What Makes A Good Feat?

Anything that gives you a new feature is generally going to be a solid feat, though some of them are a bit odd. The ones that give you proficiency in something and a slight stat increase, those can help, but they aren’t as good. Instead, I look for the feats that will give me something that can help in most situations, or help a lot in combat. Combat is a large part of D&D, so picking something that specific, it works. But other things, like a feat that gives you a +1 in Intelligence and proficiency in Arcana, that isn’t that much better than taking a +2 in Intelligence, and could be worse depending on the other skills you are proficient with.

So What Are Some Good Ones?

I have a number that I really like, but let’s hit on a few of my favorites.

Alert

This one is more combat focused, but not only combat focused. There are two big things that it does, firstly, you cannot be surprised. This is great for combat. No one can get the jump on you and get that attack before anyone else. Not only that, but you get to add +5 to your initiative. Is it possible you’ll roll poorly and not go first, sure, but is it likely, most certainly not. You are going to be going fast in combat, this is great for a Rogue, especially an Assassin who gets bonuses for going faster than everyone else.

Crossbow Expert

Another one that is mainly for combat. The Crossbow Expert makes a Crossbow fighter really deadly. They can dual wield crossbows and attack with both of them on a turn. Plus it doesn’t take a bonus action to reload. And there is still more, it won’t give you disadvantage if you are firing in melee. Great for a fighter who wants to have range but also gets into the fray of things as the tank.

Dual Wielder

This is similar to the Crossbow Expert, very good in combat. It allows one of your weapons not to be light when Dual Wielding, which means you can hit harder. You also get to add in +1 to your armor class (AC) when Dual Wielding, so it’s kind of like a mini shield. There is also the ability to draw and stow two weapons at once, but for my games that is less important, but for some it could be. Super good for combat, and allows rogues to hit more often or get hit less often.

Great Weapon Master

Also good for the fighter, this one allows them to pump out more damage. Great Weapon Master allows you to cleave through an enemy you kill to do another attack. But what it is often used for is a -5 penalty on attack and then +10 to the damage. It takes a hard hit and makes it extremely punishing on some monsters. Good for those tanks like Fighters and Barbarians.

Lucky

You can choose your own fate, kind of. When you make an attack, ability check, saving throw, anything really, you can spend one of your three luck points, before you know if you succeed or not. Makes for a fun time of hitting more often, but also that saving throw that you really need to make you are more likely to make. The points also refresh every long rest, so you can spend them pretty often during a day.

Magic Initiate

This one can be used for combat, but can be an all around good one. This allows any character to learn a spell. For a spell caster, it allows them to dip into another classes spell list and grab something they want. For a non-spell caster, they can grab something to help them in combat or heal them up. Plenty of options and gives your characters some spell casting ability without needing to multiclass.

Resilient

This breaks one rule slightly, it gives you a +1 to the ability score of your choice. However, the added bonus is that you gain proficiency in that saving throw type. So maybe you aren’t dexterous, well, there are a lot of spells and things that require that type of saving throw. Now you can give yourself a +2 or more as you level up to your saving throw and start taking less damage.

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter plays out much like Great Weapon Master. You don’t have disadvantage at shooting at long range. You ignore partial cover. But you mainly take it for a -5 to your attack to do +10 damage. This is for that ranger or ranged fighter who really wants to hit hard.

What Feats Do You Like?

These are ones that I pulled from the Player’s Handbook that I really think are interesting. There is a lot of combat focus, but there can be a lot of other good ones. For a Wizard, a feat allowing them to wear better armor, that isn’t bad because they are a bit squishy, for most other characters, getting up to medium armor isn’t that big a deal. And I didn’t even touch on the other feats out there, so there are plenty of interesting options to look at.

I also like some of the feats when they are thematic for a character. While these might be the “best” feats out there, you can also find some that will give you new role playing opportunities as well. It all goes back to building the type of character that you want.

So, which Dungeons and Dragons feat is your favorite?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

ASI (Ability Score Increase)

So when you hit a level that gives you an ASI, you can use it in one of two ways. The first is that you can add two points to any single stat, up to twenty max. So if you strength is a 12, which would give you a +1 to rolls with that ability score, adding two would take it to 14 and a +2 to rolls. Or you could split it in two, so add one to two different ability scores. If your INT (Intelligence) and WIS (Wisdom) are both at 13, which gives you a +1, adding one to each INT and WIS would take them both to 14 and give you a +2 on your ability rolls. So your ASI is going to be part of the way that you get better at casting spells, attacking, persuading, sneaking, etc. It’s a very straightforward and mathematical part of the game.

Feat

Now, the other option you can do is a Feat. This is basically a featured ability that you can gain access to, or something that makes you unique. It might be something such as giving your character access to heavy armor so that they could wear plate armor if they wanted. Or it can make it so that you can automatically reload your crossbow without it taking up time. It might make you better at DEX (Dexterity) and sneaking, or maybe you’re a fighter and you take Magic Initiate to gain access to a spell. There are tons of different feats that you can use to increase stats but add in other skills that you’re proficient with, or many other things.

So, which is better?

Neither, I don’t think that one is particularly better than the other. With an ASI, you are increasing your stats which is going to give you a notable bonus, if you move it from an odd number to an even or from an even to an even. And there’s something to be said for that consistency.

A Feat, on the other hand, some of them are less great than others. But that’s not a massive issue, because most of the time when taking a feat, it’s going to help flavor your character. A dwarf who is running around healing people and wearing heavy plate armor makes a lot of sense, because that seems like a dwarfy thing to do.

So it depends on what you need. A feat works well to help solidify and work towards a particular character design or idea that you have, and an ASI can as well, but a feat might be more flavorful. But an ASI is going to help with your dice rolls and maybe you’re role playing a particular aspect of your character and succeeding on more rolls would help bring that to the forefront, so an ASI gives you opportunities as well.

I will say that taking only feats throughout a game on your way to level twenty, is going to leave your lagging behind other players in combat and checks. So if you want to take a feat or two, that’s fine, but I probably wouldn’t take them only. I will also say that with feats, there are some much better than others. Alert or Lucky, much better than a feat that gives you a +1 to an ability score and proficiency in a skill. So there’s really time for either and if you need a feat, don’t feel bad about passing on an ASI for it.

Conclusion

Both are useful at times, and while you can easily build a character only taking an ASI and skipping over feats entirely, doing the opposite will have you lagging behind. When considering which to use, like anything in Dungeons and Dragons or an RPG, I say consider your character, their motivations, and what difference it will make in the story. The story is king for having a good time, so spend some time figuring that out and build your character so that it fits and grows within the game that you are playing.

Do you mainly go for the ASI? Or do you spend a lot of time getting feats?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.