D&D 5E D&D Beyond Revisits Popular Feats

The folks over at D&D Beyond have revisited the stats in the most popular feats used by class on the DDB platform.

It looks like the percentage of characters using feats has increased slightly.

Here are the most popular feats in 2018 and now.

And here are the top feats for each class in 2018 and now.

 

[Tonguez]

The more I've run tables over these last 5+ years, the more I've found that the addition of all the class and subclass features plus additional character options like feats have greatly reduced the number of times magical item effects have been used or cared about by my players.

When you can do entire suites of special abilities just from your character itself, the stuff you get from magical items just no longer holds an interesting or ultimately useful place in the game. On the one hand that's good because you are now no longer beholden to the whims of the DM and can make your character the way you want to... but on the other, it does reduce the amount of "reward" a character can get for adventuring other than just strict XP. If the stuff you get from XP through the level-up process is just as good/useful as any item you might acquire... the narrative aspect of adventuring kind of gets lost. They adventure to get better at adventuring, not for any tangible rewards. But if you didn't use feats and instead put all the special features you could get from feats into various magical items... you could possibly get the best of both worlds.

Not insurmountable by any stretch, but it does affect the focus of the game and the way characters approach the world.

Im from the opposite school of thought in that I 1. Want Magic items to be special and exotic items that do more than just give a PC buff and 2. I like the PCs abilities to be their own developing traits and not something gained by picking up a spare helmet or shiny dagger.

PCs adventure because they are heroes doing daring deeds and testing their abilities against the threats to their hearth and home.

 

[Don Durito]

Im from the opposite school of thought in that I 1. Want Magic items to be special and exotic items that do more than just give a PC buff and 2. I like the PCs abilities to be their own developing traits and not something gained by picking up a spare helmet or shiny dagger.

PCs adventure because they are heroes do daring deeds and testing their abilities against the threats to their hearth and home.

Take
Vicious Weapon
Weapon (any), rare
When you roll a 20 on your attack roll with this magic weapon, your critical hit deals an extra 2d6 damage of the weapon's type.

Reskin as
Vicious Warrior Training.
Legendary Boon.
You train with one of the great swordmasters of the Eastern Isles. In accordance with this training you learn how to overcome the resistances of magical creatures by sheer might of arms. There are three levels of mastery with this training. Each one grants +1 to attack and damage.
In addition you learn how to take advantage of openings. When you roll a 20 on your attack roll with this magic weapon, your critical hit deals an extra 2d6 damage of the weapon's type.

 

[Zardnaar]

Lots of banishment effects coming up in your games?

Bane as well. I meant for spellcasting classes, con and str are the best I suppose but being knocked probe usually isn't that bad.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Im from the opposite school of thought in that I 1. Want Magic items to be special and exotic items that do more than just give a PC buff and 2. I like the PCs abilities to be their own developing traits and not something gained by picking up a spare helmet or shiny dagger.

PCs adventure because they are heroes doing daring deeds and testing their abilities against the threats to their hearth and home.

The issue becomes when even a really special item gets little use of its special properties because characters already have so many good abilities from their class itself. I've found that to be especially true with many of my players. They are so accustomed to using the dozen features they get from their class/subclass (includes spells, feats and the like) that they rarely feel the need to flip back to their magic item page to see what those give them (other than the passive number boosts they've already incorporated into the numbers on their sheet.)

So my point was mainly to cut back on the features the class might get through level up (like feats) and instead allow those to come back into the game via magic item if necessary. A magic polearm allows you to make the butt-end attack (a la Polearm Master) becomes now a magic item ability that the player might now use, since their number of class features has reduced and they don't already have that ability.

Obviously this would be unnecessary for other tables whose players flip through the pages of abilities they have all the time every round to find just the right use for the time... but at my table they just tend to go easy/obvious route even if its not optimal at the moment.

 

[Stoutstien]

The issue becomes when even a really special item gets little use of its special properties because characters already have so many good abilities from their class itself. I've found that to be especially true with many of my players. They are so accustomed to using the dozen features they get from their class/subclass (includes spells, feats and the like) that they rarely feel the need to flip back to their magic item page to see what those give them (other than the passive number boosts they've already incorporated into the numbers on their sheet.)

So my point was mainly to cut back on the features the class might get through level up (like feats) and instead allow those to come back into the game via magic item if necessary. A magic polearm allows you to make the butt-end attack (a la Polearm Master) becomes now a magic item ability that the player might now use, since their number of class features has reduced and they don't already have that ability.

Obviously this would be unnecessary for other tables whose players flip through the pages of abilities they have all the time every round to find just the right use for the time... but at my table they just tend to go easy/obvious route even if its not optimal at the moment.

I like how intricate each individual classes is as far as the number of options they get. It allows me to hand out truly unique magical items. Recently one player of mine has found a sentient spell book.
As far as having too many options they can't choose from I use a turn timer. I get most players about 8 to 10 seconds to figure out what they're going to do or they take the Dodge action. Little more lenient with new players and a little bit more strict with experienced players.

 

[DEFCON 1]

As far as having too many options they can't choose from I use a turn timer. I get most players about 8 to 10 seconds to figure out what they're going to do or they take the Dodge action. Little more lenient with new players and a little bit more strict with experienced players.

Opposite of my problem, unfortunately. My players can choose what they are going to do relatively quickly... they just aren't wasting time searching through all the back page stuff to do so (where all the myriad of little special magic item abilities are.) They'll just use the abilities they already have on hand in constant rotation because they are effective and easily done.

For my table this is made especially more prominent because I usually have 6 to 8 players, meaning there's a bunch more class feature abilities to handle more varied situations... thereby reducing the number of special abilities gained through magic items that they want/need or have to spend time looking for. And thus those magical items as potential rewards becomes lessened.

 

[Stoutstien]

Opposite of my problem, unfortunately. My players can choose what they are going to do relatively quickly... they just aren't wasting time searching through all the back page stuff to do so (where all the myriad of little special magic item abilities are.) They'll just use the abilities they already have on hand in constant rotation because they are effective and easily done.

For my table this is made especially more prominent because I usually have 6 to 8 players, meaning there's a bunch more class feature abilities to handle more varied situations... thereby reducing the number of special abilities gained through magic items that they want/need or have to spend time looking for. And thus those magical items as potential rewards becomes lessened.

why would it matter if said features are coming from a class or a magic item if they tend not to use it anyways? If they found something that works consistently they're not going to change just it up for the sake of it.

I guess I don't understand your goal of wanting your players to take more time to decide what to do.

 

[jmartkdr2]

The issue becomes when even a really special item gets little use of its special properties because characters already have so many good abilities from their class itself. I've found that to be especially true with many of my players. They are so accustomed to using the dozen features they get from their class/subclass (includes spells, feats and the like) that they rarely feel the need to flip back to their magic item page to see what those give them (other than the passive number boosts they've already incorporated into the numbers on their sheet.)

So my point was mainly to cut back on the features the class might get through level up (like feats) and instead allow those to come back into the game via magic item if necessary. A magic polearm allows you to make the butt-end attack (a la Polearm Master) becomes now a magic item ability that the player might now use, since their number of class features has reduced and they don't already have that ability.

Obviously this would be unnecessary for other tables whose players flip through the pages of abilities they have all the time every round to find just the right use for the time... but at my table they just tend to go easy/obvious route even if its not optimal at the moment.

I feel like the best way to achieve these goals is to create rules for players to build their own signature magic items, so they can control them as much as they control class features etc. If I, as a fighter player, can pick exactly what my magic weapon does, I can ensure that it meshes well with both my concept and my build.

But that goes against the tradition of random loot. Unfortunately, random loot will always be worse than custom gear because of the odds of it being not useful, or worse, somewhat useful, which feels more annoying that something that's straight-up not useful. (Ie giving a player with PAM and GWM a magic greatsword can be even more frustrating than giving them a magic shortsword, which is still more frustrating than giving them a magic wand.)

 

[ad_hoc]

If I, as a fighter player, can pick exactly what my magic weapon does, I can ensure that it meshes well with both my concept and my build.

It's not really a magic item then is it?

It's just cog in the mechanics of the game.

I want magic items to be wondrous. I want them to change the game and the characters who have them.

Magic items are where 3e went the most wrong. By having characters pick and choose them on level up they reduced them to some numbers.

In 5e we roll on the treasure hoard tables for magic items. The items provide an unknown element in how a campaign will unfold as well as character development. The magical items are memorable because of this. They're also not guaranteed so every time the players roll high and get one it is a moment of excitement.

 

[jmartkdr2]

It's not really a magic item then is it?

It's just cog in the mechanics of the game.

I want magic items to be wondrous. I want them to change the game and the characters who have them.

Magic items are where 3e went the most wrong. By having characters pick and choose them on level up they reduced them to some numbers.

In 5e we roll on the treasure hoard tables for magic items. The items provide an unknown element in how a campaign will unfold as well as character development. The magical items are memorable because of this. They're also not guaranteed so every time the players roll high and get one it is a moment of excitement.

All magic items are cogs in the mechanics of the game, whether customized or random. So is every other element of the game that has anything to do with mechanics. Magic doesn't need to be random to be fun, otherwise why let wizards pick spells? Heck, why even let players choose to be wizards?