Using the scaling feats from Kobold Press' New Paths Compendium has greatly helped my games. Vital Strike and TWF becoming one feat has made a lot of room for people to take weird feats and make combat more interesting.
However, Some feats are still kind of 'in the way' and I'm looking for advice on consolidating them in a way that doesn't disrupt the rest of them or having to rewrite every feat so I need help identifying the worst offenders.
Combat Expertise is probably the worst of the bunch but there are problems replacing/merging it. First, Combat Expertise is needed for more than combat maneuvers, and it doesn't apply universally for Combat maneuvers. Then there are some stray archetypes that get it for free. My latest reaction has been to eliminate it as a prerequisite altogether, along with it's 13 int requirement but I have not put this in effect enough to know if it makes too much of a difference.
Archery feels like too many feats but I don't know what to consolidate. Archery goes into a lot of tangents and even though I have yet to make scaling archery feats it remains really powerful.
What are other feats that badly need to be merged?
I don't share your disdain for feat chains, but for Archery you could divide Precise Shot into Point Blank Shot (ignore the penalty w/in 30') and Improved Precise Shot (ignore the penalty at any range). Rapid Shot and Manyshot are each deserving of a feat (both essentially give you a whole extra attack).
I would drop Point Blank Shot entirely. It's just one more fiddly little bonus that sometimes applies and sometimes doesn't, and archers don't need the extra damage anyways. Make Precise Shot the "entry" feat to archery and while we're at it, make it scale up to Improved Precise Shot by itself at level 11.
I would get rid of Combat Expertise entirely, and drop the Int requirement on combat maneuver feats. If you want to take a penalty to hit in exchange for a bonus to AC, fight defensively.
Dodge and Mobility are a common feat tax, yet if they were merged into a single feat most people still wouldn't take them. Not sure how to handle these offenders.
I would drop Point Blank Shot entirely. It's just one more fiddly little bonus that sometimes applies and sometimes doesn't, and archers don't need the extra damage anyways. Make Precise Shot the "entry" feat to archery and while we're at it, make it scale up to Improved Precise Shot by itself at level 11.
I would get rid of Combat Expertise entirely, and drop the Int requirement on combat maneuver feats. If you want to take a penalty to hit in exchange for a bonus to AC, fight defensively.
Dodge and Mobility are a common feat tax, yet if they were merged into a single feat most people still wouldn't take them. Not sure how to handle these offenders.
Dodge/Mobility was somewhat of an issue I think I may have solved the problem by introducing third party that make them prerequisites to way better feats and then just making the popular feats it taxes more attractive.
You could make dodge a scaling bonus +1 at 1st level +2 at 7th +3 at 14th of that sort. Fold Spring Attack into Mobility.
Archery is so powerful I probably wouldn't drop anything from the chain. You should be safe dropping point blank shot from the prerequisites if your so inclined, but that'd be it, and once again, I wouldn't.
I believe lots of people drop combat expertise and the necessary Int. As far as I know it doesn't seem to hurt the game.
I don't know why you'd drop dodge/mobility honestly. There are at least 2 really powerful builds that need those 2 feats to really thrive, I wouldn't make it easier on them.
Archery is so powerful I probably wouldn't drop anything from the chain. You should be safe dropping point blank shot from the prerequisites if your so inclined, but that'd be it, and once again, I wouldn't.
I believe lots of people drop combat expertise and the necessary Int. As far as I know it doesn't seem to hurt the game.
I don't know why you'd drop dodge/mobility honestly. There are at least 2 really powerful builds that need those 2 feats to really thrive, I wouldn't make it easier on them.
I know I'm skeptical of merging dodge/mobility but I was under the impression that they rendered their follow up feats undesirable. Can you inform me of the strong builds they create so I can weigh it out?
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Well, if you merge Dodge/Mobility, then Spring Attack becomes attractive for rogues as a way to move around enemies. I don't think that's all that bad for the game though.
Whirlwind becomes a bit more accessible, but it's not like that feat is so powerful that it really needs that many prerequisites to balance it. Whirlwind's main balance is that focusing your fire on one opponent is often better tactics.
The first one is panther style builds, usually with MOMS. I have seen 2 in play, one to level 10 and the other to 13. Both were quite a bit different and both were highly highly effective. They got so much value out of mobility its insane.
The other one is the whirlwind feat with a whip/trip build. You can get between 20 and 30 foot reach relatively easily, and then its just over for any mooks of huge size or less. Trips + Provokes all around are devastating. Granted, this does take a while to come to fruition, but its straight up devastating once it gets there.
