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Discussing 4e Subsystems: Feats
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<blockquote data-quote="Stalker0" data-source="post: 4518828" data-attributes="member: 5889"><p>Continuing on our journey through the 4e subsystems, I thought we would take a look at something not newly conceived, but new in its own way nonetheless.</p><p></p><p><strong>Feats</strong></p><p>The core idea of feats have not changed as the modern edition slides from 3rd to 4th, but the purpose and scale of feats have changed greatly.</p><p>In 3rd edition, especially for martial classes, feats were a principal means of defining your character and acquiring your abilities. In 4th edition, they have taken a backseat to the powers system, as they now provide small bonuses to round out the character as opposed to defining it.</p><p></p><p>This “small bonus” notion I personally believe will become a problem for 4th edition, because it will become a glass system that hinders the growth of the game. The thing about feats is that they are one of the major customizations a player can do to his character (beyond powers and magic items). That means players want lots of them. Every splat will include more feats, just as 3rd edition splats did.</p><p></p><p>The problem is that when you put a tight power limit on what a feat can do, you limit the amount of variation that is possible. There are only so many small bonuses designers can give to feats, without starting to put silly bonuses that few players would ever want. In 3rd edition, a feat could be a solid single bonus, or several small bonuses. Take the tactical feats for example. Designers realized in 3rd edition they could take a series of small, situational bonuses and put them together to make a useful feat. This greatly increased the amount of customization possible. In 4th edition this will not be possible, and I fear that as more and more feats are realized, designers will be forced to power creep to create new exciting feats.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, I think the biggest problem with 4e’s feat system right now is…there are just not enough feats. Considering players get many more feats in the new edition, there aren’t a lot more options to choose from. This leads to discussions of “cookie-cutter” classes and the like. I think this issue will be completely resolved with a few splat books, but I can understand people’s frustration.</p><p></p><p>All of the above said, 4e has made a few advances with the feat system I want to point out.</p><p></p><p>1) Racial Feats: The core racial feats are a solid way to enforce the flavor of various races, while further differentiating one race for another. Further, they are useful for expanding the archetypes possible. Take the dwarf for example. By stats, the dragonborn is the best fighter with his powerful strength. But the dwarf can take dwarven weapon training and match the dragonborn by using superior skill and weaponry. The dragonborn has feats to improve his breath weapon, which does help the fighter archetype, but is a decent boon no matter what class the dragonborn players. The halfing can take racial feats to jack up his AC, making him a tank even though his abilities wouldn’t normally suggest that, etc.</p><p></p><p>2) Off Ability Feats: 4th edition seems to have a drive to push players towards maximizing their best stats, but these feats are a nice way of rewarding players who don’t. Many of these feats provide solid abilities, but the price is pushing stats away from your strengths. Take spell focus for example, wonderful, powerful feat, but it requires a charisma of 13. Even if the wizard waits till epic level, he’ll still need to put one of his stat bumps in charisma. And if he wants it by paragon, he’ll have to put even more. I think the concept is wonderful, because it allows a player to play a set of options that doesn’t seem “optimal”, but they can take feats like these to pick up the slack. I will say that these feats have gotten a bad rap in the core, mainly because there are too many of them and too few of the general kind. Because players have so few options from feats right now, they chaff under the restrictions these feats demand. Once a new array of feat options becomes available, I think these feats will show their worth more.</p><p></p><p>3) Multiclass feats (super feats): I call them super feats because I think that is ultimately what they will become. Judging by the new gladiator article, WOTC is turning the multiclass feat into a character’s single “super feat”. Basically you get one feat that’s just plain better than other feats you can have, with the trade off being you can only have one. I think the idea of a super feat is fine, but I dislike its connection with multiclass. I think it will create a series of restrictions players will not like, and it will only get worse as new uses for the super feat become available. </p><p></p><p>So in conclusion, the feat system is not the most shining example of 4th edition, though its solid as a whole. It will be interesting to see how WOTC pushes the feat system, and whether my "glass ceiling" concerns hold true.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stalker0, post: 4518828, member: 5889"] Continuing on our journey through the 4e subsystems, I thought we would take a look at something not newly conceived, but new in its own way nonetheless. [B]Feats[/B] The core idea of feats have not changed as the modern edition slides from 3rd to 4th, but the purpose and scale of feats have changed greatly. In 3rd edition, especially for martial classes, feats were a principal means of defining your character and acquiring your abilities. In 4th edition, they have taken a backseat to the powers system, as they now provide small bonuses to round out the character as opposed to defining it. This “small bonus” notion I personally believe will become a problem for 4th edition, because it will become a glass system that hinders the growth of the game. The thing about feats is that they are one of the major customizations a player can do to his character (beyond powers and magic items). That means players want lots of them. Every splat will include more feats, just as 3rd edition splats did. The problem is that when you put a tight power limit on what a feat can do, you limit the amount of variation that is possible. There are only so many small bonuses designers can give to feats, without starting to put silly bonuses that few players would ever want. In 3rd edition, a feat could be a solid single bonus, or several small bonuses. Take the tactical feats for example. Designers realized in 3rd edition they could take a series of small, situational bonuses and put them together to make a useful feat. This greatly increased the amount of customization possible. In 4th edition this will not be possible, and I fear that as more and more feats are realized, designers will be forced to power creep to create new exciting feats. Ultimately, I think the biggest problem with 4e’s feat system right now is…there are just not enough feats. Considering players get many more feats in the new edition, there aren’t a lot more options to choose from. This leads to discussions of “cookie-cutter” classes and the like. I think this issue will be completely resolved with a few splat books, but I can understand people’s frustration. All of the above said, 4e has made a few advances with the feat system I want to point out. 1) Racial Feats: The core racial feats are a solid way to enforce the flavor of various races, while further differentiating one race for another. Further, they are useful for expanding the archetypes possible. Take the dwarf for example. By stats, the dragonborn is the best fighter with his powerful strength. But the dwarf can take dwarven weapon training and match the dragonborn by using superior skill and weaponry. The dragonborn has feats to improve his breath weapon, which does help the fighter archetype, but is a decent boon no matter what class the dragonborn players. The halfing can take racial feats to jack up his AC, making him a tank even though his abilities wouldn’t normally suggest that, etc. 2) Off Ability Feats: 4th edition seems to have a drive to push players towards maximizing their best stats, but these feats are a nice way of rewarding players who don’t. Many of these feats provide solid abilities, but the price is pushing stats away from your strengths. Take spell focus for example, wonderful, powerful feat, but it requires a charisma of 13. Even if the wizard waits till epic level, he’ll still need to put one of his stat bumps in charisma. And if he wants it by paragon, he’ll have to put even more. I think the concept is wonderful, because it allows a player to play a set of options that doesn’t seem “optimal”, but they can take feats like these to pick up the slack. I will say that these feats have gotten a bad rap in the core, mainly because there are too many of them and too few of the general kind. Because players have so few options from feats right now, they chaff under the restrictions these feats demand. Once a new array of feat options becomes available, I think these feats will show their worth more. 3) Multiclass feats (super feats): I call them super feats because I think that is ultimately what they will become. Judging by the new gladiator article, WOTC is turning the multiclass feat into a character’s single “super feat”. Basically you get one feat that’s just plain better than other feats you can have, with the trade off being you can only have one. I think the idea of a super feat is fine, but I dislike its connection with multiclass. I think it will create a series of restrictions players will not like, and it will only get worse as new uses for the super feat become available. So in conclusion, the feat system is not the most shining example of 4th edition, though its solid as a whole. It will be interesting to see how WOTC pushes the feat system, and whether my "glass ceiling" concerns hold true. [/QUOTE]
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