D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: 16 New Feats

"Today’s Unearthed Arcana presents a selection of new feats for Dungeons & Dragons. Each feat offers a way to become better at something or to gain a whole new ability."

News Archive | Dungeons and Dragons

Read the full archives of Dungeons & Dragons news, Sage Advice, Unearthed Arcana, and D&D Studio Blogs.

dnd.wizards.com

The feats include Artificer Initiate, Chef, Crusher, Eldritch Adept, Fey Touched, Fighting Initiate, Gunner, Metamagic Adept, Poisoner, Piercer, Practiced Expert, Shadow Touched, Shield Training, Slasher, Tandem Tactician, and Tracker.

 

[jmartkdr2]

So real question: If your a Warlock and you pick Eldritch Adept, does that allow you to gain an extra Invocation even AFTER you hit your limit and can't earn anymore? If your a Fighter and your choosing Fighting Initiate, does that mean you can get TWO fighting styles? I like the idea of having both Dueling AND Superior Technique fighting styles. Especially for a Battle Master,*

Cuz that's FLIPPING SWEET if so.

Those are both exactly how I'm reading these.

In addition, a fighter with the feat could swap fighting styles every level, so you'd be less locked into specific weapons.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I like the implication that a Fighter could potentially have TWO fighting styles. Or that a Warlock can have ten Invocations. They get up to 9 max I believe right?

I also like just getting an extra invocation early on, especially for the most invocation heavy builds, like hexblades. Anything to ease the pain of having to choose between options that are more fun vs options that make the fighting style concept actually work.

 

[NotAYakk]

The thing with "weapon type" specific feats is that they restrict item choice with little balance reason.

Watch:
Medici Schooled
You have learned the Medici School of combat.

• Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1
• Once per turn when you hit a creature with a melee weapon, you gain one of the following benefits
  • If the weapon is piercing, you can reroll one damage die
  • If the weapon is slashing, you can reduce the creature's speed by 10
  • If the weapon is bludgeoning, you can move the creature 5', unless it is more than 1 size larger than you
• When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon, you gain one of the following effects:
  • If the weapon is piercing, roll an additional die of piercing damage
  • If the weapon is bludgeoning, attacks on the creature have advantage until the start of your next turn.
  • If the weapon is slashing, the creature's attacks have disadvantage until the start of your next turn.

Now, this is a bit of a mouth-full text wise, but balance-wise it isn't going to be very different than the existing feats they presented.

You are only holding 1 weapon at a time, and the above restricts you to one benefit at a time anyhow.

And, as a bonus, it is now compatible with random or story-assigned treasure. Maybe you prefer the hammer benefit, but you aren't dead-weight lost if you get a magic rapier.

Note: I don't advocate the above is a good feat. It is far, far far too busy.

But my point is that a feats that give an extremely narrow benefit based on equipment has already caused issues in 5e; the hand crossbow and polearm problem of XBE and PAM.

There is a reason I have a single Duelist style in my houserules (+2 to damage with one-handed melee weapons, can draw a one-handed melee weapon as part of action made to attack with it; it subsumes throwing, sword+board, and two-handed styles, without making any of them over powered.)

 

[Micah Sweet]

With the exception of the Chef feat (which is awesome), these are mechanically effective but rather flavorless. They remind me a bit of the "math fix" feats of fourth ed, although of course that's not a perfect parallel.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I'm not a fan of feats that commit melee characters to a particular type of weapon. Not given that the game conveys a strong sense of either fixed (e.g. written into adventures) or random magic items.

I'd be better with it with a rule (house rule?) that any time you gain a level you can swap one feat.

Or make it explicit, in the DMG and in official adventures, that DMs should tweak magic treasure to fit the needs/desires of the heroes.

They're definitely less good if you only use random magic items, but I'm not sure that's even common let alone the basis for design. After all, nearly every feat that applied to weapons already only works with some weapons.

 

[Weiley31]

Those are both exactly how I'm reading these.

In addition, a fighter with the feat could swap fighting styles every level, so you'd be less locked into specific weapons.

I just dig the fact that we can now have TWO fighting styles that are ACTIVE at the same time. Also Hexblade with a possible Superior Technique CHA powered Manuever.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

"Whenever you gain a level, you can replace this feat’s fighting style with another one from the fighter class that you don’t have."

Wonderful, more abilities that prove that not only do my players have the memory of a goldfish, but so do their characters.

 

[TwoSix]

Most of the ones with no +1 stat feel slightly on the weak side to me. A few of them are nice to see, albeit things we really should have had years ago (Fighting Initiate, Metamagic Adept). Slasher, Piercer, and Crusher are cool. Tandem Tactician is great, probably the feat I'm most excited about with the possible exception of Shield Training. Because as someone who loves gish concepts, Shield Training is just awesome.

 

[reelo]

A lot of these feats are "multiclass lite" feats. I like them.

As someone who really hates multiclassing dips, I think these are great. Pick up a knack or two from a different class while staying true to your chosen class.
A Ranger picking up Two-handed fighting style? Boom: instant Aragorn.

 

[Weiley31]

Chef+Gourmand feat.

Just cuz.