Balance Question - What if that feat bonus scaled?

[KoDT69]

OK so I'm really wondering how far off balance would a game be if those generic "+1 bonus" feats were to become "+1/4 level rounded up" so that by level 20 it would be a +5? You know, stuff like Weapon Focus, Spell Focus, Dodge, etc. I think it would put a little more emphasis on building the character rather than its equipment list. What all would be affected that might throw balance out the window (excluding obvious class power disparity and similar conditions)?

[Extra Anchovies]

Whether it would be too strong would vary by feat.
Dodge? Heck no, at least not in 3.5.
Spell Focus? Heck yes, spell DCs are easy enough to boost as it is.
Weapon Focus? Maybe. Honestly not sure about this one.

[eggynack]

You should probably just do it for melee, and take a step back to think about it for casters. Weapon focus and dodge are likely fine, but upping the power level of spell focus and spell penetration isn't likely to be the best move.

[Andion Isurand]

I once dabbled with a fighter feat scaling (http://magerune.blogspot.com/2014/04/fighter-feat-scaling.html) idea a while back, where the bonuses keyed off the number of fighter bonus feats one had taken.

I also think that most feats that apply to specifically chosen weapons (or weapon groups), and have Weapon Focus as a prerequisite... should apply to all the weapons (or weapon groups) for which the character has taken Weapon Focus.

That way a character using those kind of feats can plug more kinds of weapons to their build by taking one additional feat for each weapon (or weapon group) beyond the first.

[Seerow]

Bonuses to RNG do not need to scale with level to remain relevant. They just need to be set at a point high enough to be relevant in the first place. Or turned into effects that are actually interesting.

The only number based feats that actually need to scale with level are stuff like Toughness and Weapon Specialization, feats that add to numbers that are not RNG based.

[ryu]

You should probably just do it for melee, and take a step back to think about it for casters. Weapon focus and dodge are likely fine, but upping the power level of spell focus and spell penetration isn't likely to be the best move.

You know what's a funny thing? I still wouldn't take either of those things. I have ways of making scary numbers there without investing feats. Feats are for adding terrifying new utility. Any feat that isn't doing something huge for your gameplay style is a waste in my opinion.

[eggynack]

You know what's a funny thing? I still wouldn't take either of those things. I have ways of making scary numbers there without investing feats. Feats are for adding terrifying new utility. Any feat that isn't doing something huge for your gameplay style is a waste in my opinion.
Oh, definitely, though both are worthy of consideration in a relatively book restricted game, and the specific level of scaling is obviously relevant. I'd just be careful about buffing casters in general, in a way I wouldn't be buffing melee characters. Buffing spell focus in a somewhat optimized game is probably fine, for the reason you've noted, but if you head a bit more towards middle of the road power level, where casters dominate some but crazy utility adding tools aren't used quite as much, then it could harm balance. However, it is indeed difficult to imagine the scaling of spell focus that'd make the feat better than aberration wild shape, divine metamagic, and I suppose I'll go with arcane thesis for the wizarding one.

[Chronos]

Quoth Andion Isurand:

I once dabbled with a fighter feat scaling idea a while back, where the bonuses keyed off the number of fighter bonus feats one had taken.
I had a similar idea (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?190066-3-5-New-fighter-feats-Veteran-feats) a few years back, though mine were all-new feats, not improvements to existing feats.

And I'm not sure that I would take Weapon Focus or Dodge even if they gave +5. That's becoming enough that it's not a total waste of your feat slots, if you have a few free slots left over in your build, but like ryu, I'd rather have a feat that lets me do something new, than one that lets me do something old better. Well, unless it lets me do something old so much better that it effectively becomes something new.