Feats every level question

[Wraith Form]

So how does giving out a Feat every level unbalance a game--fighters notwithstanding?

I can't picture 1 Feat/level not being unbalancing.....

 

[Crothian]

So how does giving out a Feat every level unbalance a game--fighters notwithstanding?

I can't picture 1 Feat/level not being unbalancing.....

All the players get it so they are still on the same footing. I also give it to NOPCs and monsters, so everyone gets the same bonus. If I wasn't doing that I'd treat them as a level or two higher for XP.

 

[Masquerade]

I play feat-every-level without any modifications to experience or to the fighter class. The benefit applies to both PCs and NPCs, so I haven't seen any problems with balance.

 

[Wraith Form]

All the players get it so they are still on the same footing. I also give it to NOPCs and monsters, so everyone gets the same bonus. If I wasn't doing that I'd treat them as a level or two higher for XP.

Thanks....awesome. My players will love me. (Until they realize the bad guys have the same bonus. Then they'll think I'm a rat bastard. YAY!)

 

[airwalkrr]

Call me old-fashioned, but a feat/level system seems like a lot of work. In the first place, not all feats provide static bonuses so many feats would be easy to forget. In the second place, monsters with 20 or so HD would get 13 extra feats, more than twice what they already have! Besides the fact that the DM has to update every single monster in existence, the DM also has to remember to use those feats in combat and use them properly. Additionally, the DM doesn't have time to think through his monsters as well as the PCs do for their characters (the PCs face any given monster once while the PCs themselves are around forever) meaning a feat/level rule inherently favors the PCs.

I don't really buy the argument that just because there are a jazillion feats available that PCs need to have more. The more feats PCs get, the more they begin to look like each other. That means you have to have even more feats for them to start looking unique. And then you have the same problem all over again: so many feats that the PCs "need" more. Just because the feats are there doesn't mean the PCs need to have them all.

How many of these feat/level campaigns are high level? I am guessing not very many as the amount of work required to make such a campaign possible escalates with the level of the PCs. Maybe DMs running these campaigns just have a lot more time than I have.

 

[Stalker0]

I would think in general that most feats are combat oriented, so more feats would improve fighter type classes. Casters imo don't need feats to do most of the things they do. While casters certainly won't mind more feats, I think fighter types will get far more mileage out of all those feats.

Now I'm not saying thats' a bad thing, I think casters start improving over fighter types towards high level, but I think it is something to note.

 

[Wraith Form]

I think fighter types will get far more mileage out of all those feats.

Hunh. And I would've thought rogues would have benefitted. Bah, what do I know?

 

[genshou]

I would think in general that most feats are combat oriented, so more feats would improve fighter type classes. Casters imo don't need feats to do most of the things they do. While casters certainly won't mind more feats, I think fighter types will get far more mileage out of all those feats.

Now I'm not saying thats' a bad thing, I think casters start improving over fighter types towards high level, but I think it is something to note.

Heh, not if you use Elements of Magic - Revised. More feats = really happy Mages with insane amounts of magic points.

All the players get it so they are still on the same footing. I also give it to NOPCs and monsters, so everyone gets the same bonus. If I wasn't doing that I'd treat them as a level or two higher for XP.

In addition to the balancing factor of the rule applying to everyone, consider what feats can and cannot do. They can add the ability to do something better, or add the ability to do something that cannot be done otherwise. However, these abilities are generally not equivalent to what one actually gains from the entire package given by a character level. Feats are excellent to specialize characters and also make them more versatile, but aside from feats that are broken anyway they don't ridiculously overpower PCs. Feats are nowhere near as valuable as either character levels or extra magic items.

 

[Thanee]

I also have trouble to see how fighters would still be good with so many base feats.

Their advantage is greatly diminished in comparison.

Usually a fighter gets about 150% more feats than a barbarian (for example), but with 1 feat/level, they only get like 50% more. Sure the absolute bonus is still the same and probably somewhat balanced with other class abilities, but in general, getting more feats (while that's always nice) does have some diminishing returns, so stacking the 11 fighter feats on top of 20 base feats in twenty levels is a much weaker class ability than when they are stacked on top of the 7 standard feats.

A fighter can surely still be viable, but they still get a rough deal there it seems to me.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Crothian]

Thanks....awesome. My players will love me. (Until they realize the bad guys have the same bonus. Then they'll think I'm a rat bastard. YAY!)

That's pretty much the way my players reacted too. But in the end they just love getting getting more feats to really worry about about what the NPCs get.