Most Useless Feat

[sledged]

Why're you only giving him 7 Toughnesses? (8, including Improved Toughness.) By my count he can have 17 of 'em. (18, including Improved Toughness.)

Because Toughness is not a feat a fighter can select with his bonus feats. However, Improved Toughness is.

 

[Tatsukun]

Oh my god, I just noticed that. That's the dumbest thing I've seen in 3.X ! !

-Tatsu

 

[sledged]

Oh my god, I just noticed that. That's the dumbest thing I've seen in 3.X ! !

The irony of that limitation is that it was probably designed that way to keep fighters from taking it 18 times (or 19 times for humans and strongheart halflings) in 20 levels.

 

[ForceUser]

I find the +2/+2 skill feats to be not only the least interesting feats in the game, but also the most useless. Toughness I use quite a bit on low level NPCs, especially spellcasters. As for Great Fortitude/Iron Will/Lightning Reflexes: I took Lightning Reflexes with my cleric after being killed by an unholy blight, and I intend to take Iron Will with my fighter. Someone mentioned Why take one of these feats when you can just buy a cloak of resistance? Answer: the bonuses stack, and over the course of a campaign a permanent +2 to any save (especially your weakest save) is a huge benefit.

As for Dodge & Mobility, Dodge is okay if you can remember to use it, but Mobility is great in 3.5 since it's tougher to Tumble now (in 3.5, you have to check separately for each opponent you move past, in the order in which you pass them, and each additional enemy after the first adds +2 to the Tumble DC.)

Combat Casting is okay as a feat, but Skill Focus (Concentration) is better, since it applies in all situations instead of just casting defensively. These feats are more useful for characters under 10th level, of course.

Although Whirlwind Attack has been seriously nerfed in 3.5 (you can no longer combine its effects with haste or Great Cleave), it is still fun to do. My girlfriend's character has a vampiric weapon that gives her temporary hit points when she wounds a foe, and she has Whirlwind Attack...I thought that was a particularly clever combination. Besides, there's no reason you can't combine a Whirldwind Attack with Improved Trip, Improved Sunder, or Improved Disarm...

 

[ForceUser]

The irony of that limitation is that it was probably designed that way to keep fighters from taking it 18 times (or 19 times for humans and strongheart halflings) in 20 levels.

Since the text doesn't specifically say that you can take Improved Toughness multiple times, you can only take it once.

 

[scourger]

much maligned feats

I find Toughness very useful as a player. I have a mid-level cleric who has been saved twice by having a "mere" 3 extra hp. So, Toughness is a good feat in my mind. I would rather have had Endurance & Die Hard, but those weren't available until 3.5 came out (the character was created in 3.0).

Also, Skill focus, +2 to a save, and "adjective" feats that ass +2/+2 to a skill are very handy for me as a DM. I really don't want to remember the bad guy's crazy feat trees in a combat, but a +2/+3 on a skill/save is very easy to factor and use. Also, the noncombatant shopkeeper probably has those kinds of feats since his livelihood depends on the ability to negotiate.

 

[sledged]

Since the text doesn't specifically say that you can take Improved Toughness multiple times, you can only take it once.

I was referring to Toughness, not Improved Toughness.

 

[Fauxargent]

I've never seen that +2 as effective as Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Etc. By the time I'd get around to Iron Will, I'd have a Cloak of Resistance +2 already.

I'd want both Iron Will and a cloak of resistance - especially if he has multiclassed with other combat classes. It's very embarrassing when you primary fighter gets dominated or held.

My current 8th level Fighter/Barb/Rogue had a Will save of +1 (+1 base, no wis bonus). The party forced him to take the Cloak of resistance we found.

He also Mobility and Run - who wants to Tumble at half-speed (when they can just chase) when you can run at full speed.

 

[sledged]

Toughness I use quite a bit on low level NPCs

Yes, but how often you use it on your PCs? I've found in general that players treat their PCs with more care than DMs do with their NPCs.

 

[Xath]

In The Universe's campaign, Toughness is house ruled with a few tweaks. Here is the quote from our houserules list. Because of this modification, many of the PCs have taken toughness.

The "toughness" feat, as printed in the core rules, makes the Universe cry. It makes the Universe cry even more than the feats that grant +2 to 2 different skills. What a waste. While the +2 feats have been left alone (take 'em if you want 'em) the toughness feat has been changed to make it slightly more attractive. Instead of granting 3 hit points, once, to characters with the feat, the Toughness feat grants the character 3 hit points per level from the time the character takes the feat. It is not retroactive. Thus, a 1st level wizard with a 9 CON with the toughness feat would have 6 hit points. He will recieve 3 extra hit points for every subsequent level. If a 9th level wizard chooses the toughness feat, they recieve extra hit points for level 9 and every subsequent level, but NONE of the previous levels. Feats are precious commodities, and you should get something good for taking them.