D&D 5E How weak is Athlete Feat?

[Guest 6801328]

(Yes, I know all sorts of weak word plays to make on this one.)

Ehem.

In addition to the +1 Str or Dex, the Feat "Athlete" offers this:

• When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement.
• Climbing doesn’t cost you extra movement.
• You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving only 5 feet on foot, rather than 10 feet.

All useful stuff, but compare to other Feats, how useful would you find this? Reflecting back to my own experiences, and imagining how much difference Athlete would have made:

• There have been a few times when the extra 10' of movement after standing up from prone would have helped. Not many.
• Likewise, there have been a handful of times when climbing speed really mattered, like getting shot at with arrows while on a ladder, or climbing a long way trying to join a fight in progress.
• Can't actually recall any circumstances when it would have been hugely beneficial to only need 5 feet for a running jump. I guess I could imagine a situation where I'm on a square next to something I want to jump, and by not having to back up 5' before running, I would save myself 10' overall. Yay.

So all very situationally useful, but unlikely to come up with in any one combat. Or really session. Or maybe even adventure. Although I guess it probably varies depending on your DM style.

If it weren't for the +1 Str/Dex I wouldn't really be considering it at all, but thematically it works with a character I'm thinking about. (The UA "Hero" Oath Paladin.)

Thoughts?

 

[Fenris-77]

It's pretty meh. The climbing at full speed is kinda cool, I guess? I think it should include expertise in the athletics skill.

 

[Guest 6801328]

It's pretty meh. The climbing at full speed is kinda cool, I guess? I think it should include expertise in the athletics skill.

I was thinking a bonus to jumping distance.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Athlete has never appeared to be a desirable feat for any character I have built, nor have I seen a character take it in play.

The same is true (IIRC) only of Linguist or Weapon Master.

 

[Fenris-77]

I was thinking a bonus to jumping distance.

That might fit the bill, yeah. That tends to be a pass/fail measured distance. What are you thinking, an extra 10'? 5' is maybe more realistic, but its such a sad little number.

 

[Jester David]

I played a mini-campaign where we leveled-up to 20th level. I took the feat because it worked with my character concept, despite not being "optimal".
I think it came up more in 3 sessions than War Caster.

Anecdotal evidence and all, but I got knocked prone a lot. And the extra 10 feet of movement when standing was brilliant, and saved my ass a few times. And being able to climb fast also helped.
Well worth losing +1 to an Ability Score (especially as I had an odd Dex before taking it and all even other scores).

 

[Fenris-77]

That movement thing from prone could come up a lot if the game is played on a grid map, for sure. That's a solid point. My encounters tend to be less grid-mappy, and the measurements more in terms of moves rather than exact feet, but I also know I'm not really that typical when it comes to grid use.

 

[Guest 6801328]

That might fit the bill, yeah. That tends to be a pass/fail measured distance. What are you thinking, an extra 10'? 5' is maybe more realistic, but its such a sad little number.

Yeah, I hate the 5e fixed-distance jumping mechanic. "How far, 15? Drat, I can only jump 14." Unbelievable there's no official mechanism for trying to jump more than 14. (That said, I see DM's improvise all the time.)

Because of that, 5' would actually be really useful, because it basically means one additional grid square. That comes up a lot (in my group, anyway).

 

[Mistwell]

Pretty meh, until you're fighting a Graviturgist. Then it's highly useful.

 

[Grakarg]

Whether or not walls or other surfaces were climbable has always seemed to me to be pretty open ended in this edition, just costing more movement (essentially difficult terrain). The feat struck me as something most useful to a character with lots of movement like a monk or rogue. The use of dash as a bonus action means that both classes could use the feat for lots of tactical positioning by parkour style running along the wall or up over walls of buildings ala Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style to land a stunning strike or assassination attack in the back field of the enemy.

But in practice I don't know how much use it would really see. Also note that Thief-style rogues get a similar feature with Second Story Work, so they should never take this feat. But a rogue of a different archetype would be fine. Could be pretty ok for a monk. But yeah... over all pretty weak and could use a little tweak to make it more attractive.