"Must Have" first-level feats


Advice


I am trying to come up with a list of feats that are "absolute must haves" for a 1st level character of various classes.

A few that I have come up with:

Druid - Natural Spell

Fighter - Weapon Focus

Wizard - Eschew Materials

etc etc

The purpose of this list is to come up with feats that almost everybody will take as early as possible. I want these to be typical, most common feats available.

What I would like from you is your input. I am not terribly experienced, and I want to know what feats I should expect to see most often from the various classes.

Thank you!


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One of your feats is largely useless.

One of your feats isn't legal at level one.

One of your feats is reasonably likely to fit your description.

I'll leave you to figure out which is which.

The Exchange

1) Natural Spell is pretty useless until the druid reaches a level where Wild Shape is an option. A low-level druid is more likely to benefit from Dash, Toughness, Lightning Reflexes, Combat Reflexes (if melee-oriented) or Spell Focus (if spell-oriented.) That said, Natural Spell is great once it becomes useful: and Mounted Combat ain't half bad if you ever get a Large animal companion...

2) Weapon Focus, although important for fighters who intend to become specialists (i.e. 90% of them), is really not critical to have at 1st level. I'd list Combat Reflexes, Blind-Fight, Quick Draw, Iron Will, Shield Specialization (for shield builds only), and Improved Initiative ahead of it (obviously not all on the same Fighter 1!) Besides, not picking a WF until you find your first +1 weapon can sometimes be a good idea. Again, Weapon Focus is super-handy as the last feat you take before qualifying for Specialization...

3) Eschew Materials isn't handy for wizards as often as you'd think (though it is a life-saver in certain situations!) There's a lot to be said for Toughness, Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (for specialists), Combat Casting or Great Fortitude/Lightning Reflexes (depending which save is lower.)

Some other options: Mounted Combat is nearly mandatory for a 1st-level cavalier. Barbarians could take Extra Rage, but Dodge is a pretty nice way to bump up that troublesome AC-while-raging. Sorcerors can get lots of use out of Spell Focus by picking their attack spells carefully, although they too will benefit from Dodge. Come to think of it, any character of Dex 13+ is well-advised to fit Dodge into their build (a higher touch AC never goes out of style!) Clerics benefit from the same feats as Druids (except Dash), although Selective Channelling is too good not to mention here. Rogues benefit hugely from Improved Initiative and Toughness, although they're one of the few classes liable to employ Dash and/or Improved Unarmed Strike often enough to justify them. Bards tend to end up in melee more often than you'd think, so Improved Initiative, Dodge, Shield Specialization or Toughness are all solid options... did I mention Lingering Song? It's great.


Good BAB classes: Power Attack if melee. If ranged Point Blank shot so they can get Rapid Shot asap

If going for maneuvers: whichever feat starts the tree you're looking at, most likely Combat Expertise

Casters, especially battlefield controllers: improved initiative or spell focus conjuration
(side note- pretty sure you can't take natural spell until you actually have the wild shape ability)

It depends on the build really


Well, to be honest, there are very few "absolute must have" feats in the game. This seems even more true at first level. Take Natural Spell, for instance. While pretty all Druids, with no reasonable exception I can see, will want to take Natural Spell, they will probably save it for fifth or a least third level, because it won't do anything for you until level four.

Weapon Focus and Eschew Materials, for their part, are far from absolutes. Weapon Focus is just a +1. It's decent, and a good prerequisite, but there are other ways to take your character. Eschew Materials rarely matters from a mechanical standpoint, in my experience.

What "must haves" there are seem to break along party roles. If you are a frontline bruiser, for instance, you need Power Attack. If you are an archer, you need Point-Blank Shot. If you are a buffer or a battlefield-controller, you need Improved Initiative. That's probably where you need to start your journey.


Archer - Point blank shot

Cleric - Scribe scroll, combat casting

Monk - Toughness, Dodge

TWF builds - Either TWF or Weapon Finesse


Well, thank you all for schooling me so thoroughly. I appreciate all the input.


Bard - Arcane strike.


If you have even half-assed unconscious efforts at optimization going on, then Rocket Tag is what you get pretty soon. Which means that Improved Initiative is a must-have, so you can kill the enemy in round 1 before they get you. If this gets even more extreme, Skill Focus (Perception) becomes valuable, too, so you don't die in the surprise round...

Liberty's Edge

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Barbarian: Raging Vitality (the feat that makes you stay a barbarian when you're unconscious -- without this feat, an unconscious barbarian is usually an instantly dead barbarian after about fifth level).

Fighter: Weapon Focus is useful, but it's hardly take-or-you-suck at 1st. (If the enemy usually gets more attacks than you, Shield Focus is actually better if you're S&B -- it's better to have AC+1 versus multiple attacks than be +1 with your one attack. (With Ultimate Combat, my new favorite way to get WF is a one-level dip of Cleric[Crusader] in a deity who uses your favorite weapon...nice, grants easy wand use and a will-save bump.)

If a PC has a mechanic permitting multiple attacks at first level and isn't feat-starved, Quick Draw is a solid choice.

Druid: can't Wild Shape until 4th level, so Natural Spell would be useless at 1st.

Ninja: Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Initiative (and also have an INIT-boosting trait) -- you'll be taking Flurry of Stars as your 2nd-level "Trick", meaning you can throw four shurikens (with sneak-attack bonus) against flatfooted targets in the first round of combat. (Since shurikens are drawn as ammunition, you don't need Quick Draw.)

Small races: Mounted Combat (if you intend on having a four-legged animal companion or mount); halflings should take the Outrider alternate racial trait.


I personally like weapon focus to offset the penalty on power attack at early levels. Getting hits in at the low levels makes a huge difference, and the +1 is a nice boost at level 1. Granted, it's only my suggestion for a fighter or human melee character who is focused on straight damage.

Liberty's Edge

Power Attack is a vastly overrated 1st-level feat, because most things you fight at 1st and 2nd level have a dozen HP or less (meaning you miss more often in exchange for the "benefit" of completely shredding targets that were going to die anyway under your big two-hander). I only take it at 1st if it's necessary to lock down a feat chain I want finished quickly. I.e., Cleave or Pushing Assault.

-- Granted: a halfling barbarian (or other low-STR two-handed build) is most likely to benefit, percentage-wise.

Reach-weapon fighters (especially those who plan on being frequently Enlarged): Combat Reflexes (paves way for Stand Still in the "You ain't goin' nowhere, Bub!" fighter types).

Dark Archive

Iron Will for every single fighter I ever make. Nimble Moves for reach weapons users. Heavy Armour Proficiency for any cleric I make that isn't an archer.

Dark Archive

PRD wrote:

Stand Still (Combat)

You can stop foes that try to move past you.

Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes.

Benefit: When a foe provokes an attack of opportunity due to moving through your adjacent squares, you can make a combat maneuver check as your attack of opportunity. If successful, the enemy cannot move for the rest of his turn. An enemy can still take the rest of his action, but cannot move. This feat also applies to any creature that attempts to move from a square that is adjacent to you if such movement provokes an attack of opportunity.

I'm afraid Stand Still won't work with a reach weapon, since it requires you to adjacent to the target.


For Witches: Extra Hex.

Because very few Feats are better than MORE HEXES.

The Exchange

Not everyones cup of tea, but I always found toughness to be one of the best first level feat investments i make. It features on the majority of my martials and all of my casters just for those initial 3 hit points.


Archaeologists= Lingering Performance and Skill Focus: Disable Device.


Combat expertise is another fairly common one.

Dark Archive

I'm not a fan of combat expertise. I'd rather just put three skill points into acrobatics and take a -4 for a +3. It's slightly less effective, but skill points often come much cheaper than feats. This is unless you're going for a specific manoeuvre of course.


Gunslingers - Hidden Stash IF your DM is watching your non-magical ammo. But hey, you can always have the right ammo for the job, even magical stuff.


I find a lot of illegal 1st level feats. Remember, half of all characters don't have a +1 BAB, and therefore don't qualify for a LOT of feats.

Rogue: Improved Init. Going first is a reliable-ish way to sneak attack.

Cleric: everyone I know takes Selective Channel. I'm not as convinced personally, but I'm in the minority.

Reach weapon build: Combat Reflexes. Nothing is better than 0-3 extra attacks per round. Way better than weapon focus.

Summoner: Spell focus conjuration. You want to head straight toward Augment Summoning. (and get there if human)


Mergy wrote:
This is unless you're going for a specific manoeuvre of course.

That is what I was referring too, otherwise its a pretty poor choice. I usually had this feat out for free in my games along with weapon finesse.


Half? more like 1/4 of classes even have BAB +1 at 1st.

Scarab Sages

Selective channel... the first time monsters the party has already killed in a big fight get up and attack them again, the cleric takes this feat. Of course, if you have a GM that does not bother with remembering who died where, etc. then this feat is rather meaningless, since there is little downside to not having it. Similarly, if the GM lets the party draw weapons on a suprise round, doesn't penalize ranged attacks on opponents near party members etc, quick draw and precise shot are rather useless as well. What feats are indespensable really depend a lot on your party composition and GM's style.


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My favorite universal feat is Improved Initiative. Sometimes if you don't go first you just don't get to go.

That does not mean it is always a great choice, but it is hardly ever a bad one. This information may vary by build.

The Exchange Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Yeah, Improved Initiative is a solid choice in my book... unless you already have better than a +6 initiative or better in which case it's likely overkill. Though I suppose there is something to be said for always going first too, particularly if you lean heavy on ranged attacks, area effect spells, or flat-footed enemies.

Liberty's Edge

If you are a fragile character, do whatever is needed to avoid being caught flat-footed.

Thus anything that helps you act in the surprise round is pure gold.

For a fragile build with a Mount/Animal Companion, get the Lookout feat for both you and it. This feat gets even better for Archers or mounted characters as it may allow you a full-attack in the surprise round.


Quote:
I am trying to come up with a list of feats that are "absolute must haves" for a 1st level character of various classes.

If you're a caster focusing on saving throws, it's pretty hard to beat Spell Focus.

Physical-focused characters generally will benefit more from Weapon Focus than any other feat. That's not *ALWAYS* true (particularly if you're trying to optimize a combat maneuver you don't do with your weapon -- or if you use multiple types of weapons), but it's generally true.

Any class based on flat-footed mechanics (sneak attack) and ranged attacks seems to benefit from Improved Initiative the most. The benefit isn't as pronounced when compared to a melee-focused build.

In my experience, a character focusing on optimizing perception is pretty strong, so Skill Focus: Perception is pretty much a must-have for that build.

Selective Channel is a common feat for a cleric to take. I don't believe it is *must-have* in most groups, but in some groups it is.

Toughness is a great choice for a character that somewhat dumps Con. It might be overkill for characters that have a positive Con modifier + favored class hp bonus.

I think the point here is that it really depends on your build with the class. You can't say that given feat is a must-have for pretty much every build of a given class.


The black raven wrote:

If you are a fragile character, do whatever is needed to avoid being caught flat-footed.

Thus anything that helps you act in the surprise round is pure gold.

For a fragile build with a Mount/Animal Companion, get the Lookout feat for both you and it. This feat gets even better for Archers or mounted characters as it may allow you a full-attack in the surprise round.

Indeed, my Inquisitor/Zen Archer Monk has gotten off a few Flurry of Bows in the surprise round. It was almost convincing enough to take a dip in Rogue for the extra 1d6 per arrow. Almost.


Pathfinder Adventure, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Weapon Finesse is a must have for any melee Dex build, usually Rogues and Ninjas. Shadow Strike is also required for sneak attackers.

Personally, I would be tempted to give away both feats for free in my games.


Toughness. The smaller your hit die, the better it is. Everybody gets hit.


witch: extra hex, only point where you can double the number of hexes you have, and you'll take it anyway, eventually.
Also cackle is really necessary for nearly any build.

Silver Crusade

Selective Channeling for clerics is a must have, unless you're dumping your cha and not channeling at all. The whole point of channeling is to heal your group all at once during combat, and if they're in melee, you don't want to be healing the bad guys with them. I'm actually surprised by the people in this thread saying that they don't think this is that important.

I like pipedreamsam's suggestion of Arcane Strike for a bard, but I don't know if I'd consider it the "must have" first feat. Every bard should get it eventually, but if you're going archer, it's usually better to get Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot first. The extra damage doesn't help if you're not hitting. And Rapid Shot is better, too - I'd rather get an extra arrow's worth of damage than just a couple more points on the first arrow.

On the other hand, a melee bard should take this before Power Attack, unless you're going for a feat chain. Arcane Strike really is a good feat, for bards especially.

Similarly, I agree with Mike Schneider that Raging Vitality is mandatory for barbarians, but I don't see it as necessary at level 1. My barbarian took it at level 3 with no regrets. I'd say you need it by level 5 at the most, but it's not really useful yet at level 1.

The Exchange

Bah! Just realized I recommended the feat 'Dash' (a 3.0 relic) when I should have been referring to 'Fleet,' the same mechanic with a Pathfinder name.

Also, I too like Selective Channeling, particularly since some GMs will track how far into negatives you've knocked down those enemies... and have them rise again if you restore them to consciousness! (Keeping track of such things is a hassle, but it is an... exploitable option.)

Liberty's Edge

Matrixryu wrote:

Weapon Finesse is a must have for any melee Dex build, usually Rogues and Ninjas. Shadow Strike is also required for sneak attackers.

Personally, I would be tempted to give away both feats for free in my games.

Rogues can't have Shadow Strike at 1st level due to the BAB1 requirement; it's also very situational (you can do SA against targets with concealment -- but you still have to earn the right to do SA in the first place).

IMO rogues are better off getting certain feat chains squared away at the baby levels rather than wading right into melee and getting beat to a pulp. Or taking Two Weapon Fighting and Quick Draw (throw two knives, or kill one flanked guy in melee, draw/throw knife at someone else).

Dark Archive

There's not really a must for any class that I can outright think of. Lots of it is dependent on the build.

I do strongly recommend Improved Initiative for fighter 1 combat feat however, since going first is always a good thing, and once you need that feat for something else, you can swap it out at level 4 (usually Power Attack for me). I call it the human bonus feat, since back in 3.5, I always took it as a human.

I am a big fan of Lingering Performance for bard 1 however. It's usually better than Extra Performance. Just start the performance, and after 1 or 2 rounds, stop it, and the performance continues for 2 more rounds.


Toughness
skill focus perception
skills focus stealth

Extra hex

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