Top Five Worst Feats in D&D 5e
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We take a look at some feats that may not be worth taking for most characters and discuss what we would do to improve them.
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TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Sponsor
1:13 - Intro
2:24 - Disclaimer
3:09 - Charger
5:54 - How We Would Fix It
8:16 - Dungeon Delver
10:29 - How We Would Fix It
11:42 - Mage Slayer
14:03 - How We Would Fix It
16:32 - Poisoner
18:31 - How We Would Fix It
21:22 - Weapon Master
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The GM can fix the poisoner feat in a very classic way: poison recipes. If you have a PC with this feat, introduce special poisons that they can concoct once they learn the proper formula that do damage that isn't itself poison damage: "Angel Tears" as a poison that does Radiant Damage or "Dragon Bile" to do Acid damage or something. This adds to the feat and lets that player live out the fantasy of being the super-cool poisoner.
Yeah, I imagine the player taking this feat wants to feel like Geralt. Pausing before seeking combat to mix up some wrath oil, or coating their blade in fire to fight a troll, or making some distilled garlic extract to drop into Strahd's wine chalice.
Stronger posion that can only be applied once per turn. Now it is equally good for anyone. Coat 10 pieces of ammunition
My dm and I did exactly this we used the base poison as a starting point and then went through finding ways to add components to augment the poison to make it behave different ways. He even gave me a special poison check to look for items around me that could be used to find poison components.
You can harvest poison from creatures that are incapacitated or dead with a "DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check. (Proficiency with the poisoner’s kit applies to this check if the character doesn’t have proficiency in Nature). On a successful check, the character harvests enough poison for a single dose. On a failed check, the character is unable to extract any poison. If the character fails the check by 5 or more, the character is subjected to the creature’s poison." It's right in the poison section of the DMG ch.8.
I love that your adding a 'how we'd fix this' to all feats discussed. Would like to see more of that on spell lists
Yes, yes!
@@tobiasL1991 imo spells that require an attack roll should also get bonus damage from the relevant casting ability score, but thats just me. seeing as most spells have a higher damage die than most martial weapons that could be fairly unbalanced.
If the Mage Slayer feat let you reroll a failed saving throw against spells or spell like effects a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, you would get a useful "magic resistance light" effect that might have the balance you want.
or even "PB times per LR, if you would fail a save against a spell and you lack proficency in that save, you may add your PB to your roll."
In place of magic resistance, I would suggest that it give you advantage on saving throws vs one spell-caster that you have attacked. Flavor wise, this would be you have an eye on one caster that you are semi-engaged with. So if you used your reaction to try to interrupt their spell you are also aware they are casting that spell and if you fail to interrupt it you still have an advantage against that spell.
If you've not seen it there's a new version of the feat in the latest One D&D playtest. It gains a +1 Str or Dex, still causes disadvantage on con saves for spells, and now gives one 1 free success on any Int, Wis, or Cha save per long rest (used after you roll). It does, however, lose the reaction attack, and no longer grants advantage on saves cast within 5 feet of you.
Probably stronger overall but loses a little flavour/ uniqueness imo.
In 3rd and 3.5 edition mage slayer was a prestige class for a fighter that has abilities one is mind over magic (reroll a failed save throw and also if a caster that cast a spell is in 5 ft of you attack as an reaction)
The poisoner feat only lasts for a minute until your first hit
I was going to point this out, too.
Yeah, 1 hit ranged or melee. And honestly maybe in some campaigns its different but in most of the ones I've been in 50GP for a single hit is a hard sell.
@@Ahglock It's not 50 gp for one hit. The feat lets you make as many doses as your proficiency bonus. So it is 50 gp for two to six hits. Still not great, but not 50 gp for one.
@@StrewthStoatPirate true, but, still too expensive
@@StrewthStoatPirate you are right, I forgot that it was multiple doses. But again this may be campaign dependent but for us at the levels where 2d8 dc 14 is good 50GP is a lot of money. By the time I'd feel free to spend that money its a kind of crap result. Give it 1/2 damage on a save at least. That being said I think this feat might be okay at high levels for a creation bard. Take it at 12th then when you hit 14 create a bunch of purple worm poisons, being able to administer as a bonus action is a solid attack option.
I think Weapon Master was expecting there to be exotic weapons like the spiked chain or 3 section staff but then 5e decided to simplify weapons a lot and not have all the really cool niche weapons that were hard to get proficiency in that older editions had.
Yea, I think someone expected Exotic Weapons would be a thing.
If there was a bunch of exotic weapons like bastard sword, falchion, etc the weapon master would be useful. For now the only use is for double bladed scimitar with revenant blade
I saw a forum or something where somebody used Weapon Master to justify proficiency in the sci-fi weapons that are in the DMs guide. According to them, it was pretty broken. That means the DM had to let them do it, and most DMs are gonna nope that crap right out of their game.
I guess it could be used for a wizard that wants to use a long sword (but isn't a bladesinger), like Gandalf. But paying a feat tax to do that feels bad, and far from optimal.
@@mikecrane2093 especially when the fighter dip gets you that anway, along with Action Surge.
I believe for the Poisoner feat, the weapon or ammo only remains poisoned for one minute OR until you hit an enemy with it. So regardless you’re only getting one damage boost per dose.
You are correct, although how that would work semi-realistically with ammunition is a mystery to me. It's fantasy and it doesn't have to be realistic, but it is puzzling nonetheless.
It's truly dogwater.
That really makes it worthless then! 😅
Having to spend time and spend 50 gold for a potential extra 2 points of damage altogether if you're really unlucky is nothing short of farcical!
Taking the ASI in your attacking stat _guarantees_ more damage than that each fight for free without _any_ risk of damage immunity... And you could even stay at range while you're doing it. 😂
@@nicelliott1175 Maybe you could say that you apply a layer of poisonous resin inside the bottom of your quiver of arrows & all their pointy bit get coated by it until it dries up? 🤔
Yes... but, that just makes it worse than default poisoning your weapon.
PHB p153 (Chapter 5 Equipment > Adventuring Gear > poison, basic) :
Apply : (Action) One slashing, one piercing, or three ammunition.
Poison : DC 10, 1d4 Poison Dmg
Duration : 1 minute
(As a 'rules lawyer', the poison item does not specify a limit to number of hits. So, any other limitations to duration would be extrapolating from elsewhere. One could also argue that it doesn't say it wears off the ammunition, so technically they would still be poisoned for a minute... if you can find them.)
vs
Potion of Poison (DMG Magic Items)
Apply : Drink
Poison : DC 13, 3d6 Poison Dmg
Duration : Save every turn (so every round), each success reduces Dmg by 1d6 with the poison ending at 0d6. So, lasts until 3 saves... or dead.
(Does become a debate; does the poison stop when go unconscious at 0 HP, or does it start eating through Death Saves?)
vs
Other poisons.
Contact : These poisons result in a save if make skin contact with the poison... which means they could also be applied to a bludgeoning weapon. However, they don't actually say they can be applied to weapons and still work.
Ingested : These poisons are like healing potions, must drink the whole thing for it to work. (Though, GM may allow 'partial'.) These means it is useless on a weapon... unless the GM allows 'partial' effect.
Inhaled : These are transmitted by dust cloud or gas... and thus couldn't be applied to a weapon. Using them in combat is probably an attack of it's own.
Injury Poisons : Meant to be applied to slashing, piercing, or ammunition.
(The existence of 'injury' poisons could be argued to mean that all other poison types cannot be applied to weapons. I've seen such a style argument, but for other stuff... where 'this exists, so this logical thing can't work'.)
---
To simplify.
Basic Poison on weapon : 1 minute
Potion of Poison on weapon : Unspecified
Blood of the Lycanthrope on weapon : On Delivery (hit)
Drow Poison on weapon : On Delivery (hit)
Purple Worm Poison on weapon : On Delivery (hit)
Serpent Venom on weapon : On Delivery (hit)
Wyvern Poison on weapon : On Delivery (hit)
---
Poisons are something that were mostly left in the air. I think the intent was for DMs to mostly design their own. The PHB one seems geared to giving a slight damage increase for an entire combat... while the DMG ones are more for being applied to players, so don't want them to stick around much. There aren't any actual rules to guide GMs in designing their own. Nothing to say 'DC of what they can comfortably afford should be similar to DC of spells of casters at that level'. Nothing to say 'damage of poisons they can afford should bring weapon attack damage into parity with single target spells'.
All in all, I think the 'poison your weapons' is mostly terrible... because the time and effort needed to track down and buy (or harvest and craft) the poisons, can make it an arc onto itself in a campaign... only to have a single does of something like Drow Poison, that then the one target hit will probably save against it... so it was a waste. Makes for a cool story, until it becomes 'rinse repeat' to toss good coin at failure. Especially since if you are crafting it yourself, you are probably hunting the source and thus not working jobs for income... so can't afford to craft it.
(No, my characters don't generally run broke for entire campaigns... pawning off cool items to afford the healing potions the party will go through on our next trip out of town. I have no idea what you mean by 'having less funds at level 8 than I did at level 1. Doesn't happen...)
In Tasha’s, Monks now can pick one weapon they’re proficient in and make it a monk weapon. So they could pick up proficiency in whips and make it a monk weapon. That’s perfect. Never have to get into melee
And you can even flavor it as a spike rope, which is super cool!
@Jason Rollins then what's the point in the whip
@@gordonross3270 there isn't, you could also just take a level of any martial class and you'd get martial weapon proficiencies, and of course you'd be a better monk then too
Let me tell you what the best monk build in the game is.... a fighter with the Unarmed Fighter fighting style, the Mobile feat, and Gloves of Missile Snatching and Winged Boots
@@destinpatterson1644 pretty much, but a monk does more attacks and movement speed RAW
dimension 20 gave a villain in the unsleeping city a souped up version of mage slayer and it was terrifying, where once he got in melee combat with a spell caster he was able to break fingers and stop people from casting spells that required a somatic component
The Poisoner feat only lasts for up to a minute or until you hit with the affected weapon, so having Extra Attack only applies to how likely you are to hit within the turn.
Since Mage Slayer is intended to empower martial characters against magic users (who often try to use teleportation to their advantage on the battlefield or to escape) maybe add something like: When a creature attempts to teleport, you may use your reaction to make a weapon attack against them. If your attack succeeds, they expend that resource but your disruption prevents them from teleporting.
I would word it as “When a creature cast a spell or attemt to teleport while they’re within 5 ft of you, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against it. If the attack hit, it must succeed on a DC 8 + your Str/Dex + proficiency bonus Constitution saving throw or the attempt fail and the creature expend the resource.” instead of flat out fail.
So the Mage and Archmage would struggle to cast spells/teleport away since they’re not tough enough to reliably succeed a Con save. But boss monster caster like a Lich or a Pit Fiend with proficiency in Con would have an easier time to cast their spell as they are built for battle.
I gotta say, i think they're underselling mage slayer. I play a hexblade swords bard and mage slayer has turned the tide in quite a few battles. Pay special attention to the second bullet. It just says "damage", not weapon damage. Which means, you don't have to be next to the spellcaster. That means you are always a threat to mages. Just recently, a demon locked himself behind a wall of force with our monk, who was getting destroyed. No one could get at it. But i could with Rauloth's psychic Lance. I did damage to the spellcaster, he failed the second roll. So we could swarm in and take care of it.
I think that's them autofailing the spell on a crit might be too much. I'd make it a concentration check to "finish" the casting of the spell so that its not too op
As a DM I had used a similar idea but it wasn’t with the feat, rather a Paladin home brew subclass the Oath of Silence, where an opportunity attack against a creature who teleports within 5 feet of them (either to, or away) reduces the spell save DC from spells cast by that creature by 3 until the end of the creatures next turn
Or just make casting spells triggers AoOs
Hey, Monty, congrats on earning your PhD. Now you are a Dungeon Doctor!
That's cool. What subject matter is his PhD in?
@@chrisjenson9781 Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, so now he has official expertise in the performance skill.
@@seanransom2020 dang he took the actor feat
Many of these feats should be optional additions to character backgrounds. I.e. Charger added to the Knight background, as a tactic learned through becoming a Knight or being around Lords or Knights of more experience. This way, you get the ability to use these niche feats at lower levels when they can be most impactful, then forget about it later on when you have better options or party tactics, and not be punished for taking this as one of your low number of feats.
I do add Charger without the bonus damage to a race , as a dm and homebrewing a few races for the campaing, and the player who played the race barely use it, so yeah, not as a feat but free as a rave trait and even so, it didnt use it very often
I mean this is pretty much what they are doing with One DND's feat system! Lower level feats given to every background, then better feats for higher levels.
Idk why, but I see less of Knight and more Gladiator for Charger. Rushing up and getting the show started quick as possible
@@patdav56 and the winner is... Los Tiburón!!!!
Charger has become one of my favorite feats on rogues or barb2/rogue x
Let's not forget that feats compete with precious ASI at lower levels. They should at least be as good as a +1 to your main stat. Even some of the best one don't get there.
I agree. Very rarely they are not equal to a +1 unfortunately.
A +1 to a stat usually isn’t that impactful considering for casters it’s an extra 5% for creatures to fail and for martials it’s 5% more to hit and +1 damage per attack.
Not saying that boosting your main stat isn’t impactful but it’s not that hard for a feat to be better than a +1.
Many feats are stronger than ASI's, I'm not saying there aren't duds, but my strongest characters have been ones where I never took an ASI
For mages: resilient Constitution, alert, and war caster are stronger than a +1
For martials: polearm master, crossbow expert, gwm, sentinel, shield master, sharpshooter, lucky, skulker, mobile, heavy armor master, and the list goes on are stronger than ASI's
Still I would get your main stat to at least a 16 before taking a feat
@@mosesferney1722 I agree, although especially for casters you do need to have your main stat being at a certain baseline... I'd say 18 for a caster or 16 for a martial for me, although especially if you choose half feats you will still come out on top if you never take an ASI imo
@@mosesferney1722 You forgot to mention the increase in saving throws and skills. Also for many spellcasters it also means extra spells to chose from, buffs to (sub) class abilities, extra buffs to certain spells ( think spiritual weapon). Some feats yes and others come close. However for a reliable always good one that also doesn't pre determine play style (Not everyone wants to wield a pole arm/ light crossbow/ two handed weapon) there are not many. A +1 ability is just always on and always relevant. Take warcaster for example, with good positioning I can go an entire battle without taking damage and I might want to save my reaction for Shield, Counterspell, Absorb Elements or Silvery Barbs. Is warcaster still great? Yup. Is it strictly better then +1. Depends on your build.
I really like the Poisoner rework by Kibblestasty:
It allows you to specify a creature type you are creating the poison for. The poison ignores poison resistance and immunity for creatures of that type.
Also the 50GP cost is removed instead your created Poisons only last until applied or the next long rest.
And the Con save DC scales with your proficiency Bonus but the creature takes only 1d8 (instead of 2d8) poison damage but half if they succeed the save. You can furthermore create a deadlier poison that does 2d8 damage if you spent 15gp of material per dose.
that sounds a lil like the witcher poisons.
I still believe that there should be types of creatures that are immune to poison. Why should a skeleton care if it's hit by poison? Or a construct?
Other than that, your suggested rework isn't bad at all.
@@FireTalon24 For Constructs, the poison could work like some kind of magic virus, while for a skeleton it could be something that advances its decay rate or similar.
While this stretches the definition of poison and "poison damage" I think it could be flavoured so it still kind of works
@@Kceam See, for a "poison" that works on constructs I might have my players actively hunt down a rust monster to get it's digestive acids and see if it can be diluted/strengthened.
As for undead, I just don't think poison makes sense. No blood flow to spread the poison. It's not bad to have things be immune, just so long as it makes sense and doesn't happen too frequently.
not sure why this can't be a poison verison of elemental adept and just have your poisons ignore resistance. keep the damage the same, but instead have it so when you are crafting the poisons you can spend 15gp to create a poison specific to the mob you'll be fighting. Your poisons ignore immunity against that mob. You can also throw in the dc scaling with proficiency. Personally, this becomes a far more useful feat from ignoring resistance and gives the option to create unique poisons for fights you are able to prepare for.
At the place I play, the third bullet point of Mage Slayer was changed to essentially be a melee counterspell against a spell you could see being cast: the attack happened first and if it did, it forced a Constitution save (DC equal to 10 or half the damage taken, whichever is higher) or the spell would be wasted without effect. One of my favorite interactions involving this is when a PC attacks an enemy mage, they cast shield to try to block it, and the PC gets a chance to make another attack to interrupt that spell, which has been pretty fun for the PCs with that feat.
Reactions are supposed to be faster than Actions... but I don't think I'd allow a Reaction from someone who is taking their Action to be faster than someone just using a Reaction. But hey, if it works for you guys, then whatever. The game is meant for everyone to have fun.
Unfortunately, the Mage Slayer reaction takes place after the spell is cast because it doesn't specify timing of the attack.
So if a caster uses Misty Step within 5ft of the Mage Slayer, the caster is able to escape before the attack can hit.
@@Battleguild I am aware that is how Mage Slayer works RAW; I was referring to a change to the third bullet point in my comment as used in my play group, in which the Mage Slayer reaction occurs when you see a creature within 5 feet in the process of casting a spell, similar to the timing of counterspell
I'm with paradox on this. Not sure i'd allow the reactionary attack from a player that is already in the process of making an attack. Also, i'd make the save dc 8+damage dealt.
By the same reasoning, you wouldn't allow someone casting a spell (such as fireball) to counterspell someone else's counterspell?
My first 5e GM took one look at Weapon Master and said "Oh there's some text missing on this feat" and wrote down that you could get +10dmg for -5atk on with those weapons. I took it on my monk for several monk weapons and it was great. This honestly colored my opinion of the Monk VERY positively in 2015.
Oh that poor DM confused weapon master and Great Weapon Master
@@aquamarinerose5405 And coincidentally he made weapons that aren't heavy actually viable in the process. Good on him!
You know what? Great Feat
Weapon master was an option for a swashbuckler rogue in my campaign to boost his Dex and get pistol proficiency. And I was like: "Man, there is a Gunner feat in Tasha, take that one". So, Piercer and Gunner gave that pirate almost everything he wanted from that character.
i think you missed the part of poisoner where it lasts 1 minute *or* until you hit with the weapon or amunition, only one attack benefits per dose (which makes it even less useful)
50 gold to add 2d8 poison dmg on two to six attacks is not great.
@@lordchrispo1439 it posions them so they have disadvantage on attack rolls too still not great though.
Honestly, bare minimum it should last for the TURN where you first hit with it. So if you can Action Surge and hit with 6 attacks, it would be really good.
@@Paradox-es3bl I don't think the damage should apply multiple times. instead it should increase the saving dc until your attacks end or the target fails the dc. simply because the each hit would add the poison to their system. This would mean the amount of poison in their blood stream increases making it harder to ignore the effects, but the potency/damage would still be the same.
On the other hand, without the Extra Attack scaling, it might be safe to add cantrip-style damage scaling to the poison.
I'm surprised the grappler feat didn't make this list.
Oh god yes
I'd 100% swap Poisoner with grappler. With Poisoner you're complimenting an existing playstyle, even if it is niche and doesn't scale well later on. Grappler on the other hand does nothing to help. Getting advantage on attacks against a grappled creature is nice, but the action to pin a creature makes is unusable. Not only does it nullify the first part, but it makes you extremely vulnerable since it restrains yourself. In comparison, if you're grappling someone the next logical move is to knock them prone. This not only gives you advantage on your attacks, and potentially melee allies, but they get disadvantage on all attacks while not being able to escape.
Simply playing the game is better than taking the Grappler feat and should absolutely be on this list.
@@BastinatorX3r0 Seriously. There is no reason to ever use the Grappler feat when you can use an action to shove an enemy to the ground and then grapple them. Once you do that, they have 0 movement speed and can't stand up and all attacks against a prone enemy are made at advantage, and you can drag them around at half your movement speed.
@@BastinatorX3r0 Agreed. Poisoner at least lets you bypass resistance. Theoretically could be good for spellcasters via cloudkill.
@@Martick05545Yeah! Damage over time attacks is very indeed useful for hit and run. Especially if you risk getting roflsomped but have to throw in some damage and maybe dot kill the foe
Seeing how the new One D&D playtests are handling feats, my hope is that they make a lot of these underwhelming feats into "Level 1 feats" and have upgrade paths for them as you level up.
Yeah. Makes total sense
So in other words you want to delay getting certain feats? What are some examples they're using right now?
Yes, I would like to see feats level up and give some of these the chance to improve and be more useful.
@@nedmusic1494 not delay (at least no confirmation of such yet), but they currently have a list of feats already for level 1 that make more sense as getting at level 1 than replacing an ASI, such as Savage Attacker and the new incarnations of Alert and Lucky
My hope is that they just totally redo them and make them more useable. They already redid the rules for grappling/unarmed combat, so I think them redoing a few feats is very possible.
I think an acceptable improvement to the dungeon delver feat would be a permanent +5 to passive investigation.
It already gives +5 to PI for secret doors.
@@Menno_3 okay? Now tell me, which would you rather have. A +5 to one very specific investigation check, or a +5 to ALL investigation checks. Take your time.
I always love the fact that you're both clear in videos that these are your opinions and think everyone should play the character they want. With that said, this list is pretty accurate in my eyes.
*Mage Slayer* (how I’d fix it):
1. When a creature you can see within your weapon’s range casts a spell, you may use your reaction to make a weapon attack against them. If your attack hits, roll for damage and force them to make a constitution saving throw. If they fail, the spell is cancelled, and whatever resource they used to cast it is spent.
2. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack and that creature is maintaining concentration on a spell, they have disadvantage on the saving throw they make to maintain their concentration.
3. If you take the Dodge action on your turn, you gain advantage on saving throws against any spell that would affect you until the beginning of your next turn.
4. If you are armed with a shield and make a saving throw against a spell that would damage you, you take half damage on a failed save and no damage on a successful save.
Okay, so hear me out on this one: Charger might be useful for Barbarians to keep their rage going if the enemies are spread.
can't they just carry javelins and attack while running between enemies?
You make an excellent point, especially for days with numerous combat encounters. It would also be helpful against very mobile enemies, and it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to combine it with GWM for a choice between -5 to hit/+10 to damage or +5 to damage at no cost. It could also be useful for hitting allies to dispel charm effects and other things like that, provided that you turned just before hitting them (speaking as someone who has repeatedly stabbed our paladin as a bonus action to bring them around and using my action to attack the enemy, because it is more efficient than taking my action to shake him awake and missing out on a bonus action attack).
It very well might, but as it's written, it'd still be niche, it'd still be just kind under powered, alot of things can dash as a bonus action, goblins, rogues sometimes, even a paladin or fighter of a certain subclass. So that still kinda leaves the barb under powered at level 5 when those get their second attack. It's probably just be better to take mobility because itd help that barb the other 9/10 fights
Barbarians can use ranged weapons, they just forget about it
A barbarian can also slap themselves in the face for a point of damage if they REALLY need to keep raging.
I feel with weapon master, maybe adding your proficiency bonus to the damage roll would be a handy trade off. Flavor being that your mastery allows you to strike with incredible precision and skill.
This is a cool idea
Maybe mage slayer should give you 1/day Absorb Elements (+ being able to cast it with spell slots), but have it affect all damage from spells.
I would do prof bonus. This doesn't cover all types of dmg and still eats a reaction so I don't think it's crazy powerful.
But is the fantasy of a Mage Slayer not someone who deals with mages without being a mage themself? This would fortify the idea that only a spellcaster can deal with a spellcaster, and i don't think that's a good thing.
Love the aesthetic of the Ethereal Plane. And Treasure Planet was awesome! I don't care how much it grossed.
Ideas for poisoner feat that are still thematic while making it a bit more powerful:
- on a successful intelligence check, allow the player to synthesize a special variant of their potent poison that targets a specific creature type, ignoring poison immunity for those creatures. So, you create anti-undead poison, and now any poison-immune undead you come up against are hurt by that mix just like normal. Perhaps allow the player to get one type they know how to synthesize automatically from the very start, and they choose more as they level up. (obviously this has the same problems as ranger's favored enemy, what with being dependent on campaign and DM for how effective it is, but sometimes it will work really well).
- the character gains the knowledge of how to craft hypodermic ammunition, at a slightly higher cost than regular ammunition, which can be dosed with poison way ahead of time and remain potent indefinitely.
I feel like Danger Sense could be a cool buff to Dungeon Delver.
That’s a cool idea, maybe add thieves tools proficiency too? To help with the traps.
@@bubbles9829 What if it only applies to dungeon doors and traps, though? That way, it can help any class/character taking this for that flavor, but not sort of make a Rogue redundant outside of Expertise which Bards get anyway.
@@Paradox-es3bl Good point!
and for flavor add "Spot the Mimic"
@@Paradox-es3bl I really like that
The Poisoner Feat specifically says the poison loses its potency after you hit with the weapon, so you should only be able to do the extra poison damage once regardless of whether you put it on a melee weapon or a piece of ammunition.
The key is that you can poison more than one piece of ammunition at a time.
However, I would also say that you shouldn't have good poison damage on a melee weapon. Poison is meant to be applied once & allowed to do its work, not constantly reapplied. Acid is what's meant for 'consistent melee poison damage' ultimately.
I took Gunner on my Isekai Monk and he was shooting xD
Charger would be great if it was worded similarly to Ram or Pounce attacks of many monsters. I would change it like this:
1. Increase your Strength or Constitution score by 1.
2. If you move at least 15 feet in a straight line and hit a creature with a melee attack, the creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8+proficiency+stat bonus you increased with this feat) or be knocked back 10 feet or prone (your choice). If they fail the saving throw, you may make one additional attack as a bonus action.
I think that makes it too similar to crushed, which pushes 5ft with no save
@@mcullennz Crusher came out with Tashas. Charger is in the PHB. But making them more similar is not a bad thing imo, because charger needs something added to make it more worth while
I'd like to clarify that with Monks, Tasha's added the "Dedicated Weapon" optional feature. This allows a Monk, during any rest, to make any weapon they are proficient with into a Monk weapon (excluding Special and Heavy weapons, and and long as it's a Simple/Martial weapon). So Kelly was sort of right with Weapon Master applying to Monks to a degree! Though, most of the time you'll probably get the proficiency from something else, it can be handy to add a little bit of extra power to your Monk, like getting a Longsword for 1d10 damage per attack, and still allowing you to do all your cool monk stuff!
Exactly this. I started with a battleaxe, and then I was able swap to the Sword of Planes.
If Charger is mentioned we riot
Edit: WE RIOT
First one even, lmao.
CHARGE!
I think there are quite a few bad feats, but a lot of them have a place and can make for some cool role play opportunities. Yeah, actor isn’t great and nor is skilled, but they do have their place in a few builds/ideas. The two which actively annoy me are weapon master and linguist. A feat slot for weapon master is just a joke and it is a huge bait for new players. There are plenty of other ways to get a weapon proficiency and they are all better (plus going up a dice size or two just does so little to your damage). Linguist is at least a half feat, but I am yet to play in a campaign where my background didn’t give me sufficient languages and ciphers are something I’d let a player with a decent intelligence create anyway.
Weapon master works for monks getting firearms martial weapons to do the gunjitsu style, and linguist works for the sage bard of lore, master of languages build, changing the instruments for languages and castimg from the pouch of components
@@FarothFuin I guess? But wouldn’t a gunk have to go the gunner feat anyway? That gives the proficiency.
You could make a language master… or you just take a single spell that does it for you. So many campaigns have creatures that mostly speak common or speak a few different languages (eg infernal/abyssal) that needing to know lots of them is so niche, that it is probably useless (and covered somewhat by a level 1 spell and completely with a 3rd level spell). I just don’t think it is a build that would serve much, if any, utility or be particularly fun. Giving up skills/tools that are far more interesting to gameplay just doesn’t make sense to me.
Honestly it‘s kinda absurd how many languages the average adventurer knows by default.
Weapon Master can be used with Rogues to get proficiency with the whip, which works very well with them. Or you could just ask your DM to switch the Rogue’s longsword proficiency with the whip
@@FarothFuin Gunner is better for firearms proficiency
I like that you added in some reworks, I reworked Charger with a player of mine using a monk. We reworked it to "When you dash as an action or bonus action you can make one attack with the +5 to damage or the 10 feet push" Since Monks can dash using a ki point as a bonus action it gives him more versatility without throwing his action economy or ki economy out the window. It has worked well for him and as the DM it doesn't seem broken to me in any encounter we have had. He is currently one of the guys in my Drakkenheim campaign.
Also don't forget that when you spend that ki point you also get that massive jump so it makes it much easier to get 10 straight feet. I did some trials as well using an identical system and the joke was that you may as well rename the feat to Jump Kick for monks. Which is super flavourful.
@@tinkerer3399 basically what we called it as well. It gives the monk a little more damage which is nice but I think it does a good job of integrating itself into what the monk can already do.
@@marcusbarugh919 Also fantastic for Rogue assassinations. If you can deal sneak attack damage and falling damage with the 10' push you can drastically change the landscape of the fight (maybe I just really like the thought of rogues pushing people off ledges). Essentially it changes things for the Monk and the Rogue so that no one on the battlefield is safe.
I would note that the Mage Slayer feat does not require you to be within 5 when you deal damage to someone holding concentration. I used this as a back row support Sorlock with eldritch spear. Anytime a spell caster was on the field making a concentration spell, I could hit them 2-8 times, and each hit they had to make their save with disadvantage, and I only needed them to fail once. Saved my team from bad times often.
"When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration."
Poisoner works with Poison Damage spells... This isn't not good enough to make it good, but it is an interesting thing to remember.
What does this mean?
@Callen Fields I think they're referring to this part of the feat: "When you make a damage roll, you ignore resistance to poison damage." So a magic user who casts a spell that causes poison damage would also benefit from this. (Of course, the rest of the feat is useless to them -- unless they're a mix of martial and caster.)
@@bigdream_dreambig Yeah Basically, though Elemental Adept does the same thing (if you also choose Poison) but for a Martial and Caster combo it is more useful than Elemental Adept... I would not recommend this play style though, it doesn't not work but my Green Dragon character (Path of the Beast Barbarian, Green Draconic Sorcerer) had significantly more times I thought "Dam I wish I was a fire sorcerer." than "Yes this Poison damage feature was useful."
@@harrywhiteley89 what dm is letting you pick poison damage with elemental adept lmao
@@joseywales6168 I think I'd probably pay for a therapist if someone wanted to take it, they obviously need some help. But to be fair even if it isn't an official choice most DM's I know would let people use Elemental Adept or Absorb Elements with poison damage to be honest. The Question is usually "Are you sure you WANT TO do that?" instead of "Are you sure you CAN do that?"
I just love you guys! Kelly, prefacing this by telling us to play out characters our way makes me so happy!! There are so many pretentious players and DMs out there that look down on that! You guys just rock! Thanks for all the clarification and ideas! Thanks for showing us how to have a good time playing this amazing game!
With the optional Dedicated Weapon feature for Monks rule in Tasha's, you can make any weapon that isn't Heavy or Special a monk weapon; so Weapon Master does come in handy in that instance. Hello Monk with a longsword!
yeah the option is there, but how useful it is to a comaparison with with an ASI or a different feat is debateable.
Just pick one or two fighter or ranger levels.
Yeah, I mean you could probably just ask the DM to swap the shortsword proficiency with a different martial weapon anyway
@@davegregory4545 I know, what I meant is that even if you can find a niche use of Weapon Master, multiclassing into one of those two class is a better option anyway.
@@trebmal587 Multiclassing out of Monk usually has a significant cost. As does choosing a race that offers a weapon proficiency. None of these are free. This doesn't make Weapons Master good enough, but Monks can get a boost when few other Dex half feats are doing something for them. Longswords are not only a small damage bump, but the most common magic item chassis in 5e. Monk ranged damage also gets some love by going from a d6 Shortbow to a d8 Longbow with much greater range. The real sweet spot is if you want to take advantage of the Whip! This d4 weapon can scale on a Monk to become d6/d8/d10 in a campaign reaching high levels. Since it's a melee weapon, we can use Stunning Strike from 10ft away. Perhaps 15ft as a Bugbear--a really powerful new racial option that wouldn't get us any martial weapon proficiencies. Whips make allow us to threaten another 5ft out. OAs that manage to stun are a fantastic use of our Reaction.
I thought the only feats in the game were, Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master, Crossbow Expert, and Sharpshooter?
I actually used Dungeon Delver on a Scout Rogue and built around the feat and actually had a lot of fun with it. Being a Rogue with Dungeon Delver makes it really easy to both guide your party through a dungeon filled with nasty traps but also resist their effects in case the dice screw you and you miss spotting one.
Charger can easily be fixed by just making it so that you take the attack action as a bonus action instead; because that allows you to still use your multi-attack. Also, it should just be a "dash" affix, not an action dash.
That is pretty neat, actually. I’m gonna do that if any of my players are interested in this feat.
I think Bonus Action dash makes more sense. There's lots of abilities which work that way, but a full attack action with Extra Attack as a Bonus Action is not something that shows up anywhere else in the game.
@@thebitterfig9903 Monks literally do this at first level by doing unarmed strikes as bonus actions after their attacks or by spending a ki point to do two extra attacks as a bonus action.
@@KuonilerariLoufanwald Not "literally" no. That misses my point, because Monks absolutely do not do what I was warning against. Martial Arts is a single attack as a bonus action. Flurry of Blows will give two attacks. But neither is granting an "Attack Action" as a Bonus action: they're features that specifically grant specifically one or two attacks, no matter what your attack action would do, no matter what other abilities you have interacting with your Attack Action. These are abilities which are very precisely defined as to what they do.
If Monks got the ability to perform an additional Attack Action, there could be all sorts of crazy interactions (Fighters at level 11 for an extra attack, Gloomstalker 3 for an extra attack, Bladesinger 6 to exchange one with a Cantrip). None of those enhancements to the Attack Action function for a Monk doing a Flurry of Blows or using Martial Arts. Likewise, a Monk's Step of the Wind gives you a bonus action Dash letting you do a normal Attack Action, rather than Dashing as a normal action, then granting the Attack Action as a Bonus Action.
There often won't be a difference, but sometimes there will be. Bonus Action Dash is going to be, by far, the safer way for the game to handle any unusual circumstances.
As a Bonus Action would make this excellent for a Tabaxi monk. At 6th level, normal speed is 45’. Tabaxi doubling gives you 90’. Dash again for another 90’ and then Attack that mage that thought they were far enough away. Haste or Potion of Speed would really make it awesome. This will help save Ki points to use for other things.
Weapon Master, as of Tasha's does work for monk weapons. It still must lack the heavy or special trait (I still think the special trait restriction is bull), but you can then use Dedicated Weapon on something like a longsword to give any subclass a d10 method of melee.
But you’re sacrificing an ASI for this
@@Clarity_Control Literally so? It aids performance.
@@generalsci3831
It aids it very minutely, especially compared to a +2 in a stat, or any other feat.
@@Clarity_Control I usually play point buy or the dungeon dude method. It's easy to get that to balance to an 18 by lvl 4.
Here's a fun fact about Mage Slayer: the disadvantage on Concentration checks aspect applies to any kind of damage. This includes ranged weapon damage and spell damage. You can actually make an excellent Counter Mage by taking this feat.
Nice, I never thought of that
“If you want to see us use NONE of these feats…” 😂 Best tagline yet Kelly, love it.
I think there is a limited use for mage slayer as presented on an oath of vengeance Paladin or hexblade warlock, where they can also teleport, but yeah. It’s a feat I want to love, but that needs some help.
Love how there was just no proposed fix for weapon master. I don’t know how I would fix that one either.
Tasha's added an optional rule for Monks called "Dedicated Weapon" which does in fact turn a weapon you are proficient with into a monk weapon (with some caveats), so weapon master can be useful.
Something my group came up with because one of my players didn't want to have multiple tool proficiencies as a mountain dwarf fighter, was making the weapons that he was already proficient in have a +2 on attack rolls with that weapon. Maybe it'd be a little over tuned for range (sharpshooter) characters but, making it so that weapon master feel like your character is mastering a weapon by giving them either a +1 upon selecting a weapon they weren't originally proficient in or a +2 if they are.
Answering the question at 22:10, Dedicated Weapon says that if you have proficiency in a weapon, you can treat it as a Monk Weapon (Tasha's)
a situational/circumstantial defense of Mage Slayer. In essence I agree with your take on it, but I will say, putting it on a Monk who can then couple it with Stunning Strike gets exactly the effect that you are looking for. I was shocked in my recent campaign how effective that combo was. It made the monk a viable control option, much more so than just Stunning Strike on its own.
I'm still confused that isn't this already a thing? Like isn't there a rule that if a caster takes damage while casting a spell they have to make a concentration save or lose it?
@@aquamarinerose5405 nope, that is not a rule. It's a good idea, though.
The only thing I can think of with a weapon master feat would be for a Rouge to get Proficiency with a long bow since they don't get that originally
And whip, if you're doing that. For a variant human that's not a terrible choice at level 1.
@@godsamongmen8003 why would you go variant human and take this feat? You get two +1 and this. Just go elf and get the proficiencies plus darkvision, a +2 instead of +1 and other things.
@@danielluna9213 True, but the elf doesn't get whip proficiency. I'm doing my best here. :)
@@godsamongmen8003 the updated trance ability of the elf let's you choose any two proficiencies 😅 so whip and longbow if you want lol
I have seen dungeon delver be good in exactly one game. We originally made level 14 characters for a PvP event we had at my local game store, but the event ended up canceled. One DM let a group used those characters for a 3 month campaign that met once per week. The premise was that they were in the Abyss and had to find the Ebony Rod (2e, don’t know the full details) inside the 2e Tomb of Horrors. It has been great for the player that took it, but that’s mostly because it is the 2e version of the dungeon and intended to be a meat grinder (which surprisingly only 1 PC died in like a 12 person table). Beyond that, no published 5e adventure is and will ever be THAT sadistic to where dungeon delver would be useful.
What about:
You may use this ability Proficiency Bonus times per Long Rest.
You may use your Bonus Action to Dash. If you then make a melee attack against a target or attempt to Shove a target, you gain a bonus:
- you may add a +5 bonus to damage of this melee attack, if you hit.
- you may add a +5 bonus to the Strength (Atheletics) check you make to push the target or knock it prone.
also maybe just give an ability like this (feat as written, or improved somehow) to one or more of the weaker/less interesting fighter subclasses?
Potentially for Mage Slayer give it half magic resistance, like gnomes and other races have. Choose either physical or mental saves to have advantage on.
The only situation I can think of where Weapon Master might come in handy is if your DM has introduced weapons out of time (such as laser guns in a medieval setting) and ruled that nobody is automatically proficient in them.
Then that feat could leave you the only person in the game world that can fire lasers and Tommy guns.
Gunner feat
@@dashua1735 true, it has been superceded by that somewhat. But if you're only using the core three books it stands up.
20:50 the posion remains 1 minute OR until you hit with it, if you hit once, the poison go away, the fighter would hit ONCE with the poison and then is gone, no matter the number of attacks
My fix for weapon master was that you can swap any of those weapons with another one as a free action on your turn as long as both are on your person AND you get a bonus equal to one-half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) to damage with all of them.
Great list, some solid ideas on fixes. Honestly I would consider giving these to players for free given how little
Of an impact they would have but how fun they seem. Also charger and mage slayer are solid picks for enemies because range and spell caster PCs can be tough to challenge sometimes
Fix for Weapon Master: Choose four weapons. If you are not proficient with the chosen weapons, you gain proficiency. If you are already proficient, you gain +1 to your attack and damage rolls while using the weapon.
I like that. Also, be able to change damage type based on the weapons features : strike with the spiky end of an halberd, half-sword to do bludgeoning damage, etc.
Yeah, the fact that this "Weapon Master" feat only grants proficiency in a weapon really doesn't hold up to the "Master" title. Look at Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master... both of these "Master" feats demonstrate a mastery of a weapon by giving them additional abilities relevant to them. Just gaining proficiency in a weapon doesn't make one a master, so if the feat did look to add some kind of additional bonus that demonstrates this "mastery" better, it would be nice. Though, you might have to then start making Master feats for all kinds of weapon types... Which I'd still be down for.
I don't think that's quite good enough... because how often are you going to use more than 2 types of weapon anyway? And I don't think the simple +1 is quite enough, either. Although, I suppose that's mainly what magic weapons are for... I think I'd at least make it +1 to attack rolls, + 1/2 Proficiency bonus to damage. That way it scales a bit with your character, but since enemy CR and stuff also does, it wouldn't be game breaking. And if your player DOES start ending encounters a little too fast, you can just give every enemy 5 extra hp, or toss in 1-2 extra enemies per encounter or something. Very simple fix. But I don't think it would get to the point. Just can't be 100% sure without any play testing. Or at least A LOT of match, but I'm not TreantMonk so I ain't doing that.
An interesting rework for Mage Slayer might be to have minor magical resistances as it does now, while adding a feature similar to Favoured Foe or Hexblade's Curse, where you can designate an enemy as your target, giving you proper anti-magic features against that specific enemy for a certain duration, with proficiency bonus uses per long rest. Maybe there should be some balancing factor to avoid completely shutting down powerful bosses, maybe tied to Legendary Resistances.
Agreed with all your picks! I didn't realize how low power level the Poisoner feat was...
Here are some feats that I think are also terrible (if not worse):
--
Durable
Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, the minimum number of hit points you regain from the roll equals twice your Constitution modifier (minimum of 2).
Keen Mind
Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You always know which way is north.
You always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset.
You can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month.
Skulker
You can try to hide when you are lightly obscured from the creature from which you are hiding.
When you are hidden from a creature and miss it with a ranged weapon attack, making the attack doesn't reveal your position.
Dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on sight.
Defensive Duelist
When you are wielding a finesse weapon with which you are proficient and another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.
Athlete
Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement.
Climbing doesn’t cost you extra movement.
You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving only 5 feet on foot, rather than 10 feet.
Eldritch Adept
You learn one Eldritch Invocation option of your choice from the warlock class. If the invocation has a prerequisite, you can choose that invocation only if you’re a warlock and only if you meet the prerequisite. Whenever you gain a level, you can replace the invocation with another one from the warlock class.
Heavily Armored
Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You gain proficiency with heavy armor.
--
I made a homebrew Feat Facelift a while back to fix all of the feats you listed as well as the ones I just listed.
drive.google.com/file/d/1h6raEdExahhHxh9UsSpz7atGkHczo4jV/view?usp=sharing
I also made a design process document to explain how it was made and why certain revisions were made.
docs.google.com/document/d/1-yMPSdCGBRv0dqNQS508zEcll6FDbMtbOoiE5r8dgFI/edit?usp=sharing
If you guys are ever starving for content, it would be awesome if you went through this resource and gave your thoughts on each of the changes. I'd even be happy to talk to you guys about it and make further revisions depending on your thoughts! 😎
Great video!
The weapon master feat can expand the monk weapons. You forgot about the dictated weapon feature the monk has.
Its also useful for certain gish builds as well as other niche builds like a polearm-wielding druid, especially when multi-classing isn't available,
thought the same, but it only works on one of the choices for the period betwen two long rests, so it might not be that usefull in comparisiob to an ASI or a different feat,
bzt agreed the option is there ;)
@@daltigoth3970 OK why would you need a polearm druid?
@@dragonhearthx8369 Why would you need a polearm master fighter? The answer is that you don't. Its what you WANT, and given the number of people that play D&D, its a sure bet that somebody wants to play a druid that wields polearms.
And please note that I did also specify "when multi-classing isn't available", as there are far better ways to get weapon proficiencies when multiclassing is available. The downside to multiclassing is it locks you out of the capstone ability for the class and slows down your spell progression, so the feat is still a good option for some weapon-focused builds on non-martial classes.
@@daltigoth3970 dude I'm just trying to understand the build. What druid build would require a reach weapon?
i’m actually a huge fan of the mage slayer feat as someone who really likes the anti-magic character archetype. that said, i also played a cavalier fighter when i took that feat and i took the shield master feat, so it was a particularly specific build rather than a good feat on its own. it certainly helped when we were facing a mind flayer and our wizard got caught in its grasp, so i can see it being useful again. regardless, i think it’s a super fun feat flavour-wise but definitely like some of your changes to it (also, i just think there should be subclasses specifically for fighting mages, like a magic hacker rogue or a spell breaking monk? top tier ideas)
I feel like the War Magic Wizard could have (or maybe should have) been devoted to something like that. But I agree; I love the archetype of an anti-mage, much like a Dragon Age's Templar or something, but the feat itself definitely offers some lackluster or very niche abilities that are harder to proc in your average combat.
The thing that gets me the most is that your reaction doesn't go off until after their spell activates. Which means if they are teleporting (which is very likely because they have a martial in their face) your attack cannot hit them because they aren't there.
@@tinkerer3399 Yeah, that bit is ridiculous. I like the fix where you have a chance to interrupt their casting causing the spell to fail, although it would need to be worked out so that it doesn't become so OP that it makes Counterspell almost useless. Maybe the chance of interrupting the spell could be based on your proficiency modifier, succeeding if you roll less than or equal to your proficiency mod on a d10?
@@nicelliott1175 I don't think you have to worry about it powercreeping Counterspell, the big thing about enemy spellcasters is that they want to do everything they can to not be in melee combat so the range of Counterspell will always ensure it has its place. I can tell you this much though, allowing the interruption of spells would cause battlefield control to become way more of a priority among enemy spellcasters.
Regarding the Mage Slayer feat. When a creature is casting a spell they are considered to be concentrating on the spell casting, even when the spell casting time is an action or bonus action. This means that when the Mage Slayer makes a reaction attack against the caster, they do provoke a concentration check, which the feat also makes that check to be with disadvantage. Not sure if this is just a table rule for my group, but we have always run it this way.
That is a table rule/homebrew. If the feat actually operated that way people wouldn't think of it as nearly as much of a joke. It would still be very conditional but not a joke.
And just to rub salt in the wound with the rules as they are now even if you managed to kill the spell caster with your reaction the spell they were casting still goes off.
I took the poisoner feat and just merged it into the Assassin rogue subclass with basically all the suggestions you made for it. So far the player is enjoying it!
Could you make a video where you dive into the three books of Spelljammer? I'd love to hear your opinion about it! What are your thoughts on those subraces and new races?
BTW cool video :D Was very informative and interesting!
Kinda surprised Tavern Brawler isn't on the list. Isn't that only 1d4 damage? Or has that been updated? It definitely needs a boost.
But it’s FUN
I think the fact that it gives proficiency in improvised weapons is the best reason to take it. It’s maybe not a big boost, but it’s mechanically significant enough that it *feels* good to take it.
For Mage Slayer you could force the spellcaster to roll a concentration save to complete the casting if you damage them as a reaction when casting, this would include a held ranged attack being used as a reaction to the spell being cast.
This combined with giving disadvantage on concentration checks could lead to some great RP moments where a martial class pulls off a counterspell of sorts, extra points for being a badass and just whipping a rock at the Lich you've been fighting to shut down his power word kill
My top worst picks:
1. Grappler. Advantage on attacks against targets you have grappled, and you can choose to restrain both yourself and the target; costs an action and requires another successful grapple check. You can already get advantage on grappled targets if you shove them prone while grappling, and restraining YOURSELF is almost never a profitable move.
2. Dungeon Delver. Video already covered this one.
3. Skilled. Gain 3 skill proficiencies. Most characters can get proficiencies important to them through their class and background, and if they're in desperate need for more, the Skill Expert feat not only provides expertise, but also a +1 to an ability score. By the time you've exhausted all other avenues for getting proficiencies, you'll be selecting proficiencies in skills you hardly ever use or need.
4. Savage Attacker. Advantage on one melee weapon damage roll per turn. On average, this is a miniscule bonus of 1 or 2 damage. Any melee character is better off increasing their primary ability score, or taking some other feat relevant to their weapon type.
5. Linguist. +1 INT and learn 3 languages. INT is primarily useful for Wizards, but Wizards already get access to Comprehend Languages and Tongues. While this may occasionally save time or resources, language barriers don't come up enough to justify a feat selection. Would also feel terrible if a language barrier does become an issue, and the necessary language wasn't one of the ones you selected.
Excellent content as always.
Only missed Elemental Adept.
I could see a use where you take a thematic character like a frost or fire mage and use mostly those damage types.
Aaaaactually (if I'm not mistaken), when it comes to Cold damage, if for some reason you're trying to specialize in it, it has many many more creatures that resist it than are immune. So, Cold damage maybe stands to benefit a lot from ignoring resistance.
It's bad for Acid, Lightning, and even Fire. Those either have not many resistances already, or in the case of Fire (like Poison), the *immunities* are far more common than resistances, so this feat is unhelpful there.
And of course, none of what I wrote takes into account enemy type *frequency* which has an impact as well
Solid feat for overcoming resistance but I believe it should be a half feat with a +1 Int/ Wis/ Cha
@@Pacific-NW-Native yeah it could definitely use that
Yeah, elemental adept should downgrade immunity to resistance, resistance to normal and deal extra damage to normal damage equal to your proficiency bonus
That way, even if not half feat, it would be OP
For charger you can also borrow from animal stat blocks like pounce etc. Just make it : If you moved to your enemy in a straight line for 10 feet you can do one attack as a bonus action. Good for those that don't want to go pole arm.
Our group's fix for the weapon master and armor proficiency feats was to merge them and the fighting style feat all into one single feat:
Armed and Armored:
You gain your choice of TWO of the following options:
1) A +1 to your choice of either strength or dexterity
2) Proficiency with all weapons.
3) Proficiency with all armor and shields
4) One fighting style of your choice.
You can take this feat more than once, but must select other options each time you do.
It let's characters who want odd builds get weapons and fighting styles pretty easily and helps those who want weapons and/or armor but don't want to deal with multi classing rules. Overall it has been a good homebrew for our table.
I feel like poisoner and weapon master could just be bonuses you get after dedicating enough downtime.
A slight correction on Weapon master regarding the monk. If you allow dedicated weapon.
Dedicated Weapon (Optional)
Also at 2nd level, you train yourself to use a variety of weapons as monk weapons, not just simple melee weapons and shortswords. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you can touch one weapon, focus your ki on it, and then count that weapon as a monk weapon until you use this feature again.
The chosen weapon must meet these criteria:
The weapon must be a simple or martial weapon.
You must be proficient with it.
It must lack the heavy and special properties.
A weapon learned through this feat and that fit these stipulations would count as a monk weapon. With the best choice being a longsword probably.
There was a 3rd party dungeon crawl adventure we played in where one of the players took Dungeon Delver. Her main benefit was the +5 bonus to her passive Perception to find secret doors, as this adventure used several secret doors per level. She ended up with over a 20 passive Perception to find secret doors. Other than that very rare instance, I’ve never seen other use out of the feat.
Maybe a fix would be to give the feat proficiency and expertise in thieves’ tools? Make it a rogue replacement, or a rogue enhancement if they’d rather use their expertise elsewhere.
I was surprised to see two of my favorite feats in here, the poisoner and the Mage Slayer, but as always very cool video I love you guys
The use case of the weapon master feat is basically if you have a necromancy wizard who wants to use the Wand of Orcus as a melee weapon or something like that. You don’t have any weapon proficiencies and then you find a legendary magic weapon that you want to use or something.
The Immunity fix you mentioned for Poisoner is the same as wheat I would like for Elemental Adept. After all what mage hasn't wanted to be able to cast a fire spell hot enough to burn a fire elemental.
My vision for my Minotaur Protection Cleric (+level 1 Barbarian for Unarmored Defense) has been, that I wanted to use fist weapons/gauntlets as the main form of offense. Since Protection Domain (UA) has "Shield of the Faitfhul", which is describes as "interposing an arm (or other things)" to give an enemy disadvantage if they attack an ally within 5ft of you as a reaction. So my minotaur has tons of scars on his arms and hands from when he did that in the past for flavour.
It would've been a huge disadvantage mechanically, if I didn't get to have similar stats to a longsword - so my DM just told me "that's fine, your magical gauntlets are just the usual 1d8". So basically, we did exactly what you suggested for that weapon master feat :)
Mage Slayer can be pretty vicious but only if it's also taken with Sentinel. Once you get within 5ft of a caster, any attempt they make to cast costs them an attack from you. Any attempt to flee, they get hit again and this time, can't move any further.
The fact that it's so situational means it works beautifully in a campaign chock full of dark cultists, evil clerics, etc.
But that's just objectively true of any combat speciality feat. I would say that I'd rather see it buffed in one of the following ways:
1) The attack it grants is now an opportunity attack, so that you can trigger the synergy with sentinel even more often.
2) the weapon attack triggered by a spell being cast forces a concentration save that, if failed, causes the spell to fail.
That second one is very strong but may make this situational ability far more worthwhile - and would go a long way in evening the late-game viability of melee vs casters, while also increasing the strategic complexity of combat for casters who face monsters with this feat!
Personally I feel like ogres have the worst feet
Hags?
@@mhail7673 hags are pretty bad
Charger...
Is great if you separate the movement bonus damage/shove from the bonus attack. That's how I home brew it. If you move at a target in a straight line and attack.... Is separate from the bonus action attack.
It's a good feet with that simple fix because now you are getting extra damage every attack action and you can still dash about the battlefield like a whirling dervish.
Charger is perfect for those melee-focused martial classes who need to rescue their squishy caster buddies from across the battlefield. That situation feels like it comes up every other turn in most of the combat I see. Combine it with Fighter’s action surge and you can move like 90ft and _still_ make an attack. Go Battlemaster and you can slap some swanky maneuvers on top of that bonus attack.
I have had experience with both ends of the spectrum for the Poisoner feat. I had a Whispers Bard with the feat who used it with psychic blades to do obsurd amounts of damage. Plus he poisoned everything his sword his dagger caltrops having constant access to poison opened a lot of doors and he was considered pretty op especially when he and the forge cleric teamed up to make murcury lased poison bullets. But then for the same character we did a lvl 20 one shot where the final boss was immune to poison and psychic damage plus the charm affect. I was left doing a d8 of damage per round on a 900hp enemy. The poisoner feat is like illusion magic its only as strong as what the dm lets you get away with.
Something I like doing is taking a bad ability and trying to make a build around it, and for crusher I got the idea of a bladesinger dancing around the battlefield, doing a graceful backflip away from an enemy and rushing in to strike. Dashing gives you more than enough movement to get away and rush in for the +5 damage, but you'd have to deal with opportunity attacks and you wouldn't have your bonus action free. The AC boost from your bladesong would help mitigate the damage taken from opportunity attacks, and casting haste on yourself would also boost your AC and you could use the dash from haste for this, but all that'd take multiple rounds of combat to set up. I know it's not a great build, there's defiantly way better but hey, it could be fun.
Possible fix for Weapon Master.
- +1 to STR or DEX as normal.
- Pick your four weapons, you gain Proficiency in them if you don't already have so.
- You gain a bonus to damage rolls with those weapons equal to your Proficiency.
- As a bonus action, while welding one of your chosen weapons, you can make an attack with that weapon.
For the poisoner feat, in warhammer there is a special rule about poison projectiles that states "if shooting an enemy that would be normally resistant to poison then treat the projectiles as if they are imbued with corrosive acid and apply damage normally"
For Weapon Master, I’d simply change it from proficiency with four additional weapons to _expertise_ with one weapon you are already proficient with. This would double the proficiency bonus towards weapon attack rolls made with that weapon.
For me my ideas on possible fixes:
Charger - During your movement any creature you move through must make a STR/DEX Save or be pushed 10ft or prone. Proficiency Bonus to Rolls when charging through breakable objects.
Dungeon Delver - Proficiency Bonus to Rolls when Looking for Traps, Hidden Doors, and Adv. on Saves from Traps. Easily recall the layout of a recently explored Dungeon.
Mage Slayer - Creatures who are hit before it's turn has Disadvantage on Con Saves during their turn. Also have Disadvantage when Casting Spells when within 5ft. Range attacks can use their reaction to attack when a spell is cast.
Poisoner - Poison can be added to 1d8+2 Ammunition or 1 Melee weapon and lasts for 1min or 1d6+2 Melee Hits. Creatures hit by this poison lose their Resistance or become Resistant if previously Immuned. DC 14+Proficiency Bonus. With a Poisoner's Kit, have Advantage on Determining and Healing the Poison Status.
Weapon Master - Become Proficient with 3 of any Weapon of any Type.
Mage Slayer
>When a creature you can see begins casting a spell other than a cantrip while within range of the weapon you are holding, you can use your reaction to immediately make a weapon attack against that creature. If the attack hits, the creature must make a concentration check to maintain focus on the spell. If the creature fails the concentration check, the spell is interrupted. (note: I would also add that the character needs to be aware that a spell is being cast - using subtle spell metamagic should be a safeguard if the spell does not have both somatic and verbal components)
>When you deal damage to a creature that is maintaining concentration on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the concentration check to maintain the spell.
>When you take damage from a spell, that damage is reduced by an amount equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
On poisoner, the melee weapon would not gain more. It only applies on the first hit. From the feat: "the poison retains its potency for 1 minute or until you hit with the weapon or ammunition"
I played in a campaign where we greatly modified the poisoner feat. First we made it a half feat either int or wis. The asi you chose decided what two skills you could use to create poisons that would affect creatures that were resistant or immune, provided you knew what you were coming up against in advance. The skills are history, nature, medicine, and survival. The rational was that every creature has something that is poisonous to it so with a check it could be something you knew or could figure out. There was also the chance you learned it from someone else in the campaign thus no check required. The material cost doubled for poisons that disregarded resistance and tripled for those that disregarded immunity. The save DC is calculated like spells using the ability score you increased. Damage scaling was the trickiest part for us to figure, but we settled of 1d8 base with up to 5d8 achievable with a +5 ability score modifier at level 16. It was a lot but made the feat better in play without it being too strong as a first level pickup but worth while seeing as we didn’t go much past level 16. Also incase it wasn’t obvious damage increased at standard asi levels regardless of your character getting on at the time or not as to not punish multi classing.
I like the idea of forcing a spell caster to make a concentration save to see if their spell was interupted or not when they are hit with the mage slayer reaction.
Regarding cleric weapon proficiency, I homebrew a rule that bestows proficiency of their deity's favored weapon upon the cleric. If the weapon is already a cleric weapon then some other boon is bestowed. Flavor and customize the boon for your campaign, but an example is "Spend a use of Channel Divinity to gain advantage with your deity's favored weapon for one minute."
For Mage Slayer, this was my solution (on paper, yet to be tested)
Mage Slayer - You have practiced techniques useful in melee combat against spellcasters, gaining the following benefits:
-You gain proficiency in Arcana. If already proficient, gain expertise. If you already have expertise in Arcana, instead choose one skill proficiency in which you are not yet proficient.
-When a creature you can see casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee or ranged weapon attack against that creature if it is within range.
-When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.
-Whenever you are subject to a spell or other detrimental magical effect from a hostile source, you may use your reaction to create an Arcane Token. You may possess an amount of Arcane Tokens equal to your Proficiency Bonus at any given time and you can’t create more while at your maximum. All Arcane Tokens return to the ether after a long rest. Beginning at 5th level, Arcane Tokens persist through a long rest. You may use the Arcane Tokens in the following ways:
-Whenever you are subject to a spell or magical effect that requires you to make a saving throw, you may use your reaction to crush one Arcane Token. Roll an additional d20 and choose the higher roll for that saving throw. You may choose to expend the token after you've rolled but before the result is determined.
-If a creature casts a spell within 60 feet of you, you may use your reaction to crush Arcane Token(s) to attempt to negate the spell. If the spell being cast is of a level equal to or lower than the amount of Arcane Tokens destroyed, the spell is negated. If the spell is of a higher level, make an Arcana check (DC 10 + Spell level - Tokens consumed). On success, the spell is negated. On failure, the tokens are destroyed to no benefit.
Thoughts? Before 5th level, the final feature is basically a slightly weaker Counterspell as a somewhat renewable resource that takes a bit of work to prepare. At 5th level onwards, it becomes potentially as effective as 3rd level Counterspell but available to non-casters (at the same time casters gain access to Counterspell) but still not as readily available. It’s also a feature so it can’t be stopped by another Counterspell. The reason I specify hostile source is so that players don't just cast spells on their party member to stock up tokens. I made almost everything require the use of a reaction to prevent abuse of the features or abuse of combining it with other features.
A special note on mage slayer the disadvantage on the concentration save does not require you to be within 5ft nor does it require an attack. This does open up the possibility for disrupting multiple casters simultaneously via aeo spells, or multiple times by hitting something multiple times.
I once played a Swashbuckler with the Charger feat. The movement from Dash meant I could usually set myself up for the straight line, and since I only get one attack anyway, I didn't lose out on Extra Attack.
Plus, with Expertise in Athletics I got to Shove every now and then as well.
A bit gimmicky, but it was a fun character.
Some time ago i had a discussion with a player of mine that plays a swashbuckler rogue. For that specific subclass charger is actually pretty useful. Thanks to the immunity to opportunity attacks from targets you tried to attack, swashbucker already leans to the hit und run style with dashing as bonus action. So you can move up to 30 feet to the target, do your attack, and dash away for another 30 feet.
With Charger you can swap that, move in, bonus attack thanks to charger - this time with the charger bonus - and normal action dash away. So effectively charager turns into a permanent +5 damage on all attacks for her. That was indeed useful and interesting.
Not a story of personal use, but I do have two ideas to improve two of the feats.
The first feat is the Mage Slayer. One idea for how to have magical resistance and have ranged attacks without overpowering things is to have the player has to expend their bonus action to steady themselves in preparation of a magical attack (maybe flavor-text has it that years of battling mages has led the character to have a keen sense for mages), and then use their reaction to attempt to prevent the spell. If the attack is successful, maybe the caster keeps the spell slot, just loses their action.
The second is the poisoner's feat. For weapons, make it so that the poison stops working 24 hours after decanted. Have the weapons prepped and poisoned ahead of time, with each vial containing 1d4+PROF BONUS (or any number) worth of "attacks". So, let's go with a vial with a value of 5. If a sword is coated in a vial's worth, it deals extra damage 5 times. Like an evenly coated paintbrush, each strike slowly using the poison. But if you have a rogue gunsmith, they would instead have 5 ranged ballistas do the same. This also allows for ingenuity with the poison. Perhaps the gunsmith wants a potent bullet. The poisoner would use the whole vial and the damage would happen all at once (though the natural fear of missing would oft disincentivize this). The swordsman could do the same, concentrating the poison to deliver one giant poisonous slash.
Also, a way to deal with the poison immunity is maybe to add that the poisoner can (at DM discretion) research specific substances poisonous to specific creatures. Then have them brew a potion similar to how one might have a wizard copy a spell into their spellbook.
I'm honestly surprised grappler got away from this list.