The hierarchy of Feats

[Shinizak]

Is there a list or something that gives good rating on the various feats? I keep hearing people talk about what is or isn't optimal, so I'd just like some study material, y'know?

[StevenC21]

That depends on your class and build.

What character do you want.

[Zaq]

Feats let you do things. What’s good for one character is not universally good for another character. I mean, some feats are basically always bad, but no feat is always good (unless it’s free).

When considering a feat, ask yourself what it does to expand your abilities and options. Does it open up a new set of possibilities for you? Is it the cheapest way to achieve that effect? Does it stay useful even after you’ve leveled up a few times? Is it more than just a small numerical bonus? How much do you notice the feat in actual play?

[Thurbane]

Sean K Reynolds had his "feat point" system, so it's a bit of insight from the mind of a designer...although in practice, there is a lot of disagreement on the value he assigns to some feats.

He seems to have since deleted, though: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/featpointsystem.html

Abraca-wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20040415082242/http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/featpointsystem.html

[Grod_The_Giant]

I compiled a list of worthwhile feats here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400603-Best-Feats-of-3-5).

[pabelfly]

Sean K Reynolds had his "feat point" system, so it's a bit of insight from the mind of a designer...although in practice, there is a lot of disagreement on the value he assigns to some feats.

He seems to have since deleted, though: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/featpointsystem.html

Abraca-wayback: https://web.archive.org/web/20040415082242/http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/featpointsystem.html

Feats costing points is an interesting alternate rule idea. It would make it more attractive to take certain weaker feats and feat lines that are otherwise sub-optimal if all feats cost the same. I would have liked to see this concept developed further.

[Thurbane]

Feats costing points is an interesting alternate rule idea. It would make it more attractive to take certain weaker feats and feat lines that are otherwise sub-optimal if all feats cost the same. I would have liked to see this concept developed further.

I'd be keen to implement something like this in my own games, but the sheer volume of feats out there would make it a massive task to rate them all.

[StevenC21]

I mean, a DM could easily rate them on the fly.

[ekarney]

Definitely difficult to do, seeing as there's something like 3000-4000 feats across all of 3.0/3.5's content. (Source: someone told me once, so I don't know how reliable that is)

So there's a general way I tend to think about if a feats worth it, with an informal sort of checklist:
1. Will it give good things to any character I give it to: (Like Item Familiar) Then yes, I'll take it, it's good if I have room for it.
2. Can I get a similar effect with either 1-2 class levels, or less than 3 levels worth of gold? (Example: Iron Will) If yes, then it's probably not good. (Exception: Running a heavily compacted build, where losing a class level could mess up a lot of things, then take the feat)
3. Will it advance a character class faster? (Example: Improved binding) 90% of the time, take it, especially if you want to get into PrC's.
4. Does it open doors for me? (Example: Point Blank Shot) If yes, then it's not necessarily a great feat, but the feats that required it are going to be good for your build.
5. Is the effect this feat grants, actually relevant to my build? If no, then it's absolute garbage in this context.

Of course, knowing the value of feats helps too.
With an Int of 10, you're getting 40 skill points by level 20, at minimum.
By level 20, you're likely getting 20 class levels, by level 20. (I'd hope so anyway, LA and RHD are pretty trash)
By level 20 you're getting 5 ability score increases, though you also get a lot of gold by level 20, and you'll usually spend that increasing them. You'll likely end up buying another 4 increases at least, so 9.
But, by level 20, assuming minimum feats, you're only getting 7 of them.
Obviously, we have exceptions, like Human Fighter 20. Where you'll get like 18 feats, but 10 or so of those are reasonably restricted.

[RNightstalker]

A lot of build guides will go over what feats are good for certain ideas, and which ones are bad.

[Falontani]

That and the ratings that this guy gave... I don't think he understood the game very well.

[pabelfly]

That and the ratings that this guy gave... I don't think he understood the game very well.

If you read the current link to the page, it was a thought exercise made over an hour or two at the start of 3.0's launch. I imagine something made today with more time would be much more balanced.

[Falontani]

I would hope so... But that would make sense on why it's so wonky

[zlefin]

Definitely difficult to do, seeing as there's something like 3000-4000 feats across all of 3.0/3.5's content. (Source: someone told me once, so I don't know how reliable that is)


do places like mythweavers have a way to bulk download sheets in a database format? If a place had something like that, it'd be possible to extract sufficient data to approximate a point system; though it'd still take a fair bit of work.

There are also other decent ways to "crowdsource" generating a point system for feats, as long as you can get a nice large user base. The problem is getting sufficient data via getting that user base.