Worst Feat Ever

[kenobi65]

Don't forget sleeping in armor. When the DM likes night encounters *cough* then it pays off big time. Encounters are much harder when you don't have your armor on. I speak from experience on both sides of the screen on this one.

After getting slapped around in a few "middle of the night" encounters, our three full-plate-wearing tanks all invested in "chain jammies" (i.e., chain shirt, which, as light armor, doesn't cause issues with sleep, but is +4 better than fighting in your union suit...)

 

[kenobi65]

Oddly, toughness (a popular choice for worst feat) is written so that it is much better for lower hd classes than higher ones. I once played a sorcerer with a con penalty, so I defintely wanted toughness for him at first level. For a fighter, it is almost useless.

Yeah, I had a wizard I'd converted to 3E from 2E (and from 1E, even further back). He had a 7 Con. I spent *two* feats on Toughness. Every little bit helped.

 

[daemonslye]

endurance rocks

worst feat? i guess it just depends on the situation. toughness is reasonable for a first level elven wizard with a poor con for example (say "hi" to my little friend.. er, toad).

That said - I want to throw in my hat in for endurance. Especially if human or a fighter. At 1st level endurance+diehard=last man standing (or staggering away) everytime. This is really useful even up through mid levels. The sleeping in armor piece is gravy. Also, this is even better in "low magic" campaigns where you can actually get caught outside. In the c-c-c-c-cold.

~D

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Don't forget sleeping in armor. When the DM likes night encounters *cough* then it pays off big time. Encounters are much harder when you don't have your armor on. I speak from experience on both sides of the screen on this one.

Which isn't too big a "biggie" if you're not wearing anything other than light armor.... And we still utilize the enchantment "Called Armor" from 3.0 as it's just too nifty to ignore!

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Wow, I play a fair number of casters, and I have NEVER taken either feat for the benefit of the feat itself. I believe I have 1 character that has Combat Casting because it was a PrC requirement, and I was annoyed at having to waste the feat.

I figure that most players choose it at first level when it'd have more benefit than the higher levels. After a point, you can say you're casting defensively and have enough ranks/mods in Concentration to not have to roll. But those lower levels, it's more crucial if you need to use it to have that bonus to that roll; lower levels, you'd HAVE to roll to see if you get off the spell.

My 10th level cleric has enough bonuses to her concentration with the feat, in addition to the ranks and con mod she already has, to not have to roll when casting defensively to see if she gets the spell off.

 

[Sejs]

Skill Focus (Speak Language) makes a nice companion feat to Weapon Specialization (Net).

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

In a recent Feat Survivor thread, Toughness and Combat Casting were the first two eliminated.

I had to leave that poll as soon as insanity manifested itself by Combat Casting being eliminated so swiftly. I have seen a character survive only because of this feat and it is generally too useful.

Worst feat could include martial weapon proficiency bastard sword (used as a martial weapon in 2 hands). You would need to have major encumbrance issues to choose this over the greatsword or exotic weapon proficiency.

Mind you I do remember a dim witted paladin with 10str wearing full plate & heavy steel shield a while ago. He could be a candidate.

 

[FireLance]

I had to leave that poll as soon as insanity manifested itself by Combat Casting being eliminated so swiftly. I have seen a character survive only because of this feat and it is generally too useful.

I believe the thinking was: if you could only take one feat, Skill Focus (Concentration) was generally more useful. You give up a +1 bonus when casting on the defensive for a +3 bonus to all other Concentration checks, e.g. casting while entangled, on a moving mount, when taking continuous damage, etc.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I believe the thinking was: if you could only take one feat, Skill Focus (Concentration) was generally more useful. You give up a +1 bonus when casting on the defensive for a +3 bonus to all other Concentration checks, e.g. casting while entangled, on a moving mount, when taking continuous damage, etc.

I approach feats that improve (especially static DC) skills as in when do they make auto success occur earliest? In the case of combat casting, assuming a max rank & +1 ability score bonus, a 1st level spell requires DC16 or a +15 modifier which can be done at 11th level. A skill focus character gets this at 8th level while a Combat Caster gets this at 7th level.

The difference between 7th & 8th level is four sessions and for the previous 7 levels the Combat Caster has had a 5% bonus on a life or death skill. The +3 from skill focus is too situational for my liking. (Btw entangle would be treated as grappled, i.e. Combat Casting applies, no?)

This in my mind makes Combat Casting a good feat choice at the earlier levels, and in a 25pt buy campaign starting at 1st level, especially so. Generous stats & higher level make it rubbish but then again the opposite is true with say Quicken Spell - this is a powerful feat which won't see the light of day in half the campaigns played I bet.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

An extra thought on CC, it is more beneficial to frontline casters such as the cleric than rear rank casters. It depends on party composition but if the cleric is sharing frontline duties I would be hard pressed not to take it.