NBoF: Net Book of Feats - awesome or sucky?

[aboyd]

I've seen NBoF bantered around on the forums, and didn't know what it was and didn't care. But then I hit the URL:

Netbook of Feats

And holy crap! It's over 1000 feats, all SRD or OGL stuff. I was thinking, "I might want to use this stuff, but I have no idea if it's munchkin crap!" But then I noticed the rating by each feat, showing how balanced the feat appears to be (I shouldn't say "appears" because it seems more solid than that -- there is an actual playtest/vetting process involving multiple groups).

So here is my question. Has anyone used NBoF wholesale? What feats are must-avoid, broken, and so on?

For that matter, what feats seem balanced, not overpowered, but still add coolness or great utility to the game?

(Right now my thinking is to give blanket approval to any new feat that has a 4+ score, but I'd like to be swayed by anecdotes and personal opinions too.)

 

[freyar]

I haven't had a chance to use it in game, but I've picked a few monster feats for amateur monster design. Generally, I like it! Certainly fills in a few holes from the SRD. And what I've read doesn't seem much different balance-wise from WotC's offerings.

 

[Dagredhel]

It is extremely interesting to peruse these feats again after a long while. I remember thinking when I first saw the Netbook that some of the feats were a bit overpowered or over-the-top. (By contrast, I also thought it was much better overall in quality than a lot of published for-profit products coming out at that time.) Looking at them now, I don't get the same feeling at all.

I think the difference is splatbook "power creep". Wizards has plenty of their own overpowered or overblown stuff now too. WOTC also eventually ended up coming up with their own versions of many of the things originally covered by Netbook feats to fill the gaps as more and more books were published.

With 20/20 hindsight, I'd say that the NBoF was way ahead of it's time, and of very high quality. Netbook + SRD should work very well.

The real concern is always how mechanics from different sources may combine to produce wholly unexpected [unblancing or game-breaking] results. The Netbook feats were designed to work with the core material in the first place. It would only be Netbook + Splatbook craziness that I'd be at all worried about.

 

[SpiralBound]

I've permitted it in my campaigns with the caveat that I get to review any feat before allowing it. Some of the feats are overpowered, "S on the chest", munchkin-bait feats, but most of them are well balanced. Well balanced does NOT preclude powerful though. You still need to check if they match your particular campaign. For example, there are some good archer feats in there that are well balanced, worked well for one of my previous campaigns and wouldn't be allowed in my current campaign which is grittier and lower powered than that other campaign was. Overall, it's a great collection of feats, but as with any large collection of anything, you can't dump them ALL into any campaign unreviewed and not expect problems. I would either pick out ones that match your campaign and offer only those to your players, or allow them free rein over the whole contents, but weild a strict review & veto policy.