PHB2 general feats review (heroic tier)

[mlund]

It is generally prudent to exercise power over the liberty of your peers only when absolutely necessary or at their direct request as an impartial arbiter of their specific disagreements. Since that's my guiding principle in the matter, I'll fully allow all the Feats from the PHB2 unless they prove themselves to have a negative impact on the fun of one or more members of my table.

Frankly, none of the Feats in the PHB2 really warp the game or bend the power-curve outside of the Expertise Feats, which are mainly an overdue game-patch anyway.

- Marty Lund

 

[Tellerve]

My party has two Clerics. One of them got knocked out early in the encounter, before he even got a chance to use his heals. The other Cleric used a Healing Word on him to get him back up, but one of the DM's monsters had a readied action to hit him if he got back up. When he hit him, it knocked the Cleric out again. So, we had one Cleric with one effective heal, and our other Cleric was failing death saves.

I ended up having to fight my way up to the Cleric to try and help him out. Since I had a choice to either give him a potion (Standard action) or let a dice roll determine if he was stabilized, could spend a surge, or just flub the roll and do nothing (Standard action), I chose to feed him a potion. Personally, I really could've used Combat Medic in that fight, because I would've rather had a chance to roll with a minor and have the possibility of getting him up again, while still having my attack action left to cover his escape (probaly using the aptly named "Covering Attack"). As it was, all I could do was give him the potion and hope that no one got around me.

You should never underestimate the power of bad situations to force novel tactics, or underestimate the power of your players to see value in things that you as the DM do not. Just because you guys think this feat is a bit weak does not mean that every player will...and some might even think it's a gift from the gods that will better allow them to fill their role at the table.

I agree, when I started reading the feats and hit combat medic I went, neat. Yes, it certainly isn't the coolest feat, but I also like secure campsite and light step, so maybe I like interesting feats that help round out a character than pure unadulterated math feats. I like those too, actually, but the game I'm dm'ing I've had times where my pcs could have used this feat to good usefulness. Like in the Doc's example, the cleric was down.

 

[Nail]

I find it intriguing that in the original post, the only feats that were allowed were ones that seemed boring or useless to the OP. The ones that seemed good and/or useful weren't allowed.

I noticed that too.

I know from plenty of experience that banning things I thought were "too good" often led to hurt feelings and less fun in-game. It's tempting to ban stuff (like Battlerager Fighters?), but if it's ruining no player's fun, it's not worth the cost.

Easy to say, harder to practice.

 

[Mengu]

Of all those feats, I think combat medic should have been a general "all uses of the heal skill become minor actions" and thrown out the +2. That would have made it a much better and more generally useful feat I feel.

That would be broken good. Your healers basically begin handing out saving throws to adjacent allies as minor actions, good luck making any condition stick more than 1 round. It also devalues powers that give saving throws.

Currently, it's essentially a skill focus feat with a small benefit. At low levels can be ok for warlords since they don't typically have a wisdom bonus, and can be challenged succeeding at heal checks. Once there is more access to healing and a higher level bonus to skills, it could be retrained.

 

[WalterKovacs]

The improved grab feat is very useful when combined with the garotte (and associated feats and powers) from art of the kill.

 

[Jools]

It is generally prudent to exercise power over the liberty of your peers only when absolutely necessary or at their direct request as an impartial arbiter of their specific disagreements. Since that's my guiding principle in the matter, I'll fully allow all the Feats from the PHB2 unless they prove themselves to have a negative impact on the fun of one or more members of my table.

Frankly, none of the Feats in the PHB2 really warp the game or bend the power-curve outside of the Expertise Feats, which are mainly an overdue game-patch anyway.

- Marty Lund

I couldn't agree with this more. When I read the the original post about all the feats this guy wont allow and why, it made me imagine a really annoying DM. Perhaps wrongfully, but its certainly what comes to mind.

 

[nightwyrm]

That would be broken good. Your healers basically begin handing out saving throws to adjacent allies as minor actions, good luck making any condition stick more than 1 round. It also devalues powers that give saving throws.

Currently, it's essentially a skill focus feat with a small benefit. At low levels can be ok for warlords since they don't typically have a wisdom bonus, and can be challenged succeeding at heal checks. Once there is more access to healing and a higher level bonus to skills, it could be retrained.

But in general, stabilizing is only done if there's no other way to heal the character. If you just stabilize a PC, he's not coming back into the fight. The combat medic feat seems very narrow and circumstantial.

Maybe change it to "you can use the heal skill on a dying character as a minor action." instead of restricting it to using the stabilize option.

 

[Stalker0]

I think the +4 to bull rush or grab feats are a bit on the weak side, but if you combine them into one feat I think you have a solid feat there.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I like all the new Heroic feats for the reasons advocated above minus the Expertise feats, which are simply houseruled as a fixed bonus then banned.

If I was playing a non-healer I would definately pick up Combat Medic when I could fit in the feat. Making it a minor action is a huge, huge buff to the Heal skill.

 

[hvg3akaek]

I am not happy with the Goliath weapons training feat...it seems a very poor choice after the Dwarven and Eladrin ones, which do roughly the same thing, but also grant proficiency with superior weapons.


The other one I wasn't very happy with was "Blurring Claws". I was making a Razorclaw druid, and thought that this feat would help his beast form attacks somewhat. But, silly me - apparently, to use your blurring claws, you must be holding a weapon!
So, with a sword or hammer in hand, I can get additional damage from my claws (???), but if I am attacking with a "melee touch" power (say, the druid's "Grasping Claws"), and, you know, using my claws on them, it has no effect...