Granting more feats

[Grayhawk]

I thought about letting characters get feats at every odd level instead of every third level (at 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc).

Do you think this is a good or bad idea - and why?

Has anybody here tried something like this? How did it work out?

 

[HarryFlashman]

I did this in a Low Magic world and it worked out well as a replacement for spells ( Bards were the best spell casters). I must warn you that you need a large number of feats for this to really be any good past 10th level.

I think I granted Fighters , Rogues and Monks an extra feat every other level starting at 2nd level and gave everyone else an extra feat every 4 levels above and beyond their normal feat progression as indicated in the PHB ( so they got feats at 3rd and 4th level, then 6th and 8th level etc)

 

[Crothian]

It depends on the game. So, why in your game do you want to give characters more feats? There is no general right or wrong answer here. Ity all depends on the game you want to run.

 

[Grayhawk]

It depends on the game. So, why in your game do you want to give characters more feats? There is no general right or wrong answer here. Ity all depends on the game you want to run.

My particular reason for doing this, is that I run a slightly lower magic game, so I thought this might somewhat compensate for the lack of items, etc.

Also I have slowed the leveling progress by dealing out less xp, meaning more play time at each level. As such I thought it might be nice to grant feats more often, to make the players get a greater benefit when they do level up.

With the high number of feats out there, I was sure that someone had done something like this before, if just to let their players try more of them.

If I'm only using the core feats from the PH and a few custom feats, will characters run out of usable feats too soon?

Will the greater number of feats dilute the sensation of getting one?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Probably not. You might want to look into speeding up ability boosts, too. Darklone does this.

 

[Crothian]

you could combine the two. At each odd level the character either gets a feat or an ability boost. I think in a low magic game with a slow XP advancement this should work just fine.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I've thought about doing this myself. I think it would work out, except for the fact that it severly steps on the toes of the fighter.

 

[tauton_ikhnos]

We do this (general feat every odd-numbered level). Fighter seems fine - fighter gets feat EVERY level under this system, still twice as many feats as anyone else.

In general, end up with +3 feats at 20th level.

 

[HarryFlashman]

I found that in my Low magic games the players both needed the extra firepower and the added flavour. You could probably get by with using the feats from the 3.5 PHB but i think one of the books of feat compilations would add plenty of variety to the game.

 

[Li Shenron]

I was thinking of the same idea last summer, but then I didn't try it.

My particular reason for doing this, is that I run a slightly lower magic game, so I thought this might somewhat compensate for the lack of items, etc.

Well, if your players spend the extra feats to get Item Creation feats, then they will in fact have more magic equipment but since you also slow the Xp gain rate they will also be careful not to spend too much of them.

Also I have slowed the leveling progress by dealing out less xp, meaning more play time at each level. As such I thought it might be nice to grant feats more often, to make the players get a greater benefit when they do level up.

If you count the whole 20-level progression, a feat at every odd level results in every PC getting 10 feats (plus the bonus ones from race or class) instead of the normal 7 feats. It is NOT overpowering. IMHO it is a good way to promote the players to take a couple of less popular feats without feeling like "wasting" them...

If I'm only using the core feats from the PH and a few custom feats, will characters run out of usable feats too soon?

There are enough core feats not to run out of them. Maybe the problem could be that almost all of the core feats are general, combat, metamagic or item creation. This means that for example there are very few core divine or wild feats, and characters such as Clerics and Druids will have after all to take combat feats or metamagic or item creation... which will make them necessarily lean toward fighting or toward magic, and far away from their unique abilities.

Will the greater number of feats dilute the sensation of getting one?

Really not IMXP a character never gets enough feats! If you also allow players to take PrCls, those extra feat will be a welcome help to meet prerequisites AND still be able to differentiate yourself from other member of the same PrCl.