Feat-a-day design challenge
- Thread starter NMcCoy
- Start date
Larry Hunsaker
First Post
Single Class Feats
Focused
Prerequisite: 1st-level. Cannot choose this and a multi-class feat.
Benefit: Gain a +2 bonus to 2 of your class skills. You have mastered your class abilities to such an extent that you may, as a free action, substitute a power you know, of equal or lower level, for a power you are about to use. The substitute power must be of the same type (encounter attack, utility or daily attack) as the power you are about to replace. This substitution is not permanent, it lasts only for that use of the power.
Talented
Prerequisite: Must have the Focused feat.
Benefit: Once per day, as a free action, you may add the Reliable keyword to any power you use. This keyword remains with that power until you take an extended rest or until the power is reliably used.
Special: You may take this feat only once in the Heroic tier, once again in the Paragon tier and one last time in the Epic tier. Its effects stack, allowing its use two or three times per day if taken again at higher tiers.
Focused
Prerequisite: 1st-level. Cannot choose this and a multi-class feat.
Benefit: Gain a +2 bonus to 2 of your class skills. You have mastered your class abilities to such an extent that you may, as a free action, substitute a power you know, of equal or lower level, for a power you are about to use. The substitute power must be of the same type (encounter attack, utility or daily attack) as the power you are about to replace. This substitution is not permanent, it lasts only for that use of the power.
Talented
Prerequisite: Must have the Focused feat.
Benefit: Once per day, as a free action, you may add the Reliable keyword to any power you use. This keyword remains with that power until you take an extended rest or until the power is reliably used.
Special: You may take this feat only once in the Heroic tier, once again in the Paragon tier and one last time in the Epic tier. Its effects stack, allowing its use two or three times per day if taken again at higher tiers.
I think this is overpowered. I think it would be okay as a Paragon Feat, if you dropped the skills bonus and just made it a power subsititution feat. Also, it should be a Daily use, so you can only use it once. Edit: actually, i think it's still overpowered. Are you lkimited to powers you actually possess, or can you select any class power of a lower level whether you possess it or not? If the later, it's too powerful.
Likewise, this should be usable once. Make it a Paragon feat, drop the prerequisite, and allow a single use. So if you attempt to use a power and fail, you can cross off this power for the day to avoid using that power up. The next time you try to use the power, it is gone.
Also, how does this interact with powers that do some damage on a miss? I would suggest it cancels the power - so it is as if the power was never used (no Hit, Miss, or Effect events).
Hi, back again!
Spell Mobility: Why did you choose Wisdom for this instead of Intelligence?
Staff Sweep: Why does Constitution drive this? Why is the attribute requirement so high? Why don’t you require staff proficiency?
I would probably reconfigure this one something like this:
Staff Sweep (Paragon)
Prerequisites: Staff proficiency
Benefit: During a short rest, you may swap in Staff Sweep for one of your other encounter powers. You may reinstate a power you have replaced with Staff Sweep during a short rest.
Staff Sweep Attack 1
You spin beneath your opponent’s guard, delivering a sharp blow, then sweep your staff behind his legs to knock him prone.
Encounter + Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee staff
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Reflex
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage and the opponent is knocked prone.
This does need testing--the last thing we want is a horde of staff-wielding rogues taking down fighters like ten-pins. That's one reason the has a preliminary peg at Paragon Tier.
If you like the original configuration better, then I suggest this feat, as well:
Momentum Fighter (Heroic)
Prerequisites: None.
Benefit: When you hit an opponent in melee, you gain combat advantage against that opponent until the end of your next turn. If you do not hit that opponent in melee in your next turn, you lose your combat advantage. Also, the instant you take damage, you lose any current combat advantage you have from this feat.
Dire Impact: I think 2 squares is too much for Heroic Tier. I would prefer slide boosts just run up the Tiers: Heroic +1 square, Paragon +2 squares, Epic +3 squares.
I really think this is aimed at the Dwarf "Stand Your Ground" trait, which makes this feat a bit of a fun-spoiler for players with dwarf characters. In this particular case, I would make Dire Impact a Paragon feat.
In general, I dislike Heroic feats that counter starting racial traits. Likewise, I think that feats that duplicate racial powers for general characters should be minimally pegged at Paragon, if allowed at all.
Hunsaker:
Focused: Looks too powerful to me, too. It tries to do two things, either one of which might be considered a full fledged feat.
First, there is the general trained/focus/racial trait package that is worth +10. I would be reluctant to allow permanent skill bonuses over this amount, since the players are already getting a bonus every second level. Thus:
Focused Interest
Prerequisites: No +2 racial trait in the selected skill.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to the selected skill. This is not a feat bonus, it is cumulative with skill training and skill focus. You may take this skill more than once, choosing a different skill each time.
Power Substitution: I tend to look at this as more of a feat template, along the lines of the god-based Divine Power feats. While I think there is a place for this type of feat, especially those detailing powers of the “combat stunt” variety, at this point I don’t think the system is well served by a general feat that allows unlimited and unrestrained swapping from a nebulous pool of powers. In other words, I think each application of the template should generate a unique specific feat (for example, Staff Sweep, above).
Talented: I agree with dropping the prerequisite. However, the Effect issue does have to be dealt with. Rather than MeMeMeMe’s rewrite, I would just exclude any power that has an automatic effect. That is, any power with an entry for Miss or Effect cannot be made reliable.
Spell Mobility: Why did you choose Wisdom for this instead of Intelligence?
Staff Sweep: Why does Constitution drive this? Why is the attribute requirement so high? Why don’t you require staff proficiency?
I would probably reconfigure this one something like this:
Staff Sweep (Paragon)
Prerequisites: Staff proficiency
Benefit: During a short rest, you may swap in Staff Sweep for one of your other encounter powers. You may reinstate a power you have replaced with Staff Sweep during a short rest.
Staff Sweep Attack 1
You spin beneath your opponent’s guard, delivering a sharp blow, then sweep your staff behind his legs to knock him prone.
Encounter + Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee staff
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Reflex
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage and the opponent is knocked prone.
This does need testing--the last thing we want is a horde of staff-wielding rogues taking down fighters like ten-pins. That's one reason the has a preliminary peg at Paragon Tier.
If you like the original configuration better, then I suggest this feat, as well:
Momentum Fighter (Heroic)
Prerequisites: None.
Benefit: When you hit an opponent in melee, you gain combat advantage against that opponent until the end of your next turn. If you do not hit that opponent in melee in your next turn, you lose your combat advantage. Also, the instant you take damage, you lose any current combat advantage you have from this feat.
Dire Impact: I think 2 squares is too much for Heroic Tier. I would prefer slide boosts just run up the Tiers: Heroic +1 square, Paragon +2 squares, Epic +3 squares.
I really think this is aimed at the Dwarf "Stand Your Ground" trait, which makes this feat a bit of a fun-spoiler for players with dwarf characters. In this particular case, I would make Dire Impact a Paragon feat.
In general, I dislike Heroic feats that counter starting racial traits. Likewise, I think that feats that duplicate racial powers for general characters should be minimally pegged at Paragon, if allowed at all.
Hunsaker:
Focused: Looks too powerful to me, too. It tries to do two things, either one of which might be considered a full fledged feat.
First, there is the general trained/focus/racial trait package that is worth +10. I would be reluctant to allow permanent skill bonuses over this amount, since the players are already getting a bonus every second level. Thus:
Focused Interest
Prerequisites: No +2 racial trait in the selected skill.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to the selected skill. This is not a feat bonus, it is cumulative with skill training and skill focus. You may take this skill more than once, choosing a different skill each time.
Power Substitution: I tend to look at this as more of a feat template, along the lines of the god-based Divine Power feats. While I think there is a place for this type of feat, especially those detailing powers of the “combat stunt” variety, at this point I don’t think the system is well served by a general feat that allows unlimited and unrestrained swapping from a nebulous pool of powers. In other words, I think each application of the template should generate a unique specific feat (for example, Staff Sweep, above).
Talented: I agree with dropping the prerequisite. However, the Effect issue does have to be dealt with. Rather than MeMeMeMe’s rewrite, I would just exclude any power that has an automatic effect. That is, any power with an entry for Miss or Effect cannot be made reliable.
Whoops; was away for a while and lost my momentum.
Also: Please tell me I'm misreading Focused, and it doesn't actually effectively say "you can retrain all your powers at will as a free action".
Who wouldn't meet an Int requirement for it? The point of prerequisites is that not everyone can take them. It's mostly to give Wis-focused wizards another thematically relevant feat they can take (Wis=orb=control wizard, which includes battlefield control).
Constitution is listed as the relevant stat for staffs at the start of the Fighter section. Constitution is also the relevant stat for staff wizards. There are basically no staff-oriented feats or powers. The attribute requirement is high because it's good - inflicting a status condition with a basic attack is pretty significant.
You're joking, right? You've essentially condensed the Frosty Rogue combo into a single feat, taken away the elemental requirement, and made it available in Heroic tier, with the only disadvantage being the taking-damage thing.
Did you miss that this only happens on a crit? It's rare enough that it doesn't hugely affect combat, and when it does it's pretty satisfying without being all that powerful. Also, D&D's not designed for PvP, so I'm not sure where you're getting the "spoiling the fun of dwarf players" from - monsters don't get feats anymore, so they're not thwarting the dwarf PCs with it, and spoiling a dwarf NPC's fun (but only on a crit!) is... not a big deal?
I fail to see how the PC racial trait and the PC feat will run into opposition, unless you're doing PvP in which case you're in uncharted territory anyway.
Also: Please tell me I'm misreading Focused, and it doesn't actually effectively say "you can retrain all your powers at will as a free action".
Last edited:
Spell Mobility: Good point. Thanks for the answer. 
Staff Sweep: It took me awhile to find the Constitution reference—it’s in the Weapon Group table, PH p77. Aha.
Staff wizards turned up under “Implement Mastery”, the staff of defense option PH p 77. OK. I see where this is coming from now.
I don’t buy high attribute scores as any sort of balance mechanism. In my experience, a high attribute restriction just delays the breaking of the game until some PC gets the required stat.
I just don’t see any reason to peg the Constitution requirement higher than 15 at Paragon tier. A 15 certainly seems to be the number for non-key ability scores (like Constitution for a Wizard).
The key possible dealbreaker here, as far as I can see, is the Seize the Moment feat (Paragon tier), which combines with Staff Sweep feat very efficiently (maybe too efficiently?). Hope the Sweep tests out OK.
Anyhow, I applaud your effort to add staff feats; I think they’re needed.
((Even though Combat Advantage is one of the most common bonuses, I don’t have a real handle at this point on how much it actually comes up in general play. In local play, it has come up rarely, mainly as a result of flanking or special condition results. It’s possible we are just missing opportunities; we’re fairly new to the system. We’re just about done with Shadowfell and the PCs are 3rd-4th level. I’m thinking that scales to about 2nd level in earlier editions.))
Momentum Fighter: No joke. Possibly ignorance; not all us have been on this forum as long as you have, nor are we all at the same place in the learning curve. Never heard of the frosty Rogue combo, maybe you could suggest a link?
I think you underestimate the drag the “damage thing” puts on the feat. Under normal circumstances, I would expect the feat to be disrupted between a third and half the time before the player can benefit from it, assuming opposition strength similar to what we’ve hit in the published adventure. Note the disrupting damage can come from any source. Also anything that prevents you from using your standard action every round for an attack also disrupts this. You can get by once by using an action point for an attack, but my expectation is that the momentum will likely be short-lived.
I thought a trigger condition that required an initial hit seemed fair. Hmmm, maybe multiple melee attacks per round are more common than I thought.
Dire Impact: Yep, you called it. Missed the crit requirement. At this point I have no strong opinion on this one, one way or the other.
Re PvP: Hardly unknown territory. The PCs vs. themselves as a finale fight has been a cliché for years. With the game getting closer to WoW and other massive online games, this is territory that will be further explored, and I’m thinking sooner rather than later. I'd throw PvP into the balance blender pretty quick.
Focused: Sorry, not mine. I thought it was way too powerful, too. I suggested something significantly different, and it’s possible a naming similarity caused the disconnect. I’ll reword mine and see if that helps the confusion.
Odd Interest (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Int 13
Benefit: Choose a skill for which you have no racial trait bonus. You gain a +2 feat bonus to checks with that skill. You can take this feat more than once. Each time you take this feat, choose a different skill.
Special: This feat can combine with Skill Focus to create a +5 feat bonus to a skill check. This feat can combine with the Jack of All Trades feat to create a +4 feat bonus to a skill check.
This newest configuration speaks to several issues.
Adding an Intelligence requisite: This appeals to me on the basis of making Int not so much of a dumping stat. Hence, an attribute bar low enough that someone can get in with a non-key Intelligence score.
Second, to allow any player to hit the same system limits that a race trait bonus allows, provided the player is willing to put enough effort into it. I think a feat is fair, though I expect most players would take Skill Training and Skill Focus feats before this one. I think it’s thematic that even with Jack of All Trades, Jack still falls a point short of mastery (ie Training), so it works out there pretty well, too, IMO.
Since you are a little behind, you can use these to help catch up.
Subtle Serpent (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Con 13, Int 13
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you use a power that has the necrotic or poison keyword.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Mentalist (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Int 13, Cha 13
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you use a power that has the fear or psychic keyword.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Kineticist (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Int 13, Con 13
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you use a power that has the force keyword.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Have fun with them.
Staff Sweep: It took me awhile to find the Constitution reference—it’s in the Weapon Group table, PH p77. Aha.
Staff wizards turned up under “Implement Mastery”, the staff of defense option PH p 77. OK. I see where this is coming from now.
I don’t buy high attribute scores as any sort of balance mechanism. In my experience, a high attribute restriction just delays the breaking of the game until some PC gets the required stat.
I just don’t see any reason to peg the Constitution requirement higher than 15 at Paragon tier. A 15 certainly seems to be the number for non-key ability scores (like Constitution for a Wizard).
The key possible dealbreaker here, as far as I can see, is the Seize the Moment feat (Paragon tier), which combines with Staff Sweep feat very efficiently (maybe too efficiently?). Hope the Sweep tests out OK.
Anyhow, I applaud your effort to add staff feats; I think they’re needed.
((Even though Combat Advantage is one of the most common bonuses, I don’t have a real handle at this point on how much it actually comes up in general play. In local play, it has come up rarely, mainly as a result of flanking or special condition results. It’s possible we are just missing opportunities; we’re fairly new to the system. We’re just about done with Shadowfell and the PCs are 3rd-4th level. I’m thinking that scales to about 2nd level in earlier editions.))
Momentum Fighter: No joke. Possibly ignorance; not all us have been on this forum as long as you have, nor are we all at the same place in the learning curve. Never heard of the frosty Rogue combo, maybe you could suggest a link?
I think you underestimate the drag the “damage thing” puts on the feat. Under normal circumstances, I would expect the feat to be disrupted between a third and half the time before the player can benefit from it, assuming opposition strength similar to what we’ve hit in the published adventure. Note the disrupting damage can come from any source. Also anything that prevents you from using your standard action every round for an attack also disrupts this. You can get by once by using an action point for an attack, but my expectation is that the momentum will likely be short-lived.
I thought a trigger condition that required an initial hit seemed fair. Hmmm, maybe multiple melee attacks per round are more common than I thought.
Dire Impact: Yep, you called it. Missed the crit requirement. At this point I have no strong opinion on this one, one way or the other.
Re PvP: Hardly unknown territory. The PCs vs. themselves as a finale fight has been a cliché for years. With the game getting closer to WoW and other massive online games, this is territory that will be further explored, and I’m thinking sooner rather than later. I'd throw PvP into the balance blender pretty quick.
Focused: Sorry, not mine. I thought it was way too powerful, too. I suggested something significantly different, and it’s possible a naming similarity caused the disconnect. I’ll reword mine and see if that helps the confusion.
Odd Interest (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Int 13
Benefit: Choose a skill for which you have no racial trait bonus. You gain a +2 feat bonus to checks with that skill. You can take this feat more than once. Each time you take this feat, choose a different skill.
Special: This feat can combine with Skill Focus to create a +5 feat bonus to a skill check. This feat can combine with the Jack of All Trades feat to create a +4 feat bonus to a skill check.
This newest configuration speaks to several issues.
Adding an Intelligence requisite: This appeals to me on the basis of making Int not so much of a dumping stat. Hence, an attribute bar low enough that someone can get in with a non-key Intelligence score.
Second, to allow any player to hit the same system limits that a race trait bonus allows, provided the player is willing to put enough effort into it. I think a feat is fair, though I expect most players would take Skill Training and Skill Focus feats before this one. I think it’s thematic that even with Jack of All Trades, Jack still falls a point short of mastery (ie Training), so it works out there pretty well, too, IMO.
Since you are a little behind, you can use these to help catch up.
Subtle Serpent (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Con 13, Int 13
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you use a power that has the necrotic or poison keyword.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Mentalist (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Int 13, Cha 13
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you use a power that has the fear or psychic keyword.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Kineticist (Heroic)
Prerequisites: Int 13, Con 13
Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you use a power that has the force keyword.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Have fun with them.
The frosty rogue combo involves a frost weapon, an the feats Wintertouched and Lasting Frost. Use the frost weapons at-will ability to make your attacks deal cold damage, so that Lasting Frost give them Vulnerable Cold 5, so that Wintertouched gives you Combat Advantage against them with no real effort.
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