So in some of my games I've instituted variants on these feats to allow them higher bonuses at higher levels... basically the feat gets better the more you level. I totally got rid of Greater Weapon Focus, incidentally. Dodge gives a Dodge bonus to AC at level 1 and an additional point at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20. The same applies for Weapon Focus.
What do you guys think? Too much? Should the bonuses be only every 5 levels? 6 levels?
I just always thought a stinking +1 to attack or AC was a waste of a feat, considering what other feats are capable of. Plus which, I like the idea of feats and abilities not becoming moot once you reach a certain level. I mean, who cares about +1 at level 15? Personally, I don't. By the same token, I could see low level buffing spells becoming more potent as the spellcaster levels. IMO, Prayer (for example) cast by a level 18 Cleric should give more of a buff than the same spell cast by a level 3 Cleric.
I think it is a bit too much, even at level 20 a +6 to AC/Attacks is quite a lot. I can see how the bonus of these feats get close to obsolete at higher levels. So I think increases at 6 12 and 18 would fit i think.
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I think dodge giving +4 at 12th level is pretty crazy. In the beta Paizo had the dodge feat give +2 at 10th level if you took 10 ranks in acrobatics. It made the feat a bit more useful and the tie in with acrobatics made a lot of sense.
Dodge also qualifies you for a nice feat tree.
Weapon Focus is generally taken at the prereq for Weapon specialization and as a 2 feat combo works fairly well. Keep in mind fighters, who are most likely the ones taking this, don't have too much trouble hitting.
Go for it!
Play test it out with your group, and see how it plays out. You'll find out really fast if it works or not that way. Conceptually, however, I reached much the same conclusion as you did a while back.
There is a thread around here where we went into details and basically came to a *mechanic* assessment of topping off those bonuses at a +3 max bonus being "ok" or acceptable vs. the +6 you now posit.
Myself? I'd say +6 is a bit much for something that ANYONE can pick up. Now, if you make it +6 to say ... "light armor" only, now we're defining a much-needed niche in D20 (ie: the lightly armored, but effective fighter-type).
*nods* I could see capping it at +3, but I wanted the feats to be more than just the "I have to take these next to useless things to get what I -really- want" that I feel they are now. You're right, as it stands only a Fighter would even bother taking Weapon Focus... but I think it'd be cool to make the feats desirable to classes other than Fighters. Non-Fighters don't get near as many feats as Fighters do, which makes the feats non-Fighters take all the more precious. Taking a feat that will have minimal use in the long run just seems wasteful to me. Now for +3 to hit or AC? That I might be willing to spend a feat on.
Thanks for the comments, folks! What do you think of the idea of buffing spells' effects being slightly greater the higher the level of the caster? A 10th level Wizard's Fireball does more damage than a 5th level Wizard's Fireball, after all...
Like (for example) maybe Bull's Strength gives +6 to Strength at level 10 and +8 to Strength at level 15...
You know, on the spell front, why not?
Again, play around with it some and you'll get an answer quick from your group.
You *can* manage this in a few ways as well:
1) As you suggest, make it some sort of "caster level" function.
2) Create a new spell - seriously. Just make up a new spell of level X and drop it in there for your desired effect.
3) Make an option for casting the spell/memorizing the spell at various levels. (ie: cast as a level 2, a level 4, or level 6, etc.) This one's maybe the most "out of the box" but hey - you want to spend a higher level slot on it? Why not grant the effect? Maybe start with +2 to ability/+1 spell slot being used?
4) Similar to #3, but why not let something like a meta-magic feat just bump the effectiveness somehow? Like one of the +50% to range, area, #'s, etc? Sure, there *are* no # variables to maximize, BUT you're just going to bump the existing single # anyway, so have at it!
... I can see how the bonus of these feats get close to obsolete at higher levels...
I disagree.
This is a game where every +1 counts. If you don't think these feats are relevant, try keeping track of how often you barely hit (by one)and an enemy barely misses (by one).
These feats do exactly what they should. They don't need to be powered up. They give a small (but relevant) bonus and serve as prereqs to "better" feats.
... I can see how the bonus of these feats get close to obsolete at higher levels...I disagree.
This is a game where every +1 counts. If you don't think these feats are relevant, try keeping track of how often you barely hit (by one)and an enemy barely misses (by one).
These feats do exactly what they should. They don't need to be powered up. They give a small (but relevant) bonus and serve as prereqs to "better" feats.
*looks over all thread statements*
Nah - clearly there's a disagreement. However, this is a house-rule suggestion thread, so feel free to ignore it.
;-p
... I can see how the bonus of these feats get close to obsolete at higher levels...I disagree.
This is a game where every +1 counts. If you don't think these feats are relevant, try keeping track of how often you barely hit (by one)and an enemy barely misses (by one).
These feats do exactly what they should. They don't need to be powered up. They give a small (but relevant) bonus and serve as prereqs to "better" feats.
Alright then. Just to play devil's advocate, why not "even it out" the other way and make other feats only give a +1 bonus? Improved Grapple? +1 now. Augment Summoning? Only +2 to either Strength or Con to the summoned creature. Combat Casting? You guessed it... +1 instead of +4. Same with Critical Focus or any feat that gives a bonus of higher than +1... which is most feats, to be brutally honest. Weapon Focus and Dodge are kind of standalone in that they give such a tiny bonus as feats. Feats should be at least somewhat impressive and useful, not stepping stones that only matter if the dice happen to screw you over by one point. I can't speak for anyone else, but while the "he hit me by one point" thing has happened to me, it's rare in my experience.
Alright then. Just to play devil's advocate, why not "even it out" the other way and make other feats only give a +1 bonus? Improved Grapple? +1 now. Augment Summoning? Only +2 to either Strength or Con to the summoned creature. Combat Casting? You guessed it... +1 instead of +4. Same with Critical Focus or any feat that gives a bonus of higher than +1... which is most feats, to be brutally honest. Weapon Focus and Dodge are kind of standalone in that they give such a tiny bonus as feats. Feats should be at least somewhat impressive and useful, not stepping stones that only matter if the dice happen to screw you over by one point. I can't speak for anyone else, but while the "he hit me by one point" thing has happened to me, it's rare in my experience.
Weapon Focus and Dodge are universal. That's why they provide the lowest bonus. Dodge gets included in your AC and CMD like 90% of the time. Weapon Focus works whenever you attack with that weapon (probably alot of the time or else you'd not have taken the feat).
Improved Grapple provides a bigger bonus (+2) because it's more specialized. You can't always grapple and you're not always being grapple. So, for fairness, feats like these grant bigger bonuses. The same is true for Critical Focus. Critical hits are hard to come by. Even if you specialize in crit-ing, you don't always fights foes that this strategy works against. Compared to Weapon Focus, there are plenty of things you can attack but not crit on.
Augment Summoning was probably designed with Bull's Strength and Bear's Endurance in mind. And it's based off of another "gateway", minor +1 feat: Spell Focus.
I have no idea why Combat Casting was set at +4...
Also, Weapon Focus and Dodge are hardly stand alone: Shield Focus, Spell Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Greater Shield Focus...
Basically, my point is that the more use a feat gets, the smaller the bonus is and should be, IMO.
You could make a feat that grants a +20 insight bonus to AC against Incoporeal Dracoliches that are attacking you underground while you are below half hit points and not flat-footed.
The bonus a feat grants is inversely proportional to its utility. For example, Weapon Focus works for nearly every attack, so it's a +1. Improved Grapple only works when you try to grapple, so it's a bit more at +2.
Alright then. Just to play devil's advocate, why not "even it out" the other way and make other feats only give a +1 bonus? Improved Grapple? +1 now. Augment Summoning? Only +2 to either Strength or Con to the summoned creature. Combat Casting? You guessed it... +1 instead of +4. Same with Critical Focus or any feat that gives a bonus of higher than +1... which is most feats, to be brutally honest. Weapon Focus and Dodge are kind of standalone in that they give such a tiny bonus as feats. Feats should be at least somewhat impressive and useful, not stepping stones that only matter if the dice happen to screw you over by one point. I can't speak for anyone else, but while the "he hit me by one point" thing has happened to me, it's rare in my experience.... I can see how the bonus of these feats get close to obsolete at higher levels...I disagree.
This is a game where every +1 counts. If you don't think these feats are relevant, try keeping track of how often you barely hit (by one)and an enemy barely misses (by one).
These feats do exactly what they should. They don't need to be powered up. They give a small (but relevant) bonus and serve as prereqs to "better" feats.
I'm w/you man!
Feats NEED to be valid at all points in the career, and *should* darn well constantly improve something. Or give a pretty good bonus up front.
I'd sooner see the maneuver feat splits go back to 3.5e's single feat and just tack on the PF "extra" to the new version of the feat. In fact, maybe even scaling the bonus granted by the feat as a function of character level (say +1/4 character levels or something) for whatever the maneuver is.
I HATE the very notion of "feat tax" in general, but Feat Trees *kind* of make sense. Dotting the landscape with less than stellar feats of minimal value and returns ... not *fun* in the slightest.
FYI, I'm doing away with most of the "Greater X" and such feats from my games and just wrapping them into the first, base Feat with a progression based on character level to improve it. It opens up more feat slots of *real* value to be chosen (not feat-taxes). Stuff that grants additional options, though, will still remain as separate feats (ie: Cleave vs. Great Cleave, etc).
Ok, so following this logic... How about magic items scale too. You never have to spend more money on it, it just gets better. You buy a Ring of Protection +1 and it increases as you level.
You're making unnecessary work. You make Weapon Focus and Dodge scale? Then every creature will have them... and then they don't matter since everyone has them. Then what makes the difference? Some other feat that gives you the +1 edge.
Dodge gives you +1 to AC vs one foe. How is that encompassing?
My point is that some feats do some -really- amazing things, and some, like WF and Dodge give you a +1 to something. Woo-hoo.
Silver Dragon avatar
Dodge gives you +1 to AC vs one foe. How is that encompassing?
My point is that some feats do some -really- amazing things, and some, like WF and Dodge give you a +1 to something. Woo-hoo.
No, Dodge (in Pathfinder) gives you a +1 dodge bonus to AC. Which also applies to CMD. Simple, solid, good as is.
So they changed Dodge for PF, eh? Meh, my opinion still stands.
We may have to agree to disagree on this. +1 to anything is not feat-worthy imo. A feat should (IMO)do something pretty amazing. As it stands, I would never take Dodge or WF, not even for a Fighter.
-Especially- if 3.x feats are allowed in a game.
Are they as popular as high levels though? What they do can be great at level 1 or so, but at level 15, what's +1 really mean? To me, it's become trivial at that point.
+1 to anything is not feat-worthy imo. A feat should (IMO)do something pretty amazing. As it stands, I would never take Dodge or WF, not even for a Fighter.
-Especially- if 3.x feats are allowed in a game.
Question for you: if feats have to be pretty amazing, how should they stack up to other class features?
This is just an idea but why not make the feats give a passive +1 to AC or Attack, but as a swift action you can use it to give you an additional +1/five character levels or HD(in line with Arcane Strike). That way it still has the potential to be a nice boost, but it makes it more circumstantial and a character isn't running around with two feats that offers a passive +5(because that is huge) to AC and Attack.
+1 to anything is not feat-worthy imo. A feat should (IMO)do something pretty amazing. As it stands, I would never take Dodge or WF, not even for a Fighter.
I don't think you're seeing the big picture here.
Weapon Focus does improve over time. When you take it at low level, you gain a +5% chance to hit with one attack per round. At 20th level you have a +5% chance to hit with 4 attacks per round. At low level, you may get one extra hit every 20 rounds or so. At high level, you may get one extra hit every 5 rounds or so. That sounds like scaling to me.
Dodge has the same benefit too. My low-level PCs get attacked once or twice in a round. At high level, that may turn into 6 or 8 or 10 attacks in a round. A +5% bonus to AC is useful at every level, making 1 attack out of 20 miss that would have hit. But at low levels, that's one attack every 10 rounds or so. At high levels, that might be one attack every 2 rounds. That sounds like scaling to me.
Ok, so following this logic... How about magic items scale too. You never have to spend more money on it, it just gets better. You buy a Ring of Protection +1 and it increases as you level.
Now this is just foolish.
*clearly* the difference is in living, breathing, learning "organism" vs. "inanimate object". Dur!!! ;-)
I most certainly do NOT expect my freakin' walking stick to *learn* how to be a better frakkin' stick. It's a STICK!!!!
I, however, can learn how to be WAY more bad-ass using that same walking stick with experience, time, and DEDICATION (ie: feats). For point of clarification, a flat, +1 one time boon for "dedication" is not being way more bad-ass ... at all.
This isn't even a point to be made seriously ... is it???
*confused*
Edit: on more thought, there was something in 3.5 that did allow "weapons" to "learn" or something like that. It was in the UA book, I think - Scions or something? Not sure how it worked fully, though, but I guess if you're running that kind of game - sure, you're inanimate object is expected to get better with time. Likewise, I think Earthdawn sort of had this notion of "smart weapons" or something behind it. I didn't really do much w/Earthdawn, though, so I could be off a bit.
This is just an idea but why not make the feats give a passive +1 to AC or Attack, but as a swift action you can use it to give you an additional +1/five character levels or HD(in line with Arcane Strike). That way it still has the potential to be a nice boost, but it makes it more circumstantial and a character isn't running around with two feats that offers a passive +5(because that is huge) to AC and Attack.
You know ... making better use/more options of "swift" actions in general I find to be an idea worthy of exploration.
Good thought there!
*thumbs up*
Hey there, Dork Lord, here's a link to that thread I mentioned before where the +3 was made into the sort of "top off" point for scaling benefits.
Now, I'll say that it's clearly a "to hit" category thing as wpn damage was ok being scaled at a higher rate, and I'd think that AC would be too, though not as much as damage boons, or as little as to hit.
Here it is: My thread on a similar notion earlier
Question for you: if feats have to be pretty amazing, how should they stack up to other class features?+1 to anything is not feat-worthy imo. A feat should (IMO)do something pretty amazing. As it stands, I would never take Dodge or WF, not even for a Fighter.
-Especially- if 3.x feats are allowed in a game.
Feats are what statwise makes one character different from the next of the same race and class. With the right feats in 3.5, I could create a Sorcerer who had over +15 over caster level to overcome spell resistance. So yeah, feats should be more impressive than just giving a measly +1 to something (imo).
In my opinion (which I realize is less than irrelevant on a forum like this), a feat should be only slightly less impressive than a class feature. I like to think of feats as "choosable character features".
+1 to anything is not feat-worthy imo. A feat should (IMO)do something pretty amazing. As it stands, I would never take Dodge or WF, not even for a Fighter.I don't think you're seeing the big picture here.
Weapon Focus does improve over time. When you take it at low level, you gain a +5% chance to hit with one attack per round. At 20th level you have a +5% chance to hit with 4 attacks per round. At low level, you may get one extra hit every 20 rounds or so. At high level, you may get one extra hit every 5 rounds or so. That sounds like scaling to me.
Dodge has the same benefit too. My low-level PCs get attacked once or twice in a round. At high level, that may turn into 6 or 8 or 10 attacks in a round. A +5% bonus to AC is useful at every level, making 1 attack out of 20 miss that would have hit. But at low levels, that's one attack every 10 rounds or so. At high levels, that might be one attack every 2 rounds. That sounds like scaling to me.
Don't get me wrong, I see what you're saying, but forgive me if I'm less than excited about %5. If you could earn 5% interest on an investment or 20% interest, which would you choose? I choose to avoid feats like WF and Dodge because I feel they aren't worth it. Other feats give higher bonuses, so I'd consider taking them over the former feats in a heartbeat.
Anyhoo, the purpose of this thread was simply to voice my feelings about those two feats and offer an alternative to anyone who may feel the same way. If you disagree with my thoughts on those feats, I respect your opinion but if your goal is to try and convince me of the error of my opinion, it's probably not going to happen. I'm old and set in my ways. ;-)
Hey there, Dork Lord, here's a link to that thread I mentioned before where the +3 was made into the sort of "top off" point for scaling benefits.
Now, I'll say that it's clearly a "to hit" category thing as wpn damage was ok being scaled at a higher rate, and I'd think that AC would be too, though not as much as damage boons, or as little as to hit.
Here it is: My thread on a similar notion earlier
Thanks for your support and thoughts, Speaker! I'll take a look at that other thread.
Thanks to everyone who replied, I appreciate all the input! :-)
So in some of my games I've instituted variants on these feats to allow them higher bonuses at higher levels... basically the feat gets better the more you level. I totally got rid of Greater Weapon Focus, incidentally. Dodge gives a Dodge bonus to AC at level 1 and an additional point at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20. The same applies for Weapon Focus.
What do you guys think? Too much? Should the bonuses be only every 5 levels? 6 levels?
I just always thought a stinking +1 to attack or AC was a waste of a feat, considering what other feats are capable of. Plus which, I like the idea of feats and abilities not becoming moot once you reach a certain level. I mean, who cares about +1 at level 15? Personally, I don't. By the same token, I could see low level buffing spells becoming more potent as the spellcaster levels. IMO, Prayer (for example) cast by a level 18 Cleric should give more of a buff than the same spell cast by a level 3 Cleric.
Usually, bonuses to attack rolls and AC specifically do not scale, because those bonuses are already part of a larger equation involving HP and Damage (which do scale, quite a bit).
Given foes that have a 1 in 5 chance of hitting you (a not unreasonable number looking at the monster creation guidelines and doing some quick napkin math on average player AC), +1 AC from dodge (taking their chance to hit from 20% to 15%) means foes have to make an average of 34% more attacks to take you down. So if it took 3 swings before, on average, it's going to take 4 now. All swings are not equal though. At level 1 Dodge might really just be buying you 5-6 more HP, but at level 15 that one extra swing is the equivalent of more like 50-60 extra HP.
Attack bonuses work in the same way, scaling exactly as fast as your total damage output.
Don't get me wrong, I see what you're saying, but forgive me if I'm less than excited about %5. If you could earn 5% interest on an investment or 20% interest, which would you choose? I choose to avoid feats like WF and Dodge because I feel they aren't worth it. Other feats give higher bonuses, so I'd consider taking them over the former feats in a heartbeat.
What feats might these be? No feats that depend on Weapon Focus or Dodge, surely.
I don't think you're seeing the big picture here.
Weapon Focus does improve over time. When you take it at low level, you gain a +5% chance to hit with one attack per round. At 20th level you have a +5% chance to hit with 4 attacks per round. At low level, you may get one extra hit every 20 rounds or so. At high level, you may get one extra hit every 5 rounds or so. That sounds like scaling to me.
Dodge has the same benefit too. My low-level PCs get attacked once or twice in a round. At high level, that may turn into 6 or 8 or 10 attacks in a round. A +5% bonus to AC is useful at every level, making 1 attack out of 20 miss that would have hit. But at low levels, that's one attack every 10 rounds or so. At high levels, that might be one attack every 2 rounds. That sounds like scaling to me.
This is incredibly well put.
Dodge and Weapon Focus are among the most popular feats in my group.
I'd contend here that they're the "most popular" because they open up the feat-trees to various other effects that lie AFTER you pick up the entry level (arguably *useless*) feats we're discussing here.
Dodge opens up a LOT of stuff - movement based options which, are clearly superior. If the standard is "don't move or strike" and there's a feat that lets you move, hit, move again, who *wouldn't* want that? It's opening up (through 3 feats minimum) a freakin' game option and it's limited by YOUR choice to make use of the option or not, possibly circumstances as well. Bottom line, Spring Attack and Shot on the Run are FAR more effective/useful feats than the Dodge that allows access to these options ... and gives a +1. That +1 is darn near useless - it's the stuff that comes after that everyone wants (weapon specialization, etc, etc).
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Dodge and Weapon Focus are among the most popular feats in my group.I'd contend here that they're the "most popular" because they open up the feat-trees to various other effects that lie AFTER you pick up the entry level (arguably *useless*) feats we're discussing here.
Dodge opens up a LOT of stuff - movement based options which, are clearly superior. If the standard is "don't move or strike" and there's a feat that lets you move, hit, move again, who *wouldn't* want that? It's opening up (through 3 feats minimum) a freakin' game option and it's limited by YOUR choice to make use of the option or not, possibly circumstances as well. Bottom line, Spring Attack and Shot on the Run are FAR more effective/useful feats than the Dodge that allows access to these options ... and gives a +1. That +1 is darn near useless - it's the stuff that comes after that everyone wants (weapon specialization, etc, etc).
None of the characters has Spring Attack or Shot on the run. The only character with followup feats for weapon focus is the fighter. All other players have taken those feats for the benefit they provide by themselves (except the bard who needed weapon focus to qualify for arcane archer).
The monk and the cleric have taken both Weapon Focus and Dodge while the summoner took Dodge.+1 AC or Attack Bonus is far from useless.
+1 AC or Attack Bonus is far from useless.
Completely agreed.
It seems that some of these other posters play in more "power-gamer" groups where they can ignore the +1 bonuses because they aren't relevant.
In my groups, every +1 counts. We can go from little chance to hit, to a good chance from +1 or +2 bonuses. Weapon Focus, Bless, High Ground, Flanking, Charging, etc. I like how we have to play as a team to get these bonuses instead of relying on a feat to do it all for us.
Of course, I'm not sire where they're getting feats that grant bigger, more "significant" bonuses to attack. Unless they are homebrew feats, in which case, comparing them to Core is biased at best.
+1 AC or Attack Bonus is far from useless.Completely agreed.
It seems that some of these other posters play in more "power-gamer" groups where they can ignore the +1 bonuses because they aren't relevant.
In my groups, every +1 counts. We can go from little chance to hit, to a good chance from +1 or +2 bonuses. Weapon Focus, Bless, High Ground, Flanking, Charging, etc. I like how we have to play as a team to get these bonuses instead of relying on a feat to do it all for us.
Of course, I'm not sire where they're getting feats that grant bigger, more "significant" bonuses to attack. Unless they are homebrew feats, in which case, comparing them to Core is biased at best.
"You don't play the way I do, so you must be some kind of nasty power-gamer! Not like the far more superior kind of gamer that I am"...
You may not have intended to convey that, but that's the impression you're leaving.... just fyi.
You want an example of a feat that gives a more significant bonus to attack? Leap Strike from the Book of Ultimate Feats, a third party splat book from 3.5 (many PF GMs I've played under still allow 3.5 feats for PF provided PF hasn't revised said feat). Gives a +4 to attack when attacking while leaping. Compelling Caster... lets you add your Charisma bonus to spell resistance checks and dispelling checks. There's another one that I can't recall the name of but it lets you take an AoO against anyone that misses you in melee combat by 5 or more.
Feats can do some pretty impressive things. +1 doesn't impress me and I hate to say it but you're not going to change my mind about that part. Coming in and "crying foul" about my opinion there isn't what this thread is for. It's in the homebrew section, after all... if you don't like it, it's very easy to ignore it. You act like there's some chance that this is somehow going to be made official. Trust me, you don't have anything to worry about. *laughs*
"You don't play the way I do, so you must be some kind of nasty power-gamer! Not like the far more superior kind of gamer that I am"...
You may not have intended to convey that, but that's the impression you're leaving.... just fyi.
I suppose I could have come across that way. I can only judge based off of my own experience. I've GM'ed a lot and I've found that (for the 12 or so in my various groups) fun comes from working hard for your character's success. It makes the victories sweeter. Coming together as a team to achieve the kind of bonuses suggested by "improving" these solid feats.
You want an example of a feat that gives a more significant bonus to attack? Leap Strike from the Book of Ultimate Feats, a third party splat book from 3.5 (many PF GMs I've played under still allow 3.5 feats for PF provided PF hasn't revised said feat). Gives a +4 to attack when attacking while leaping. Compelling Caster... lets you add your Charisma bonus to spell resistance checks and dispelling checks. There's another one that I can't recall the name of but it lets you take an AoO against anyone that misses you in melee combat by 5 or more.
So, you have no examples of Core feats... ok, that's the point I was making. A +4 when leaping. Great. It's a highly situational bonus. So, it's bigger. Another point I was making. Weapon Focus is universal -> small bonus. Leap Strike is very situational -> bigger bonus. I recommended following the example of keeping that proportion. The more situational, the bigger the bonus and vice versa.
Feats can do some pretty impressive things. +1 doesn't impress me and I hate to say it but you're not going to change my mind about that part. Coming in and "crying foul" about my opinion there isn't what this thread is for. It's in the homebrew section, after all... if you don't like it, it's very easy to ignore it. You act like there's some chance that this is somehow going to be made official. Trust me, you don't have anything to worry about. *laughs*
I guess we're impressed by different things. IMO, simplicity is elegant. A solid feat is just that -solid. I've played in power-gamer groups and the "arms race" made for a less fun game. You have your play style and opinion. That's fine. I have mine. I can only judge based off of my experience. I know my way works well. If your way works for you, great. I merely stress my points so that others can have the same great time I have. Nothing about being a superior gamer.
To sum it up: I think Weapon Focus and Dodge are great as is. My suggestion to those dissatisfied with them is to make a homebrew follow-up feat that scales them. For example:
Improved Dodge
prereq - Dodge
benefit - You gain a dodge bonus to AC equal to your level divided by 5 (rounded down).