Most underrated feat(s)

[Mengu]

Because you would shift 2 instead of one which, by default, lets you shift the opponent 2 into the square that you vacated.

Yup this is it. What's more, with Power of Skill, you can use it on a charge, with opportunity attacks, warlord granted attacks, Battle Awareness attack, etc. The battle awareness attack is my favorite actually since you can literally pull the enemy off an ally to prevent the attack, sometimes even if the enemy has reach, depending on positioning.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

There are six Epic feats to increase the three NADs. Three of them increase the defence by 4, and the other three increase the defence by two and add a bonus to specific saving throws.

Important note: the +4 feats are untyped bonuses, so they all stack.

 

[Ryujin]

Important note: the +4 feats are untyped bonuses, so they all stack.

Thanks, I had forgotten to mention this.

Essentially I think that any feat that does not contribute to either hit or damage gets no love. Defence feats are a close second to damage feats. Bottom of the pile is anything that gives a skill bonus, a language, etc.. Even Ritual Caster is largely ignored, except for the characters who get it by default, even though I've made good use of rituals in order to get my character and his party through many skill challenges.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Even Ritual Caster is largely ignored, except for the characters who get it by default, even though I've made good use of rituals in order to get my character and his party through many skill challenges.

Ritual Caster is one of those things that (most of the time) you only need one character in the party to have, and odds tend to be good that somebody in the party gets it automatically.

 

[eamon]

I find jack of all trades to be thoroughly underwhelming in most cases. The usual effect is that it takes skills you're terrible at and then... you're still terrible at them!

Most of the time, you'd be best of trying to avoid using those skills entirely (i.e., don't bother sneaking about in heavy armor etc.)

If you've got several untrained skills that are important and relevant to you and which happen to overlap with your primary stat, jack of all trades get's a lot better. Wis-based characters with no or few wis skills spring to mind.

But for most people, whether your skill modifier is 12 lower or 14 lower than the party's expert just won't matter. You're not going to be the one identifying that monster... even with the +2.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Skill Focus, depending on the use. I can't count how many times I've failed a skill check by a couple of points. Especially SF:Stealth, which is great for characters that hide in combat (Rogues, Assassins, etc).

 

[ValhallaGH]

(i.e., don't bother sneaking about in heavy armor etc.)

Sounds like someone has never had to sneak past a really nasty army. Or gotten a surprise round for trying to sneak, even though they didn't sneak very well.


Jack of All Trades is an excellent feat, giving you almost half of the training bonus. It's outstanding for characters with mostly middle ability scores (12-14 in most stats), and good for anyone that wants to do a lot of Aid Another or act as back-up skill monkey.

Movement feats are freaking amazing. The options, the power, and the freedom are scary-nice.

Quick Draw (and basic ranged dagger attacks) allowed my dragonborn paladin to maintain his Divine Challenge from 8 squares away for 3 rounds against the artillery on the in-accessible ledge, while my party got to the point that they could actually kill him. That was probably the only reason no PC got killed in that fight.

Rituals are excellent, unless your DM never gives you the time / resources / access to take advantage of them. In which case Ritual Caster is a trap (sometimes I really dislike my regular 4E DM ).


There's others, but I'm blanking at the moment.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Actually, for a Bard, I find it's very difficult to pass up Jack of All Trades, unless you plan on picking up a bunch of multiclass feats.

Skill training feats in general are overlooked as well. I play a warlord with one multiclass feat for Perception, and 2 skill training feats for Stealth and Acrobatics, disobeying conventional wisdom to pick up [-]bastard sword[/-] great spear and weapon focus.

fifme! I love Warlords with great spears. They stay behind my defender where they belong and still are able to drop lots of bennies on me and healing!

Jack of All Trades. A +2 bonus to ALL untrained skills? Are you kidding me?! It says something about how combat-focused D&D 4ed is in that this is allowed and, I would assume, isn't taken by everyone.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I love JoAT. Just about required for any serious skill-based PC. Put on a bard and it is crazy how good you are at everything.

 

[Mengu]

fifme! I love Warlords with great spears. They stay behind my defender where they belong and still are able to drop lots of bennies on me and healing!

That approach works too, but it depends on the group. I like my AC with my agile scale and light shield. I prefer to get in the thick of things and provide flanking for anyone who needs it, but most importantly our rogue. We already have a few back liners, I have to be near the front. Have a javelin I can throw if we're fighting in tight quarters or have terrain difficulties.

Back on topic of underrated feats, Deva Heritage is I think another feat that is flying under the radar. But maybe more avengers will pick it up now since they can't have leather armor.

 

[CapnZapp]

Jack of All Trades. A +2 bonus to ALL untrained skills? Are you kidding me?! It says something about how combat-focused D&D 4ed is in that this is allowed and, I would assume, isn't taken by everyone.

No, it isn't because of D&D's focus on combat.

It is because D&D's focus on the specialist.

Either you are very good at what you do, or you leave it to somebody else. (That is, somebody else in your party).

Being mediocre or terrible, it doesn't matter in this game. Don't do what you don't excel at, that's a waste of time and resources.