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Bharaeth
2015-03-01, 04:37 PM
Okay, so similar to Sindeloke's recent thread, I have come up with some attempts at expanding the feats available in 5e so far, and here are what I have come up with. Of our two main DMs in my local group, one is happy enough and told me to put them up on a forum to get some other feedback, and the other DM is vehemently opposed to any homebrew content, and has ruled them out for his game, saying they are a mix of overpowered and overcomplex. So I was just wondering what people thought of them:

BATTLE HARDENED
Prerequisite: Character level 5 or higher

Your reflexes have been honed by years of conflict, and you don't scare or go down easily. You gain the following benefits:

You gain a +2 bonus to initiative.
When you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened, gain a bonus to the roll equal to your proficiency bonus.
When required to make a death saving throw, you only die if you fail your fourth save, rather than your third.


FLAIL EXPERT
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Dexterity 13 or higher

You've mastered exotic lashing weapons, and can easily ensnare a foe, or spin an impenetrable web of steel that punishes foes who get too close, though you can't keep it up for long. You gain the following benefits:

When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try and grapple a creature within reach with your flail, chain or whip. Until the creature escapes the grapple, it is restrained, and you can't attack again with this weapon.
If using a whip, you can use a bonus action on your turn to interact with an object within the whip's reach (yanking open an unlocked door, or pulling a lever, for example).
On your turn, when you are wielding a flail, chain or nunchuka, you can use your action to adopt a web of steel stance, striking any who get too close. Similiar to some spells, maintaining this feature requires concentration (lasting up to 1 minute), but it also fails if you become prone or restrained, or if you are involved in a successful grapple. Whilst maintained, your movement is halved, but you gain partial cover against weapon attacks, and any time a creature enters your reach or starts its turn there, it must make a Dexterity saving throw (the DC is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your choice of Strength or Dexterity modifier). On a failed save, then you hit it with a melee weapon attack. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.


MASTER SWORDSMAN
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

In your hands, a sword is a truly versatile and defensive weapon. You gain the following benefits:

If wielding either a greatsword or longsword, you can use an action on your turn to adopt a semi-defensive posture. You can make one melee weapon attack this turn with disadvantage, and melee weapon attacks against you also suffer disadvantage. This lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of a longsword used one-handed, and you can also use a longsword one-handed to deal Sneak Attack damage.
If you are wielding either a greatsword, longsword or shortsword and take the Attack action on your turn, one of your attacks this turn can deliver your choice of either slashing or piercing damage.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using either a greatsword or longsword, you can choose to impale the creature. While impaled, the target is effectively grappled, and you can't attack again with this weapon until the grapple ends.


KNIFE DANCER
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher

Somewhere in your life, you got very handy with a knife, and can pull off a variety of dirty tricks. You gain the following benefits:

If you take the Attack action on your turn to throw a dagger, you can draw and throw two daggers as part of one attack. Both of these attacks must be at targets within short range.
If you make a melee weapon attack using either a dagger or a sickle and either have advantage on the attack roll, or you or the creature you are attacking are grappled, or you are swallowed by the creature you are attacking, you can roll an extra 1d4 and add the result to the damage.
If you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using a dagger, you can add double your ability modifier to the damage roll, rather than once as normal.


AXE MASTER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You have mastered the demanding momentum of a swung axe to wreak terrifying bloody carnage, and have learnt how best to hurl a throwing axe to bounce unpredictably towards the foe as part of a charge. You gain the following benefits:

If you make a melee weapon attack with either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe and hit, gain a bonus of +1 to the damage roll.
If you move at least 10 feet towards a creature in a turn that you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action on your turn to throw a handaxe at a creature, gaining advantage on the roll. As part of the bonus action, you can also draw another weapon.
On your turn, when you score a critical hit against a creature using either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe in melee, or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can use a reaction to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check, contested by the Wisdom of one or more creatures that can see or hear you within 30'. If you succeed, the creature is frightened during its next turn.


BRUTISH BLUDGEONER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You've mastered blunt instruments so that your blows can break through armour, send foes flying, and hammer your way relentlessly through the scenery. You gain the following benefits:

If you make a melee weapon attack with either a mace, maul, morningstar, warpick or warhammer against a creature wearing medium or heavy armour, or a creature with thick natural armour (like a dragon's scales, or a giant scorpion's exoskeleton), gain a bonus of +2 to the damage roll.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit against a creature using either a club, greatclub, light hammer, mace, maul, quarterstaff, morningstar or warhammer in melee, you can use your reaction to push it 5', providing that the creature is no more than one size larger than you.
If you are wielding either a light hammer, mace, maul, morningstar, warpick or warhammer, you can use your action to strike an inanimate object and inflict double damage (doubling both the results of the damage roll and the ability modifier).


PHALANX FIGHTER
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

Probably through a background in the infantry, you are competent with hafted weapons, knowing best how to use their reach, and feel strongest when fighting in a formation of sorts. You gain the following benefits:

Once per turn, if you are wielding either a javelin, spear or pike, you can deal an additional 1d6 damage to a creature you hit with a weapon attack, if you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated.
If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can choose to take a -2 penalty to your attack roll to give your weapon the reach property for this attack, when wielding either a quarterstaff, spear, or trident.
If you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened and you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated, you can choose to reroll the save, but must use the second result if you do so.


ALCHEMIST
Prerequisite: Proficiency with alchemists's supplies

You have spent many a long night messing around with weird mixtures and alchemical glassware, concocting potent brews with practiced efficiency, and have even got pretty good at dodging the odd explosion when things go wrong! You gain the following benefits:

When crafting chemical-based equipment (including acid, alchemist's fire, alcohol, antitoxin, ink, poison and potions of healing), you can craft items with a total market value not exceeding 25gp per day.
Poisons you craft add your proficiency bonus to the DC and the poison damage inflicted.
If you can craft potions of healing, you can also craft potions of greater healing.
If you are subjected to an area effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to reduce the damage you suffer, gain advantage on the roll.


DRAGON SLAYER
Prerequisite: You must have fought a dragon

Perhaps foolishly, you have dedicated your life to hunting down these winged monsters, knowing well how to turn their strengths against them, and can quickly work out their weak points. You gain the following benefits:

On your turn, you can use a bonus action to study the movement and strategies of a dragon, dracolich, or a beast or monstrosity of large size or greater; the creature must not be incapacitated. Make a Wisdom (Insight or Perception, your choice) check against DC 15. If you succeed, any future weapon attack you make against the creature scores a critical hit on a 19 or 20 (or on a roll of 18-20, if you have the Improved Critical feature).
When making an attack against a dragon, you can treat any damage immunity it might have as damage resistance instead.
You can add your proficiency bonus to any Intelligence or Wisdom check related to dragons.
If you are required to make a saving throw against the Frightful Presence or breath weapon of a dragon, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll. If you already have proficiency in this save, then add double your proficiency.


GLIB TONGUE

Yours is the face that suckers like to trust, and you have a pretty way with words; you've probably sold someone a bridge, and you might do it again. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You reduce the cost of equipment purchased after character generation by 20%. This only applies to smaller purchases, worth a standard market value of 100gp or less.
On your turn, you can use your action to thoroughly distract a creature you can see within 60 feet that can hear you. Provided that you or your companions aren't fighting the creature, make a Charisma (Deception) check, contested by the Wisdom (Insight) of the creature. If you succeed, the target has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to perceive any creature or unusual occurrence, other than you, for up to 1 minute. This effect ends if you are incapacitated or can no longer speak.


STRONG ARM
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

You have built up a solid musculature, with a powerful throw, and the ability to overdraw a bow to the breaking point. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When making a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon that isn't a net, add 30 feet to the long range.
If you take the Attack action on your turn to fire either a longbow, or to throw a weapon which inflicts 1d6 or more damage, an attack that hits also pushes the creature 5'. The push effect only effects creatures of your size or smaller.
When you make a Strength check or saving throw to break restraints, damage an object, arm wrestle, or a similar feat of muscle power, gain advantage on the roll.

Strill
2015-03-01, 05:55 PM
BATTLE HARDENED
Prerequisite: Character level 5 or higher

Your reflexes have been honed by years of conflict, and you don't scare or go down easily. You gain the following benefits:

You gain a +2 bonus to initiative.
When you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened, gain a bonus to the roll equal to your proficiency bonus.
When required to make a death saving throw, you only die if you fail your fourth save, rather than your third.


Looks ok. Nothing amazing.


FLAIL EXPERT
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Dexterity 13 or higher

You've mastered exotic lashing weapons, and can easily ensnare a foe, or spin an impenetrable web of steel that punishes foes who get too close, though you can't keep it up for long. You gain the following benefits:

When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try and grapple a creature within reach with your flail, chain or whip. Until the creature escapes the grapple, it is restrained, and you can't attack again with this weapon.
If using a whip, you can use a bonus action on your turn to interact with an object within the whip's reach (yanking open an unlocked door, or pulling a lever, for example).
On your turn, when you are wielding a flail, chain or nunchuka, you can use your action to adopt a web of steel stance, striking any who get too close. Similiar to some spells, maintaining this feature requires concentration (lasting up to 1 minute), but it also fails if you become prone or restrained, or if you are involved in a successful grapple. Whilst maintained, your movement is halved, but you gain partial cover against weapon attacks, and any time a creature enters your reach or starts its turn there, it must make a Dexterity saving throw (the DC is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your choice of Strength or Dexterity modifier). On a failed save, then you hit it with a melee weapon attack. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.


The first bullet point is the same as grappling your target, and then shoving them prone, but it only costs one action instead of two. That kind of power every turn is already enough to warrant a feat.

The second bullet point is essentially spending your bonus action for five feet of movement. Pretty weak IMO.

The third bullet point would be better suited as a class feature. It only costs your action the first turn you use it, which makes it extremely cost-efficient. The saving throw mechanic is needlessly complex. Just say that you make a melee weapon attack against them as usual.


MASTER SWORDSMAN
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

In your hands, a sword is a truly versatile and defensive weapon. You gain the following benefits:

If wielding either a greatsword or longsword, you can use an action on your turn to adopt a semi-defensive posture. You can make one melee weapon attack this turn with disadvantage, and melee weapon attacks against you also suffer disadvantage. This lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of a longsword used one-handed, and you can also use a longsword one-handed to deal Sneak Attack damage.
If you are wielding either a greatsword, longsword or shortsword and take the Attack action on your turn, one of your attacks this turn can deliver your choice of either slashing or piercing damage.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using either a greatsword or longsword, you can choose to impale the creature. While impaled, the target is effectively grappled, and you can't attack again with this weapon until the grapple ends.

First bullet point is solid. Not amazing, but still useful.

Second bullet point is completely nonsensical. Why not just use a rapier?

Third bullet point is fine. A minor perk, but cool nonetheless.

Fourth bullet point looks good.

Overall it's a little bit on the weak side, but it's an interesting set of perks nevertheless.


KNIFE DANCER
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher

Somewhere in your life, you got very handy with a knife, and can pull off a variety of dirty tricks. You gain the following benefits:

If you take the Attack action on your turn to throw a dagger, you can draw and throw two daggers as part of one attack. Both of these attacks must be at targets within short range.
If you make a melee weapon attack using either a dagger or a sickle and either have advantage on the attack roll, or you or the creature you are attacking are grappled, or you are swallowed by the creature you are attacking, you can roll an extra 1d4 and add the result to the damage.
If you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using a dagger, you can add double your ability modifier to the damage roll, rather than once as normal.

For the first bullet point, I don't think there's any harm in letting you draw as many daggers as you can attack with. I also don't think there's any reason to impose that restriction either. Heck, I would even go so far as to double the range of thrown daggers. Daggers are very weak weapons, and I don't see any harm in buffing them.

Second bullet point is needlessly complex.

Third bullet point is decent for assassin rogues, but nothing amazing.

Honestly I think this feat is pretty weak. A rogue isn't going to get too much out of it - their sneak attack will greatly overshadow the damage bonuses this feat provides. A Fighter isn't going to get much out of it since they can just use rapiers in the first place and get more damage than this feat provides in the best-case. This feat needs a buff.


AXE MASTER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You have mastered the demanding momentum of a swung axe to wreak terrifying bloody carnage, and have learnt how best to hurl a throwing axe to bounce unpredictably towards the foe as part of a charge. You gain the following benefits:

If you make a melee weapon attack with either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe and hit, gain a bonus of +1 to the damage roll.
If you move at least 10 feet towards a creature in a turn that you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action on your turn to throw a handaxe at a creature, gaining advantage on the roll. As part of the bonus action, you can also draw another weapon.
On your turn, when you score a critical hit against a creature using either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe in melee, or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can use a reaction to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check, contested by the Wisdom of one or more creatures that can see or hear you within 30'. If you succeed, the creature is frightened during its next turn.

First bullet point is powerful. +2 STR is worth a feat, and gives +1 hit and +1 damage. You've given out half of that bonus already. Tread lightly with what else this feat provides.

Second bullet point is powerful as well. Not only do you get a reliable bonus-action attack, but with advantage to boot! What's stopping you from doing this every turn? This feature doesn't need advantage.

Third bullet point is flat-out broken. Kill a single enemy and you frighten the entire room? No way.

This feat is overpowered.


BRUTISH BLUDGEONER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You've mastered blunt instruments so that your blows can break through armour, send foes flying, and hammer your way relentlessly through the scenery. You gain the following benefits:

If you make a melee weapon attack with either a mace, maul, morningstar, warpick or warhammer against a creature wearing medium or heavy armour, or a creature with thick natural armour (like a dragon's scales, or a giant scorpion's exoskeleton), gain a bonus of +2 to the damage roll.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit against a creature using either a club, greatclub, light hammer, mace, maul, quarterstaff, morningstar or warhammer in melee, you can use your reaction to push it 5', providing that the creature is no more than one size larger than you.
If you are wielding either a light hammer, mace, maul, morningstar, warpick or warhammer, you can use your action to strike an inanimate object and inflict double damage (doubling both the results of the damage roll and the ability modifier).

First bullet point is too vague. Define "thick natural armor".

Second bullet point: It only happens on a crit, so it's not that powerful, but that's ok; the first ability is already enough to carry this feat.

Third bullet point: Decent. It's a pretty niche ability, but the first bullet point is already very powerful, so this seems like something nice to throw in.

Be more specific with the first bullet point, and this is an ok feat. As-is it's way too hard to adjudicate what it's supposed to mean.


PHALANX FIGHTER
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

Probably through a background in the infantry, you are competent with hafted weapons, knowing best how to use their reach, and feel strongest when fighting in a formation of sorts. You gain the following benefits:

Once per turn, if you are wielding either a javelin, spear or pike, you can deal an additional 1d6 damage to a creature you hit with a weapon attack, if you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated.
If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can choose to take a -2 penalty to your attack roll to give your weapon the reach property for this attack, when wielding either a quarterstaff, spear, or trident.
If you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened and you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated, you can choose to reroll the save, but must use the second result if you do so.


Spear works on both the first and second bullet points. Why use any of the other options?

Overall it looks fine as far as balance is concerned. Nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible either.


ALCHEMIST
Prerequisite: Proficiency with alchemists's supplies

You have spent many a long night messing around with weird mixtures and alchemical glassware, concocting potent brews with practiced efficiency, and have even got pretty good at dodging the odd explosion when things go wrong! You gain the following benefits:

When crafting chemical-based equipment (including acid, alchemist's fire, alcohol, antitoxin, ink, poison and potions of healing), you can craft items with a total market value not exceeding 25gp per day.
Poisons you craft add your proficiency bonus to the DC and the poison damage inflicted.
If you can craft potions of healing, you can also craft potions of greater healing.
If you are subjected to an area effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to reduce the damage you suffer, gain advantage on the roll.
Looks good. I personally think that the crafting system needs a more thorough overhaul to make it worthwhile though.



DRAGON SLAYER
Prerequisite: You must have fought a dragon

Perhaps foolishly, you have dedicated your life to hunting down these winged monsters, knowing well how to turn their strengths against them, and can quickly work out their weak points. You gain the following benefits:

On your turn, you can use a bonus action to study the movement and strategies of a dragon, dracolich, or a beast or monstrosity of large size or greater; the creature must not be incapacitated. Make a Wisdom (Insight or Perception, your choice) check against DC 15. If you succeed, any future weapon attack you make against the creature scores a critical hit on a 19 or 20 (or on a roll of 18-20, if you have the Improved Critical feature).
When making an attack against a dragon, you can treat any damage immunity it might have as damage resistance instead.
You can add your proficiency bonus to any Intelligence or Wisdom check related to dragons.
If you are required to make a saving throw against the Frightful Presence or breath weapon of a dragon, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll. If you already have proficiency in this save, then add double your proficiency.


Looks fine to me. I don't see anything overpowered.


GLIB TONGUE

Yours is the face that suckers like to trust, and you have a pretty way with words; you've probably sold someone a bridge, and you might do it again. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You reduce the cost of equipment purchased after character generation by 20%. This only applies to smaller purchases, worth a standard market value of 100gp or less.
On your turn, you can use your action to thoroughly distract a creature you can see within 60 feet that can hear you. Provided that you or your companions aren't fighting the creature, make a Charisma (Deception) check, contested by the Wisdom (Insight) of the creature. If you succeed, the target has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to perceive any creature or unusual occurrence, other than you, for up to 1 minute. This effect ends if you are incapacitated or can no longer speak.

Quite solid. I can definitely see this feat being quite useful.



STRONG ARM
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

You have built up a solid musculature, with a powerful throw, and the ability to overdraw a bow to the breaking point. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When making a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon that isn't a net, add 30 feet to the long range.
If you take the Attack action on your turn to fire either a longbow, or to throw a weapon which inflicts 1d6 or more damage, an attack that hits also pushes the creature 5'. The push effect only effects creatures of your size or smaller.
When you make a Strength check or saving throw to break restraints, damage an object, arm wrestle, or a similar feat of muscle power, gain advantage on the roll.


Looks good. Pushes aren't too terribly powerful, but they can be useful from time to time.

Bharaeth
2015-03-02, 07:03 AM
Looks ok. Nothing amazing.



The first bullet point is the same as grappling your target, and then shoving them prone, but it only costs one action instead of two. That kind of power every turn is already enough to warrant a feat.

The second bullet point is essentially spending your bonus action for five feet of movement. Pretty weak IMO.

The third bullet point would be better suited as a class feature. It only costs your action the first turn you use it, which makes it extremely cost-efficient. The saving throw mechanic is needlessly complex. Just say that you make a melee weapon attack against them as usual.

Okay, so if I change the first bullet to only being when you get a crit? Which means it will be a hell of a lot less effective, but maybe then instead of a bonus action it costs a reaction, or it is just a free action? Maybe.

The second one I am okay with - I wanted to try and design some of the combat feats with the odd out-of-combat utility, and this kinda Indiana Jones thing could be cool, particularly for reaching things on the ceiling often out of reach, or what have you. And you only get 1 Interact With an Object per turn, so it might see some use.

So, as a bit of introduction to the third point. My first incarnation of the feat was instead you ignore a target's shield AC bonus, but the other DM went mad at denying someone their shield, so I scraped the barrel of my mind trying to come up with something else that might be appropriate. I realise it is kinda complex and clunky. Also, when I wrote it, I forgot to write it in that it took your action each turn to maintain it! I didn't mean for it to be a way for someone to get that many extra actions, although I do intend it to possibly allow multiple attacks if groups of people enter the danger zone. If I make it an attack roll rather than a Dex save type effect, there is a danger that, depending on the user's class, they can bring Rage damage into bear, or Sneak Attack damage or Battlemaster Maneuvers; I intended it to not be carefully placed attacks on behalf of the flail-wielder, so I didn't want people being frightened or tripped, or what have you. Does this make sense?



First bullet point is solid. Not amazing, but still useful.

Second bullet point is completely nonsensical. Why not just use a rapier?

Third bullet point is fine. A minor perk, but cool nonetheless.

Fourth bullet point looks good.

Overall it's a little bit on the weak side, but it's an interesting set of perks nevertheless.

The second one was I suppose a custom-made possibility for one of our own characters, who for story reasons used a long sword, but also had Rogue classes, and could have been a justification for the character to not be handicapped when using the campaign-centric weapon.

And, as a personal gripe, I just have a problem with rapiers being the go-to weapon for so many characters in these editions, just for their pure mechanical efficiency. I feel that rapiers should purely be in the hands of Errol Flynn swashbuckler types, or out-of-their-depth fops, rather than hardened cut throats.



For the first bullet point, I don't think there's any harm in letting you draw as many daggers as you can attack with. I also don't think there's any reason to impose that restriction either. Heck, I would even go so far as to double the range of thrown daggers. Daggers are very weak weapons, and I don't see any harm in buffing them.

Second bullet point is needlessly complex.

Third bullet point is decent for assassin rogues, but nothing amazing.

Honestly I think this feat is pretty weak. A rogue isn't going to get too much out of it - their sneak attack will greatly overshadow the damage bonuses this feat provides. A Fighter isn't going to get much out of it since they can just use rapiers in the first place and get more damage than this feat provides in the best-case. This feat needs a buff.

Maybe I worded this dagger one wrong - I intended for the first point to be able to throw two daggers as part of a single attack, not just to allow people to draw extra daggers. The original incarnation of the feat had the character able to attack with as many knives as their Dex bonus, up to a maximum of 4, but I was told that was overpowered, so i limited it down.

The second point was meant to convey that getting into close-quarters clumsy fighting with an experienced dagger-wielder can be dangerous. Maybe it should be along the lines of "On your turn, if you are grappling or grappled by a creature, or restrained by a creature, you can use your bonus action to make a single melee attack with a dagger."

Or alternatively, maybe it can be a reaction attack that, if the the character is attacked in melee, they can use their reaction to make a single melee attack with a dagger.

What do you think about either of those two?



First bullet point is powerful. +2 STR is worth a feat, and gives +1 hit and +1 damage. You've given out half of that bonus already. Tread lightly with what else this feat provides.

Second bullet point is powerful as well. Not only do you get a reliable bonus-action attack, but with advantage to boot! What's stopping you from doing this every turn? This feature doesn't need advantage.

Third bullet point is flat-out broken. Kill a single enemy and you frighten the entire room? No way.

This feat is overpowered.

Okay, so I scrap the first bullet point entirely, remove the advantage from the thrown axe attack, and then work on the third point. Say, have the third one only work on a crit [rather than a 0 hp], and only work on a single target. But isn't that a bit arbitrary? That only one of the goblins in the room, say, could be frightened, whereas the rest are unperturbed?

My angry DM told me this one was horribly overpowered, but he said they all were overpowered, so it was a bit Cry Wolf to see through. If this modified feat only has these two elements, though, won't it be a bit weak?




First bullet point is too vague. Define "thick natural armor".

Second bullet point: It only happens on a crit, so it's not that powerful, but that's ok; the first ability is already enough to carry this feat.

Third bullet point: Decent. It's a pretty niche ability, but the first bullet point is already very powerful, so this seems like something nice to throw in.

Be more specific with the first bullet point, and this is an ok feat. As-is it's way too hard to adjudicate what it's supposed to mean.

I'm a little stuck on how to further define that first bullet point, to be honest. I roughly intend for it to affect the creatures with +2 or +3 natural armour, but the MM isn't overly explicit about what creature gets what bonus to its AC in the first place. As feats are optional, and homebrew feats are even more optional, and would all need approval from individual DMs, I thought it might be best to leave it to a DM to just be honest with the players over whether a creature they are fighting has thick scales or exoskeleton, rather than try and scrimp and save on its HP and deny the PC their feat investment...




Spear works on both the first and second bullet points. Why use any of the other options?

It does work on both options, but I think that's fine. I think the Polearm Master does that, too. And a spear isn't over-incentivised in other ways, that I know of.



Looks good. I personally think that the crafting system needs a more thorough overhaul to make it worthwhile though.

You're probably right about overhauling the crafting system, but I wouldn't know where to begin. My original version of this feat also gave a +1 to Int, but I was told that the last bit of the feat and the +1 Int made it too attractive, rather than just for alchemist-type characters.

Strill
2015-03-02, 08:15 AM
Okay, so if I change the first bullet to only being when you get a crit? Which means it will be a hell of a lot less effective, but maybe then instead of a bonus action it costs a reaction, or it is just a free action? Maybe.That sounds like it would work.


The second one I am okay with - I wanted to try and design some of the combat feats with the odd out-of-combat utility, and this kinda Indiana Jones thing could be cool, particularly for reaching things on the ceiling often out of reach, or what have you. And you only get 1 Interact With an Object per turn, so it might see some use.Allright, looks good.


So, as a bit of introduction to the third point. My first incarnation of the feat was instead you ignore a target's shield AC bonus, but the other DM went mad at denying someone their shieldThen honestly it sounds like they were overreacting. Do they expect every enemy to be carrying a shield? Honestly considering all the beasts, demons, monsters, and various creatures you fight, shield-users are rare. Do they expect that enemy NPCs will have this feat, and negate the effectiveness of shields for some of the player-characters? Do they expect that player characters will be fighting one another, causing this feat to unfairly disadvantage players who invest in shields?

I honestly don't see any problem with just ignoring your opponent's shield.


so I scraped the barrel of my mind trying to come up with something else that might be appropriate. I realise it is kinda complex and clunky. Also, when I wrote it, I forgot to write it in that it took your action each turn to maintain it! I didn't mean for it to be a way for someone to get that many extra actions, although I do intend it to possibly allow multiple attacks if groups of people enter the danger zone. If I make it an attack roll rather than a Dex save type effect, there is a danger that, depending on the user's class, they can bring Rage damage into bear, or Sneak Attack damage or Battlemaster Maneuvers; I intended it to not be carefully placed attacks on behalf of the flail-wielder, so I didn't want people being frightened or tripped, or what have you. Does this make sense? Yeah it does make sense. I'm not sure what advice I can give you though.

----------------------------------


The second one was I suppose a custom-made possibility for one of our own characters, who for story reasons used a long sword, but also had Rogue classes, and could have been a justification for the character to not be handicapped when using the campaign-centric weapon.

And, as a personal gripe, I just have a problem with rapiers being the go-to weapon for so many characters in these editions, just for their pure mechanical efficiency. I feel that rapiers should purely be in the hands of Errol Flynn swashbuckler types, or out-of-their-depth fops, rather than hardened cut throats.I personally am of the opinion that the DM should freely allow the players to choose the aesthetics of their characters. I think it's perfectly fine for a sword to use the stats of a rapier, but be a longsword.

------------------------


Maybe I worded this dagger one wrong - I intended for the first point to be able to throw two daggers as part of a single attack, not just to allow people to draw extra daggers. The original incarnation of the feat had the character able to attack with as many knives as their Dex bonus, up to a maximum of 4, but I was told that was overpowered, so i limited it down.Doubling your number of dagger attacks is overpowered because you get to apply your STR or DEX modifier to damage twice. Instead, say "When you throw daggers, you throw two of them in a single motion. When making a ranged attack with daggers, your attack's damage dice become 2d4."

This bumps up thrown dagger damage to be on par with that of a longbow. It's not that much of a benefit, but it brings daggers up to par, so it's a good start.


The second point was meant to convey that getting into close-quarters clumsy fighting with an experienced dagger-wielder can be dangerous. Maybe it should be along the lines of "On your turn, if you are grappling or grappled by a creature, or restrained by a creature, you can use your bonus action to make a single melee attack with a dagger."Not restrained by. An enemy could be restraining you with magic from across the room.


Or alternatively, maybe it can be a reaction attack that, if the the character is attacked in melee, they can use their reaction to make a single melee attack with a dagger.It would become an absolutely must-have feat for Rogues. Recall that a Rogue's sneak attack can be triggered once per TURN, not once per ROUND. This reaction attack would therefore qualify for a sneak attack. It needs some condition attached to it so you can't just use it every round.

Maybe make it a reaction to opponents using shove or grapple attempts? I suppose then the onus would be on the DM to make sure they include shoving and grappling enemies from time to time.

---------------


Okay, so I scrap the first bullet point entirely, remove the advantage from the thrown axe attack, and then work on the third point. Say, have the third one only work on a crit [rather than a 0 hp], and only work on a single target. But isn't that a bit arbitrary? That only one of the goblins in the room, say, could be frightened, whereas the rest are unperturbed?Perhaps, but 5e prioritizes simplicity and game balance over realism. Maybe your character glares at one enemy in particular.


My angry DM told me this one was horribly overpowered, but he said they all were overpowered, so it was a bit Cry Wolf to see through. If this modified feat only has these two elements, though, won't it be a bit weak?If he thinks they're all overpowered, then he's bad at analysis.

No, I don't think it would be overpowered to leave it with just two bullet points. You have to remember that getting a reliable bonus action attack is a really big deal. That's a big part of what makes Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master among the best feats available.

------------------


I'm a little stuck on how to further define that first bullet point, to be honest. I roughly intend for it to affect the creatures with +2 or +3 natural armour, but the MM isn't overly explicit about what creature gets what bonus to its AC in the first place. As feats are optional, and homebrew feats are even more optional, and would all need approval from individual DMs, I thought it might be best to leave it to a DM to just be honest with the players over whether a creature they are fighting has thick scales or exoskeleton, rather than try and scrimp and save on its HP and deny the PC their feat investment...
Yeah I suppose that makes sense. Allright I can agree this one looks fine.


-----------------------



It does work on both options, but I think that's fine. I think the Polearm Master does that, too. And a spear isn't over-incentivised in other ways, that I know of.
You're right. Pikes work on one of Polearm Master's features and not the other. I still think that's bad design though. In my opinion, it seems arbitrary to allow spears to benefit from both features, but not the other weapon types.

-----------------------


You're probably right about overhauling the crafting system, but I wouldn't know where to begin. My original version of this feat also gave a +1 to Int, but I was told that the last bit of the feat and the +1 Int made it too attractive, rather than just for alchemist-type characters. Yeah you're right. It is a very good perk. Why is it there though? It doesn't strike me as very alchemy-themed.

Giving +1 INT on this would be thematic, but it would also restrict this perk to Wizards, Arcane Tricksters, and Eldritch Knights. That's a bit limited in my opinion. I think it would be better if it didn't give an attribute bonus, but was good enough to stand on its own.

Argothair
2015-03-03, 10:53 AM
FLAIL EXPERT
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Dexterity 13 or higher

You've mastered exotic lashing weapons, and can easily ensnare a foe, or spin an impenetrable web of steel that punishes foes who get too close, though you can't keep it up for long. You gain the following benefits:

When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try and grapple a creature within reach with your flail, chain or whip. Until the creature escapes the grapple, it is restrained, and you can't attack again with this weapon.
If using a whip, you can use a bonus action on your turn to interact with an object within the whip's reach (yanking open an unlocked door, or pulling a lever, for example).
On your turn, when you are wielding a flail, chain or nunchuka, you can use your action to adopt a web of steel stance, striking any who get too close. Similiar to some spells, maintaining this feature requires concentration (lasting up to 1 minute), but it also fails if you become prone or restrained, or if you are involved in a successful grapple. Whilst maintained, your movement is halved, but you gain partial cover against weapon attacks, and any time a creature enters your reach or starts its turn there, it must make a Dexterity saving throw (the DC is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your choice of Strength or Dexterity modifier). On a failed save, then you hit it with a melee weapon attack. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.



Agree that at-will Attack + Grapple is too powerful for reach weapons, even if it does use your bonus action. Part of the fun/risk of grappling is that you have to get way in close (taking a big risk) to apply the restrained penalty (gaining a big reward). Maybe your grapple check is at disadvantage?



MASTER SWORDSMAN
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

In your hands, a sword is a truly versatile and defensive weapon. You gain the following benefits:

If wielding either a greatsword or longsword, you can use an action on your turn to adopt a semi-defensive posture. You can make one melee weapon attack this turn with disadvantage, and melee weapon attacks against you also suffer disadvantage. This lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of a longsword used one-handed, and you can also use a longsword one-handed to deal Sneak Attack damage.
If you are wielding either a greatsword, longsword or shortsword and take the Attack action on your turn, one of your attacks this turn can deliver your choice of either slashing or piercing damage.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using either a greatsword or longsword, you can choose to impale the creature. While impaled, the target is effectively grappled, and you can't attack again with this weapon until the grapple ends.



I like this feat. What if you find a magical longsword and want to use it with DEX? Good to have the option. Also, I think it's harder to get proficiency with a rapier -- elves and dwarves can use longswords even if they're not Fighters.



KNIFE DANCER
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher

Somewhere in your life, you got very handy with a knife, and can pull off a variety of dirty tricks. You gain the following benefits:

If you take the Attack action on your turn to throw a dagger, you can draw and throw two daggers as part of one attack. Both of these attacks must be at targets within short range.
If you make a melee weapon attack using either a dagger or a sickle and either have advantage on the attack roll, or you or the creature you are attacking are grappled, or you are swallowed by the creature you are attacking, you can roll an extra 1d4 and add the result to the damage.
If you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using a dagger, you can add double your ability modifier to the damage roll, rather than once as normal.



Looks like fun to me. I don't think it's underpowered.



AXE MASTER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You have mastered the demanding momentum of a swung axe to wreak terrifying bloody carnage, and have learnt how best to hurl a throwing axe to bounce unpredictably towards the foe as part of a charge. You gain the following benefits:

If you make a melee weapon attack with either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe and hit, gain a bonus of +1 to the damage roll.
If you move at least 10 feet towards a creature in a turn that you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action on your turn to throw a handaxe at a creature, gaining advantage on the roll. As part of the bonus action, you can also draw another weapon.
On your turn, when you score a critical hit against a creature using either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe in melee, or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can use a reaction to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check, contested by the Wisdom of one or more creatures that can see or hear you within 30'. If you succeed, the creature is frightened during its next turn.



My main concern with this feat is that you can charge and attack one creature with +1 damage, while also using your bonus action to attack a second creature with advantage and +1 damage. If you have the Extra Attack feature, it seems like that would stack, so a Level 11 Dwarven Fighter with this feat could go nova with 8 attacks in a single turn, 4 of which would have advantage. I would require the player to throw the axe at the same target he's charging -- it seems like it would be really hard to throw an axe in a different direction while you're sprinting -- wouldn't you need to pivot your hips and shoulder?




PHALANX FIGHTER
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

Probably through a background in the infantry, you are competent with hafted weapons, knowing best how to use their reach, and feel strongest when fighting in a formation of sorts. You gain the following benefits:

Once per turn, if you are wielding either a javelin, spear or pike, you can deal an additional 1d6 damage to a creature you hit with a weapon attack, if you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated.
If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can choose to take a -2 penalty to your attack roll to give your weapon the reach property for this attack, when wielding either a quarterstaff, spear, or trident.
If you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened and you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated, you can choose to reroll the save, but must use the second result if you do so.



I would require two allies who aren't incapacitated within 10 feet of you. One ally does not a phalanx make.





STRONG ARM
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

You have built up a solid musculature, with a powerful throw, and the ability to overdraw a bow to the breaking point. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When making a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon that isn't a net, add 30 feet to the long range.
If you take the Attack action on your turn to fire either a longbow, or to throw a weapon which inflicts 1d6 or more damage, an attack that hits also pushes the creature 5'. The push effect only effects creatures of your size or smaller.
When you make a Strength check or saving throw to break restraints, damage an object, arm wrestle, or a similar feat of muscle power, gain advantage on the roll.


I love the idea, but I have two concerns here. One is that longbows have 200/600 feet range already, so adding 30 feet isn't really going to affect that. If you're trying to build a feat that can compete with Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, you need to show more love for the longbow than just letting it push medium-sized victims five feet. Two is that 'grappling' seems like it would fall under your definition of "Strength check or saving throw," which means that this feat would always grant advantage for grappling. That's probably not what you meant to do -- it would make the feat way more useful for tavern brawlers than for archers.

PS - If I didn't comment on one of your feats, it means I think it's fine, but it doesn't especially interest me. I'd let my players use it if I were GMing, but I wouldn't be tempted to use it myself. Just a matter of personal taste.

Myzz
2015-03-03, 01:15 PM
BATTLE HARDENED
Prerequisite: Character level 5 or higher

Your reflexes have been honed by years of conflict, and you don't scare or go down easily. You gain the following benefits:

You gain a +2 bonus to initiative.
When you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened, gain a bonus to the roll equal to your proficiency bonus.
When required to make a death saving throw, you only die if you fail your fourth save, rather than your third.



For the prereq, I'd add "or have the soldier background"



KNIFE DANCER
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher

Somewhere in your life, you got very handy with a knife, and can pull off a variety of dirty tricks. You gain the following benefits:

If you take the Attack action on your turn to throw a dagger, you can draw and throw two daggers as part of one attack. Both of these attacks must be at targets within short range.
If you make a melee weapon attack using either a dagger or a sickle and either have advantage on the attack roll, or you or the creature you are attacking are grappled, or you are swallowed by the creature you are attacking, you can roll an extra 1d4 and add the result to the damage.
If you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using a dagger, you can add double your ability modifier to the damage roll, rather than once as normal.



Bullet 1 - Is that only done once per Attack Action? If its done as part of 1 attack, implies that if you have multiple attacks you throw 2 daggers for each attack...

Regarding Range within bullet 1, I'd change it to 2 targets within 5 ft of each other rather than specify an actual range.

On the whole I like it...




STRONG ARM
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

You have built up a solid musculature, with a powerful throw, and the ability to overdraw a bow to the breaking point. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When making a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon that isn't a net, add 30 feet to the long range.
If you take the Attack action on your turn to fire either a longbow, or to throw a weapon which inflicts 1d6 or more damage, an attack that hits also pushes the creature 5'. The push effect only effects creatures of your size or smaller.
When you make a Strength check or saving throw to break restraints, damage an object, arm wrestle, or a similar feat of muscle power, gain advantage on the roll.


Bullet 2 - would adding 10 ft to effective (normal) range be bad?

No Longbow Expert?

I only really looked at the 3 I quoted closely, but they look solid! Great Job

Bharaeth
2015-03-03, 02:28 PM
You're right. Pikes work on one of Polearm Master's features and not the other. I still think that's bad design though. In my opinion, it seems arbitrary to allow spears to benefit from both features, but not the other weapon types.

Well, unlike the previous benefit, pikes already have reach, and I don't think javelins were ever used for their reach. Whereas spears (and maybe tridents? who knows) I think were meant to be about their reach in real warfare, and I find it odd that DnD treats halberds and glaives as reach, but not spears. And also, as I understand, quarterstaff fighting is all about thekeeping foes at bay, and stabbing with the pole end of that would boost your reach.


It would become an absolutely must-have feat for Rogues. Recall that a Rogue's sneak attack can be triggered once per TURN, not once per ROUND. This reaction attack would therefore qualify for a sneak attack. It needs some condition attached to it so you can't just use it every round.

Maybe make it a reaction to opponents using shove or grapple attempts? I suppose then the onus would be on the DM to make sure they include shoving and grappling enemies from time to time.

Yeah, you're right, every turn for a Rogue would be very powerful with Sneak Attack. I don't really envision a push attack putting a combatant in as much danger of stabby-stabby as a prolonged grapple, so don't want it to key off shove attempts. But I don't want it just to be grapple attempts it punishes (which are rare), but also monsters that deal grapple/restrain effects as part of their melee attack, like a constrictor's 'Constrict' attack or a purple worm's swallowing 'Bite'. So, something like:

"If subject to a grapple attempt, or a melee weapon attack which imposes the grappled or restrained conditions, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack using a dagger or sickle. On a hit, your opponent suffers disadvantage on their roll. This attack interrupts your opponent's action."

I know it's a bit wordy, but if it was just a straight-up attack for the reaction, any Rogue with Uncanny Dodge would almost never use it.


Doubling your number of dagger attacks is overpowered because you get to apply your STR or DEX modifier to damage twice. Instead, say "When you throw daggers, you throw two of them in a single motion. When making a ranged attack with daggers, your attack's damage dice become 2d4."

This bumps up thrown dagger damage to be on par with that of a longbow. It's not that much of a benefit, but it brings daggers up to par, so it's a good start.

I don't know - i liked the idea of being able to strike two separate foes. Or are you saying, you can attack two foes, and the damage against each foe is 2d4? Sorry for my confusion here.



Yeah you're right. It is a very good perk. Why is it there though? It doesn't strike me as very alchemy-themed.

Well, I guess it was a bit comedy-minded, but if anyone is ever going to get practice in diving out of the way of explosions, a mad scientist who regularly blows up the lab would be it! That was my concept of an alchemist here.


For the prereq, I'd add "or have the soldier background"

Hey, I like that. You don't think that's too complex for a pre-requisite?


Bullet 1 - Is that only done once per Attack Action? If its done as part of 1 attack, implies that if you have multiple attacks you throw 2 daggers for each attack...

Good catch - I missed that. I'll change the wording for something like "one attack on your turn"


Regarding Range within bullet 1, I'd change it to 2 targets within 5 ft of each other rather than specify an actual range.

Hmm... could be cool. Maybe make it twice against the same target or 2 adjacent targets, though?


Bullet 2 - would adding 10 ft to effective (normal) range be bad?

No Longbow Expert?

I figure that 10' is almost nothing, though. I think I arrived at 30' as it seemed sort of a suitable compromise for all those weapons with fairly different ranges.

I didn't consider any proper dedicated missile weapon feats, as Sharpshooter and Archery Fighting Style et al already seem to support missile weapon fighters a lot this edition, or so I thought. To be honest, I felt like 'Strong Arm' was my weakest feat, thematically, just kinda random elements thrown together. I liked the idea of someone being able to throw weapons further, (like in somg RPGs where Strength has an impact on range), and then having people knocked back by powerful javelin shots and the like seemed to make sense. And then I wanted to have a kind of strength element show up in archery in the game, as it requires so much muscle power, rather than only agility and control, as per the rules.

But yeah, a dedicated 'Longbow Expert' feat would be cool, but it would probably need to be only for shortbows and longbows, unlike the wider weapon feats which benefit different types, so hand crossbow users can't get further support from it. Not sure what that might entail?


My main concern with this feat is that you can charge and attack one creature with +1 damage, while also using your bonus action to attack a second creature with advantage and +1 damage. If you have the Extra Attack feature, it seems like that would stack, so a Level 11 Dwarven Fighter with this feat could go nova with 8 attacks in a single turn, 4 of which would have advantage. I would require the player to throw the axe at the same target he's charging -- it seems like it would be really hard to throw an axe in a different direction while you're sprinting -- wouldn't you need to pivot your hips and shoulder?

I initially envisioned someone being able to fling an axe at a foe next to their main enemy, but it would probably benefit from either being only at the same target as your melee foe (although they can split their foes to many targets, depending on how many attacks they have), or just be specifically a once-per-turn deal, so Extra Attack or Action Surge be damned. And yeah, you're not the first person to note the advantage being too powerful, so I think I'll strip that out of the feat.


I love the idea, but I have two concerns here. One is that longbows have 200/600 feet range already, so adding 30 feet isn't really going to affect that. If you're trying to build a feat that can compete with Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert, you need to show more love for the longbow than just letting it push medium-sized victims five feet. Two is that 'grappling' seems like it would fall under your definition of "Strength check or saving throw," which means that this feat would always grant advantage for grappling. That's probably not what you meant to do -- it would make the feat way more useful for tavern brawlers than for archers.

I kinda had thrown weapon users as the main beneficiary in mind, but as above, I thought if you're strong enough to pack that much wallop into a hurled axe, then that strength would probably transfer to an archer, too. Oh, I'd just realised the extra range thing was only for thrown weapons in the wording. Maybe I need to change the blurb of the feat to avoid confusion, here?

But yeah, I see what you mean about grappling. Hmm. Restricting it to just Strength saves won't accomplish what I'm after, and saying something like 'non-combat Strength checks' is a bit meaningless. Maybe I should just allow it, or remove that part of the feat altogether. I'm not sure.


I would require two allies who aren't incapacitated within 10 feet of you. One ally does not a phalanx make. Even having three people in a short area still isn't an actual phalanx. I think it just reflects a warrior's morale being boosted just by knowing there is an ally at their side. Do you think an extra 1 to 6 damage on an attack requires two allies close by? I could change it to that, I guess.

Strill
2015-03-03, 04:18 PM
I don't know - i liked the idea of being able to strike two separate foes. Or are you saying, you can attack two foes, and the damage against each foe is 2d4? Sorry for my confusion here.
Sorry, but if you just allow them to attack twice, then you've made the Extra Attack feature into a feat. That's a no-no. Extra attacks are the primary way that martial classes are distinguished from casters. When you put extra attacks into a feat like that, you're invalidating the primary reason people take Martial classes.

And for reference, I meant that you deal 2d4 to a single enemy.

Bharaeth
2015-03-03, 04:38 PM
Sorry, but if you just allow them to attack twice, then you've made the Extra Attack feature into a feat. That's a no-no. Extra attacks are the primary way that martial classes are distinguished from casters. When you put extra attacks into a feat like that, you're invalidating the primary reason people take Martial classes.

And for reference, I meant that you deal 2d4 to a single enemy.

Hmm, true. Although, someone with Extra Attack also gets an extra go with this feat. There are some spellcasters I think, like Valour Bard, Bladepact Warlocks and War Priests who can get a pseudo version of Extra Attack, although they have to pay for that in multiple levels. But what about the lowly single class Rogue? Rogue's classically use daggers more than others, and this allows them a limited version of Extra Attack, although it requires they not be in 5 feet of their target otherwise disadvantage. What about if I bump up the Dexterity requirement for the feat to discourage some?

Hmm, no. Bear in mind we're talking a d4 weapon here. Most casters would be probably better off with their cantrips, unless they have made a substantial Dexterity or Strength investment - and most will be focusing on their spell caster stat.

The real characters to gain from an extra attack like Rage Barbarians and Improved Smiting Paladins only get their add ons in melee. And then Hunter's Mark Rangers and Hex Warlocks (are spell-stealing Bards, I guess) will also gain. If I could shoehorn in a Concentration requirement, this would push them out, but that would be a little too cheesy, even for me!

BootStrapTommy
2015-03-04, 01:36 AM
Don't know if it's my place to posit a suggestion but:

FIREARMS EXPERT
Prerequisite: Proficiency with a firearm
You are experienced in the use of these newfangled gunpowder firearms:
• You ignore the loading quality of gunpowder weapons with which you are proficient.
• Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
• You are proficient when using a gunpowder weapon as an improvised melee weapon.

Bharaeth
2015-03-04, 03:49 AM
Don't know if it's my place to posit a suggestion but:

FIREARMS EXPERT
Prerequisite: Proficiency with a firearm
You are experienced in the use of these newfangled gunpowder firearms:
• You ignore the loading quality of gunpowder weapons with
which you are proficient.
• Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't
impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
• You are proficient when using a gunpowder weapon as an improvised melee weapon.

Well, that's pretty cool - as with Crossbow Expert, is the middle benefit intended to benefit spellcasters and other types of attacks? The last point also is pretty flavourful, but maybe not as good as its crossbow-using counterpart. Not sure what to suggest, though - maybe something about extra armour penetration or the like?

Kryx
2015-03-04, 04:21 AM
FIREARMS EXPERT
My version is a mirror of the crossbow expert - which I allow for a 2H crossbow to do more damage instead of the third bullet.

"When you wield a two-handed crossbow you deal additional damage equal to half of your proficiency bonus (round down)."
You can see the math for this (and my bow mastery feat) on google docs using ranger and fighter (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d-9xDdath8kX_v7Rpts9JFIJwIG3X0-dDUtfax14NT0/edit?usp=sharing).

Gunslinger:

You ignore the loading quality of firearms with which you are proficient.
Being within 5 ft of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls with a firearm.
Choose one of the following:

When you use the Attack action & attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a loaded light firearm you are holding.
When you wield a two-handed gun you deal additional damage equal to half of your proficiency bonus (round down).


Though I think the second bullet for guns should be swapped out to something more flavorful. Maybe pistol whipping? Improvised is already part of ranged weapons by RAW: "If a character uses a ranged weapon to make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have the thrown property, it also deals 1d4 damage."
Maybe 1 die size lower than the weapon and not finesse?... hard to make something simple and flavorful for melee guns.

I also ported the Firearms and ammunition from Pathfinder (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P9b7ZMjeuVkuWhi19ipqt3dRHuuIpsEHPgUbeiJg-CI/edit#heading=h.698t5x2lng39).

Bow Master:

You can use your bow to make melee attacks. Treat it as a finesse weapon that does d6 bludgeoning damage (versatile d8) for a longbow or a d4 (versatile d6) for a shortbow. (works with opportunity attacks)
Once per round, when you make a ranged attack with a bow, you can fire two arrows instead of one. The arrows do not add your dexterity modifier to damage. These shots can target multiple foes and their attacks are rolled separately. A different target must be within 5 feet of the original target and within range of your weapon.

BootStrapTommy
2015-03-04, 01:10 PM
Well, that's pretty cool - as with Crossbow Expert, is the middle benefit intended to benefit spellcasters and other types of attacks? The last point also is pretty flavourful, but maybe not as good as its crossbow-using counterpart. Not sure what to suggest, though - maybe something about extra armour penetration or the like? I noticed that too. Strange ambiguity in the language.

The weakest gunpowder weapon is as strong as the strongest crossbow, but takes one less hand to wield. I was more or less scaling it back, since firearms are higher damage than crossbows. Though I suppose that isn't quit necessary.

Though I think the second bullet for guns should be swapped out to something more flavorful. Maybe pistol whipping? Improvised is already part of ranged weapons by RAW: "If a character uses a ranged weapon to make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have the thrown property, it also deals 1d4 damage."
Maybe 1 die size lower than the weapon and not finesse?... hard to make something simple and flavorful for melee guns. Unless you have Tavern Brawler, you don't get proficiency. So giving proficiency would be useful enough.

Plus d4 makes sense for pistol whip. After all, a flintlock is roughly the size of a club.

On option one on bullet two, doesn't 5e limit two weapon fighting to two light weapons? The pistol's a one handed weapon. And the Dual Wielder specifies only melee weapons.

Kryx
2015-03-04, 01:33 PM
Unless you have Tavern Brawler, you don't get proficiency. So giving proficiency would be useful enough.
Plus d4 makes sense for pistol whip. After all, a flintlock is roughly the size of a club.
It's decent, but pales in comparison to the bow master feat which gives a versatile d6(d8) finesse weapon. And even that pales in comparison to the RAW Crossbow Expert ability to fire in melee.


On option one on bullet two, doesn't 5e limit two weapon fighting to two light weapons? The pistol's a one handed weapon. And the Dual Wielder specifies only melee weapons.
I use the firearms from Pathfinder that I ported to 5e (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P9b7ZMjeuVkuWhi19ipqt3dRHuuIpsEHPgUbeiJg-CI/edit#heading=h.698t5x2lng39), not the ones in the DMG.
I corrected the wording to work on light firearms. So pistol and dragon pistol.

BootStrapTommy
2015-03-04, 01:38 PM
It's decent, but pales in comparison to the bow master feat which gives a versatile d6(d8) finesse weapon. And even that pales in comparison to the RAW Crossbow Expert ability to fire in melee. Then maybe keeping the ability to fire in melee is best, anyway?

Or figure out something to do with a bayonet, and turn longarms into d6(d8) improvised spears?

Gritmonger
2015-03-04, 06:30 PM
Alchemist seems really underpowered given what it is. I'd throw in the proficiency with alchemy kit as a perk rather than being the requirement. There currently isn't a prerequisite to even have the proficiency in alchemy to craft alchemical items. It makes sense, but I'm not seeing what in this feat does anything more than formally say "you can craft common alchemical items if you have the proficiency and spend 1 day per 25 gold crafting."

Compare this to other feats like skilled or linguist which are pretty iffy on this scale as well, versus some others like magic initiate which give cantrips and a first level spell but no attribute bonus. It seems like if the feat is versatile in or out of combat, it doesn't rate the attribute bonus.

So if this is going to be a no attribute bonus feat, it maybe could use some utility as well.

Say, for instance, look at the gnome with their bonuses to figure out technological devices. You could give the alchemist a bonus on intelligence or investigation to identify potions or other one-use items other than scrolls.

Strill
2015-03-04, 09:27 PM
Alchemist seems really underpowered given what it is. I'd throw in the proficiency with alchemy kit as a perk rather than being the requirement. There currently isn't a prerequisite to even have the proficiency in alchemy to craft alchemical items. It makes sense, but I'm not seeing what in this feat does anything more than formally say "you can craft common alchemical items if you have the proficiency and spend 1 day per 25 gold crafting."

Compare this to other feats like skilled or linguist which are pretty iffy on this scale as well, versus some others like magic initiate which give cantrips and a first level spell but no attribute bonus. It seems like if the feat is versatile in or out of combat, it doesn't rate the attribute bonus.

So if this is going to be a no attribute bonus feat, it maybe could use some utility as well.

Say, for instance, look at the gnome with their bonuses to figure out technological devices. You could give the alchemist a bonus on intelligence or investigation to identify potions or other one-use items other than scrolls.

It gives advantage to dex saves.

Gritmonger
2015-03-05, 08:18 AM
It gives advantage to dex saves.
...which also didn't make a lot of sense to me. It seemed too broad an application for alchemical knowledge to provide dexterity saves to area of effect attacks. And potentially game-breaking when paired with the Rogue/Thief "evasion" equivalent - Advantage plus proficiency plus save for none.

I'm wondering if it couldn't be more like Magic Initiate in providing a more flexible benefit, or equivalent, with some flexibility. As in situational flexibility. Other feats seem to either provide substantial narrow benefit (specific combat situations) and a general attribute modifier to offset this limited utility, or a much broader benefit and no attribute bonus.

A narrow wedge of improved investigation for mostly potions or substances, the ability to make some common "magic" items for instance (potion of climbing for example) with either reduced time or in the field with less components, improved range on thrown components for a combat benefit (say, the thrown chemical equivalent of "sharpshooter").

Bharaeth
2015-03-06, 11:07 AM
Bow Master:

You can use your bow to make melee attacks. Treat it as a finesse weapon that does d6 bludgeoning damage (versatile d8) for a longbow or a d4 (versatile d6) for a shortbow. (works with opportunity attacks)
Once per round, when you make a ranged attack with a bow, you can fire two arrows instead of one. The arrows do not add your dexterity modifier to damage. These shots can target multiple foes and their attacks are rolled separately. A different target must be within 5 feet of the original target and within range of your weapon.


I've been thinking a bit about a Bow Mastery feat, or whatever the name:

From my little understanding, bows as melee weapons doesn't really work as they're built specifically to handle great tension from the bow string and not from clubbing people, and the tension requirements in a well-made bow should be fairly exact. They shouldn't be able to stove in a skull as well as a bloody great quarterstaff blow should. Maybe to pull off that sort of Legolassery, you would need a specially-made bow, perhaps?

I would give traits something along the likes of:


Any ranged weapon attack you make with a shortbow or longbow can add half of your Proficiency bonus to the damage roll, as well as any bonus from your Dexterity modifier (or maybe it should be Strength damage, or the least of either your Strength or proficiency bonus - I think Strength should definitely be involved!)
Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls (almost just like Crossbow Expert).


And then a third more utility one, along the lines of one of the following:


In downtime, you are proficient in any tools used to fletch your own arrows OR At the end of a battle, you can recover three quarters of your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield
You can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you.

Bharaeth
2015-03-06, 12:31 PM
Alchemist seems really underpowered given what it is. I'd throw in the proficiency with alchemy kit as a perk rather than being the requirement.

Giving a free proficiency perk in alchemists' tools isn't a benefit, unless you're playing a very specific type of setting, as they do nothing in game, that I know of. I would rather keep them as a sort of prohibiting prerequisite, and actually throw in proficiency in herbalist's kit and/or poisoners' kit, which the feat actually requires you to have to get the most out of it anyway. That could be more worthwhile.


Say, for instance, look at the gnome with their bonuses to figure out technological devices. You could give the alchemist a bonus on intelligence or investigation to identify potions or other one-use items other than scrolls.

The gnome bonus could be a lead for how to make this feat better, but I wouldn't want to totally overlap with the gnome racial traits, otherwise, it would be more like disincentivising gnomes to be alchemists, rather than the opposite, which their race's fluff implies.


It gives advantage to dex saves.


...which also didn't make a lot of sense to me. It seemed too broad an application for alchemical knowledge to provide dexterity saves to area of effect attacks. And potentially game-breaking when paired with the Rogue/Thief "evasion" equivalent - Advantage plus proficiency plus save for none.

Well, I was implying in the fluff that someone who regularly faces weird explosions in their own experiments would get better at dodging them. Perhaps I could limit it to poison, fire, lightning, cold and acid damage, or something equivalent, but that is probably being overly-specific? Off the top of my head I'm not sure, but don't Dex saves for half damage normally relate to energy-type blasts and the like? And yeah, it does combo well with the Rogue's Evasion, but then again, would a Rogue spend the feat and obscure tool prerequisite investment on this, when their high Dexterity and Dexterity save proficiency probably sees them through anyway?


A narrow wedge of improved investigation for mostly potions or substances, the ability to make some common "magic" items for instance (potion of climbing for example) with either reduced time...

This is actually what i was going for, by allowing to craft potions of greater healing, or whatever the name is, which normally you can't, without DM permission.


...or in the field with less components, improved range on thrown components for a combat benefit (say, the thrown chemical equivalent of "sharpshooter").

This would work well, but from a simulationist point of view, I believe an alchemist would be better equipped at avoiding fallout from their failed experiments rather than being better at hurling their finished products at a foe. Just because they excel at making the stuff shouldn't mean they excel at using it, perhaps?

Other stuff I might have as a problem with this feat - I read someone referring to a passage in the DMG which says you can craft more than 5gp a day of consumables, which I didn't realise - that would make this feat worse, if that were true. But I couldn't find the reference in my copy of the DMG stating that. Does anyone else know where to find that?

Finally, Freelance GM on their Foraging thread has come up with foraging rules and a potential 'Alchemist' feat, too, here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?385701-Foraging-Potion-Ingredients-Alchemy-Mini-Game-Idea): I'm not sure if it would be possible to make my version of the feat applicable for their rule set.

Bharaeth
2015-03-10, 05:43 AM
I have been thinking about my suggestions for the Alchemist feat, and how some people felt that the advantage on Dex saves to receive half damage from AoE attacks was inappropriate. I had feedback on another thread where someone suggested just giving resistance to poison damage instead, or advantage on saves vs poison.

I really wanted there to be a defensive combat application to this feat, so am still trying to work in a way that this can be included. It wasn't just poisons that I imagined the Alchemist creating, though, but possible having to dodge random flaming explosions, splashes of acid, electrical discharge, and the like. So, what do folks think about me swapping the save advantage thing for the following:



"You gain resistance against one of the following types of damage: acid, cold, fire, lightning or poison. The choice must be made when you select this feat, and cannot later be changed."

Myzz
2015-03-10, 08:53 AM
I made a Longbow Expert Feat... mostly because Crossbow Expert seemed kind of 'strange' on its own...


<requires proficiency in Longbow, and 14 Dexterity>

Being within 5ft of a hostile creature does not impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
When a creature first comes within 5 ft of you, you may use your reaction to make a dexterity based attack of opportunity using an arrow (1d4 P) or a strength based attack of opportunity (1d4 B).
As a Bonus Action on your turn, you may make a dexterity based attack using an arrow (1d4 P) or a strength based attack with your bow as a club (1d4 B) against an enemy within 5 ft



similar to Crossbow Expert, but meshes decently with a Longbow... you could even flesh out shortbow expert to the same or trade out one of the bullets.

Or in regards to the longbow swap out a bullet you dont like for increased range, that doesn't stack (or does based on pref) with sharpshooter. However I envision it as a feat that will be used in conjunction with sharpshooter.

Bharaeth
2015-03-16, 01:00 PM
Okay, so, here are something like my final versions of these feats, though Alchemist still needs a bit of help:

(NOTE: I am not sure which of the two versions of the Alchemist feat to consider the best one, and was looking for feedback, if possible)

ALCHEMIST v1
Prerequisite: Proficiency with alchemists's supplies

You have spent many a long night messing around with weird mixtures and alchemical glassware, concocting potent brews with practiced efficiency, and have even got pretty good at dodging the odd explosion when things go wrong! You gain the following benefits:

You gain proficiency with both the herbalism kit and the poisoner's kit.
When crafting chemical-based equipment (including acid, alchemist's fire, alcohol, antitoxin, ink, poison and potions of healing), you can craft items with a total market value not exceeding 50gp per day. You can also craft potions of greater healing.
Poisons you craft add your proficiency bonus to the DC and the poison damage inflicted.
If you are subjected to an area effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to reduce the damage you suffer, gain advantage on the roll.


ALCHEMIST v2
Prerequisite: Proficiency with alchemists's supplies

You have spent many a long night messing around with weird mixtures and obscure glassware, concocting potent brews with practiced efficiency, and have even got pretty inured to the alchemical fallout when things go wrong! You gain the following benefits:

You gain proficiency with both the herbalism kit and the poisoner's kit.
When crafting chemical-based equipment (including acid, alchemist's fire, alcohol, antitoxin, ink, poison and potions of healing), you can craft items with a total market value not exceeding 50gp per day. You can also craft potions of greater healing.
Poisons you craft add your proficiency bonus to the DC and the poison damage inflicted.
You gain resistance against one of the following types of damage: acid, cold, fire, lightning or poison. The choice must be made when you select this feat.


AXE MASTERY
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You have mastered the momentum of a swung axe to wreak terrifying bloody carnage, and have learnt to hurl an axe towards the foe as part of a charge. You gain the following benefits:

If you move at least 10 feet towards a creature in a turn that you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action on your turn to throw a handaxe at a creature you will attack in melee. As part of the bonus action, you can also draw another weapon.
On your turn, when you score a critical hit against a creature using either a handaxe, battleaxe, or greataxe in melee, you can choose to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check, contested by the Wisdom of one creature that can see or hear you within 30'. If you succeed, the creature is frightened during its next turn.



BATTLE-HARDENED
Prerequisite: Character level 5 or higher, or the Soldier background

Your reflexes have been honed by years of conflict, and you don't scare or go down easily. You gain the following benefits:

You gain a +2 bonus to initiative.
When you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened, gain a bonus to the roll equal to your proficiency bonus.
When required to make a death saving throw, you only die if you fail your fourth save, rather than your third.

BOW MASTERY
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher

Long years of training and raw talent with a bow have left you powerfully muscled, preternaturally sharp-eyed and cool under pressure. You gain the following benefits:

Any ranged weapon attack you make with a shortbow or longbow can add half of your Strength bonus to the damage roll (rounding up), as well as any bonus from your Dexterity modifier.
Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
You can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you. You also gain a +2 bonus to Perception checks using sight.


BRUTISH BLUDGEONER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

You've mastered blunt instruments so that your blows can break through armour, send foes flying, and hammer your way relentlessly through the scenery. You gain the following benefits:

If you make a melee weapon attack with either a mace, maul, morningstar, warpick or warhammer against a creature wearing medium or heavy armour, or a creature with thick natural armour (like a dragon's scales, or a giant scorpion's exoskeleton), gain a bonus of +2 to the damage roll.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit against a creature using either a club, greatclub, light hammer, mace, maul, quarterstaff, morningstar or warhammer in melee, you can use your reaction to push it 5', providing that the creature is no more than one size larger than you.
If you are wielding either a light hammer, mace, maul, morningstar, warpick or warhammer, you can use your action to strike an inanimate object and inflict double damage (doubling both the results of the damage roll and the ability modifier).


DRAGON SLAYER
Prerequisite: You must have fought a dragon

Perhaps foolishly, you have dedicated your life to hunting down these winged monsters, knowing well how to turn their strengths against them, and can quickly work out their weak points. You gain the following benefits:

On your turn, you can use a bonus action to study the movement and strategies of a dragon, dracolich, or a beast or monstrosity of large size or greater; the creature must not be incapacitated. Make a Wisdom (Insight or Perception, your choice) check against DC 15. If you succeed, any future weapon attack you make against the creature scores a critical hit on a 19 or 20 (or on a roll of 18-20, if you have the Improved Critical feature).
When making an attack against a dragon, you can treat any damage immunity it might have as damage resistance instead.
You can add your proficiency bonus to any Intelligence or Wisdom check related to dragons.
If you are required to make a saving throw against the Frightful Presence or breath weapon of a dragon, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll. If you already have proficiency in this save, then add double your proficiency.

FLAIL EXPERT
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Dexterity 13 or higher

You've mastered exotic lashing weapons, and can easily ensnare a foe, or get past your foe's defences. You gain the following benefits:

On your turn, if you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using either a flail, chain or whip, you can use a reaction to grapple the creature. Until the creature escapes the grapple, it is restrained, and you can't attack again with this weapon.
If using a whip, you can use a bonus action on your turn to interact with an object within the whip's reach (yanking open an unlocked door, or pulling a lever, for example).
When making a melee weapon attack using a flail, chain or whip, the target does not benefit from the AC bonus granted by a shield.

GLIB TONGUE

Yours is the face that suckers like to trust, and you have a pretty way with words; you've probably sold someone a bridge, and you might do it again. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You reduce the cost of equipment purchased after character generation by 20%. This only applies to smaller purchases, worth a standard market value of 100gp or less.
On your turn, you can use your action to thoroughly distract a creature you can see within 60 feet that can hear you. Provided that you or your companions aren't fighting the creature, make a Charisma (Deception) check, contested by the Wisdom (Insight) of the creature. If you succeed, the target has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to perceive any creature or unusual occurrence, other than you, for up to 1 minute. This effect ends if you are incapacitated or can no longer speak.

KNIFE DANCER
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher

Somewhere in your life you got very handy with a knife, and can pull off a variety of dirty tricks, being particularly dangerous in close quarters. You gain the following benefits:

If you take the Attack action on your turn to throw a dagger, once per turn you can draw and throw two daggers as part of one attack. Both of these attacks must be either against the same target, or against two targets within 5 feet of each other.
If subject to a grapple attempt, or a melee weapon attack which imposes the grappled condition, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack using a dagger or sickle. On a hit, your opponent suffers disadvantage on their roll. This attack interrupts your opponent's action.
If you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using a dagger, you can add double your ability modifier to the damage roll, rather than once as normal.


MASTER SWORDSMAN
Prerequisite: Proficiency with martial weapons, Strength 13 or higher

In your hands, a sword is a truly versatile and defensive weapon. You gain the following benefits:

If wielding either a greatsword or longsword, you can use an action on your turn to adopt a semi-defensive posture. You can make one melee weapon attack this turn with disadvantage, and melee weapon attacks against you also suffer disadvantage. This lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of a longsword used one-handed, and you can also use a longsword one-handed to deal Sneak Attack damage.
If you are wielding either a greatsword, longsword or shortsword and take the Attack action on your turn, one of your attacks this turn can deliver your choice of either slashing or piercing damage.
On your turn, if you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack using either a greatsword or longsword, you can choose to impale the creature. While impaled, the target is effectively grappled, and you can't attack again with this weapon until the grapple ends.



PHALANX FIGHTER
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

Probably through a background in the infantry, you are competent with hafted weapons, knowing best how to use their reach, and feel strongest when fighting in a formation of sorts. You gain the following benefits:

Once per turn, if you are wielding either a javelin, spear or pike, you can deal an additional 1d6 damage to a creature you hit with a weapon attack, if you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated.
If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can choose to take a -2 penalty to your attack roll to give your weapon the reach property for this attack, when wielding either a quarterstaff, spear, or trident.
If you are required to make a saving throw or check to avoid being frightened and you are within 5 feet of an ally that isn't incapacitated, you can choose to reroll the save, but must use the second result if you do so.

STRONG ARM
Prerequisite: Strength 13 or higher

You have built up a solid musculature, with a powerful throw, and the ability to overdraw a bow to the breaking point. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When making a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon that isn't a net, add 30 feet to the long range.
If you take the Attack action on your turn to fire either a longbow, or to throw a weapon which inflicts 1d6 or more damage, an attack that hits also pushes the creature 5'. The push effect only effects creatures of your size or smaller.
When you make a Strength check or saving throw to break restraints, damage an object, arm wrestle, or a similar feat of muscle power, gain advantage on the roll.