D&D 5E Would you like to have feats which build on specific class abilities?

[abirdcall]

No, I like feats as they are now. They represent a rare character with a special trait.

I don't want to have quasi-Rogues and then other True Rogues.

 

[mellored]

No.

I think there are enough feats. Particularly since you only get 5 choices and ability score increases are included.

 

[3y3g00]

I could see this working for a few special cases. Such as Giving a wild-shape slot. It helps as a mini-dip and doesn't eclipse or really significantly make the existing druid superflouse. But if someone has a concept of a ranger that can turn into a squirrel then this would facilitate that. I don't think having a third slot would be a big deal even for most moon druids. Maybe that's just my lack of experience though.

Similarly, maybe it would work in the case of barbarian rage usage. I'd want to tweak that a little as just having a rage isn't probably enough to be interesting or change a character in a fun way, even if it might be mechanically fine.

Can't think of any other examples I'd be interested in though. Maybe a beast companion? It's always bugged me that druids can't get those.

 

[Satyrn]

[MENTION=12377]77IM[/MENTION]'s thoughts are mine. And better said.

 

[Li Shenron]

You mean like Martial Adept - both for expanding Battle Master options and giving a taste for an outsider?

Yes and no...

Yes in the sense that Martial Adept expands horizontally with new maneuvers. It definitely does not feel like a tax to me.

No in the sense that Martial Adept also gives the Battlemaster ability to anyone, which is beyond what I wanted to ask here.

 

[Li Shenron]

Not in 5th Edition. In 3 and 4 e, when Feats were smaller in individual impact and gained every other level, stuff like that was great. But in 5th Edition, Feat choice has a lot more gravity to it.

Not that much... the majority of feats now sadly are half-ASI and half-feats.

 

[Li Shenron]

Not in 5th Edition. In 3 and 4 e, when Feats were smaller in individual impact and gained every other level, stuff like that was great. But in 5th Edition, Feat choice has a lot more gravity to it. Most games you can only really count on seeing 2 ASI levels, maybe 3 if you’re playing a fighter or a rogue, or the game goes to 12th level. Which means only 2-4 Feats at most in a typical character’s career, and they come at the opportunity cost of a potential +2 to an Ability Score. Those Feats each need to be a huge deal to be worthwhile. A Feat that enhances a Class feature would have a very fine line to walk between not feeling worth it over a Feat that will let you do something new, and feeling so good it’s effectively a tax for characters of that Class.

It's tricky.

Yes it is

Sharpshooter is definitely not what I would want as a basis because it makes you straight better at a huge area, since it's probably going to be used all the time.

Another bad example would be a feat that lets a Druid cast in wildshape. That is totally going to be a must have for druids.

So they would have to be feats that:

- do not remove or bypass a fundamental limitation of a class ability
- do not give a straight "vertical" boost to something that is used all the time
- do not just increase how many times you can use a special ability (although a small increase might be ok)
- may grant more options to choose from when using an ability ("horizontal" benefit)
- may grant some modifications or additions when using the ability, but in a way that doesn't feel essential ("diagonal" benefit)

For example, some of the Rage extensions of the Berserker could have been feats. None of them is so essential that makes other Barbarian subclasses feel cheated. But now I wouldn't want feats for these because there is already the Berserker, I am just quoting them as an example.

Another possible direction would be the plain horizontal. For example a feat that lets a Sorcerer pick a couple of extra Metamagic effects, or a Monk of the Four Elements pick more special elemental abilities, or a Cleric gain a new Channel Divinity effect. You're still bound by all the normal limitations including number of uses.

Would these still feel like a tax to you? IMO a player may be totally fine with having her basic number of effects available and would feel that these are really non-essential.

 

[Nevvur]

I'm theorycrafting through a new combination of character creation rules, and one recent idea has been to frame feats as a "prestige class" progression track that opens at level 8. Human variant isn't a thing for what I'm planning, though their stat block has been modified to be more appealing in other ways. Mostly I just want to push back feat acquisition.

So to answer the title question, yes. Having feats that were directly related to classes would be extremely helpful to me. I have some ideas for what they might look like, but I haven't gotten into the nitty gritty of recording them. Modified versions of most existing feats could be featured, perhaps refluffed to be class specific. Dipping into other class features is another possibility, though there would be some pretty hefty restrictions there. For instance, I might give a rogue Deflect Missiles from monk, but not a barbarian's Unarmored Defense. Mostly I would prefer a new list of actual class feats ala the race feats in Xanathar's, as you suggest.

However, I'll probably just Frankenstein something together when they actually reach level 8. In the meantime, I'll be interested to read any suggested class feats this thread might produce.

 

[cbwjm]

I think this could be a cool concept, I'd probably try and make them fairly wide rather than too specific in that I wouldn't require a class but rather an ability. So an ability that interacts with arcane recovery could also be taken by a land druid or any future class/subclass that has a similar ability. I'd also have to look at whether or not something should be a feat or if it should be a boon. Something like gaining an extra spell slot is already in the game as a boon.

The only examples I have for class feats were for dark sun. I created a preserver and master defiler feat to interact with arcane recovery which in my dark sun rules can be accessed at any time by defiling. I dont have my notes on me but I think preserver allowed a wizard to gather up their arcane recovery levels as well as bonus levels based on the terrain. No idea what I did for master defiler.

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