missing something when people dismiss the Mobile Feat; it seems extremely powerful to me, as well as essential for hit-and-run tactics.

Whatever you're missing probably didn't apply to your campaign our you would have noticed it by now. Some people play games where everything takes place in little 20' x 40' rooms, and leaving the room is tantamount to sitting out the combat, and the environments are not destructible so you can't make your own doors ever. In such scenarios Mobile basically just becomes a way to make the enemies attack a different PC, which limits its utility compared to scenarios where it functions as action-denial.

Your intuition for how useful
Mobile would be in your game will serve you better than the disdain/approval of the Internet, based on their games. Different strokes for different folks.

(Personally, I love Mobile but the opportunity cost is so high that it's hard to squeeze in. Longstrider is much cheaper and, for archers/wizards, almost as good.)