Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Pendragon" data-source="post: 4787386" data-attributes="member: 707">I play 4e exclusively these days.  I played 3.x for several years, 1st-level to 20th.  The following thread isn't meant as an attack of either edition, but rather a discussion of the evolution of a game mechanic, namely, the feat, and the positive/negative aspects of such.Recently I was flipping through a friend's copies of the Martial Handbook and PHII, and I was stricken by a rather depressing realization.  The transition from 3e to 4e seems to have redefined the feat.In 3e, while there were still various prerequisites which restricted some feats to particular classes ([Divine] feats, for instance,) the majority of feats were available to all classes/races.  Prerequisites focused on ability scores, or class abilities that were available to several classes (see again, [Divine]).However, as 4e continues to develop, it would appear that feats are becoming more and more specialized.  Many of the feats in Martial Power have 3 or 4 pre-requisites, restricting them to a specific class of a specific race, with a specific class ability.As I see it, whereas feats were once generalized edges one could consider for nearly any character, they are becoming specialized to the point where a given feat would almost be better considered an optional class feature.A parallel that occured to me was with the 3e rogue's "Special Ability" class feature.  Upon reaching mid-levels, rogues could begin to pick from a select number of special rogue-only abilities.  Replace "feat" with "special ability" on the 4e character advancement page, then fill in your race/class/focus's list with those "feats" they qualify for, and you have a similar feel.I'm not sure I'm happy with this change.  It makes listings of feats rather annoying to browse through, since each compilation will contain very few feats applicable to a given character.  Particularly if one doesn't (as I do not) have access to the online character builder, which I presume can filter out all feats for which one doesn't qualify.A part of me wonders whether the game wouldn't have been better served by in fact replacing half the "feat" awards during character advancement with "special ability" and giving each class their list of optional abilities, rather than bunching feats only available to genasi beastmaster rangers born in July in with all the others.Thoughts?</blockquote>

Verification