Feats at Bizarre Levels (3.5)

[Foryn Gilnith]

What ways are there to select general feats at levels not divisible by 3? I sometimes want to get feats as soon as I become eligible rather than having to wait.

Suppose I have a spell-like ability that I want to Empower as soon as I hit level 10, or I want to learn Dark Speech as soon as my will save gets to +5, or I want to gain an apprentice as soon as I get 8 skill ranks.

For example, if I were a wizard, I could take Loremaster and select the Applicable Knowledge secret to get Empower Spell-Like Ability right at level 10. If I already had the Skill Focus (Diplomacy) feat, I could take a level of Marshal, which would grant me a general feat that I could use to take Mentor at level 5. If I were a half-elf with a base Will save of +5, I could take a level of Half-Elf Paragon to learn Dark Speech immediately.

The methods I already know of:
Chameleon PrC (Races of Destiny)
Loremaster PrC (SRD)
Reforged PrC (Races of Eberron)
Malconvoker PrC (Complete Scoundrel)
Thrall of Demogorgon/Orcus PrC (Book of Vile Darkness)
Marshal class (Miniatures Handbook)
Rogue class (SRD)
Racial Paragon classes (SRD)
Generic classes (SRD)
Frostblood [Half-]Orc race (Dragon Magic)
Shun the Dark Chaos (Fiendish Codex I)
Pact [Un]Certain (Fiendish Codex II)
Corruption (Heroes of Horror)
Bloodlines (SRD)

I'm not really looking for limited bonus feats like those given by fighter and wizard, but those are alright too, I suppose. I'm looking for ways to select any feat. If you take the Marshal class and already have Skill Focus (Diplomacy), you get to choose a different feat, with no limitations, (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b) and that's the sort of thing I seek.

[HunterOfJello]

There's always Retraining. You can replace an old feat with a new one at level up.

[true_shinken]

Sell your soul for two feats. Works at any level.

[Toptomcat]

Not general feats, but the Heroics feat works for fighter feats.

Also, certain magical/legendary locations grant feats, most notably the Otyugh Hole for Iron Will.

And for whatever it's worth, the 3.0 Arms & Equipment Guide has a sidebar that estimates the price of a magic item that grants a feat as 10,000 gp as a rough guideline.

[Crossblade]

Play Pathfinder. You get feats ever other level. :smalltongue:

[Jack_Simth]

There's always Retraining. You can replace an old feat with a new one at level up.
Wasn't there a small catch for this one? Something along the lines of you would have had to qualify at the level you're retraining it for or some such?

[true_shinken]

Wasn't there a small catch for this one? Something along the lines of you would have had to qualify at the level you're retraining it for or some such?
That's exactly it.

[Starbuck_II]

Magical Locations grant feats for a certain cost.
Complete Scoundrel, Complete Champion, Complete Mage, and others.

[Zaq]

I think some of the PrCs in BOVD offer generic "bonus feat" levels, but I don't have my book open to check the limitations on them. Try there?

[Flickerdart]

The Rogue can gain bonus feats in place of special abilities.

[Toptomcat]

Bonus fighter feats.

[dspeyer]

Human paragon

[Soranar]

straight wizard also gets bonus feats

alternate class features for certain classes (paladin and ranger come to mind, restricted list though) can get them in exchange for their spellcasting ability

[Foryn Gilnith]

I think some of the PrCs in BOVD offer generic "bonus feat" levels, but I don't have my book open to check the limitations on them. Try there?

Thrall of Demogorgon and Thrall of Orcus do indeed grant unconditional bonus feats; thank you for the source.


The Rogue can gain bonus feats in place of special abilities.

I can't believe I missed that.


The reasons I don't necessarily want to know sources of bonus feats that have a limited selection are
1) There are tons of these. This thread could go on for 3 pages or more listing all of them.
2) The Fighter bonus feat list and the Wizard bonus feat list pretty much cover most of the limited bonus feats that can be gotten; any limited pool of bonus feats introduced in a new book pretty much has to refer back only to core or to feats within the book, whereas the fighter list or the wizard list are well-known and can be expanded with every splatbook.

[Lhurgyof]

Monster Classes from Savage Species.

[Darrin]

Frostblood Orcs/Half-Orcs gain Endurance as a bonus feat. If they later gain Endurance via some other means (such as Ranger 3rd), they can gain any other feat they qualify for instead.

Dipping into Cleric to pick up two domains can also allow you to pick up certain feats via various domain powers. The selection is limited, but includes:

Augment Summoning: Dragon Below domain, Eberron Campaign Setting
Blind-Fight: Darkness domain, Spell Compendium or Shadow domain, Eberron
Campaign Setting
Extra Turning: Undeath domain, Spell Compendium
Exotic Weapon Proficienty + Weapon Focus (Valenar double scimitar):
Revered Ancestor domain, Faiths of Eberron
Expert Swimmer: Seafolk domain, Stormwrack
Extend Spell: Planning domain, Spell Compendium
Great Fortitute: Dwarf domain, Spell Compendium
Improved Initiative: Time domain, Spell Compendium
Incarnum Spellshaping: Incarnum Domain, Magic of Incarnum
Lightning Reflexes: Drow domain, Spell Compendium
Martial Weapon Proficiency + Weapon Focus (light hammer or warhammer):
Metal domain, Spell Compendium
Point Blank Shot: Elf domain, Spell Compendium
Portal Sensitive: Portal alternative domain power, Underdark (FR)
Rapid Swimming: Seafolk domain, Stormwrack
Scribe Scroll: Rune domain, Spell Compendium
Skill Focus (Appraise): Wealth domain, Spell Compendium
Skill Focus (Craft skill of your choice): Craft domain, Spell Compendium
Spell Focus (Enchantment): Domination domain, Spell Compendium

Also, Otyuph's Hole or Frog God's Fane (Complete Scoundrel) followed by Dark Chaos Shuffle.

[Thurbane]

Human paragon
1/2 Elf Paragon as well...

You can get bonus Vile feats 1/5 levels by devoting yourself to an Elder Evil.

...not RAW, but as a DM I wouldn't have too much of a problem with a player "sitting" on a feat, to spend it at a higher level.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Monster Classes from Savage Species.

Those aren't actually bonus feats, they're just on the chart because they don't get a hit die at every level.

Also, you can't technically multiclass into one of those things, and they're kind of out-dated anyway, etc. etc.

[Lhurgyof]

Those aren't actually bonus feats, they're just on the chart because they don't get a hit die at every level.

Also, you can't technically multiclass into one of those things, and they're kind of out-dated anyway, etc. etc.

I know, but they get feats at levels not divisible by 3. xD

[Urpriest]

I know, but they get feats at levels not divisible by 3. xD

Adding to this point, any source of LA will offset your level from your feats. However, it offsets almost everything else as well, so it's not the most useful trick.

[Foryn Gilnith]

Sell your soul for two feats. Works at any level.

Missed the reference the first time around, but thank you for calling my attention to those rules.

[Bumping, because 2 weeks might have brought some new insight, the thread has some elaboration that it would be awkward to include in the OP, I planned to bump it anyway but merely forgot, and the rules' guideline for thread necromancy is 6 weeks]

[herrhauptmann]

Dark Chaos shuffle.
That should get you around the rule for retraining. Bonus if you're an elf, that's 6 free feats.

[Quietus]

1/2 Elf Paragon as well...

You can get bonus Vile feats 1/5 levels by devoting yourself to an Elder Evil.

...not RAW, but as a DM I wouldn't have too much of a problem with a player "sitting" on a feat, to spend it at a higher level.

I go one step further than this; I don't mind a player taking a feat that they don't even qualify for. They just don't get to use it until they *do*.

Example : Rogues can get Weapon Finesse at level 1. It kicks in at level 2, when their "combat training" (aka base attack bonus) is enough that they've learned to fight with their weapons in a way most favorable to them (is high enough to qualify for the feat)

[JaronK]

One of the Sovereign Archtypes (Wyrm of War I believe) gives a bonus feat every four levels, which must be from the Fighter list or any dragon themed feat. It's not perfect but there's a lot of options there.

JaronK

[true_shinken]

One of the Sovereign Archtypes (Wyrm of War I believe) gives a bonus feat every four levels, which must be from the Fighter list or any dragon themed feat. It's not perfect but there's a lot of options there.

JaronK

Let's not open that can of worms...

[silvadel]

A sympathetic DM....

If you have:

1) A reason why you should have the feat
2) A reasonable way you would acquire the feat
3) Not annoyed your DM

You might be able to get the feat just by providing your case and asking for it.

---

Divine intervention:

If you have:

1) A reason why your deity would want you to have the feat
2) been exemplary in the service of your deity
3) not bothered your deity

Pray.

In some cases tithing might be better....

[Toptomcat]

This spell poses some extremely interesting possibilities. (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20000901a)

[herrhauptmann]

That's neat. How did you find that? It looks like it's from 3.0...

[Toptomcat]

Sheer chance more than anything else, really.

[Realms of Chaos]

If you raise your corruption and depravity scores high enough (HoH), there's another 4 feats for you.

Flaws also technically count for this purpose as 1 is not divisible by 3.

For everything else, there's always the good old chaos shuffle. :smallbiggrin: