Five new feats: Please critique

[Khaalis]

Thank you for the very detailed feedback!
A lot of people don't like the 1 automatically becoming a 10. I think I'll follow your advice and allow the player to reroll a 1 instead and must take the new roll, even if it's another 1. I don't like restricting it to once per short / long rest, as I don't think that's necessary. It's not that strong.

Don't under estimate the power of re-rolls. There is a reason Advantage isn't dolled out buck the bucket. Negating a Fumble and having the chnace to turn that into a hit, or even a crit IS pretty powerful. At Most I'd give it at up to 3 uses per short rest (encounter).

When modelling the specific bonus of a mace, I did some googling. In most of the sources I read (admittedly they were all online and not particularly in depth), maces were in medieval times "armor fighting weapons". I wanted them to extra effective against armored opponents. I agree that the most elegant way of going about this would be to make a single feat for all bludgeoning weapons. I just like there to be more granularity and differentation between the weapons, not just the weapon types. With that said, I think the feat you suggested, giving unconditional stun for 1 round on a critical (no saving throw) is a bit too powerful. Against bosses, because there is no saving throw, the potential of just losing 1 round would be catastrophic. The variance would be a bit too much, I think.

As someone with actual weapon training,weapons such as mace and hammer are considered anti-armor weapons primarily for two purposes. Infantry use them primarily to damage armor's soft points. A good fighter can take repeated blunt hits to the strong points of the armor without flinching, but if you can damage the soft points, you severely cut down their ability to fight effectively and make them more vulnerable to other attacks. Cavalry use blunt weapons for primarily one purpose - head shots. Combining the mass of the weapon with the velocity of the horse is usually enough to smash in many helms, or at least enough to make the helm a liability due to restricted movement or line of sight.

As for game mechanics, look through the PHB. There are a lot of abilities that Stun for 1 round no save. Most Stun attacks that require a save effect the target for longer than 1 round. Additionally, it only stuns on a Crit which is another major balance point.

Simply put I don't want to make a feat that only work if you meet a particular type of enemy. I want to make a thematic feat, based on a type of enemy and several of the most iconic creatures in that type and / or scenarios that this type of creature evokes. The first bonus comes from the iconic ability of ghouls (but also liches and revenants). The second bonus harkens to the iconic imagery of being surrounded by hordes of ravenous dead (zombies, skeletons, etc. often attack in large groups). The third bonus shuts down the zombies Undead Fortitude. If all the bonuses from a feat only work against a specific type of enemy, the feat is far too narrow.

Feats just aren't meant to be so highly specialized as to effect only a certain few creatures, which is what I was getting at. The Mage Slayer isn't really specifically about mages, its about any spellcasting target. If you want a feat you can call an Undead Slayer, it has to have abilities that are aplicable to a wider range. Having an ability that specifically effect only 3 types of undead, to me, is too specific. An ability like Advantage vs Paralyzation, while not technically undead specific, is still not generally useful enough to beconsidered a feat ability IMHO. Something like Advantage on CON saves is much more useful but needs to be limited either to something like "from undead" or in uses per short/long rest. JMHO.
That said, feats are the most difficult part of 5E to finesse out the design principles. WotC really needs to provide a better set of guidelines for their design IMHO.

 

[zago]

I'm not necessarily against these feats, but id do think I would do some differently. Such as:

Undead Hunter
• Perhaps you have studied thick tomes about the undead or acquired the personal experience of their nature first hand, either way you have almost a second sense when it comes to their presence and purpose. You have Adv to Perception rolls to detect undead, and can frequently identify the type by scent alone. You also have adv to Investigation or History checks when its regarding the nature of the undead, their lairs, or their masters.

• Some believe the undead require magic or special weapons to kill, but you know better and sometimes a pound of technique is better then a ton of holy water. You know the weaknesses of the undead form and can target them where they are most vulnerable. Undead do not benefit from resistances from your attacks, and immunities become resistance.

• Your intimate knowledge of undead and the process of death has given you an a deep understanding of the personal fight we all make in our last moments against death. You get resistance to Necromancy damage of all types, have advantage against Necromancy spell saves, and most importantly get advantage on death saves.

 

[transcendantviewer]

After reading the many responses on this thread, I'd like to make a recommendation or two.
First, for the effect of the Dagger Master feat, I think the special effect to Dagger attack rolls should be "When you roll an attack roll with a Dagger, roll a d4 and add the result to your attack roll." This has the chance of getting your roll that extra little nudge in the right direction, turning that flub into (Potentially) a decent roll. It'll stack with something like Bless, because it's not a bonus, just a special modifier, and has a ranging effect, meaning it can be useful, but doesn't always give too big of a bonus.

As for the Undead Hunter feat, I think it should be something similar, adding an extra small die to certain skill/ability, saves, and attack rolls and damage rolls.
For instance...
Undead Hunter
You have trained to be the bane of things that go bump in the night. You gain the following benefits:

• You deal an additional 1d4 damage against Undead, Constructs, Demons, and Devils. If you make an attack dealing multiple types of damage, pick one type to receive this bonus.
• You have Advantage on saving throws against Life Drain and Resistance against to the damage dealt by Life Drain attacks.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

After reading the many responses on this thread, I'd like to make a recommendation or two.
First, for the effect of the Dagger Master feat, I think the special effect to Dagger attack rolls should be "When you roll an attack roll with a Dagger, roll a d4 and add the result to your attack roll." This has the chance of getting your roll that extra little nudge in the right direction, turning that flub into (Potentially) a decent roll. It'll stack with something like Bless, because it's not a bonus, just a special modifier, and has a ranging effect, meaning it can be useful, but doesn't always give too big of a bonus.

Getting an 1d4 bonus on attack rolls with the weapon you would almost always use and there being no restrictions; that's incredibly strong. It would maybe be the best feat in the entire game. You would get an average +2.5 bonus to hit, every time. It would be extremely relevant every roll. The ability to treat a 1 like a 10, or to reroll a 1, is only relevant on 5% on all attack rolls.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

As for game mechanics, look through the PHB. There are a lot of abilities that Stun for 1 round no save. Most Stun attacks that require a save effect the target for longer than 1 round. Additionally, it only stuns on a Crit which is another major balance point.

Can you give me some pointers? The only class feature I found was the monk's Stunning Strike, but that ability does allow the target a Constitution save to negate the effect. There are no stunning effects in the feats section. I take it when you say that there are a lot of abilities that stun for 1 round without a save, that you mean spells. Any particular spells?

 

[transcendantviewer]

That is a fair point. I suppose I didn't take that into account.

 

[Khaalis]

Can you give me some pointers? The only class feature I found was the monk's Stunning Strike, but that ability does allow the target a Constitution save to negate the effect. There are no stunning effects in the feats section. I take it when you say that there are a lot of abilities that stun for 1 round without a save, that you mean spells. Any particular spells?

Sorry, I didn't have the book handy so I think I overstated. I really thought there were more stunned condition options but on digging the PHB really has very few stun causing abilities, which IMHO is a weakness. Stunning for 1 round is a great ability that should be utilized more.

Some abilities of reference:
* Stunning Strike (Monk p79) - Stun 1 round on failed CON save
* Contagion (Slimy Doom, p227) - Stun 1 round & DisAd on CON saves, but gets to make CON save vs the spell
* Divine Word (p234) - Stun 1 hour on failed CHA save
* Power word stun (p267) - Stunned till succeed a CON save
* Symbol (Stunning, p380) - Stun 1 minute on failed WIS save

So all that said, Stunning for 1 round on a Critical hit (limiter; only effective at most 10% chance) and if a CON save is failed (second limiter) seems balanced.

 

[transcendantviewer]

I believe this would easily break the game when a Champion Fighter takes this feat. Then they'd threaten on a 19-20, and eventually an 18-20, meaning if they get advantage, that's a 20%/30% chance to stun respectively.

 

[Khaalis]

I believe this would easily break the game when a Champion Fighter takes this feat. Then they'd threaten on a 19-20, and eventually an 18-20, meaning if they get advantage, that's a 20%/30% chance to stun respectively.

Which is why I suggested limiting to: Stun on Crit, Con save to avoid, 1 use per short rest.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

I could use some help with this feat. How would you guys make a feat like this? I'm not sure about the DCs.

PIT CHAMPION

You have experience battling in pits, arenas or similar public fighting venues. You gain the following benefits:

* Increase your Charisma or Strength score by 1.
* If you are in combat, you may choose a visible opponent and make a Charisma check as a bonus action, providing there are noncombative onlookers. The DC depends on the disposition of the onlookers. Friendly – 5, neutral – 10, and hostile – 15. If you succeed, you gain advantage on your attack rolls against that creature for the duration of the combat. After using this ability, you need to take a long rest to use it again.
* You gain proficiency with nets and tridents.