5E Unearthed Arcana: 16 New Feats

[gxif...@hotmail.com]

"Today’s Unearthed Arcana presents a selection of new feats for
Dungeons & Dragons. Each feat offers a way to become better at
something or to gain a whole new ability."

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/feats

The feats include Artificer Initiate, Chef, Crusher, Eldritch Adept,
Fey Touched, Fighting Initiate, Gunner, Metamagic Adept, Poisoner,
Piercer, Practiced Expert, Shadow Touched, Shield Training, Slasher,
Tandem Tactician, and Tracker.

[vbh...@hotmail.com]

Okay, here's my full reviews:

Artificer Initiate: It's like Magic Initiate, but better! Also, you
still get to take Magic Initiate! I like this feat, but think it will
be nerfed (I also second the idea for an Artificer Infusion as a feat).
This is a great feat for artificers, wizards, and good for the 1/3rd
casters.

Chef: Good, I guess. I mean, I'd never take it, or encourage a player
to take it really, but I could see situations where this would be very
useful. I would prefer it as an Artificer (maybe bard or cleric
subclass if it has to be), but this feat can stay. I think there should
be some pre-requisite, based on needing healing spells or something, as
it doesn't make much sense for a Wizard to have it, or an Archfiend
Warlock. (Great feat for clerics, bards, druids that focus on
goodberry, and alchemist artificers)

Crusher: I like the feat. Some people have expressed concern about the
name, but I think it fits. This is a good feat, and fits well with the
other weapon-damage focused ones (This feat is great with Monks).

Eldritch Adept: Nice feat. I always wanted more invocations as my
Hexblade, and this would be nice. This will be very popular if it makes
it into the book as is (The infinite mage armor or false life will be
very attractive for Sorcerers and Wizards).

Fey Touched: Good feat. I'm sure a lot of Archfey warlocks will take
this, as well as certain wizards and bards.

Fighting Initiate: Great feat. Some have mentioned Rogues getting
Archery or Two-Weapon Fighting, and others have mentioned Barbarians
getting a Fighting Style. I think a lot of people will take this,
either to get more Fighting Styles as a Fighter, Paladin, or Ranger, or
for a Hexblade or Bladesinger to get a fighting style.

Gunner: Besides firearms being broken, this making them even worse, and
it being an amazing feat if you want to be a gun-user (especially as a
Battlesmith Artificer or Battlemaster Fighter).

Metamagic Adept: Also, besides screwing the sorcerer even more (and
helping it as well) it seems like a good feat. This will be a very
attractive feat to people arcane casters, which they needed more of.

Piercer: Nice feat, like the Crusher feat. This is useful to archers,
gun-users, cavaliers, rogues, and many more subclasses.

Poisoner: I mean, poisons do need help. Good feat, not much else to
say.

Practiced Expert: I really hated that Prodigy was limited to humans,
half-orcs, and half-elves. I mean, what the heck? Only people with
human blood, rogues, and bards can be very, very good at a few certain
things? If allowed, I will take this as every single character I play
in the future. My changeling hexblade needs this for Deception, a
Wizard needs this for Arcana, a Paladin needs it for Persuasion,
Athletics, or Intimidation.

Shadow Touched: Good feat, except for the subclass it fits with the
most: Shadow Sorcerers. They already get darkness, and I think you
should be able to choose a different necrotic/illusion spell for this,
like Blindness/Deafness or Ray of Sickness.

Shield Training: I mean, amazing feat. I would literally never not take
this as a non-gish spellcaster without shields. It's even useful to
gish spellcasters, and non-spellcasters. War Wizards would have great
ACs with this, especially Hobgoblins with light armor.

Slasher: Good feat. Not much else to say, except slashing-sword users
will have a great time with this feat.

Tandem Tactician: Good feat. People have been saying it screws the
Mastermind, but not really. They still have a range of 30 feet for
their abilities.

Tracker: Great feat. I would take it as a Ranger, but it does feel like
another feat to make a class not feel needed anymore (Take this as a
monk. You get the most attacks at lower levels, and will benefit the
most from this).

Summary:

I like these feats in general. I see the problems with them, and expect
several of these to be dropped/changed before entering Xanathar's 2.0.
They are all good, all useful to most characters, and let me steal
abilities from other classes without having to do all the multiclassing
nonsense.

[battl...@hotmail.com]

My thoughts:

Artificer Initiate
This is a no-brainer, but as written it is stronger than Magic
Initiate - change spells on levelling, cast with any spell slot. It may
be that Magic Initiate will be errataed to match this. Artificers don't
really get anything build defining on their spell list though (Magic
Stone might be worth a second look). Interesting wrinkle - say a ranger
who doesn't like the ranger spell list takes this: they could use all
their spell slots (save the odd Hunter's Mark) to cast their artificer
spell using INT as their casting stat and dump wisdom.

Crusher etc
I find players like to specialise in particular weapons.

Eldritch Adept
First thought was "Agonising Blast Sorcerer without multiclassing".
However, the wording of this feat prohibits that, since it has a
prerequisite (Eldritch Blast) and it requires at least one warlock
level if there are any prerequisites. A Vuman warlock could use it to
pick up Agonising Blast at 1st level instead of 2nd though. Actually,
the majority of Invocations have prerequisites, and are thus barred to
non-warlocks. The most powerful choice for non-warlocks would seem to
be Fiendish Vigor, but it's not that good. Armor of Shadows doesn't
give anything you can't already get with Magic Initiate.

Fighting Initiate
In addition to fighters gaining an additional style I can see a lot of
Rogues using this to learn Two Weapon Fighting.

Poisoner
Ignoring Poison Resistance is the main thing - intended to make Green
Dragon Sorcerers suck slightly less.

Shield Training
Bards and Dwarf Wizards approve of this.

[ShadowHawk]

Some interesting stuff here!

- The Chef one is really fun. I was sad that the gourmet UA feat never
got published, so I appreciate the redo.

- A lot of feats that give you a limited version of a class feature
(invocations, metamagic, and so forth). I wonder if that's a direction
they'll be expanding upon even further.

- Crusher/Piercer/Slasher are pretty neat: providing half an ASI and a
small buff to their damage type

- Poisoner is interesting. Also, it looks like the ability to overcome
poisoning resistance portion works outside of just weapon attacks. So I
can see this one being useful for the alchemist artificer and other
subclasses that use poison spells.

- Tandem Tactician seems tailor made to be used with the Mastermind
Rogue. Could be a fun build alongside a familiar.

In article <E9.A9.0585...@smtp21.gate.ord1c.rsapps.net>,

[gu...@usa.net]

In article <E9.A9.0585...@smtp21.gate.ord1c.rsapps.net>, gxif...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>

>"Today’s Unearthed Arcana presents a selection of new feats for
>Dungeons & Dragons. Each feat offers a way to become better at
>something or to gain a whole new ability."
>
>https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/feats
>
>The feats include Artificer Initiate, Chef, Crusher, Eldritch Adept,

Here is the list of invocations non-warlocks can take with the feat. It's sort of a mini-guide. I am curious about the ones which do not list a prerequisite but mention "using a warlock spell slot" and how that works with the feat for a non-warlock.

Armor of Shadows: You can cast mage armor on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.
Beast, Speech: You can cast speak with animals at will, without expending a spell slot.
Beguiling Influence: You gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion skills.
Devil's Sight: You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
Eldritch Sight: You can cast detect magic at will, without expending a spell slot.
Eyes of the Rune Keeper: You can read all writing.
Fiendish Vigor: You can cast false life on yourself at will as a 1st-level spell, without expending a spell slot or material components.
Gaze of Two Minds: You can use your action to touch a willing humanoid and perceive through its senses until the end of your next turn. As long as the creature is on the same plane of existence as you, you can use your action on subsequent turns to maintain this connection, extending the duration until the end of your next turn. While perceiving through the other creature’s senses, you benefit from any special senses possessed by that creature, and you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.
Mask of Many Faces: You can cast disguise self at will, without expending a spell slot.
Misty Visions: You can cast silent image at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.
Thief of Five Fates: You can cast bane once using a warlock spell slot. You can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

There are some great invocations in there.

[Jack Shit]

In article <E9.A9.0585...@smtp21.gate.ord1c.rsapps.net>, gxif...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>

So, finally got around to writing my Feat Balance Thoughts.

Anyway, I especially like that ASIs give a metric for balancing feats. A feat should be, roughly speaking, equivalent to +1 to hit/damage/save DCs, +1 save, and +1 to skills.

I’ve had a number of discussions here about the original PHB feats and which I thought were balanced or not. I’m also strongly considering dissolving some of the skill oriented PHB feats and just making them skill checks. But, what do I think of the new feats in Unearthed Arcana from July 2020?

Artificer Initiate
This seems balanced against Magic Initiate. You only get 1 cantrip, but you also get proficiency with an artisan’s tool and you can use that as a spellcasting focus. I still think using one 1st-level spell once per day is not worth a feat, and the Aberrant Dragonmark feat proved me right; I felt that Magic Initiate’s spell should recover on a short rest (this is also, in my opinion, to balance taking Magic Initiate and Cure Wounds against taking Healer or Inspiring Leader; those feats are still too good, regardless of that change). Taking a level of warlock grants a 1st-level spell that recovers on a short rest, plus other features, and feats are comparable to levels since ASIs are typically the only feature gained at a level.

Chef
Ok, Chef is cool. It’s a lesser healer and a lesser inspiring leader rolled into one. Since the healing value from the short-rest part doesn’t scale like healer does, would it be appropriate to up the healing at a certain point? Add proficiency bonus? It needs a little buff, since healer does 1d6+4+level/max HD. It should definitely be less healing, but no scaling? It will be very small compared to healer at higher levels. But it is a half-feat, and it has proficiency bonus temp HP daily to prof bonus allies (or just yourself), so it miiiiiiiiight be okay. I’d still add proficiency to the healing and reduce the die to a 1d6 or 1d4. It being less healing than healer and inspiring leader is a plus for me, since I'm adjusted those feats anyway.

Crusher
Ok, so I’m very happy to see weapon specialization stuff come back in. This is cool. Not quite sure if it’s balanced, but it doesn’t feel unbalanced. Wait, on second thought, why is Dex one of the options? Are there any finesse bludgeoning weapons? Nope, checked; at least in 3E, you could finesse light weapons. Should be Str or Con.

Eldritch Adept
I think this is too weak as it stands. Some invocations might be good enough, some aren’t. One invocation gives 2 trained skills, when the skilled feat gives 3 trained skills; that alone should prove my point. Make this a half-feat and couple it with a Charisma bonus, that will still limit it.

Fey Touched
Like I said before, I don’t think one 1st-level spell daily is good enough for a feat. This is a 1st and a 2nd level, and it’s a half-feat. That’s far more close to what I’d say feels like an appropriate feat, and really goes to say Magic Initiate and Artificer Initiate aren’t good enough (I don’t think learning cantrips is a huge thing, it’s just an increase in breadth, not depth of power).

Fighting Initiate
No no no no no this feat is weak. Defense for +1 AC? There’s multiple feats that grant +1 AC and something else, even weak feats like Dual Wielder. Medium Armor Master effectively grants +2 AC if you cared about stealth in the first place (as you probably do, if you’re considering medium armor master). Since +2 Dex is +1 AC, +1 attack/damage, +1 Dex saves, and +1 dex skills, +1 AC is not worth a feat. You might see people take it for Archery, and that’s it. Make this a half-feat.

Gunner
Seems good, I like it. It has the reasonable parts of crossbow expert without the potentially broken extra attack, and is a half-feat to boot. I just wish loading worked differently, since it’s only a penalty to Extra Attack.

Metamagic Adept
2 sorcery points and 2 metamagic options? What are the best uses for that? Twin Spell on a cantrip or 1st-level spell? So, what, at 17th level an increase of +4d10 twice a day? Yawn. Maybe I’m not being inventive enough, but 2 sorcery points is worth gaining a 1st-level spell, which I already said isn’t worth a feat. Then again, I think the Sorcerer is a little weak and probably deserves a rework of sorcery points so they’re a bigger part of their features.

Piercer
Hah, a rebalanced Savage Attacker. How much of a damage bonus is that reroll? Maybe +2? It gets better the more damage dice you have, because the bigger chance you have of rolling a 1 and thus getting the most out of the reroll. Either way, I like it.

Poisoner
I tend to use a lot of humanoid enemies and I usually don’t overload the game with undead, so poison immunity isn’t too common, but poison resistance shows up (yay dwarves and green dragonborn). This feat brings up some questions. Is the work to make the poison considered “strenuous” work, or can it be done during a short rest? I know they didn’t want to put a limitation on how often you could do it in a day, other than timing, but making it a during a short rest thing would help limit it. It definitely allows for a big boost in damage. I’d make the save DC scale with proficiency though, maybe even tie it to Int or Wis, but that’s just me, I like DCs to scale.

Practiced Expert
Yay, glad to see this.

Shadowtouched
Same I said about Feytouched. I like it better than Magic Initiate. A 2nd level and a 1st level spell each day as a half-feat feels better, since I consider a 1st level spell once per short rest more balanced (I actually think a level scaling 1st-level spell once per short rest is balanced, so the healing/damage scale appropriately, but that’s a different discussion).

Shield Training
Huh. Ok. Who is this meant for? I can’t see a fighter take it, except maybe an eldritch knight, or a valor bard (but I let them use weapons as focuses, since paladins and clerics get shields as focuses for free). Seems really niche.

Slasher
I like it. I like the differences between the three.

Tandem Tactician
Woah, will this make getting advantage easy. The only thing I don’t like is that it invalidates the Mastermind Rogue, it’s not as good of a feat on the Mastermind Rogue, and it’s very selective in which classes will want to grab it. Spellcasters have a lot of bonus actions around, so they’ll likely pass on it. Only specific rogues would want it. But for most fighters this would be a really good feat. Either way, for people it’s good for, I like it. A battlemaster fighter with specific maneuvers, tandem tactician, healer, and inspiring leader would be a decent warlord.

Tracker
Eh … still my same issue with one 1st-level spell per day feats.

I do have to say that I like the wording on the spell feats, since it’s not a slot that can be used with smite or other things that use slots.