Best Feats To Spend Your Points On: A Comprehensive Guide

Hey guys! So you've racked up some feat points in your latest tabletop RPG campaign, and you're staring at your character sheet, feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of options? Don't worry, we've all been there! Choosing the right feats can feel like a big decision, especially when you want to optimize your character and make them a force to be reckoned with. But fear not! This guide is here to break down the process, helping you navigate the feat landscape and spend those hard-earned points wisely.

Understanding Feats: The Building Blocks of Awesome

First things first, let's talk about what feats actually are. In many tabletop RPG systems, especially in games like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and Pathfinder, feats are special abilities or talents that your character can acquire, usually at certain level milestones. Think of them as extra layers of customization, allowing you to fine-tune your character's strengths, shore up weaknesses, and generally make them even more unique and powerful. Feats can do a huge range of things, from improving your combat prowess and granting you new spells to boosting your skills and giving you cool roleplaying opportunities. Some might even alter your character's core mechanics, like allowing them to wield specific weapons more effectively or wear heavier armor without penalty. The best part? The right feats can totally transform your character's playstyle, making them stand out from the crowd and ensuring they shine in their chosen role within the party.

The Importance of Synergy and Character Concept

Before you start blindly grabbing feats that sound cool (trust me, it's tempting!), it's crucial to consider your character's overall concept and how different feats might synergize with their existing abilities and playstyle. What kind of character are you trying to build? Are you a damage-dealing powerhouse, a cunning battlefield controller, a resilient tank, or a master of social interactions? Identifying your character's core role will help you narrow down your feat choices and focus on options that enhance your strengths. For example, if you're playing a rogue who excels at stealth and surprise attacks, feats that boost your sneak attack damage or improve your ability to move silently will be far more valuable than feats that grant you proficiency with heavy armor. Similarly, if you're playing a wizard who relies on powerful spells, you'll want to prioritize feats that increase your spellcasting effectiveness or grant you access to new and exciting spells. The key is to think strategically, choosing feats that complement each other and work together to create a cohesive and effective character build. Don't just pick feats randomly; think about the big picture and how each choice contributes to your character's overall identity and effectiveness.

Identifying Your Character's Needs and Weaknesses

Beyond your character's strengths, it's also important to identify any potential weaknesses or areas where they might need improvement. Every character has limitations, and choosing feats that address these weaknesses can make your character much more well-rounded and capable in a variety of situations. For example, if your character has low hit points and tends to go down easily in combat, feats that increase your survivability, such as those that grant you extra hit points or improve your armor class, might be a wise investment. Similarly, if your character struggles with certain skills or saving throws, feats that provide bonuses to those areas can be invaluable. Consider your character's role in the party and the challenges they're likely to face. Are they the primary damage dealer? Then maybe you need feats that will help you stay alive longer so you can keep dishing out the pain. Are they the party's face? Then feats that boost your social skills and make you more persuasive could be essential. By identifying your character's needs and weaknesses, you can make more informed feat choices and create a character who is not only powerful but also resilient and adaptable.

Top Feat Categories to Consider

Okay, so now that we've covered the fundamentals of feat selection, let's dive into some specific feat categories that you should definitely be considering when spending your feat points. These categories cover a wide range of benefits, from boosting your combat capabilities to enhancing your skills and granting you special abilities. Remember that the best feats for your character will depend on their class, role, and overall build, but these categories provide a solid starting point for your exploration.

Combat-Oriented Feats: Unleashing Your Inner Warrior

For those who enjoy wading into the thick of battle, combat-oriented feats are an absolute must. These feats can dramatically improve your character's offensive and defensive capabilities, making them a formidable force on the battlefield. Some common combat feat categories include:

• Weapon Focus and Specialization: These feats grant you bonuses to attack rolls and damage when using specific weapons, making you more accurate and deadly with your chosen armaments. If you have a favorite weapon, these are often a solid choice.
• Fighting Styles: Many games offer feats that grant you access to specific fighting styles, such as Two-Weapon Fighting, Archery, or Shield Mastery. These styles provide a suite of benefits that enhance your effectiveness in combat, depending on your preferred approach.
• Critical Hit Enhancements: Some feats allow you to increase your critical hit range, deal extra damage on critical hits, or even inflict special effects on your opponents when you score a critical hit. If you like dealing massive damage in bursts, these are the feats for you.
• Defensive Feats: Staying alive is just as important as dealing damage, and defensive feats can help you do just that. These feats might grant you bonuses to your armor class, improve your saving throws, or even allow you to mitigate damage from incoming attacks. A tough character is a valuable asset to any party.

Skill-Enhancing Feats: Master of Your Craft

Beyond combat, skills play a vital role in most tabletop RPGs, allowing your character to interact with the world, solve problems, and contribute to the party in a variety of ways. Skill-enhancing feats can make your character a true master of their chosen skills, granting them bonuses to skill checks, unlocking new skill uses, and even allowing them to attempt skills that they wouldn't normally be able to. If you're playing a character who relies on their skills to get the job done, these feats are essential. Consider feats that enhance your character's key skills, such as stealth, persuasion, perception, or knowledge skills. These feats can make you an invaluable asset both in and out of combat.

Spellcasting Feats: Unleashing Magical Might

For spellcasters, feats can be the key to unlocking your full magical potential. Spellcasting feats can enhance your spellcasting abilities in a variety of ways, such as increasing your spell damage, extending your spell duration, granting you access to new spells, or improving your ability to overcome spell resistance. If you're playing a wizard, sorcerer, cleric, or any other spellcasting class, spellcasting feats are a must-have. Look for feats that synergize with your chosen spell school or spellcasting style. For example, if you specialize in fire magic, feats that increase fire damage or grant you new fire spells will be highly beneficial. Similarly, if you prefer to control the battlefield with illusions and enchantments, feats that improve your illusion and enchantment spells will be a smart choice.

Utility and Roleplaying Feats: Adding Flavor and Versatility

Not all feats are about raw power or combat prowess. Utility and roleplaying feats can add flavor and versatility to your character, granting them special abilities or advantages that can be useful in a variety of situations. These feats might allow you to speak additional languages, craft magical items, or even gain access to special contacts or resources. These feats are perfect for characters who want to be well-rounded and capable of handling a variety of challenges. They can also be great for roleplaying purposes, allowing you to create a more unique and interesting character with a distinct personality and background. Think about feats that fit your character's backstory or personality. Do they have a knack for languages? Are they skilled at crafting? Do they have a network of informants? Utility and roleplaying feats can help you bring your character to life and make them a memorable part of the campaign.

Analyzing Specific Feats: A Deep Dive

Now that we've explored the major feat categories, let's take a closer look at some specific examples of powerful and popular feats. This will give you a better sense of the kinds of benefits that feats can provide and how they can impact your character's performance. Keep in mind that the specific feats available will vary depending on the game system you're playing, but these examples should give you a good idea of what to look for.

Great Weapon Master (D&D 5e)

For melee characters who wield heavy weapons, Great Weapon Master is a powerhouse feat. It allows you to take a -5 penalty to your attack roll in exchange for dealing an additional +10 damage on a hit. This is a huge damage boost, especially at higher levels when your attack bonus is high enough to offset the penalty. Great Weapon Master also grants you a bonus action attack if you score a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, allowing you to chain attacks and deal even more damage. If you're playing a barbarian, fighter, or paladin who specializes in heavy weapons, this feat is a must-have.

Sharpshooter (D&D 5e)

Sharpshooter is the ranged equivalent of Great Weapon Master, offering similar benefits for characters who use ranged weapons. It allows you to ignore cover and long range penalties on your ranged attacks, making you a much more accurate and effective archer. It also grants you the same -5/+10 damage option as Great Weapon Master, allowing you to deal significant damage with your ranged attacks. If you're playing a ranger, fighter, or rogue who relies on ranged combat, Sharpshooter is an excellent choice.

Spell Penetration (Pathfinder)

Spell Penetration is a crucial feat for spellcasters in Pathfinder. It grants you a bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance, which is a common defense among monsters and other spellcasters. Without Spell Penetration, your spells may simply fail to affect your targets, making you much less effective in combat. If you're playing a spellcaster in Pathfinder, this feat is essential for ensuring that your spells land and have the desired effect.

Combat Reflexes (Pathfinder)

Combat Reflexes is a versatile feat that allows you to make a larger number of attacks of opportunity. Attacks of opportunity are melee attacks that you can make when an enemy moves out of your threatened area, and Combat Reflexes allows you to make more of these attacks per round. This can be incredibly useful for controlling the battlefield and punishing enemies who try to move past you. It's a particularly good choice for melee characters who want to protect their allies or control enemy movement.

The Art of Optimization: Building a Powerful Character

Choosing feats is not just about picking individual abilities; it's about crafting a cohesive character build that works together as a whole. The best characters are those that are optimized for their chosen role and playstyle, with feats that complement each other and synergize with their other abilities. This requires careful planning and a good understanding of the game's mechanics.

Considering Multiclassing

Multiclassing, which is the practice of taking levels in multiple classes, can be a powerful way to enhance your character, but it can also make feat selection more complex. When you multiclass, you gain access to the abilities and feats of multiple classes, but you also need to consider how these different class features will interact with each other. Some feats may be more valuable in certain multiclass combinations than others. Think carefully about your multiclassing choices and how they will impact your feat selection. A well-planned multiclass build can be incredibly powerful, but a poorly planned one can leave your character feeling weak and ineffective.

Planning for the Long Term

It's important to think about your character's long-term progression when choosing feats. Some feats are more powerful at certain levels than others, and some feats may unlock even more powerful options later on. Consider the feats that will be most beneficial to you at your current level, but also think about the feats that you might want to acquire in the future. Planning ahead will help you ensure that your character remains effective and competitive as they level up. Some feats have prerequisites, meaning that you need to have certain other feats or abilities in order to acquire them. If you know that you want a particular feat later on, you may need to plan ahead and acquire the necessary prerequisites in advance.

Playtesting and Adapting

The best way to know if a feat is truly effective is to use it in actual gameplay. Don't be afraid to experiment with different feat combinations and see what works best for your character. If a feat isn't performing as well as you hoped, don't hesitate to adjust your build or swap it out for something else. Tabletop RPGs are all about flexibility and adaptation, and your character build should be no different. Talk to your fellow players and your game master about your character and your feat choices. They may have valuable insights or suggestions that you haven't considered. Remember that the most important thing is to have fun and create a character that you enjoy playing.

Final Thoughts: Mastering the Art of Feat Selection

Choosing feats can seem daunting at first, but with a little planning and understanding, you can master the art of feat selection and create a truly powerful and unique character. Remember to consider your character's overall concept, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and choose feats that synergize with their abilities and playstyle. Don't be afraid to experiment, and most importantly, have fun! With the right feats, your character will be ready to face any challenge that comes their way. So, go forth and spend those feat points wisely, and watch your character transform into the hero (or villain!) they were always meant to be. Happy gaming, guys!