Feat-Tax fix (Halfway there)

[grarrrg]

There are perpetual threads about certain feats that seem to exist only to be cumbersome or be Pre-reqs for otherwise good Prc's, or whatnot.

I'm throwing my hat into the ring of potential fixes.

I present:
The (Half) Feat.
Whenever your character would be eligable to take a Feat, he/she may opt to take up to two (Half) Feats instead. (Half) Feats may be taken in place of a restricted options Feat (i.e. Fighter-Bonus), but BOTH (Half) Feats must meet the restrictions. If a class would normally grant you a (Half) Feat, you may take 1 additional (Half) Feat at that same level (Weapon Finesse on a Swashbuckler for example).

Current candidates for (Half) status:
Weapon Finesse
Dodge
The Two-Weapon Fighting feat family (most if not all)
Toughness (regular, not improved)
The Point Blank Shot feat family (some, not all)
The Weapon Focus feat family
Shield fighting related feats


Thoughts? Improvements? Suggestions for more (Half) feats?

[Vladislav]

Add to this Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Endurance. May also consider the "+2 to two skills" feat family.

[Lateral]

You've gotta remember, though, some feats are really good in an RP-heavy, noncombat-challenge campaign but suck everywhere else.

Also, this should probably be Homebrew.

[BeholderSlayer]

I dont think "half feats" are the solution. Instead, it's better to power-up weak feats, or remove them as feats entirely. Instead of having a TWF "tree," have twf automatically grant an extra offhand swing for every main hand swing in the standard attack routine. remove ITWF and GTWF completely.

Give away weapon finesse for free with no prereqs.

Remove the +2 to two skills feats from the game entirely. alternatively, have them automatically granted when both skills reach a certain threshold.

Bump the bonus to saves feats to scale by level, and never grant less than a +3 bonus.

Make toughness the same as Improved Toughness, but you have to take normal Toughness to get Improved.

Make the Point-Blank/Precise Shot tree naturally occur as you increase in BAB.

Make Endurance make you completely immune to exhaustion or fatigue.

Lots of things that are feats shouldn't be.

[Warlawk]

I dont think "half feats" are the solution. Instead, it's better to power-up weak feats, or remove them as feats entirely. Instead of having a TWF "tree," have twf automatically grant an extra offhand swing for every main hand swing in the standard attack routine. remove ITWF and GTWF completely.

Give away weapon finesse for free with no prereqs.

Remove the +2 to two skills feats from the game entirely. alternatively, have them automatically granted when both skills reach a certain threshold.

Bump the bonus to saves feats to scale by level, and never grant less than a +3 bonus.

Make toughness the same as Improved Toughness, but you have to take normal Toughness to get Improved.

Make the Point-Blank/Precise Shot tree naturally occur as you increase in BAB.

Make Endurance make you completely immune to exhaustion or fatigue.

Lots of things that are feats shouldn't be.

Some good ideas. I would suggest making "chain feats" just grant the higher level bonuses when you reach that level instead of requiring more feat investment.

IE you take weapon focus. When you get to a higher level you get Greater Weapon Focus without having to pay another feat for it. Same with Weapon specialization, TWF etc.

[AmberVael]

I think I would be more impressed by this idea if I hadn't seen someone else make it already. :smalltongue:

I'll grant that they're not exactly the same, but even so...

[nedz]

I think you overvalue Toughness.

One thought about the Archery feats, and archery in general: these are ment to be a weak option IMHO because using projectile weapons is not very heroic. So yes they suck, but there are ment to: low risk, low gain.

[BeholderSlayer]

Some good ideas. I would suggest making "chain feats" just grant the higher level bonuses when you reach that level instead of requiring more feat investment.

IE you take weapon focus. When you get to a higher level you get Greater Weapon Focus without having to pay another feat for it. Same with Weapon specialization, TWF etc.

Yeah, I would have included Weapon Focus in my post, but I just didn't remember that it was in the OP.

In my campaigns, the weapon focus feat automatically scales by level, and grants all of: Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Greater Weapon Specialization. The benefits are gained at the level they would become available for purchase by a fighter.

[Angry Bob]

One thought about the Archery feats, and archery in general: these are meant to be a weak option IMHO because using projectile weapons is not very heroic. So yes they suck, but there are ment to: low risk, low gain.

Having just rerolled a psiforged blaster that got pwnt by the ogre that no one was expecting to survive more than one round of melee with the friendly neighborhood abomination, I beg to differ. Monsters get through, and sometimes they even appear without warning.

[togapika]

Just give weapon finesse dex to damage, skill feats adding the skill as a class skill, etc...