Heroes of Shadow's Feat Preview

[UngeheuerLich]

No need to say sorry. I just wanted to amend.

 

[gyor]

Holy Symbol would be interesting, but ki focus makes more sense at most if not all the vampires non daily attacks will involve his fangs some how. Still nothing to say vampires won't get multi implement choices, most
none divine classes do as do invokers.

 

[chitzk0i]

The executioner could use a Ki Focus, as some of their poisons were handled as attack powers with the implement keyword.

Since the executioner assassin always has 3 low-damage control at-wills that require assorted weapons, they'll want to use a ki focus. I still think the executioner ought to have a dex-based power that counts as a basic attack so it occupies the same conceptual space as the three at-wills.

 

[Drakhar]

If memory serves, Executioners get Weapon Finesse like Thieves and Scouts.

 

[WalterKovacs]

I know it sounds odd, but I'd like to see vampires get Holy Symbol as an implement.

Vecna, Raven Queen, and even Erathis (vampires are usually depicted as being very cultured after all) all kind of make sense to me. And if they're supposed to be vamps trying to be the "good guy," you could make a case for almost any of the gods, really.

Also, a lot of vampires [Dracula and Strahd] are sometimes depicted as having some kind of symbol hanging around their neck.

However, I think ki focus might make sense in the context of not wanting to have a class that uses both implement and weapon attacks, but requires you purchase them seperately ... the hexblade went out of it's way to avoid that, and the executioner assassin uses multiple weapons but via ki focus would only need a magical ki focus to make all their weapons magic.

Still, there should be some holy symbol implement powers in the book [probably death domain clerics as any summoning powers would need to be implement based, and thus break the 'only weapon powers for warpriests' convention from the previous book]

EDIT:

Then again, some summoning powers don't require implement use, like the hexblade's summon warlock's ally, and presumably the one they showed off for necromancers/nethermancers. So a similar one that creates a creature with a stat block instead of the older types of summons it doesn't use implements for it's attack stats.

 

[Klaus]

I guess you can't talk too much about your work on the book and I hope you can after it's release, but I'm really curious as to what limitations you had. A lot of feats seem highly situational, more situational than they would be useful. In an age where certain feats seem near mandatory ("feat tax") before taking options that are situational, were you asked to really confine the feats to the Shadow theme or situational uses?

There were no "restrictions" per se. Some feats were toned down from the original forms, others became broader. I'll be able to say more when the book is out.

But the previewed feats (which are the ones I can comment on) aren't really situational. Of the Ghostwise feats, one provides a useful bonus to both attack and Perception. Another builds upon necrotic and poison attacks, which -- as a surprise to no one -- are very common to two classes in this book at least (assassin and necromancer). The third gives a 50% reduction in damage for the rest of your action, allowing you to not only suck up opportunity attacks, but also damaging terrains, zones and auras of the "takes damage when you enter".

Of the Moilian feats, one makes any fighter-type a striker against undead (depending on the die, a reroll is equivalent to +3 to +5), which is useful to bypass insubstantial. The two that build upon shadow summoning work well with powers like the one previewed in the Design & Development article. Tainted Wounds help not only against regenerating foes, but also diminishes the ability of Leader creatures from prolonguing the fight.

 

[WalterKovacs]

I would argue the situational means in terms of their usefulness being dependent on the kind of monsters you are facing. Bypassing insubstantial is only useful in the situations where you are facing monsters with insubstantial, for example. [Ditto with regeneration/leader foes]. They aren't exactly common.

Situational doesn't necessarily mean bad though. I see those kinds of powers as worst case scenario planning. While some feats make you slightly better at the things you are best at (weapon focus, slightly increasing the damage you do most of the time), these feats make bad situations more palatable, in some cases actually making those bad situations better than normal seeing as regen and insubstantial ussually means the monster has fewer HP to start with.

Still, when the feat is "does nothing unless you are facing this kind of monster", it's going to be considered situational. For a shadow focused campaign (say using the Shadowfell boxed set coming a month after Heroes of Shadow drops) the likelihood of running into undead creatures and those with insubstantial is significantly increased, and thus making those feats more valuable. Similarly, someone playing through the original adventure path might grab the anti-regen feat at level 10, and retrain it out after the end of the Troll book.

EDIT:

There are definitely other kinds of situational feats. Ones not based on monsters being faced but on how the DM plays monsters, such as feats which modify OAs. If the monsters, on the whole, avoid provoking like the plague, the fighter probably would be wasting their feat option to make their OAs more deadly. Similarly, there are feats that only apply in certain types of terrain, etc.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I wonder if perhaps Spectral Step was meant to be phasing instead of insubstantial. The name of the feat doesn't reconcile with its function in its current form...

That would certainly have been much more useful (and powerful)

 

[Aegeri]

Yeah, phasing would have been fantastic but insubstantial is sort of meh.

 

[Neverfate]

There were no "restrictions" per se. Some feats were toned down from the original forms, others became broader. I'll be able to say more when the book is out.

But the previewed feats (which are the ones I can comment on) aren't really situational. Of the Ghostwise feats, one provides a useful bonus to both attack and Perception. Another builds upon necrotic and poison attacks, which -- as a surprise to no one -- are very common to two classes in this book at least (assassin and necromancer). The third gives a 50% reduction in damage for the rest of your action, allowing you to not only suck up opportunity attacks, but also damaging terrains, zones and auras of the "takes damage when you enter".

Of the Moilian feats, one makes any fighter-type a striker against undead (depending on the die, a reroll is equivalent to +3 to +5), which is useful to bypass insubstantial. The two that build upon shadow summoning work well with powers like the one previewed in the Design & Development article. Tainted Wounds help not only against regenerating foes, but also diminishes the ability of Leader creatures from prolonguing the fight.

As always Klaus I'm really appreciative to hear from you and get your input on the design of the particular element (class, feat, item etc). I know we can sound harsh on here (it IS the internet), so I give you a lot of credit.