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Magic Initiate - A guide to an underestimated (and cool) feat
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7345124" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>First off, I think chaining feats as a balance mechanism is a poor idea in general. </p><p></p><p>This is because a variant human fighter gets four feats already by level 8, while many others only get them by level 16! </p><p></p><p>That's way too much variation to be useful as a balancing factor: any effect that's good but not too good at level 16 is pretty much a must have at level 8, especially if we're talking "pick any spell" type of benefit. Of course, the straight-forward (but possibly not ideal) solution is simple: instead put a level requirement on the feat. A feat saying "you need to be 12th character level" levels the playing field and avoids both the chaining trouble and making these feats even more useless for multiclassed characters than feats are in general for any multiclass character that does not want to pick classes in chunks of four levels.</p><p></p><p>Making the feats into half feats might seem a workable solution. But. It presupposes the need for a decent spell save DC - and any decent optimizer will already know that you're much better off skipping any spell requiring a save for, say, an Eldritch Knight, since it frees you from MAD altogether. </p><p></p><p>Also, to make these feats distinct enough, I think it's much better to focus on giving them real oomph as "magic adepts". Handing out ability increases mean we must balance our feat for characters where the +1 Int or whatever has real value (such as a Wizard with an odd starting score). This dilutes the feat's ability to let you manifest your secondary nature as a "magic adept".</p><p></p><p>Finally, the goal must be that <strong>one such feat should be enough to really matter</strong>. That is, after all, the 5E design philosophy, in contrast to how feats worked in 3E. Count this as another strike against the feat chain idea.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 7345124, member: 12731"] First off, I think chaining feats as a balance mechanism is a poor idea in general. This is because a variant human fighter gets four feats already by level 8, while many others only get them by level 16! That's way too much variation to be useful as a balancing factor: any effect that's good but not too good at level 16 is pretty much a must have at level 8, especially if we're talking "pick any spell" type of benefit. Of course, the straight-forward (but possibly not ideal) solution is simple: instead put a level requirement on the feat. A feat saying "you need to be 12th character level" levels the playing field and avoids both the chaining trouble and making these feats even more useless for multiclassed characters than feats are in general for any multiclass character that does not want to pick classes in chunks of four levels. Making the feats into half feats might seem a workable solution. But. It presupposes the need for a decent spell save DC - and any decent optimizer will already know that you're much better off skipping any spell requiring a save for, say, an Eldritch Knight, since it frees you from MAD altogether. Also, to make these feats distinct enough, I think it's much better to focus on giving them real oomph as "magic adepts". Handing out ability increases mean we must balance our feat for characters where the +1 Int or whatever has real value (such as a Wizard with an odd starting score). This dilutes the feat's ability to let you manifest your secondary nature as a "magic adept". Finally, the goal must be that [B]one such feat should be enough to really matter[/B]. That is, after all, the 5E design philosophy, in contrast to how feats worked in 3E. Count this as another strike against the feat chain idea. [/QUOTE]
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