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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 6118414" data-attributes="member: 58197">Several people have now pointed out that the downfall of feats--in 3E, in 4E, and now in D&DN--has been that the designers seem to have no clear picture of what they're trying to do with them. Feats become the big bucket, where they throw any widget that doesn't fit anywhere else. As a result, we end up with horribly bloated feat lists, "trap feats" like 3E Toughness, "feat taxes" like 4E Expertise, bleedover from the skill system (Skill Focus and the like), and class abilities like Weapon Specialization masquerading as feats for no good reason.I think this is very apt, and so I put the question to you: What do you think feats should be for?To me, the purpose of feats should be lateral development--fleshing out your character in interesting ways. Instead of getting better at your primary abilities (as defined by your class), you pick up secondary abilities in small packages. A wizard is already, by default, the best possible spellcaster for his/her level. No feat can ever make the wizard a more powerful spellcaster. That means no metamagic, no Spell Focus, etc. Instead, the wizard can use feats to gain basic competence with weapons; or learn new languages; or gain a familiar*; or what have you. Likewise, no feat can ever make the fighter better at fighting. But the fighter could learn some minor spells instead.In short, each feat would do one of two things:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give you access to a weaker version of some other class's abilities--sort of a poor man's multiclassing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give you access to an ability no class has, which doesn't "stack" with any class's abilities (e.g., learn a new language).</li> </ul>If feats worked this way, choosing between them would be fun instead of a chore. You don't have to worry about choosing the right feats to support your class role--that's all built into your class. Instead, you choose the feats that seem like they fit your character concept. Furthermore, for those who just don't want feats of any stripe, it would be easy to remove them from the game.What's your opinion?[SIZE=-2]*With the caveat that familiars are toned down a bit, since currently they can serve as a delivery mechanism for touch spells, and thus substantially improve the wizard's spellcasting prowess.[/SIZE]</blockquote>

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