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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hannibal Barca" data-source="post: 394073" data-attributes="member: 2775">Glad for all the responses. A couple of thoughts about the feats I've seen.  It would seem that feats that are situational must be proportionately more useful than feats that are useful more often if they are to be chosen.      By situational feats I mean Combat Reflexes, Close Quarter Fighting, etc. The effect is pronounced, but the usefulness of the feat is generally limited unless one creates a fighting style around the feat (example: Combat Reflexes/Spiked Chain). Expert Tactician is quasi-situational in that is generally used when one gains initiative, but can be built upon as well with feats such as Improved Initiative and Quicker Than The Eye, a high skill check in Bluff, class features such as the Gladiator's move equivalent Bluff  and the Shadow Dancer's Hide in Plain Sight, or spells such as Cat's Grace and Blink.    "Stand alone" feats such as Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus, Dragon's Toughness, etc are less spectacular but their usefullness is more reliable.      As a result I have my doubts about certain feats that are lauded so highly like Power Attack. It's usefulness wanes as the average damage a character inflicts with a hit increases, creating a kind of paradox in that it rewards the lower strength character more, especially in conjunction with a high dex character possessing the Weapon Finesse feat. True, it is a prerequisite for (imo) the more useful Cleave feat, and it has certain situational uses in overcoming hardness or damage reduction, but I'm not convinced yet.     The "stand alone" feats can be directly measured by having two identical characters face off with each having a different feat and determining by head to head matches which is better (example: Weapon Focus versus Power Attack). Unfortunately not all feats are can be analyzed in this way, and a seemingly low powered situational feat in conjunction with a feat or spell can be deadly (see Combat Reflexes/Spiked Chain above). The dichotomy is somewaht analagous to the burn and weenie decks of Magic the Gathering facing off against the combo/lock decks.     A third category of feats are those predicated on a feat chain. Whirlwind Attack is very strong, but four prerequisite feats are a lot, especially when Dodge and Mobility do not invoke protests of their being overpowered to anybody. That being said I like Whirlwind Attack, but the opportunity costs of squandering precious feats should be considered. Are Improved Initiative and Weapon Focus (two stand alone feats) together more or less useful to a character than Combat Reflexes and Expert Tactician? These I belive are the key criteria when determining a feat's usefulness aside from the natural considerations of flavor, character class, and DM campaign nuances.</blockquote>

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