D&D 5E Remove feats and replace as magic items

[the Jester]

That might be the best way to do it; remove ASI completely and then the DM has a tight rein on when and where and which treasure feats he hands out.

You have completely lost me here. Removing ASIs, in my judgment, is an awful idea. Not only are ASIs are a part of character advancement, the levels they come at are largely dead levels without them. You're talking about something beyond moving feats into magic items, here, you're talking about giving the balance between classes a kick in the nuts. Keep in mind that not all classes gain ASIs at the same rate- ASIs are a part of keeping them balanced against each other.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

You have completely lost me here. Removing ASIs, in my judgment, is an awful idea. Not only are ASIs are a part of character advancement, the levels they come at are largely dead levels without them. You're talking about something beyond moving feats into magic items, here, you're talking about giving the balance between classes a kick in the nuts. Keep in mind that not all classes gain ASIs at the same rate- ASIs are a part of keeping them balanced against each other.

I have to agree here. A big part of what make fighters good is all the ASI's they get.

 

[Lanefan]

ASI were done by finding Tomes of [Attribute], Wizards were looking of Ioun Stones (for extra spells), Fighters wanted +5 swords, etc. It worked well if the DM was fair and understood the power creep level of encounters as the PCs gained levels.

But it was also problematic. Some DM gave too many items and destroy their campaigns. Other DMs were far too stingy and kept the PCs in a constant state of magic item starvation. Not fun.

Some DMs always gave random treasures which were very often useless to the PCs.

Also, magic items (thus character power) could be taken away via the narrative, some times as player punishment or as a way to rebalance the power level.

All of the above are features not bugs, except the very last: items are most often "taken away" by bad luck via failed saves vs. AoE damage followed by a meltdown. I can't imagine a DM ever saying "Hey, Ms Paladin, you're too powerful with that +5 Holy A and so I'm going to arbitrarily declare you no longer have it".

It was all about the DM making choices for the players. Which is the opposite of the player making choices for himself using Feats.

Not at all.

The players still got to make choices - maybe even more so; as there's way more magic items out there in 1e than there are feats in 5e. But the choices were between what items to keep and use, and how best to enhance oneself in so doing.

The difference was that in effect the DM - rather than the system - was setting the options from which to choose via the items given out, thus making it all customizable to each table. This also allowed a DM to run a high-magic or low-magic game, as desired.

And random magic items are even better: the players/PCs are forced to make do with what they've got, which fosters creativity if nothing else.

 

[Lanefan]

You have completely lost me here. Removing ASIs, in my judgment, is an awful idea. Not only are ASIs are a part of character advancement,

To me this is a bug, not a feature. I dont mind somewhat random stat increments as a character progresses, but being able to plan them out ahead of time is IMO far too 'meta' for my liking.

the levels they come at are largely dead levels without them.

Not a big concern for me. There's no reason every level has to give something other than more h.p. and - maybe - a boost to saves and-or combat ability.

You're talking about something beyond moving feats into magic items, here, you're talking about giving the balance between classes a kick in the nuts. Keep in mind that not all classes gain ASIs at the same rate- ASIs are a part of keeping them balanced against each other.

This would need some tweaking somehow; though as the game supports random-rolled stats as an option this balance can't be that much of a concern anyway.

A simple fix using the thread's premise would be to give out on average more stat-boost items for the classes that would normally get more. (the idea of some items only being usable by specific classes can always be revived, assuming it ever left)

 

[Nebulous]

I mean, is it really that bad? Look at a cloak of ElvenKind or Look at a Cloak of the Bat which is an existing item:

While wearing this cloak, you have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. In an area of dim light or Darkness, you can grip the edges of the cloak with both hands and use it to fly at a speed of 40 feet. If you ever fail to grip the cloak's edges while flying in this way, or if you are no longer in dim light or Darkness, you lose this flying speed.

While wearing the cloak in an area of dim light or Darkness, you can use your action to cast Polymorph on yourself, transforming into a bat. While you are in the form of the bat, you retain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. The cloak can't be used this way again until the next dawn.

Now look at the Skulker feat, which would make an excellent cloak with a similar flavour:
-You can try to hide when you are lightly obscured from the creature from which you are hiding.
• When you are hidden from a creature and miss it with a ranged weapon attack, making the attack doesn't reveal your position.
• Dim light doesn’t impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on sight.

That said, I'd be wary, though, of adding two feats to an item, like your Ax of Rage. Although, I do think it's thematic.

yeah, i'm just brainstorming ideas, not set on anything concrete yet. The ax of rage, for example, could have a limit on the bonus attacks equal to your Cha or something like that,

 

[Eyes of Nine]

What i love about Enworld is that it's mostly old experienced DM's offering suggestions

And apparently people named Dave

 

[Eyes of Nine]

It was all about the DM making choices for the players. Which is the opposite of the player making choices for himself using Feats.

This is my big issue with the proposal in the OP. I'm wondering why we are taking agency around power increase out of players' hands?

Unless there is also the suggestion (a la 4e) of players asking for the magic items they want, and then the DM sprinkling them around as the players move through adventures?

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I like this. A lot. In retrospect it's so obvious. I'll be using it in my game. If you made this a product on DMs Guild, I'd buy it.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I'm thinking about a pair of gauntlets that grant Grappler and Tavern Brawler...

 

[Nebulous]

This is my big issue with the proposal in the OP. I'm wondering why we are taking agency around power increase out of players' hands?

Unless there is also the suggestion (a la 4e) of players asking for the magic items they want, and then the DM sprinkling them around as the players move through adventures?

I think it would amount to this. They get magic items kinda geared toward their builds, with ADDITIONAL magic items also retrofitted to make use of other feats. Feats as magic items. I want to try it and see what happens. I won't know until I try. Honestly I'm more excited about bundling otherwise useless feats into magic stuff, it's so much more interesting than a +1.