Vagabond? |
I like to give out feats as story rewards, but giving out feats people were already gonna take, or ones that are too powerful and will throw off ecl, isn't very smart. So I'd like to put a list together of feats that have either a very niche use, or are kinda underwhelming most of the time but do something interesting beyond the +X to Y thing, like skill focus (which I often do give out).
So post a feat you like, but would probably never be able to work into a build.
Turin the Mad |
Achievement feats, especially Graverisen. Story feats - some are effectively worthless in terms of ECL, so they make great give-outs.
Traits, some are neat bonuses without being overwhelming. When necessary ignore the usual requisites.
Endurance. Run. Die Hard and its "chain" are possibilities, especially if the poor "meat shield" keeps going down into the negatives.
Prodigy.
The "I'm old with lots of experience" feat I can't recall the name of at the moment.
Scythia |
Fleet. No, seriously. I like it, moving fast is awesome. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a feat worse than it. As such, I'd never get to use it.
A suggestion I saw and liked in a homemade feats thread a year or two ago was to combine Fleet with Dodge and Mobility, so that each would raise your speed by 5 in addition to the regular benefit.
Tangaroa |
Equipment Trick is fun, not generally overpowering, and keyed to other skills or feats so they aren't front loaded.
chaoseffect |
Troth of the Forgotten Pharaoh is without a doubt my favorite "worthless" feat. If I ever get around to do doing an espionage game all my players will get a reflavored version for free whether they want it or not. Whether or not their employer can also activate it at will without their knowledge remains to be seen.
Everybody |
Stage Combatant. Not a good value, because its niche is way too small (and it even has a Weapon Focus feat tax).
But remove the feat tax and just require proficiency for it to be usable, and it has some niche uses, particularly to deal nonlethal damage with a lethal weapon but also a very small niche that can be very useful in a campaign with enough intrigue (e.g. infiltration), and that is to deal no damage while seeming to wield and strike normally. If the one apparently attacked has enough Bluff skill, they can look like you really hurt them and thus could appear to take them prisoner (or even that you killed them), when actually they were pretending to be on the other side and this is their way to "disappear" from the bad guys (or, if apparently prisoner, even get the bad guys to exchange something for their freedom).
Silent Saturn |
You could give Ironhide as a feat to a character who's taken a lot of grevious wounds, dwarf or no.
The APG and ARG had a lot of weird feats that only certain races were allowed to take. Some of them it's obvious why (they modify a racial SLA or race trait), others not so much. Giving them as story feats would be a good way to let them see play without the race in question needing to be played.