What feats do you hope to see in Xanathar's?

[BillyBobShorton]

Among my favorite character building tools are feats. Often put to the side in favor of the almighty ASI, feats can change the entire complexion of a subrace or achetype almost immediately. While those vital saves, DC's, & modifiers ultimately give a character a solid boost toward his ultimate potential in a certain class (more "you"), feats take the standard "wood, hammer, nails" approach that is ASI selection and adds in glue, welding, steel joints, windows, doors, hinges, insulation and weather sealant.

A rogue with booming blade and the mobile feat, for example, can go from ordinary to a becoming a long-term thorn in a DM's side as far as combat goes in just 4 levels. 3 if you take human variant.

A druid with warcaster can be very well protected from broken spell concentration in certain beast forms rolling at advantage. Add that to a gnome and you're rolling a good chunk of your saves at advantage after only 2700 xp.

Not game breaking stuff, but certainly capable of creatimg standout pc's in a party where others may be wondering if they really needed that 18 in strength or dex so soon afterall.

I realize a strong case can be made for ASI's own lasting advantages vs feats as well. 2 sides of coin. Both payoff and it's a matter of preference, really.

But for the sake of this thread, to separate it from some other general Xanathar Guide threads involving speculation and some confirmed additions in the works across the whole scope, I want to focus on feats. It is stated officially that new feats will be part of the guide. So...


What feats would you like to see? Perhaps some mechanics of another class available to all like Mage Initiate, Ritual Caster, and the Maneuvers feats offer? Something to make religion a more useful skill? How about a way to rage and use limited spells or even armor? Or maybe you know of a few confirmed/rumored feats that will be arriving?

For me, I'd like to see some form of the ridiculous lore mage concept implimented in a way that doesn't break the game so much. Like "Elemental Shaper"... you can choose 1 spell you can already cast of first or 2nd level and exchange its damage type for another damage type of your choosing. Turn that flaming sphere into a necrotic sphere, or magic missile's instant force damage becomes an automatic ice volley. Something along those lines.

I have more thoughts but I'll leave it there for now. Please feel free to share any official knowledge, speculation, or general wishes/hopes.

[Elminster298]

I would definitely like to see some fears that improve upon the two weapon fighting style. Something along the lines of "pounce" where if you move a certain distance towards your target before your attack and got with both attacks you deal extra damage. Auto crit or straight double damage would be fantastic. I think two weapon fighting has fallen behind a lot in 5th ed.

[Naanomi]

I wouldn't mind seeing some variation of the weapon-specific feats (though please drop the +1 to Hit on them)... Weapon specialization has been part of the game for so long; it is sad to see it only for polearma and crossbows now

[rbstr]

I too, would like more weapon/fighting style feats. That one UA was in the right direction, though I'd rather get rid of the +1 to hit parts for more interesting things.

[Nettlekid]

I'd like to see more fluffy feats that fold in a +1 to an ability score. For example I really like the Actor or Observant feats for what they offer for roleplaying, and since feats are directly opposed to ASIs in this edition it's nice to know that if you have an odd numbered score you might as well get a neat little trick in addition to increasing your modifier. But similar feats like Athlete, Durable, Keen Mind, or Linguist are severely underpowered. I'd like to see more options to boost a stat while branching out with a skill that cater to a wider array of personality types (a Charismatic Sorcerer may be personable but not duplicitous and the lying aspect of Actor wouldn't suit them well, or an Intelligent Wizard might not be the most perceptive and Observant's Passive Perception bonus isn't suited to them) and to make sure that every stat has a few of those options.

I also did like many of the Racial Feats from that one UA, and would like to see Volo's races get feats of their own.

[ZorroGames]

Echoing the cry for weapon feats for people not using Polearms, Ranged weapons, Two handed weapons in general. Zorro in a D&D setting for one aspect.

[Finger6842]

I would prefer to stay away from feats limited by class or race. I agree that light weapons etc. need a feat as well. Some of the more worthless ones need revamped or even combined.

[mephnick]

I'm really hoping the skill feats get tightened up and released officially. Fix the few weird ones that might be too strong and you're pretty much done.

The ability to gain expertise in your character's defining trait without dipping is much needed in the system.

[Naanomi]

I'm really hoping the skill feats get tightened up and released officially. Fix the few weird ones that might be too strong and you're pretty much done.

The ability to gain expertise in your character's defining trait without dipping is much needed in the system.
Although the little fiddles bonuses were OK; I'd be happy with just a generic 'get Expertise in a skill and +1 in the Stat associated with it' feat without the need to pull it into all separate feats

[mephnick]

Although the little fiddles bonuses were OK; I'd be happy with just a generic 'get Expertise in a skill and +1 in the Stat associated with it' feat without the need to pull it into all separate feats

Yeah, fair enough. I'd be happy enough with a "Resilient" type feat that just gives you a +1 and Expertise.

Although I do really like things like replacing an attack with an intimidation effect and Search as a bonus action etc.

[Kane0]

Could even do it as an alternative to the Skilled feat. Instead of proficiency in three you get proficiency in one and expertise in one, or something similar.

[Mortis_Elrod]

I personally loved the racial feats we got UA, matter of fact i liked all the feats we got in the UAs. I'm hoping for those as well as some more racial feats for the Volo races, though with those it may make some of the races too strong. Besides that and a throwing and twfing and maybe some other specific weapon feats or fighting style feats I think some more creative feats would be welcomed. Not sure if people remember the downtime UA we had, but if we got some crafting feats that would be very cool, (besides the feats added in the weapon feat ua) or maybe some gishy feats.

I doubt we will get a lot more than what we've seen already though.

I do not want any class specific feats. I would prefer if the requirements were looser like: "The spellcasting feature" or "A fighting style" or "Extra Attack feature". That way it is still limited to a few classes it may be designed for but not super limited.

[BillyBobShorton]

I also wish they'd come up with some interesting weapon feats. Maybe axes can crush wooden shields, have a severed limb or brutal injury crit chart/system in the vein of the old 2e combat & tactics. How about a backstab for dagger users? A scimitar specialization adding an initiative boost, stuff like that.

I also think some kind of speed doff/don feat could be useful. Heat metal is just a killer. Throw it on a 6th level fighter in chain. He's all but dead unless he can break the concentration somehow or get polymorphed. Also good for someone wanting to go fighter/rogue or any heavy armored class/unarmored or light/medium for quick transition. Although it may be unrealistic to get out of full plate in a matter of seconds, I try to keep in mind the insane land movement speeds that can be achieved via RAW. Does FR have velcro yet?

[Spiritchaser]

Easy and straight forward:

Add the race feats and the skill feats (rework diplomat a bit, as at-will charm can be a shade OP at, for example, a state dinner. Even adding consequences for failure or after effects might be enough) Edit: historian might need a re-examination as well... Even scaling the DC to the bonus.

As mentioned above by others, I'd like to see added race feats for the Volo's Races, though that would mean that Volo's and Xanthar's would have to be designated as functionally a single source for the PHB +1 rule (which is fine, easy to do, and shouldn't be a problem really)

Way out there:

I'd like to see feats which added options for concentration amongst martials. The concentration slot is a valuable resource which single class martials cannot use. Who (well who apart from wizards...) says you cannot concentrate on the motions and position of a single target, giving you some benefit against them? Yes yes, I know watch carefully to avoid power creep on monks.

[RSP]

I'd like to see feats which added options for concentration amongst martials. The concentration slot is a valuable resource which single class martials cannot use. Who (well who apart from wizards...) says you cannot concentrate on the motions and position of a single target, giving you some benefit against them? Yes yes, I know watch carefully to avoid power creep on monks.

I like the idea, but pretty sure they'd have UA'd something as game changing as this. The application would be difficult as Concentration is pretty easy to try to break so you're rolling saves after every hit on a martial which goes against WotC's wanting to limit how often dice are rolled. This becomes more of a problem if it's tied to an at will Ability.

I do like adding options though and Concentration is under utilized for martial.

[robbie374]

The racial feats are cool, but then new races have no feats associated with them, which is unfortunate, or they have to release new feats for all of the new races. What if you had feats that worked for everybody, but gave an extra bonus for specific races?

I would like some more powerful, tiered feats: extra cool feats requiring normal feats as prerequisites.

I like the skill feats a lot. I don't think that a simple one-skill expertise plus a related +1 is strong enough. Upgrading the "Skilled" feat to allow gaining expertise would be a good change.

Adding feats that gain tool proficiencies would be neat, too, especially with more explicit guidance on how to use some tools in-game rather than just during downtime.

It would be nice if there were more ways to get the non-combat feats rather than sacrificing ASIs.

[PeteNutButter]

I agree that we need more feats for the other weapons. (Can I get a net feat?)

Oddly, no one has mentioned that we have basically zero caster feats. We have elemental adept, spell sniper, and warcaster. None of these feel like they have quite the impact on a pure caster as the martial feats have on the martials.

Good feats can be a great way to shore up the weaker wizard schools and cleric domains, or just weaker spell groups.

[Naanomi]

Oddly, no one has mentioned that we have basically zero caster feats. We have elemental adept, spell sniper, and warcaster. None of these feel like they have quite the impact on a pure caster as the martial feats have on the martials.
Probably in part because only the most purely martial classes get bonus feats (Barbarian aside, who tends to benefit from boosting CON more than other classes)

[Aett_Thorn]

I agree that we need more feats for the other weapons. (Can I get a net feat?)

Oddly, no one has mentioned that we have basically zero caster feats. We have elemental adept, spell sniper, and warcaster. None of these feel like they have quite the impact on a pure caster as the martial feats have on the martials.

Good feats can be a great way to shore up the weaker wizard schools and cleric domains, or just weaker spell groups.

I agree with this completely. Would be great to get feats for Enchanters, Illusionists, and Conjurers. Even various buff/debuff spells could use feats to help them out. Imagine something like:

Master Buffer:

Whenever you use a spell that affects yourself or an ally that gives them a die to roll in support of their abilities, increase the size of the die by 1. For instance, the Bless spell allows you to roll an additional d4 and add it to the roll. If cast by a character with this feat, you would instead get a d6 to add.


You could create a similar feat for debuffs. For Enchanters, you could have a feat that allows you to double the limit on words/sentences used for commands (So Command would allow you two words, and Suggestion could be up to two sentences, etc.), or would allow you to force disadvantage on a single save once per rest (not sure if short or long rest would be more balanced).

[robbie374]

I agree with this completely. Would be great to get feats for Enchanters, Illusionists, and Conjurers. Even various buff/debuff spells could use feats to help them out. Imagine something like:

Master Buffer:

Whenever you use a spell that affects yourself or an ally that gives them a die to roll in support of their abilities, increase the size of the die by 1. For instance, the Bless spell allows you to roll an additional d4 and add it to the roll. If cast by a character with this feat, you would instead get a d6 to add.


You could create a similar feat for debuffs. For Enchanters, you could have a feat that allows you to double the limit on words/sentences used for commands (So Command would allow you two words, and Suggestion could be up to two sentences, etc.), or would allow you to force disadvantage on a single save once per rest (not sure if short or long rest would be more balanced).

These are great ideas. I agree. Casters are very limited in their choices, and more feats to help them expand would be a good thing. Such feats could be similar in power and effect to the second level wizard tradition features.

Taking a feat to get only a first or second level feature from another class without having to dip all the way into that class could be interesting, and it could allow for characters to dip into alternative versions of their own classes, like a divination wizard with minor conjuration. or a tempest cleric with disciple of life.

[Rogerdodger557]

I'd like to see some of the racial feats from Unearthed Arcana put in Xanathar's, especially since Deep Gnomes already get a racial feat

[Maxilian]

I'd like to see some of the racial feats from Unearthed Arcana put in Xanathar's, especially since Deep Gnomes already get a racial feat

I agree.

I really wanna see the Tieflings ones, mainly the one who add spikes to their body :D

[Aett_Thorn]

I'd like to see some of the racial feats from Unearthed Arcana put in Xanathar's, especially since Deep Gnomes already get a racial feat

The problem with this is that when new races come out, unless you give them optional feats as well, then they'd have less choices than others. Even the UA didn't have options for races that came out in SCAG, nor in Volo's.

Creating general feats, feats for weapons, or even feats for specific armors, would allow all characters, new and old, to take advantage of them.

[Naanomi]

I don't mind the concept of racial feats; especially (like svirfneblin) to allow access to Lore-based racial abilities that would be too strong at level 1; or too powerful compared to other racial abilities... a drow magic resistance feat for example... but I don't think every race needs them; and many of the example racial feats in the UA were either too strong or too marginal

[robbie374]

I don't mind the concept of racial feats; especially (like svirfneblin) to allow access to Lore-based racial abilities that would be too strong at level 1; or too powerful compared to other racial abilities... a drow magic resistance feat for example... but I don't think every race needs them; and many of the example racial feats in the UA were either too strong or too marginal

The racial feats did vary a lot. Compare Dragonborn characters getting wings and flight to Small-sized characters getting a +5 movement: "Just spend a feat, and you can be normal!" Not particularly balanced.

[BillyBobShorton]

I personally loved the racial feats we got UA, matter of fact i liked all the feats we got in the UAs. I'm hoping for those as well as some more racial feats for the Volo races, though with those it may make some of the races too strong. Besides that and a throwing and twfing and maybe some other specific weapon feats or fighting style feats I think some more creative feats would be welcomed. Not sure if people remember the downtime UA we had, but if we got some crafting feats that would be very cool, (besides the feats added in the weapon feat ua) or maybe some gishy feats.

I doubt we will get a lot more than what we've seen already though.

I do not want any class specific feats. I would prefer if the requirements were looser like: "The spellcasting feature" or "A fighting style" or "Extra Attack feature". That way it is still limited to a few classes it may be designed for but not super limited.
Totally agree on the UA racial feats.

I've been looking at UA as divided into two parts; the new subclass playtests (many of which will appear in XGTE), and then everything else... the weird spells oddball combat and rule variants, strange items and general WOTC column stuff like "Mike Mearls hates bonus actions so now it's cool & trendy to also suddenly be really annoyed by action economy" and then a few weeks later he offends all game rules ever written and puts out the most grotesque literary abomination the world has ever seen: The Pukefest Initiative"... talk about making combat take forever? Bonus actions no, but an initiative system that feels like a law school term paper as you read it is great? Huh? Anyway, I digress.

The point is... Of all the non PC option dribble that came out of UA over the last year or two, the Racial Feats were head and shoulders above the rest; IMO easily the best concept they released. Most other stuff was witger too overpowered by a long shot, too underwhelming/uninteresting, too comlicated and unnecessary, or it just felt like them throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing which clumps stuck.

But yes, Racial Feats I do expect to see. And look very forward to it.

[Vaz]

The racial feats did vary a lot. Compare Dragonborn characters getting wings and flight to Small-sized characters getting a +5 movement: "Just spend a feat, and you can be normal!" Not particularly balanced.

Concept vs Execution. Conceptually fine.

[Tetrasodium]

I want to see them finally admit that the three different types of dragonshards power many magical items & each is useful for a different sort of item.

[BillyBobShorton]

I agree that we need more feats for the other weapons. (Can I get a net feat?)

Oddly, no one has mentioned that we have basically zero caster feats. We have elemental adept, spell sniper, and warcaster. None of these feel like they have quite the impact on a pure caster as the martial feats have on the martials.

Good feats can be a great way to shore up the weaker wizard schools and cleric domains, or just weaker spell groups.
I like to think the Elemental Shaper concept I mentioned would be a great way to add variety and potency to many schools, domains, etc.

Also, not exactly an existing spell enhancing feat, but there is mage inititiate, which when paired with an existing caster, can add a lot to a caster's repertoire and really trick out the feel/abilities of a build. A wizard or Bard with Cleric MI, for instance, taking guidance, resistance, and Shield of Faith or Bless instantly adds utility, protection, and single or party combat buffs. Or a wizard with even moderate wisdom using bane against low Cha enemies improves his chances to cause them to fail dex or wisdom saves when it really counts.

But I also would like to see more caster-boosting feats. Some form of stat-pairing DC increase would be nice for multi-classers as well. Like "Willful Arcana" Add +1 to stat x. When casting spells that force a save of wis, dex, or con (choose 1), you can add half of your improved stat x's modifier to your DC.

I also like the idea someone mentioned about uber feats requiring a prior feat. Even stacking elemental adept with the same element to not only bypass resistannces, but maybe even do 25% dmg to immune creatures or increasing the element dmg you are already doing/force disadvantage on saves.

And where's a shield bash feat?

[suplee215]

The racial feats did vary a lot. Compare Dragonborn characters getting wings and flight to Small-sized characters getting a +5 movement: "Just spend a feat, and you can be normal!" Not particularly balanced.
Didn't that feat also come with althetics or acrobatics expertise alongside a dex or con bonus? I'll put that as equal to flight.

[Jerrykhor]

Feats for classes!

[Spiritchaser]

Feats for classes!

Ok, feats for backgrounds!

[Chugger]

Third Eye. You actually grow a --> third eye <-- in the middle of your forehead, and it can see invis at lower levels. At higher levels it can see credit scores, through clothing - whatever. It would be many buckets of awesome sauce!!