Replacing Feats for a different feel

[Bjarkmundur]

I have never liked 5e's ability scores or feats. So when I started stripping 5e of things I felt simply got in the way for my own home game it inevitably left some gaps behind.

Once of these gaps were some of the feats. Mainly, feats that supported an archetype, gave players new options, or allowed players to lean heavily into a minor mechanic.

Now I am years away from tuning and perfecting these, but since we will hit 4th level soon, I'd like to get them ready as possible for playtesting.

Kane0 most recent post on Feats gave a lot of insight into how and why he changed the feats as he did, so naturally I took that new perspective and applied it to my own selection.

Design Goals:
Support various archetypes
Feats that improve grapples, uses of the healer's kit, using crossbows for two-weapon fighting, and giving access to Summon Beast all fall under this category. The idea is that certain character's just wouldn't feel right without the feat to support them.

Give additional options
Just broaden a players versatility. I'm not much of a fan of boosting a player's strength via feats, but boosting his versatility is something that I love. Of course I have to include SOME power-boosting feats, but feats like Pet Keeper and Magic Initiate are really fun to add into the game.

Elimiate Weaknesses.
Some character archetypes don't need a power-boost or a versatility increase, but some quality of life changes. This category of feats includes concentration bonuses, Elemental Affinity, Master Cloaker and more.

Questions:
- Are there any feats that jump out to you as "mandatory" or "insta-pick"?
- Are there any feats that provide a strong mechanical benefit, but don't really add that much to the fantasy?
- Are there any archetypes or player fantasies that you feel are missing?

DISCLAIMER: These are given alongside a +1 increase to any one ability modifier, which is why I'm trying to keep them on the under-powered side. I have contingencies set in place to make sure players don't go too far over the game's intended balance late-game, so I did manage to carve out some design space, but it's not much -shrug-

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Beastmaster
You can cast Summon Beast once per long rest without expending a spell slot, even if you don't have the Spellcasting class feature.

Battlewise
When you roll for initiative, add your proficiency bonus to the result. In addition, you can choose to use either your Wisdom or Dexterity for your initiative.

Charger
As a part of taking the Dash action you can make a single melee attack or attempt to shove the target. If you move at least 10 feet, you do so with advantage. You cannot move again on your turn after you make this attack or shove

Crossbow Expert
You ignore the loading quality of ranged weapons. Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls. You are able to use one handed ranged weapons as well as melee weapons when Two Weapon Fighting

Dirty Fighting
On your turn, after you take the attack action, you can use your as a bonus action to either Shove or Grapple.
When you would make an Opportunity Attack, you can choose to Shove or Grapple the target instead.
In addition, the number of rounds required for a Choke-Out is halved (minimum 1) and its duration is doubled.

Helping Hands
You can use a Healer’s Kit, administer a potion or use the Help action as a bonus action.
In addition, you can take 10 minutes to administer First Aid. You use one charge of a Healer's Kit to allow a single creature to regain hit points equal to 1d6 + your level. A creature that regains hit points in this way cannot do so until after a long rest.

Elemental Affinity
Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder.
You can permanently change one spell and one cantrip from your class' spell list to your chosen damage type.
When you roll damage for a spell you cast that deals damage of the chosen type, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3.
In addition, spells you cast ignore resistance to damage of the chosen type.

Inspire Allies
When you roll a critical hit on an attack roll, each ally within 60 feet of you that can hear and see you can either gain temporary hit points equal to your level or gain advantage on attack rolls on their next turn.
In addition, you can take 10 minutes to inspire your allies, granting them (and you) temporarily hit points equal to your level + your Charisma modifier once per short rest.

Mage Slayer
You can make an Opportunity Attack against a creature that begins to cast a spell within your reach, potentially causing that creature to lose the spell if the attack hits and they fail a Concentration saving throw.
You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within your reach

Magic Initiate / Ritual Caster
You learn one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard's spell list. In addition, choose one of the following effects:

- Choose one 1st Level Spell with the Ritual tag. You can cast the spell as a ritual, even if you don't have the Ritual Casting class feature.
- Choose one 1st level spell from any class. You can cast the spell once per long rest without expending a spell slot.
- You can add one 1st Level spell from your class spell list to your list of known spells, or into your spellbook if you have one.
- You gain one first level spell slot that you regain, once expended, at the end of a long rest.

If you take this feat a second time you can instead choose a 2nd level spell or spell slot.

Master Cloaker
When you are hidden and a creature spots you, but succeeds on their perception check by less than 5, you can use your reaction to dive back into cover. Make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC equal to the triggering perception check. On a success, you remain hidden.

Armor Master
Your armor proficiency increases by one category. In addition, you gain an extra benefit depending on what kind of Armor you wear:

Medium Armor: You do not take a Disadvantage to Dexterity checks for wearing medium armor, and your AC increases by 1.
Heavy Armor: You gain flat damage reduction to incoming attacks equal to your Proficiency bonus.

Petkeeper
As a part of a Downtime you can gain an animal companion, as shown on the table below. You can communicate with your companion as if you were under the effects of Speak With Animals. It is in no way compelled to put itself at risk for you, but loves doing favors for treats, such as fetching and delivering messages.
You can choose a new Pet as a part of your downtime, but can only have one active at a time. Gaining a pet costs gold equal to its XP value.

Level	Max CR	Example
1st	0	Cat, Eagle
3rd	1/8	Mastiff, Mule
6th	1/4	Riding Horse, Wolf

Skill Training
When you take this feat you can choose to either gain two Skill proficiencies, or gain one proficiency and expertise in one skill you are already proficient in.

Quaff
You can imbibe a potion as a bonus action.
Durations of Potions use drink is doubled.

Fighting Style
You gain one fighting style of your choice from the following list:

• Blind Fighting
• Interception
• Protection
• Thrown Weapon
• Unarmed
• Sweeping

Ready Master
Reactions taken as a result of the Ready action do not count towards the maximum number of Reactions allowed per round. In addition, you can take the Ready action as a Bonus action, but only to ready spells or abilities that would otherwise use a Bonus.action, such as Misty Step, as long as all the requirements for taking that bones actions are met when the readied action is taken.

Battlerager
You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls for each condition, injury, level of Distress or failed death saving throw affecting you. This includes the Bloodied condition.

Stamina Training
Your maximum hit points are increased by 2 times your Proficiency bonus, and increases further when your Proficiency bonus increases.

Warcaster
When you cast a spell that requires your concentration you can decide to do it with a duration of 1d4 rounds. If you do so you automatically succeed on all Constitution saving throws made to maintain concentration for that spell.
You do not have disadvantage on ranged attack rolls when you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature.

Double Shifts
You can choose two activities during downtime instead of one, but your living expenses have increased to 45gp (a 50% increase).

[Yakk]

So the rule I am trying to follow with feats is what I call the "level 4 rule".

I want a feat to be a choice you'd make at level 4 that seems as important to defining your character as your subclass you picked at level 1 2 or 3.

And I want them to compete with taking your primary attribute from a 16 to an 18. Not as good in all circumstances, but shouldn't be dominated by it either.

Also, the bonus should have a story attached to it. Quaff is an example of something that is mechanically hefty and useful, but I don't really see a story attached to it. An Alchemist feat that gave that benefit, and either Expertise or Proficiency in Alchemist Tools, would be very similar (power wise), but now has a story attached to it.

[Bjarkmundur]

I love this design philosophy!

Maybe if a add some flavor text for each feat, I might get a better sense of the message it sends to the players :0

Luckily I don't have to compete with the stat increase, since that bit is given "for free", and the feats come on top of that.

[BerzerkerUnit]

I created this set of rules as a system for PCs that focus on companions.

A feat to grant access to the basics would not be crazy in my games. It’s a lot.

Notes on your other stuff to follow.

Spoiler: Boon Companions

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Forming Bonds
A common element of adventures is to form bonds with the creatures you meet. Among humanoid cultures these are the bonds of friendship, love, and even rivalry with all you would call an ally. But to establish such a relationship with an inhuman creature, one full of savage instincts or alien notions, is a different story. Such a relationship may be unique in your world. It may be the first step to ending a war or creating a new race.
Even still, many of these creatures will have no place on the field of battle. They may be unfit, lacking in skill and courage, or have ties and responsibilities in an area that make it impossible to journey with you for any meaningful time. However, a rare few of these creatures may be willing and able to travel great distances and fight at your side. This is what is called a Boon Companion.

To make a creature a Boon Companion you must Bond with it. You cannot forge such a bond with an unwilling creature or a creature whose power dwarfs your own. A creature cannot become a Boon Companion if it’s CR is greater than your character level divided by 5, rounded down. A creature’s willingness may be earned if you render aid to it in a crisis, or most likely, raise it by hand. Some creatures can be compelled to accept such a bond by asserting dominance. Among more intelligent creatures, bribery and coercion are also possible or the completion of a quest may be necessary. A Boon Companion can be bonded to only one Player Character at a time.
As a general guideline a bribe of 500 gp times the creature’s CR is sufficient (but not guaranteed) to earn its loyalty. A creature reduced to 0 hit points but not slain can be offered the option to submit and may choose to serve you rather than die or face the price of failing their previous master.
Boon Companions are not immune to hurt feelings. Mistreatment by you or your allies may result in a betrayal at any time. That said, some creatures prefer very different relationship dynamics than what is perceived to be the norm and you should discuss with your DM how to best represent that relationship in a respectful way everyone is comfortable with.
The DM is the final arbiter of when such a bond is formed but it is recognized at that moment and the player character can call upon their Boon Companion thereafter. A Player Character can dismiss a boon companion at any time. The creature’s attitude and behavior after dismissal will reflect its treatment up to that time. Reestablishing a bond with such creatures requires the same effort each time.

You may only have one Active Boon Companion at a time. Inactive Boon Companions may travel with you but will not participate in encounters for narratively appropriate reasons such as feeding horses, being too intoxicated to wake up during ambushes, etc. If you have more than one Boon Companion, switching which is the Active Boon Companion can only be done at the end of a short or long rest as the DM sees fit.

Boon Companions
Once a creature becomes a Boon Companion its Statblock is modified in the following ways:
It’s hit points change from their normal value to (5 + Consitution modifier) x your level + your Proficiency bonus.
It uses your Proficiency bonus instead of its own
It loses any lair actions, legendary actions, or traits
If it has the Spellcasting Trait it is limited to Casting Cantrips though the DM may allow its spell casting to serve some narrative purpose out of combat (Teleporting, Opening magical doors etc)
It cannot Multiattack
It cannot use any feature, trait, spell, or attack that summons or creates additional creatures under its control
It shares your initiative but takes its turn after your own
It moves as you direct and requires no direction to use its Reaction
During its turn it will take the Dodge action unless you use your bonus action to direct it to take some other action of which it’s capable.
When you are reduced to 0 hit points or knocked unconscious it will act according to its nature
When it is reduced to 0 hit points it will die at the end of your next turn unless stabilized or healed.

A Boon Companion that has an intelligence of 6 or higher and can speak a language will generally want wages, a share of treasure, or contracts. Creatures of more animal intelligence that do not communicate with a language or telepathy require that their daily necessities be met as per moderate lifestyle expenses in exchange for their continued service.

Boon Companion Death and Healing
A Boon Companion that is reduced to 0 hit points begins dying and will die at the end of your next turn. It can be stabilized or healed as normal. If they die they can be returned to life with resurrection magic as normal. In the event of unloving companions such as constructs, or creatures that lose corporeal form automatically upon death such as hell hounds or fiends, a Wish spell is required to restore them to life.
A Boon Companion that isn’t dead is restored to full hit points after a long rest. At the end of a short rest you can divide the results of any hit dice you spent between yourself and your Boon Companion.

Here’s a ink to the associated class: (on my phone, links aren’t auto so you’ll have to cut/paste)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-iamK_BbB523_VihXbsu0QIXZzPXQNSy1o9eRFnj-9Y/edit

Stamina training is a direct ~50% nerf to toughness. Not clear on why that would be desirable even with a +1.

Cloaked feels like a lot of if/then for a feat. Maybe change stealth to “roll stealth against passive perception” eliminating active perception in its entirety. Allow boosts from spells or Help as normal (add 1d4 for guidance, +5 for help, etc) when you fail a stealth check by 5 or less you can add 1d6 to the roll. At level 15 this becomes 1d10.

Change Warcaster to “proficiency rounds” or Con mod+1d4.

Change GWM and Sharpshooter to normal mechanics anyone can do as “roll without proficiency, as 2xProficiency to damage.”

[Kane0]

I have never liked 5e's ability scores or feats. So when I started stripping 5e of things I felt simply got in the way for my own home game it inevitably left some gaps behind.

Would be good to know what specific things got changed or removed in relation to ASIs and feats, so we have the required context.

Kane0 most recent post on Feats gave a lot of insight into how and why he changed the feats as he did, so naturally I took that new perspective and applied it to my own selection.

...Huh. I honestly thought I left way too little explanation for my changes at the individual level.

Design Goals:
Support various archetypes
Give additional options
Elimiate Weaknesses.

These are good, do you have any more specifics or examples?

Questions:
- Are there any feats that jump out to you as "mandatory" or "insta-pick"?
- Are there any feats that provide a strong mechanical benefit, but don't really add that much to the fantasy?
- Are there any archetypes or player fantasies that you feel are missing?

DISCLAIMER: These are given alongside a +1 increase to any one ability modifier, which is why I'm trying to keep them on the under-powered side. I have contingencies set in place to make sure players don't go too far over the game's intended balance late-game, so I did manage to carve out some design space, but it's not much -shrug-

So some sort of baseline needs to be established. These are apparently not in competition to ASIs since you get the mod increase regardless, so we need some sort of measuring stick to work with. It's easy to say something like Double Shifts is not as enticing as other options (downtime varies from table to table and from campaign to campaign, and it carries a cost within the feat for its benefit), but that might be the sort of feat you want rather than Helping Hands or Crossbow Expert.

Also, what (if any) published feats you are keeping as is?

[Bjarkmundur]

Would be good to know what specific things got changed or removed in relation to ASIs and feats, so we have the required context.

- Main stat: +3.
- Other stats between -1 and +2
- Total sum of your ability modifiers is +7
Example Array: +3, +2, +2, +1, +0, -1

- ASIs are just a flat +1 to one ability modifier.
- HP scaling is front loaded. Players start of rather tanky, and players start having less that baseline HP after level 6, where they start falling behind. Feats and magic items are used to compensate for this nerf of the PCs.
- Whenever you gain an ASI you can choose one feat at the end of your next Downtime. I have a 30 day period of Downtime (which is enough to do pretty much anything, using my own downtime rules) every 3-5 sessions or so.

Huh. I honestly thought I left way too little explanation for my changes at the individual level.

You did, but I'll take what I can get. -shrug-

These are good, do you have any more specifics or examples?

Thanks :D

This is only my second time using my feats, so I'm really halted by the playtesting, and the number of players using them.

Feats right now are simply "design space I can use to cater to my players". We've all had to create custom magic items to help a player achieve his desired fantasy. This is very similar, but instead of "oh wow, a sword with exactly the magic I needed just fell into my lap" it is "I spend 30 days of downtime training to teach myself the skill I need".

For example, I had a character who's entire schtick was "I can grapple Giants". But because of his character choices, he didn't have any way to do that, he simply wanted that ON TOP of everything else he could do. Having the design space of a feat made it really easy for me to give him that fantasy, especially since all the other players got a feat at the same time he did, making it feel very organic that he got that ability when he did.

So some sort of baseline needs to be established. These are apparently not in competition to ASIs since you get the mod increase regardless, so we need some sort of measuring stick to work with. It's easy to say something like Double Shifts is not as enticing as other options (downtime varies from table to table and from campaign to campaign, and it carries a cost within the feat for its benefit), but that might be the sort of feat you want rather than Helping Hands or Crossbow Expert.

This is the main problem I'm having, and the reason why I want as many eyes on this as possible. It really is a game of spotting the outliers. If all the feats were to be arbitrarily put on a graph, which ones stick out. There are a few feats, such as pet keeper and the downtime one, which can simply be categorized as "un-rankable", due to how different they are.

The other thing I'm trying to do is toning down every single feat as much as possible. So for example, are there any feats that would do their intended job, even if they'd be nerfed? Elemental Adept for example. It really needs to have to "give Ally resistance" and "ignore enemy resistance" bit. But doesn't it really need the other bits?

If we can nerf them all to the floor, without destroying the purpose of the feat, then we can start bringing back up those feats that end up way below the medium line. This is what I've been doing for a while, but eventually you just get cross-eyed staring at the same text for so long.

Also, what (if any) published feats you are keeping as is?

None

[Bjarkmundur]

... honestly, after looking better into Kane0's feat rework, I'm also looking at the possibility of finding a way to use them in a game that doesn't use ability scores, instead of trying to balance my own batch of feats

Design Goal: Use Kano0's full and half-feats, without reverting back to tracking ability scores
- Assume E12 is applied, which would reduce the maximum number of ASIs a character gets over his career.

Solution 1a: Feats that would grant a +1 to an ability score add a +1 to an ability modifier instead.
This boosts the powerlevel of the half-feats, which I honestly don't hate, since it would simly have the side effect of encouraging certain kinds of playstyles more than others.
Solution 1b: Same as above, but add the clause "the next feat you take won't increase your Modifier, no matter which fest you take"

[Kane0]

... honestly, after looking better into Kane0's feat rework, I'm also looking at the possibility of finding a way to use them in a game that doesn't use ability scores, instead of trying to balance my own batch of feats

Im happy to merge the threads and work together on it, i think easiest place to start would be to make them all full and not half feats, then just adjust power level to taste.

[Bjarkmundur]

Im happy to merge the threads and work together on it, i think easiest place to start would be to make them all full and not half feats, then just adjust power level to taste.

Actually that sounds awesome! It does sound like a lot of work, increasing the power of so many different feats and try to make 30 or 40 options balanced around the same "yardstick"?

Another thing that makes it seem iffy is that wouldn't you be adding a lot of just... fluff... to feats that don't need any additional features to fulfill their fantasy?

Is there a reason why you immediately thought of "buffing the half-feats" instead of "nerfing the full feats"?

These are my only concerns, and if they are address, I'd be happy to tinker around with some feats. I mean, it's what I was doing before anyways xD

[Kane0]

Actually that sounds awesome! It does sound like a lot of work, increasing the power of so many different feats and try to make 30 or 40 options balanced around the same "yardstick"?

Another thing that makes it seem iffy is that wouldn't you be adding a lot of just... fluff... to feats that don't need any additional features to fulfill their fantasy?

Is there a reason why you immediately thought of "buffing the half-feats" instead of "nerfing the full feats"?

These are my only concerns, and if they are address, I'd be happy to tinker around with some feats. I mean, it's what I was doing before anyways xD

Well we have the advantage of having a bunch done already, plus experience (not trying to toot my own horn).

Possibly, i do like ribbons but we could also merge some things together where appropriate.

Oh nerfs will probably be necessary too, but half feats are called that because theyre half a feat in strength (hence why they give half the benefit of the ASI they replace), so they will need something to replace the loss of that +1 unless all full feats are effectively reduced to half strength to equialize (which may be inpossible at least some of the time). I dont like splitting into chains, if you pick up a feat you shouldnt need another to make it work the way you want and 'complete your build'

Feats generally have the benefit of being pretty easy to tinker with by virtue of being optional, doubly so if they arent even conflicting with stat boosts.

Edit:
To grab and adjust from that other thread, some examples:

Supporting fantasy (grapples, nonmagical healing, TWFing crossbows, getting animal companion)

Athlete
Choose three:
- Standing from Prone uses only 5 feet of movement
- You gain a Climb or Swim speed equal to your movement
- You can make a running jump without needing a running start
- You can grapple and shove creatures as if you were one size category larger
- Grappling a creature does not halve your movement speed if the creature does not exceed your carry capacity
- You double the range of Thrown weapons you use

Healer
- You can use a healer's kit or administer a potion as a bonus action
- During a short or long rest you can use a healer's kit to allow a creature spending one or more hit dice to roll each die twice and take the higher result
- During downtime you can use a healer's kit (one use each week) to provide the benefits of relaxation to one creature without impeding the downtime activities of either of you.

Crossbow Expert
- You ignore the loading quality of ranged weapons
- You are able to use one handed ranged weapons as well as melee weapons when Two Weapon Fighting

Magic Adept
You learn the one Cantrip, one 1st-level and one 2nd-level spell of your choice. These spells must be either all from the same class list or all of the same spell school. You can the 1st-level and 2nd-level spells once each without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can’t cast it in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells’ spellcasting ability is your choice of Int, Wis or Cha.
(in the case of 'getting animal companion' you could pick a combination of Infestation, Animal Friendship, Beast Sense, Animal Messenger and Summon Beast, plus Find Companion if you're stealing my spells.

Eliminate Weaknesses (concentration, elementalist, stealthing)

Combat Caster
- Once per short or long rest, when you cast a spell with a duration of concentration, you can halve the duration in order to ignore concentration.
- You can perform the somatic components of spells without a free hand

Elemental Adept
Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. When you deal damage of that type you can choose to apply or ignore damage resistance to that damage type to any creatures affected.

Skulker
Choose three:
- You can try to hide when you are lightly obscured from the creature from which you are hiding (reminder: dim light is light obscurement)
- You can remain hidden when moving out of cover or concealment as long as you end your movement behind cover or concealment again
- Wearing armor does not impose disadvantage on stealth checks
- When you are hidden from a creature and miss it with a ranged attack, making the attack doesn't reveal your position
- Dim light does not impose disadvantage on your Perception relying on sight
- While you are hidden, if a creature notices you with a successful Perception, as a reaction you can move up to half your speed and attempt a new Stealth check to remain hidden

[Bjarkmundur]

Oh wow how funny! We seeem to have gotten the same idea! While you were Kane0-ifying my feats, I was Bjarkifying yours. These look amazing, I'm gonna have to take a minute to really get to know them. While you were doing that, I did this:

Design Goal:
- Make minor changes based on preference (Savage Attacker, Shield Master)
- Remove feats. A lot of feats.
- Nerf feats, while maintaining the fantasy.

When it comes to the nerfs, I'm mostly looking into whether some of my own features can be tacked on instead, or whether my nerf is enough to bump a feat down to a half feat. If enough feats get bumped down to half feats I might have a solution for the ability score problem.

I really hate Great Weapon Master, but players seem to love it, so I'll leave it as is. I also really hate the Pole-arm bonus action, but it fits the fantasy too well to tinker with. I also really hate the "Extra Extra Attack" part of Savage attacker. But I don't understand the balance of that feat at all, so, eh.

Offensive Feats

• Crossbow Mastery
• Dual Wielder
• Great Weapon Mastery
• Polearm Mastery
• Brawler
• Sharpshooters
• Shield Master
• Sharpshooter
• Warcaster
• Elemental Adept
• Mage Slayer
• Savage Attacker
• Superior Accuracy

Defensive / Mobility Feats

• Shield Master
• Athlete
• Armor Master
• Defensive Duelist
• Hardy
• Resilient
• Arms Training

Other

• Magic Adept
• Skilled
• Healer
• Inspiring Leader
• Lucky
• Ritual Caster
• Telekinetic
• Telepathic

Spoiler: Offensive Feats

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Crossbow Mastery, Great Weapon Mastery, Polearm Mastery, Brawler, Sharpshooter, Warcaster, Superior Accuracy, remain unchanged from Kane0's versions.

Dual Wielder
- You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate weapon in each hand.
- You can use two-weapon fighting as part of the attack action instead of using a bonus action. If you do so you cannot also use your Bonus Action to make a weapon attack on the same turn.
- While wielding a different weapon in each hand, if you make an opportunity attack you can also make an attack using your off hand against the same target.

Dual Wielder did not need that extra AC to fulfill it's fantasy. I'm wondering what it does to the balance of the feat, and whether it turns it into "almost a half-feat" or "just a tad under a full feat".

Elemental Adept
- Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder.
- Spells you cast ignore resistance to damage of the chosen type.
- When you roll damage for a spell you cast that deals damage of the chosen type, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3.
- When you roll damage for a spell you cast that deals damage of the chosen type, you can choose any number of targets affected by the spell to gain resistance to that damage.

The same as before. Blastercasters usually have their own way of dealing more damage. It's the friendly fire and resist negation that's really helpful here. How does this affect the balance of the feat?

Mage Slayer
- You can make an Opportunity Attack against a creature that begins to cast a spell within your reach, potentially causing that creature to lose the spell if the attack hits and they fail a Concentration saving throw.
- When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell that they have cast, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw to maintain concentration.
- You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within your reach.

I honestly just hate that middle part. The fantasy is quite fulfilled by the other two parts. How does this affect the balance of this feat?

Savage Attacker.
- As a part of taking the Dash action you can choose to make one melee attack or attempt to shove the target at the end of your movement. If you move at least 10 feet, you do so with advantage. You cannot move again on your turn after you make this attack
- The second time you hit the same target with a melee attack during your turn you deal an extra +1d4 damage. The third time you deal an extra +1d8, the fourth or more +1d12.

The first bit has been buffed by granting advantage and allowing a shove. In previous editions a charge was just a +1. Maybe I'll go with something like that to make it less abusable? What do these changes do to the balance of the feat? Should the advantage be lessened to something else, or should the damage bonuses be evened out

Sentinel
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.

This is a sticky-tank feat, so removing the last bullet doesn't affect the fantasy But how does it affect the balance?

Spoiler: Defensive / Mobility Feats

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Armor Master, Athlete, Defensive Duelist, Hardy, Resilient, Arms Training are unchanged from Kane0's versions.

Shield Master
- You add the AC bonus of your shield to Dexterity saving throws.
- When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

The fantasy of a player who picks shield master is more likely to be "uses shield well" than "treats shield as a weapon". This applies to my own characters as well. What does this do to the power level of the feat?

Spoiler: Other Feats

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Magic Adept, Skilled, Inspiring Leader, Ritual Caster, Telekinetic and Telepathic are unchanged from Kane0's versions.

Healer
- When you use a healer's kit to stabilize a dying creature, that creature also regains 1 hit point.
- You can take 10 minutes to administer First Aid. You use one charge of a Healer's Kit to allow a single creature to regain a number of hit points equal to 1d6 + your level. A creature that regains hit points in this way cannot do so until after a short or long rest.

Just changed the wording. The amount healed is now determed by the healer, not the recipient. What happens to the power level if I remove that first bit? Is it a half-feat?

Lucky
I already have so many rerolls in my game I'm hesitant to add this. Either way, I removed on luck point.

Rejected Feats: Actor, Dragontouhed, Dungeon Delver, Keen Mind, Observant, Alert, Poisoner, Mobile, Crusher, Piercer, and Slasher. I can provide explanations if needed.

[Bjarkmundur]

We're only playing until level 12, I already have a tier 2 HP-nerf installed. I'm almost tempted to just say:

"Half-feats give you +1 to the ability modifier listed in the feat. You can only gain an ability modifier increase from half-feats twice. After that, all half-feat ability modifier increases are reduced to 0 for that character. You can still forgo taking a feat and gain a +1 to an ability modifier of your choice as normal."

The end result is the same, and at worst it means that my players are more likely to take half-feats at levels 4 and 8, and more likely to pick an ASI or a full feat at level 12.

[Kane0]

Alright cool, a lot more direction to go on now! I'll leave notes in small print to address fantasy & balance thoughts.

Spoiler: Offensive Feats

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Brawler
- You gain proficiency with improvised weapons, and your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 for damage
- You can grapple and shove creatures as if you were one size category larger, and grappling does not halve your movement speed if the creature does not exceed your carrying capacity
- While you are grappling a creature you have advantage on attack rolls against the grappled creature, and the creature you are grappling provides you half cover
The go-to place for 'grapple good' and 'fight unarmed'

Crossbow Mastery
- You ignore the loading quality of ranged weapons
- Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls
- You are able to use ranged weapons that are not two handed when Two Weapon Fighting
QoL improvement for Xbow lovers, allows use with extra attack, in melee and akimbo (and also melee/ranged combo ala pirates, assassins, etc)

Dual Wielder
+1 Dex
- You can use two-weapon fighting as part of the attack action instead of using a bonus action. If you do so you cannot also use your Bonus Action to make a weapon attack on the same turn.
- While wielding a different weapon in each hand, if you make an opportunity attack you can also make an attack using your off hand against the same target.
TWF as a mechanic is wonky, extra attacks are powerful and is balanced here by restricting weapons, limiting stat to damage and imposing a BA cost. The fighting style addresses one of these, this addresses another plus throws in a niche of its own that other styles don't expand into.

Elemental Adept
Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. When you deal damage of that type you can choose to apply or ignore damage resistance to that damage type to any creatures affected.
Counters resistance and enables much more friendly fire for elemental blasters, while pairing nicely with the Sorcerer's metamagic but not as much with the Evoker's sculpting. Also works for more than strictly spells, for things like the dragonborn ascendant dragon monk spamming breath weapons

Great Weapon Mastery
- When you make an attack with a weapon held in both hands that you are proficient in, you can choose to forego adding your proficiency bonus to the attack roll to instead add double your proficiency bonus to the damage roll
- On your turn, when you score a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon wielded in both hands, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action
You sacrifice accuracy for damage, and if the DM isn't using the Cleave Through variant rule well you are using your own substitute regardless. Polearm mastery and Savage Attacker are the only other contenders for raw damage increasing feats.

Mage Slayer
- You can make an Opportunity Attack against a creature that begins to cast a spell within your reach, potentially causing that creature to lose the spell if the attack hits and they fail a Concentration saving throw.
- You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within your reach.
You can interrupt spells before they are cast. It is a little specific, but excels as it should within that niche.

Polearm Mastery
- When you make an attack with a reach weapon as part of the attack action, as a bonus action you can make a melee attack with the opposite end of the weapon. This attack is not treated as having reach and uses a d4 for its damage die.
- While you are wielding a reach weapon, other creatures provoke an Opportunity Attack from you when they enter your reach
Still an excellent feat, and still pairs exceedingly well with GWM and Sentinel, which bothers me a little but I don't want to overnerf it. It's technically usable with a whip instead of a quarterstaff now but you have to be closer to get that extra attack.

Savage Attacker
- When you take the Dash action you can choose to make one melee attack or shove at the end of your movement. You cannot move again on your turn after you make this attack or shove.
- When you have advantage on a melee weapon attack and both rolls would hit you can roll one additional weapon damage die
Almost the opposite cousin of Mobile, this is about getting *in* and not *out* and rewards pressing the attack. It technically allows you to get a bonus action attack if you can Dash as a bonus action (Rogue, Monk, Orc if your DM is nice.)

Sentinel
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Once per short or long rest you can choose to make an opportunity attack without expending your reaction.
Much like the original (which is very good), however instead of OAs against creatures not attacking you, you have a limited number of free OAs which keeps your reaction free for other things.

Sharpshooter
- Your ranged attacks treat 3/4 cover as 1/2 cover, and 1/2 cover as no cover
- You double the short range of any ranged weapon attacks you make, and the range of any ranged spell attacks you make
Extra range and partially ignore cover, but in a way that doesn't just remove those gameplay elements like the original. Works for both weapon and spell attacks to both save space and accommodate characters that use both (full casters with Extra Attack, martials with attack spells, martials with weird not-spell attacks, etc
I'm trying to come up with an extra bullet to round it out but can't really think of anything that isn't already taken up by Piercer or similar

Superior Accuracy
- Any time you roll an attack with advantage, roll three d20 instead of two and choose the higher result
Very straightforward. Not a half feat now because there are no restrictions on what sort of attacks or who can take the feat.

Warcaster
- You have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration
- You can perform the somatic components of spells without a free hand
- When you make an opportunity attack you can cast a Cantrip targeting (only) the creature instead of making a weapon attack
Turns you from a squishy caster into a combat caster. You can hold an implement or shield and still cast, you don't need to worry so much about concentration, and you can make OAs with things like Shocking Grasp and Frostbite

Spoiler: Defensive / Mobility Feats

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Armor Master
- You can don and doff armor twice as fast, and equip a shield as a bonus action
- Wearing light or medium armor grants you an extra +1 AC and does not impose disadvantage on Stealth checks
- While wearing heavy armor bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage that you take from attacks is reduced by an amount equal to your proficiency bonus
A little bit of everything for armor wearers of all kinds. Savvy characters could even swap between armor types depending on the situation!

Arms Training
+1 Strength, Dexterity or Constitution
- Your armor proficiency increases by one category (Light > Medium+Shields > Heavy)
- Your Weapon proficiency increases by one category (Simple > Martial). If you are already proficient in martial weapons you can instead select one Fighting Style taken from the Fighter list.
Useful for anyone to get even if they start with no profs or all of them. There are quite a few races and classes that only get up to medium armor prof, or medium armor but not shields.

Athlete
- Your speed increases by 10 feet
- Standing from Prone uses only 5 feet of movement, and you can make a running jump without a running start
- You gain a Climb or Swim speed equal to your movement
- You double the range of any ranged weapon attacks you make with Thrown weapons
Athlete has always been a grab-bag of ribbons, but i'm hoping to make them enticing enough that it actually gets picked sometimes and not just for very specific use cases

Defensive Duelist
+1 Dexterity
- When you are hit by an attack while wielding a weapon in one hand, you can use your Reaction to add your Proficiency Bonus to your AC against that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss.
Was always a decent feat but I never really saw it get chosen, maybe because Shield is a thing and just as easy to get or just because it burned your reaction for a single attack when those that might want it would be typically taking multiple attacks. Anyways this bumps it up by making it a half feat and allowing use with a shield

Hardy
- You gain extra HP equal to twice your proficiency bonus (this increases when your Prof bonus does)
- When you take the Dodge action in combat, you can spend one Hit Die to heal yourself. Roll the die, add your Constitution modifier, and regain a number of hit points equal to the total (minimum of 1)
- When you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, the minimum result is equal to your Constitution modifier
Mixes together Tough, Durable and Dwarven Fortitude because they take up the same thematic space and aren't super interesting on their own (well DF is but we are avoiding racial feats). If you have a 20 Con you can actually heal 5 from a d4, but no published classes have a d4 Hit Die. Monks can make themselves real roadblocks by combining this with Patient Defense and Quickened Healing.

Resilient
As per the PHB.
Nothing to see here, has always been and still is strong and popular.

Shield Master
- When holding a shield you can attack with it as if it were a light weapon that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage on a hit
- When holding a shield you provide 3/4 cover instead of 1/2 cover, which extends out to a 15' cone directly behind you when subject to area of effect attacks, spells and abilities
- You add the AC bonus of your shield to Dexterity saving throws
'Shield bash' is a popular thing in media and at the table but isn't actually a thing in 5e, so this enables it while also delivering the original bonus action shove in the same stroke (TWF with your shield, exchange the attack for a shove). And of course it makes you better at protecting yourself and others with said shield.

Spoiler: Other Feats

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Healer
- When you use a healer's kit to stabilize a dying creature, that creature also regains 1 hit point (and doesn't get a level of exhaustion, if you're using that houserule)
- You can use a healer's kit as an action to tend to a wounded creature, making a Medicine check and restoring hit points equal to the result. A creature cannot benefit from this feat again until it finishes a short or long rest.
Healer has always been a good feat, this just accounts for the common houserule that addresses pop-up healing and simplifies the healing done (without changing the amount healed too much)

Inspiring Leader
During a short or long rest you can inspire up to six friendly creatures that can understand you. These creatures gain temporary hit points equal to your level plus charisma modifier, which last until their next short or long rest.
Again, always has been a very good feat. Didn't strictly need to bring it into the resting process but that's how it gets used in my experience and thats the way the duration works so may as well just bundle it together.

Lucky
- Once per short or long rest when you roll a d20 you can choose to roll an additional d20 and choose which result you use. You can choose to do this after you roll but before the outcome is determined.
- When an ally you can see within 30 feet of you rolls a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, you can use your reaction to let the ally reroll the die. The ally must use the new roll.
Lucky is also another one of those strong, popular feats. Only real problem is that you can burn them all really fast in a 5-min day, so I adjusted to enforce spacing that out. Also because we are dropping racial feats one of the Halfling luck bits made its way in as a consolation prize.

Magic Adept
Choosing Int, Wis or Cha as your casting stat you learn one Cantrip, one 1st level spell and one 2nd level spell all from either A) the same class list or B) the same spell school. The first and second level spells can each be cast once per long rest and are added as free spells known if you are already a spellcaster with slots that you can use to cast them.
This is just a merging of all the various 'give me spellcasting' feats. Very versatile, very useful for any character in both thematics and mechanics.

Ritual Caster
- Choose two 1st-level spells that have the ritual tag. You can cast the chosen spells as rituals.
- You can add other ritual spells to your repertoire. When you find such a spell, you can learn it if the spell's level is equal to or less than half your level (rounded up). Learning the spell destroys the source material.
- You can halve the casting time of ritual spells you cast
Another good feat but one that in my experience rarely gets taken because of how common it is for a party to have at least one Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Artificer or Tomelock and often multiple. So I sweetened the deal some, giving you a reason to take it even if you are the ritual caster (less so the tomelock, but it frees them up an invocation)

Skilled
- You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice
- You gain expertise in one skill or tool you are proficient in
- You learn one language of your choice
- During downtime you learn new languages and proficiencies in half the time
Stangely I think the straight 3 skill prof is a decent deal, but rarely see it picked up. Probably because of the inconsistency of skills when you compare them against each other, chances you already have the ones you really want already from background/race/class. Anyways this is basically Prodigy with the downtime ribbon as well to round it out and better incorporate that aspect of the game.

Telekinetic & Telepathic
As per Tasha's Cauldron.
They're fun, thematic and useful, though honestly they could be thematically replicated via Magic Adept with the right choices. I would like to bring these closer to Psychic powers ala Psi Warrior/Soulknife with aspects drawn from the binned Mystic but that is best saved for another day since it would definitely balloon in scope.

You could rule that half feats have to be picked in pairs to avoid the +1 mod problem, or your own ideas of limiting how many times you can get the +1 mod.
Edit: Or if you want to be sneaky, the +1 mod can only apply to a stat that isn't one of your best two.

[Bjarkmundur]

Alright. I have looked at my old feats and your most recent post and compiled everything I like into one set of feats.

I am deciding now that I want to convert almost all of them to half feats, but I'm also deciding that balance is much less important. In the context of an entire character, one feat is never going to have enough impact to pull one character to a status that much higher than another, and definitely not in such a way that is in any way noticable with just one group of players.

I'm going to tinker around some more and see what I can nerf, and what I'll need to add maybe a ribbon to once it has been nerfed. I'd love it if you could look at them for one last time when I'm done, just to catch any notable outliers.

Thank you so much for all your help <3