Ability Score over Feats?

[Pyon]

Hello, I just joined my first fifth edition campaign! I'm playing a human bard, and I'd like to ask: Are feats always superior? For example at forth level should I take Actor, or Lucky, or something of the sorts over increasing my Charisma further? Cheers c:

[DanyBallon]

It always depend what you're looking for.
i.e. Last session, my players hit level 4, and two of them, the rogue and the ranger, decided that it was best for their PCs to increase their dex, as it would affect AC, Initiative, Attack roll and Damage. The dwarven druid decide to pump it's Wisdom and Constitution by 1 each. The fighter went for heavy armor master feat instead. And the wizard is still considering what to choose.

[Daishain]

No. There are cases where improving stats is a superior option, and there are cases where the abilities provided by feats are a better option.

It really depends on what is a priority for your character in particular.

What kind of focus is your bard going for?

Generally speaking, if focusing on back row spellcasting and party support, I'd be having a tough time picking between +2 Cha and Inspiring Leader at L4, with the other option being picked at level 8. If going for a little bit more combat oriented, War Caster would probably be my first priority unless I had multiple odd stats that needed bumping.

Another option regardless of focus would be Resilient: Constitution feat. Odd Con score gets bumped up to even, and proficiency in Con saves helps a great deal for your best spells, not to mention your own personal defense.

[archaeo]

It really depends on what is a priority for your character in particular.

Well, and your priority as a player. Do you want more options, more buttons to press, more things to do? Take feats! At worst, you put yourself at a relatively slight mathematical disadvantage. Do you want to have a mathematical advantage that will make your spells land more often (or what have you)? Take the stat bump!

You really can't make a wrong choice, OP. At the very worst, you choose feats that aren't useful for your character, but doing that seems like you'd have to be trying to do poorly on purpose. Even if you pick a feat every time you have the opportunity and never raise your stats, you aren't going to be crippled compared to the rest of your party, and vice versa. One imagines that the most reasonable solution is to take a mix of both.

At 4th level, a feat can be a big boost. I would personally take Actor if I had a Cha of 15, 17, or 19. If my Cha was 16 or 18, I'd take the +2 to Cha. As a full caster, you're definitely going to want to max out your Cha sooner rather than later; ideally, I'd do it by level 8, though delaying until 12 to get 20 Cha isn't the worst possible thing that could happen; it's a +1 difference in Cha mod, after all.

[Chronos]

You probably want to get your main stat to 20 sooner or later, probably sooner. But once you've got that, feats start looking a lot more appealing.

Of course, not all feats are created equal, especially not for any given character. So maybe the best feat for your character is worth more than +2 Cha, in which case you get that right away, but the second-best is worth less than the Cha, so you wait on that one until you've maxed it out.

The biggest distinction between ability scores and feats is that your ability scores will boost almost everything you do, while feats will usually be a larger bonus, but more specific to a particular tactic or situation. Take Actor, for instance: That'll be a huge boost to your Deception and Performance skills. But increasing Cha would also boost those skills, while also improving some of your other skills, your spellcasting, and your Bardic Inspiration.

Another point to keep in mind is that odd ability scores don't do much for you. If your Cha is currently an odd number, like 15 or 17, then a +1 to Cha will do you just as much good as a +2. In that case, you might as well take a feat like Actor, which also gives you a +1 in addition to its other benefits.

[Pyon]

My Charisma stat is 18. So I am stuck between taking Inspiring Leader or maxing that to level 20...

[Chronos]

And this is your first ability score increase? In that case, I'd probably take Inspiring Leader now, and increase Cha at level 8. A +5 modifier can wait until then (that's when most characters would be getting it anyway), and the temporary HP from Inspiring Leader will make a much bigger difference now than they will later.

[themaque]

Not to mention, depending on what feat you get you could STILL get a +1 bonus to something making it all the more tempting for feats.

[TrollCapAmerica]

Feats tend to be pretty character defining. You get a feat because it's a major thing you expect to do your whole career and imo it's about on par with choosing your lv3 archetype. Maxing out main stats is great but it doesn't tend to say "This is my shtick" as much as your feats

[SharkForce]

feats are sometimes character-defining, sometimes not so much.

in particular, feats tend to define weapon-users pretty strongly. most casters seem to be looking to improve their concentration with resilient(con) and warcaster, and while both good feats, i don't really feel like they define your character to nearly the same extent as, say, polearm master, mageslayer, or sharpshooter. they add useful and strong abilities, just not so much character-defining.

[MeeposFire]

It really depends on the feat in question. I will say though that there are many feats that are better than an ability score increase. One example is polarem mastery. I would take defining feats first, ability boosts/feats that also boost ability scores second, and non-defining feats last.

[Ghost Nappa]

If your main stat is currently Odd, ALWAYS take the Feat. Utility + Statistical stat improvement = Best Option

If your main stat is even:

My main Stat is Dexterity: +2 DEX > Feat
I started off with High-Ability Scores from Rolling: Feat > ASI
I'm high level, my main stat isn't maxed currently, and I can't max it with Feats: ASI > Feat
Exception: I have a magic item to cover that (Gauntlets of Giant Strength for STR) and it puts me above 20.
My Constitution is Negative and I'm often attacked: +2 CON > ASI (This is guaranteed to give you 4+ HP immediately)
My Class is Fighter or Rogue: Feat > ASI


If your main stat is Dexterity (Monk, Rogue, Ranger, etc.), you're making Attack Rolls, Damage Rolls, Skill Rolls, Proficient Saving throws, Initiative Rolls extremely often using your DEX modifier, and raising it makes you just about better at everything: as well as improving your AC. I still recommend taking a feat over an ASI for DEX if your score is Odd, but otherwise, the flat bonus to almost every roll you make is a little more than too good to compare to a feat.

Otherwise, you're often comparing the utility of picking up a sly little feature from a feat with slower stat progression and the urgency depends on how important maxing your scores are and how much time left to do it. DEX, CON, WIS are the universally preferred trio because Saves, Perception, AC, Initiative, and HP are arguably your most important defensive statistics. Fighters and Rogues are less worried maxing as quick as possible about this because they have more opportunities to pick up Feats/ASIs than other classes

[Chronos]

One addendum to that: If your main stat and a secondary stat (Con, spellcasting stat for a partial caster, whatever) are both odd, it might be better to add +1 to both of them instead of a feat.