Reasons for taking +2 to skills Feats?

[KrazyHades]

I've never really understood the purpose of feast that give +2 to two related skills. I can see them as useful in some situations, like for a rogue, but in many cases they seem useless. Does anyone out there have a convincing argument? Or would like to offer their consensus?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Character concept.

Say you want a super-stealthy rogue/scout/spy. The Stealthy feat is perfect.

Or you want a thief/acrobat ... Athletic is a nice match.

I once played a druid specialized as a "Beastmaster" type ... and took Animal Affinity at 1st level.

They are a poor choice if your thing is min-maxxing for combat, but each of the +2/+2 feats has character concepts they will shine for.

 

[Nightfall]

People like rogues need em. The rest of the classes...just might want them for flavor reasons.

 

[Celebrim]

I've never really understood the purpose of feast that give +2 to two related skills. I can see them as useful in some situations, like for a rogue, but in many cases they seem useless. Does anyone out there have a convincing argument? Or would like to offer their consensus?

Depends very much on the sort of campaign that your DM runs. If you rarely make skill checks then, yes, its probably a waste compared to something that boosts your combat skills because that's what you use more often. If your DM runs a campaign with alot of skill checks and which is relatively magic poor, then a 10% increased chance of success in two skill checks you use all the time isn't necessarily a bad deal.

 

[Vanuslux]

They're great for boosting those skills that you want a little competence in for flavor reasons but are cross-class skills. If both skills boosted are cross-class skills, then that feat saves you 8 skill points. Nothing to sneeze at.

 

[molonel]

They are really only useful for putting a gold star on your character sheet, and not for effect. I thought the comment about min-maxing for combat was a tad silly. I've been playing a skills-oriented character in the World's Largest Dungeon. I do my best to stay out of combat, but nevertheless, I don't like +2/+2 feats. It's like Toughness. It might help at low, low levels, but the DCs you face at mid- and high-levels, not to mention epic, are such that a +2 is usually worthless and this is especially true of opposed checks. I think Skill Focus should grant a bonus that scales with level, because a +2 just doesn't mean very much once you get beyond low levels.

 

[catsclaw227]

I have used them for my PCs and NPCs. They are really more flavor based, and I emphasize skills in my game for RP sake.

Players get supplemental XP for using their skills in unique ways especially if it's appropriate for their character's concept.

 

[Crothian]

I've never had a character take one of these feats. But oddly enough I've never hada character not take Skill Focus. I imagine if I had a character that was more built around two skills then one, I might use them more.

 

[Vanuslux]

They are really only useful for putting a gold star on your character sheet, and not for effect. I thought the comment about min-maxing for combat was a tad silly. I've been playing a skills-oriented character in the World's Largest Dungeon. I do my best to stay out of combat, but nevertheless, I don't like +2/+2 feats. It's like Toughness. It might help at low, low levels, but the DCs you face at mid- and high-levels, not to mention epic, are such that a +2 is usually worthless and this is especially true of opposed checks. I think Skill Focus should grant a bonus that scales with level, because a +2 just doesn't mean very much once you get beyond low levels.

A +2 will make a difference between success and failure in one out of every ten times the skill is used on average. I'd hardly call that worthless.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Put another way, those feats are the equivalent of 8 skill points (2 cc skills) or 4 points each in two ability scores for skill use (e.g. Agile = +4 STR and +4 Dex for Jump and Tumble).

Whether that's of value in your campaign depends on your campaign. For characters I've selected to uses those feats, I often did it to give a bonus to offset a low ability score -- the druid mentioned previously had a low Cha ... and I didn't care about any other Cha effects except his Handle Animal skill, so mechanically I found it a slightly better trade to take Animal Affinity (beyond the concept value). Skill Focus (Handle Animal) would have been better for that single skill, but since I wanted to boost Ride, too ... you get the idea. And since those were in campaigns that never reached high levels, the value never diminished significantly.

YMMV.