Feat Points?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Do you think in future editions (hold up, this thread is about feats, not 4E) it would be worth it to have points/costs assigned to feats, rather than all feats being (relatively) the same cost (i.e., one feat slot per feat)?

On the upside, feats could be scaled in power. On the downside, the feat system would become more complicated and like skills. Also on the upside, you could theoretically have more feats per character if the character picks all low-cost feats.

Maybe pre-req feats count towards the cost of the feats they're pre-reqs for?

Thoughts?

 

[Moon-Lancer]

i think this could be good because not all feats are created equal.

 

[Crothian]

So, the game would be a lot more like GURPS? Or we could also include the flaws in this at different negative point values and go the White Wolf route.

 

[Li Shenron]

"Feats" in 3ed are basically simple add-on abilities, which of course could theoretically be of any power...

It would be definitely possible to complicate the system a bit by giving feats different weights. But otoh trying to make all feats equal (e.g. "splitting up" a feat that is too powerful, or "grouping" two less valuable feats, during the design process) is quite easy IMO, although not in all cases.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Consider this. Replace XP with feat points, given out at the end of an adventure. DM's can reward players for heroic deeds, excellent role-playing, and the like by giving bonus feat points. Then, when the player earns enough to get the feat that he wants, he simply "buys" it.

This way, feats aren't tied to class levels. Then when you want a feat (example) at 5th level, you don't have to wait until 6th level to get it (provided you have the points, of course).

 

[Darklone]

I don't think it would be a good idea... it would be a significant hit to simplicity. Which is one of the strongest points of D&D.

 

[Tonguez]

I much prefer using 1. Talent Trees and more creative prereqs in order to balance feats. - Feat prereqs, Ability score prereqs and level prereqs are already in place, skill prereqs might make sense to (we could call them tricks). Taking a Feat to give access to a talent tree is something I'd love to see (although keeping the talent trees balanced is another headache)

Consider this. Replace XP with feat points, .

I considered when I was tinkering with a classless D20 system where every character was built on Feats (and skills). XP gained as usual and a Feat cost of 2000xp (scalable depending on game 'power level') so yep it could be done and I suppose feats could be given a different XP cost to account for their 'power'

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

You also run into the problem of trying to fit new feats into existing talent trees.

 

[Agamon]

M&M 2E does Feat Points just fine. It works really well to have a baseline feat worth a baseline cost na dhten if it gets better or does more things, it costs more points.

 

[Harm]

I don't think it would be a good idea... it would be a significant hit to simplicity. Which is one of the strongest points of D&D.

My 4 page character sheet, 10 modifiers to every to-hit roll and a spell system with hundreds of pages of unique rules would argue against that point of view. I can't off-hand think of a PnP system that isn't more simple.