Do you want variety or bonuses in your feats?

[Crazy Jerome]

Pros: Allows specialization and a diverse array of character types, without mathematical bonuses making any feats 'must-have'.
Cons: Those who like raw numbers may be disappointed. More relevant, though, is that it may be harder to design feats that remain distinct - without dealing with raw numerical bonuses, the number of directions available for design is much more limited.

I'm really responding to a lot of the post, in toto, but I want to focus here as a starting place. The trick is, the Con is not all Con. It is a good thing that design is then much more limited. The whole problem is that the design right now is so open that it just kind of flops out there and lets anything vaguely relevant fit in.

Of course, there are any number of ways to limit the design and thus solve that problem, but since we want to solve the numbers issues, might as well start there. Might change our minds, and want to switch, later.

Also note that this defacto assumes that the huge list of feats is either not under consideration for business reasons (ignoring business reasons) or that some other substitute will have to be found for WotC publishing lots of books. I state this as a problem to note that it exists, but I'm not going to let the problem constrain the design space until we must.

Then there is handling time. Whether with lots of feats, or replacing them with lots of powers, or lots of situational items--you've got handling time both in char gen and in play. That is the real reason there was a rather sharp limit on powers from the 4E launch.

1. I think it is a given, like you, that if there are numerical bonuses from feats, they do not stack. There is just no way to let them stack that won't rapidly turn into a slippery slope (given the business issue). In effect, this is the "soft" version of not having them at all. You can get +2 or +3 or whatever the "soft" cap is fairly easily, maybe multiple ways, and then that's that.

2. To allow for handling time, it might be useful to have a separate category of super feats (or whatever you want to call them), whether this is a second or third category, that are available only via trading in multiple other feats. For example, if you've got +2 to hit orcs, and then +2 to hit when in the woods, and then +2 to hit in shadows (none of which stack), now you can trade those in for +2 to hit all the time.

The idea here is that you pick things for flavor, but if you start getting enough focus on one thing (I hit a lot better), then eventually you just collapse the handling time by collapsing the categories. Not stacking is very helpful here. And note that this gets the same option as cutting the number of character feats down severely, and making them more powerful, while still allowing some incremental flavor.

Also note that those would be feats with options, not a huge list. It is +2 to hit in some environment, pick one of woods, mountains, etc. Should be a finite list, to keep it meaningful.

3. You can do a similar thing with generic boosts for powers. Have a feat that lets a move action take a minor instead, for a specific power (basically, quick draw). Have one that lets you pick locks faster. Cut down on the cost of rituals. Get three or four such feats in one area, trade them in for something a bit heftier.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Here would be my iron-fisty proposal:

Feats are for breadth.

You can take a feat to learn a new power. You can take a feat to gain a new ability. You can take a feat to do something new. It adds a new thing to your list of stuff you can do. When you get a feat, you get something new that you can do. This may include a new option (I can trade some attack for defense thanks to my Cautious Combat feat!), or a brand new power (I can now use the Blargh of Doom spell!).

Levels (and magic) are for depth.

You get +1's to what you can do when you gain levels.

You might also get +1's from magic items.

Magic items are inherently "bonus." They are above and beyond. They are not taken into account for balance. Your party may have them, but they are weird and unreliable. That +1 is extra.

But perhaps the +1 sword does something a little weird. Like, require you to give up 1/4 your hp when you crit.

A good number-cruncher can find ways to keep the bonus and mitigate the problem. If so, they should keep it -- the bonus isn't necessary, so keep it or not, "balance" will remain. And if they don't keep it, a new magic item will pop up soon enough. And if they do keep it, the DM can feel free to dangle new items in front of them, or to withhold them for a while, or whatever.

Numerical bonuses are either part of your level, or part of a reward. New options are part of what you choose to do as a character. In my iron fisty dominon, anyway.