Frustrated on Feats

[Edena_of_Neith]

Yes, I am frustrated about Feats.

There is so much candy, and only 30 seconds to eat it!

There must be over 100 Feats available officially, from all the WOTC supplements.
There are certainly hundreds more in all the d20 products, but I am focusing on the core Feats only (they are quite enough!)

There is no way, that I at least know of, to obtain even half the Feats one would want for one's character.
Thus, it boils down to an agonizing deliberation, everytime the character attains a level allowing a new Feat, over what Feat to take.
The fact that the character's life probably depends on what is taken doesn't help either.

Is there ANY way to speed up the acquisition of Feats?
I know Prestige Classes can speed up the acquisition of Feats, within limits. They can also affect Feats already taken.

But is there a way, without taking a Prestige Class, to speed up the acquisition of Feats? (I realize that Wish will not work.)

Are there items that duplicate the effects of Feats, that one can pick up and carry?

 

[Crothian]

Really? My new caracter is going to be 6th level soon and I have no idea what feat to give him. Out of the hundreds of feats, I think a concept eliminades about 50% of them easily. Combat oriented characters have more feat options since 90% of feats are combat oriented.

THis is purely House rules stuff, but I allow Wish to get feats. I also allow magical books that grant people feats. Like a book of running, study it for one week and get the run feat; afterwards the book is gone.

You can create a XP spoend system so that instead of gaining levels you spend XP to aquire feats. Feats would be a few thousand for the weak ones and possible ten thousand for the really good ones.

The fastest way to get feats, combat feats, is the fighter class. There really aren't any other ways to get additional feats by the rules.

 

[Cyronax]

Certain classed like fighter and Monte's ranger give you more feats as part of the class.

A way to allow yourself more opportunities to use new feats.....well try using OA's take on the monk class. Though you get no more feats than normal, OA allows monks to opt out of Deflect Arrows, the Improved Trip (gained at 2nd and 7th respectively), plus one other class ability (i forgot which) and in their place you can pick a feat from a huge list of 'martial arts' feats. The list is huge, and if used in conjunction with the normal character level feats gained every third level, your character choices becomes very versatile indeed.

This allows for a true martial arts style customization.

C.I.D.

 

[Tyrion]

The Core DMG rules have quite a few items that duplicate feats...for example, the Mighty Cleaving enchantment that allows one extra Cleave attempt. It should be fairly easy to make more weapons/armour that allow these type of combat feats.

 

[Orco42]

Start with an epic level fighter.

 

[ForceUser]

Depends on what you're shooting for. As a spellcaster, the answer is uniformly "no." If you're talking about a melee type, then the fastest you can hope to get feats is to go straight fighter. Fighters get 11 bonus feats over the course of 20 levels, bringing their total to 18, or 19 if the character is human. If you go to epic levels, you can pick up feats ad infinitum as you level higher and higher. If you want to cheat, you can get your feat total to 20 by taking one level of ranger to get ambidexterity and two-weapon fighting as virtual feats, and then going 19 fighter levels. And while there aren't any items that duplicate feats in the core rules, you can certainly make your own if your DM allows it.

All that being said, I think you should stop worrying about trying to get as many feats as possible. Feats are heroic abilities that help define your character. Your best bet is to come up with a character concept in your head, and use the feats you take to reinforce that concept. For example, if you envisioned your fighter as an archer, then take Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot, and Shot-on-the-Run for your primary feat chain. Back those up with Lightning Reflexes or Dodge. Now you've built the quick, lithe archer who can thread a needle with an arrow at 100 paces, and who can get out of the way fast when danger threatens. Ta-da - you've got a character concept (Robin Hood).

Feats are all in the character concept. If you imagine your character as a masterless samurai who has never been defeated in single combat, take Skill Focus (Iajitsu focus) and Improved Initiative. If you are the dirty dwarven earth wizard who pals around with earth elementals, take Augment Summoning and Elemental Admixture. Etc.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I agree that Feats are inexorably tied with the roleplaying aspects of the character.

Did the character go to an academy of arms or magic?
Was the character trained by a single elderly person?
Was the character in a druidical college, or did the character pick up lore from the faerie and wild beasts?
Did the character grow up on the streets, or in the wilderness, eeking out a living?
What nation is the character from?
What personality does the character have?
What does the character dream of becoming?

These all determine Feats.

I wouldn't call taking one level of Ranger, then taking all my remaining levels as Fighter cheating.
However, I WOULD say that it makes no sense, and that it is Min/Maxing.

Rangers are special people who trained under special people, in special places, and under special circumstances.
Rangers have a particular, unusual, mindset.

It is hard to imagine a ranger simply giving all that up at 2nd level (to become a fighter.)
It begs the question: why? And I'm sure the character isn't going to say: because I get more Feats this way.

 

[Sodalis]

Most of the feats are exclusive, or geared towards a specific character. And in those, there are specific feats that gear towrads a even narrower direction.

first- there is a dilineation bewteen spell feats, combat feats and utility feats (HP and svaes)

in spell- there are innat feats metamagic feats and DC feats (feats that raise DC)
in combat there are range and melee
utility are all encompassing- HP, saves

so based on your character, you have a limit to what you can choose. To any character, more than half of the Feats are off limits anyways- so in actuality, the number of feats are far less than seems.

like the rage feats, only barbarians. the wild shape feats- only druids. the turning feats, only clerics and paladins. the smite feat, only paladins, spell feats, only wiz/sorc...
etc...

and alot of feats are granted as class abilities to PrCs and also some of the core classes- like monks and wiz (scribe scroll)

 

[Limper]

To further your training... to better be able to kill those foes you hate so much... I can see taking levels in Rogue as well as fighter both help alot for killing (insert Favored Enemy here). Barb not a stretch either... primal rage against the foe.

By switching class you are not giving up anything. Your cahracter is what he is and what he can do.... not a cardboard cutout archetype... each level is just another part of what you are trying to build (unless you are trying to build an archetype)... so it really doesn't matter what class you put the level in.

 

[TiQuinn]

Wow...I'm surprised!

Most of the time I see players taking the same progression of feats with very little variation. Some feats are hardly ever selected. If anything, I've been looking for more feats that would allow broader variation of classes.