D&D 5E Feat Workshop

[smbakeresq]

As far as crossbows in general, I think they all should be simple weapons, that actually was the design benefit and advantage of the crossbow, but only if the crossbow expert feat is changed as above.

 

[smbakeresq]

You what? All my single-attack characters use Crossbows over Bows for their superior damage.

A single attack character wouldn't be an archer, nor would you take the crossbow expert feat for them. That's what this discussion is about.

And they should use crossbows, that what they are designed for.

 

[seergun]

Reading these has given me a couple of ideas.

Martial Training
Pick three out of the following options:

# Increase your Strength score by 1, up to a maximum of 20
# Increase your Dexterity score by 1, up to a maximum of 20
# Proficiency with light armor
# Proficiency with medium armor and shields (requires light armor proficiency)
# Proficiency with heavy armor (requires medium armor proficiency)
# Proficiency with three weapons of your choice

Yes, I realize this slightly breaks the standard, but I don't think many would say getting just an armor or 3 weapon proficiencies is quite worth a feat. Castors wanting heavy armor no longer have to start as a fighter, and they even get to bump STR and DEX...

The main reason I think this could work is because basically no one wants both STR and DEX. The only martial class without at least medium and martial weapons (besides monk, for obvious reasons) is rogue, and even then, the best AC medium can give is 16, unless they want disadvantage on their stealth checks, or by taking another feat. By level 4, I would assume all rogues already have studded leather and at least 16 DEX, so that's 15 AC, 18 DEX gives 16 AC. I'm discounting variant human, as the level 1 feat can get pretty dumb already and I don't think this is anywhere close to GWM or SS, two of the most glaring ones at that level. Arcane castors multi-classing with fighter would likely rather bump their casting stat instead of STR+DEX. Clerics that could use both would probably want both martial weapons AND heavy armor, so no change there over the old version.

EDIT: I didn't think of castors just going light, medium, heavy; that might be an issue. hmm...

The other feat I had an idea for is Savage attacker. This looks so cool to a newcomer, re-rolling your bad damage. I know it did to me last year, especially since I was making a rogue, all those die 6's! Then you look at it again and realize you can only reroll the actual weapon's dice...As for the throwing durable into it, this makes absolutely no sense to me. How does hitting harder make you recover health better? I get the joining bad feats together idea, it just makes no thematic sense to me.

Savage Attacker

• Once per turn, when you hit with a (melee?) weapon attack, you may add the average damage, rounded up, of your weapon (3 for d4, 4 for d6, etc) to your damage.
• When you score a critical hit, you may add one maxed weapon die to your damage.

I know the wording is a bit odd, but I don't know how to better say this. I have no idea where this is on balance, but due note that the second point is better for the d12 weapons vs the 2d6, or that's the idea at least. No one uses the d12's over the 2d6's since they're just mathematically worse, except maybe half-orcs due to their savage attacks ability. Even then, it's probably still better to use a 2d6, I'm just trying to give a little bit of love to the least used die of the set. At level 4, wouldn't rolling 3d12+12+mod feel cooler than 5d6+6+mod?

It's quite possible this adds too much damage seeing as, so long as you hit, this increase is guaranteed. Rounding down instead of up may be better. I knew I wanted to add damage when you hit, but I didn't want to add just a flat die. To me, hitting harder with a dagger should not hit as harder than as a great ax hits. This lead to the average damage of your weapon, which I don't think has been used yet. I also knew I wanted to incorporate crits in, so I took inspiration from the half-orc and added another die. But, seeing as this is a feat, might as well make it powerful, so I maxed it. Another option would be to have the bonus action attack from GWM here if it got removed from GWM. Would probably replace the extra crit die in that instance. Limiting it to once a turn is also something that could be changed, but one of the reasons GWM and SS are so dumb is because they can be done on every attack.

The one thing I really want, but have no idea how to word, would be for the 2d6 weapons to only add 3/4 damage, instead of 6/7, seeing as their damage dice are d6's. "you may add the average damage, rounded up, of one of your weapon's dice to your damage"?

Anyway, what do you guys think?

 

[dregntael]

How about combining the Savage Attacker and Charger feats into one? Thematically it makes sense and both feats are considered to be on the weak side. You could either just combine the two feats as written or incorporate some of the other suggestions in this thread. Here is my proposal:

Savage attacker

• When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack. If you move at least 20 feet in a straight line immediately before making this attack, you get a free attempt to shove that creature.
• Once per turn when you hit with a melee weapon attack, you can choose to deal 1d6 extra damage with the attack.
• When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, the target becomes frightened of you until the end of its next turn.

 

[CapnZapp]

Crossbow Expert
Removed entirely.

In its place, amend the rule on Two-Weapon Fighting (PHB 195) to include the Hand Crossbow. Simply replace “light melee weapon” with “light weapon” - the only non-melee light weapon is the Hand Crossbow. Then remove the bit on thrown weapons, since there's no need: the rule only specifies attacks, not melee attacks. You end up with this:

Two-Weapon Fighting
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.​

Note to people concerned about “magical reloading”. If you adhere to RAW on the (errataed) ammunition property, you need a free hand to reload your crossbow, and thus can't dual-wield them anyway. Myself, I don't mind, and I like the consistency in that if a weapon lacks the two-handed property, it can actually be used with one hand.

More notes:
Without the feat, you can't get rid of the Loading property. This is completely intentional. You can still shoot once every round with your off-hand; you just can't shoot more than once using Extra Attack with your main hand.

Without the feat, you no longer gain Dex damage on your off-hand attacks automatically. This levels the playing field between melee and ranged dual-wielders – now both need to take the Two-Handed Fighting fighting style. Previously ranged dual-wielders could stack Two-Handed Fighting and Archery fighting styles.

Without the feat, ranged combatants can no longer become immune to disadvantage when in melee. This is very intentional, since being able to shut down archers by closing to melee is one of the most important checks on ranged combat dominance.

A quick update on this - I just had a very enlightening discussion with Guachi and Prism and others that ended up in me finally cracking the nut that is Crossbow Expert. What it is, why it is like that, what it could have been, and so on.

It's not immediately compatible with the above (not only because the feat will exist ) so I'll have to think about it s'more, but it's possible (no promises!) Crossbow Expert will make a return here...

 

[Yunru]

Charger needs slight modification, as it doesn't work on a mount afaict.

 

[Yunru]

To sponge attention off this thread, I've been making my own alterations while converting all the feats to a half-price system, and would love some feedback:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?512166-Half-Feat-Conversion-A-G

 

[Blue]

[MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION], when this is all done can you either put up a final form thread or upload the new feats here?

 

[CapnZapp]

That's the idea, yes

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Blue]

That's the idea, yes

I'm quite interested in this, did you collect your final write-ups into a doc somewhere? (Easier than picking through 80 posts.)