Homebrew Feats (including Prc replacement feats)

So here's a bunch of homebrew feats. Some are merely cousins to existing feats, but a number of others are intended to distill and replace some of the simpler 3.path prestige classes. Many such classes are best turned into subclasses (and I've seen a number of quite nice homebrew examples so far), but others are sufficiently limited in the truly unique things they offer that they compress down into feats quite nicely (including at least two of my own old homebrew PrCs). Take a look, let me know what you think.



EXPERT BEAST HANDLER
Prerequisite: Proficiency with Animal Handling
You have a unique bond with the beasts of the world, both wild and domestic. You gain the following benefits related to training and working with animals:

• You have expertise with Animal Handling.
• You may train an animal in 1/4 the usual time (adding the "war-trained" template to a pet or mount in five weeks, rather than five months, for example).
• If a creature who you've trained or which considers you its master can see and hear you, and makes an attack, skill check or saving throw, you may use your reaction to give that creature advantage on its roll.

Spoiler: War-trained

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I've got a couple simple templates thrown together that can be slapped on the party's pack mules, guard dogs or hippogriffs given a bit of time and some Animal Handling proficiency. The most significant one is primarily meant to make mounts more viable for fighters and paladins, and goes something like this:

War-trained. Adds proficiency with all barding, and with Athletics. The animal uses the highest of its own, its trainer's, or its current master's prof bonus, and its minimum number of hit dice is twice that proficiency bonus. The training also conveys advantage on mental saves if the creature can see and hear its trainer/master when it makes the save.

IMPROVISATIONAL COMBAT
Prerequisite: At least one martial weapon proficiency
For some people, the best weapon is whatever sharp or heavy object is closest to hand. You gain the following abilities related to improvised weapons:

• You are considered proficient with any improvised weapon you use, and it is considered a valid target for any weapon-enhancing spells or abilities while you wield it.
• The damage of your improvised weapons increases by one die size (1d6 one-hand/thrown, 1d10 two-hand).
• If you grab or break an object or otherwise prepare it for use as an improvised weapon on your turn, the first attack you make with that object before the end of your next turn has advantage.

Spoiler: Improvised weapons

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Tavern brawler isn't a thing in our games, since unarmed strikes are already d4 and the fighting style for them already gives you bonus action grapple. Thus the need for a different feat for improvised weapons. I mean, what is even the point of being a fighter if you can't be Xena?

THROWN WEAPON MASTER
Prerequisite: At least one martial weapon proficiency
You are exceptionally proficient with thrown weapons, and gain the following abilities related to their use:

• You may treat any light weapon as though it had the Thrown property with a range of 20/60 feet, and may draw any light weapon freely as part of the attack you make with it.
• You do not suffer disadvantage on thrown weapon attacks at ranges greater than short.
• If a creature within short range of your thrown weapon attacks an ally and misses, you may use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature.

GREENWARDEN
Prerequisite: You must have recieved the Earthguard Blessing from a high druid of the Convocation of Trees or a powerful fae.
You are a Greenwarden, blessed with power by the spirits of nature so that you might protect it against the abominations and abberrations that plague it. You gain the following benefits:

• You have expertise with Nature and Handle Animal checks.
• Any animal, elemental or plant creature who has no strong reason to feel otherwise is friendly to you upon first meeting you.
• Once per short rest, when you use an ability that recharges on a long or short rest (such as casting a spell, spending ki or using an action surge), you may invigorate the terrain around you. Any solid surface within a radius of 5 ft x your proficiency bonus immediately sprouts a vibrant selection of flowers, grasses, moss, mushrooms, reeds, or other plant or fungal life appropriate to the terrain. Invigorated terrain is never difficult terrain for living, non-abberration creatures, and any such creature that starts its turn there regenerates hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.
  Invigorated terrain lasts for 24 hours, after which point the magic fades and the plants are subject to the region's native ecology.

SYDDAMEN MYSTIC
Prerequisite: Wis 13, must survive a full winter in the Frostfell with no equimpent or resources beyond that which you found or created yourself while there.
You have fought, meditated, and survived in the brutal North, and so learned the ways of the mystics who came before you. You gain the following benefits:

• You may use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when attacking with a natural weapon, making a Strength check, or calculating the DC of an ability you use.
• You may cast mystic aurora at will as a bonus action. Its duration is until you become unconscious or voluntarily dismiss it, and you are immune to cold damage while it is active.
• While you are in the Frostfell, you are immune to frostbite, altitude sickness, hypothermia, and starvation, and you do not age.

WHEELGUARD
Prerequisite: Induction into the Order of the White Wheel by a member in good standing of that organization.
You are a member of the Order of the White Wheel, charged with providing aid and succour to those in need wherever you go.

• Your Wisdom score increases by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You have expertise with the Medicine skill and healer's kits, and with any uses of an herbalism kit or alchemist's tools that involve attempts to improve another creature's health.
• You may use a White Wheel insignia as both a divine and an arcane focus.
• You have an aura of calm and goodwill that invokes the good will of others. Any living, mortal creature who has no strong reason to feel otherwise is friendly to you upon first meeting you.

Spoiler: No, you shouldn't recognize these.

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A couple of my homebrew organizations, here, but they should be generic enough for any druid-y or paladin-y organization, respectively.

DRAGOON
You have a close bond and long training with a loyal mount, making you a deadly team of heavy cavalry. Select a specific creature or construct suitable as a mount, which you must acquire through a class feature or spend at least a month bonding with. So long as you are not incapacitated, you and that mount gain the following benefits:

• You spend only 5 feet of movement to mount or dismount
• If you direct a mount to move at least half its speed on your turn, you may add 1d8 bonus damage to the next successful attack you or the mount makes before the beginning of your next turn.
• You may freely pass through the space of a prone enemy while mounted, and your chosen mount may use its reaction to make an opportunity attack against such an enemy.
• While carrying you, your chosen mount may use your proficiency bonus in place of its own on any Dexterity or Constitution check.

Spoiler: Not that I like putting a two-feat tax on mounted combat...

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This actually stands in for a huge number of PrCs, including but not limited to Ashworm Dragoon, Cavalier, Halfling Outrider, Hospitaler, Skylord, and Wild Plains Outrider, all of which have an enormous amount of overlap in the benefits they provide. Only common thing I didn't add was an AC bonus. Between bounded accuracy and the nebulous effect of a mount taking Disengage/Dodge, it seemed a little overkill.

Also notice the deliberate distinction between "chosen mount" and plain old "mount." Some benefits apply to any mount, some only to your bonded buddy. Hopefully it's an effective balancing factor against the larger suite of benefits than Mounted Combatant conveys.

DRUNKEN MASTER
Prerequisite: You must survive a night of drunken revelry amongst existing drunken masters without being incarcerated, poisoned, or extraordinarily embarassed.
You gain the following benefits related to alcohol:

• You are immune to any poison effect that would subject you to a penalty to your attacks, armor class, or any strength, dexterity or constitution checks or saves.
• You benefit from alcoholic beverages as though they were potions of healing.
• While drunk (ie, suffering mental impairment from failed saves vs alcohol), any attack you make using your Strength score deals 1d4 extra damage.
• While drunk, if an enemy makes a melee or ranged attack against you, you may fall prone as a reaction, making the attack automatically miss.

FRENZIED BERSERKER
Prerequisite: Extra Attack
You have the madness inside you.
If an attack leaves you with less than half your hit points, you must make a DC 20 Wisdom save or enter into a furious, unstoppable killing rage. You may also enter a frenzy voluntarily on your turn, as a reaction to dealing damage to another creature.
While frenzying, your melee and thrown weapon attacks deal 1d8 bonus damage, but you lose all self-control; you cannot cast or concentrate on spells, communicate intelligently, exercise patience, care or restraint in any way, or perform complex mental tasks. The only actions you can take are Attack, Shove, Dash and Grapple, and you must spend every turn attempting to utterly destroy the nearest living creature to you, whether friend or foe, ignoring any obstacles or hazards. You are also insensible to pain or doubt while frenzying and automatically succeed on any saves against fear or pain-related effects or intimidation.
A frenzy lasts for one minute, or until you can detect no more living creatures to attack. If the next creature you are compelled to attack is a close friend or loved one, you may attempt a Wisdom save to end the frenzy against DC 20. If you fail, you may not try again to not attack that particular creature this frenzy.
You may frenzy a number of times equal to half your proficiency bonus; if you have exhausted this limit, you cannot frenzy even involuntarily. You regain expended frenzies after a long rest. If you have the Rage ability, you automatically enter Rage when frenzying, if you have rages available.

Spoiler: An additional bit

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If you want you can add "At your DM's option, certain spells, persuasion attempts, or other triggers may end your frenzy or offer you a save against it, but such effects should be rare or very difficult to execute." This gives the party a safety valve beyond Hold Person; let the bard make a performance check to soothe the savage beast, have the diplomancer talk him down with a DC 30, Alter Self into his beloved dead girlfriend to draw him up short, whatever.

HULKING HURLER
Prerequisite: Large or larger size, or Medium with the Powerful Build racial trait.
You gain the following benefits related to thrown weapons:

• Absolutely any object you can pick up that does not encumber you, you may consider a thrown weapon with which you are proficient that has a range of 30/90 feet. Objects you throw deal damage based on their size category: 1d6 for a Tiny object, 1d8 for a Small object, 1d10 for a Medium object, 2d6 for a Large object, and 2d8 for a Huge object. Objects one size category smaller than you or larger are considered Heavy weapons.
• You may pick up and proficiently throw a single object that does encumber you as an attack action, provided you can lift it at all. Such a missile has a range of 15/45.
• When you throw a Medium or larger object, you may attack an area instead of a single target. Select a space within short range equal to the size of your missile (typically 5x5 for a Medium object, 10x10 for a Large, for example). Any creature in the area must make a Dexterity save against 8+your proficiency+your Strength modifier or be hit.
• When you throw an object that is at least as large as your target, you may force your target to make a Strength save against 8+your proficiency+your Strength modifier or be knocked prone.

KEEPER OF THE CERULEAN SIGN
Prerequisite: Must have crafted a cerulean sign without help.
You gain the following benefits related to defending against and destroying aberrations:

• You have advantage on any skill checks or saving throws made to escape or avoid a grapple attempt.
• As an action, you can focus your senses to detect the unnatural taint of aberrations and their servants. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any aberration within 60 feet of you, and can identify any non-aberration creature who has been altered mentally or physically by an aberration's touch.
• Whenever an aberration must make a saving throw against a spell or effect you create, you may use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that saving throw.
• If you succeed on an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma saving throw against an aberration's abilities, you may use your reaction to turn the ability back on the aberration, dealing Xd4 psychic damage, where X is your proficiency modifier, and stunning the creature for one round. If the aberration makes a successful Charisma save against 8+your proficiency+your Constitution or Charisma bonus (your choice), it takes only half damage and is not stunned.

Spoiler: A nice middle finger to Intellect Devourers.

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This one is a near-direct port of everything important about the actual Keeper of the Cerulean Sign PrC, but it also substitutes nicely for quite a few Lords of Madness PrCs, a great many of which offer benefits vs tentacle grapples and psychic attack.

SPIRIT WARRIOR
Prerequisite: Ability to Rage
You can call upon your totem animal to embody its power and shape while raging. Select a Medium or Large land or sea totem animal with which you closely identify, such as a bear, elk, or sea lion.
When you rage, you may transform physically into the image of your chosen animal. Your size and statistics don't change, but your shape and appearance become that of your totem, you gain any of its extraordinary senses, and any weapon you wield transforms with you into an appropriate natural weapon with the same attributes. You also gain either a climb, burrow or swim speed equal to your normal speed, if such movement would be appropriate to your totem, or a 10 foot increase in your walk speed otherwise. If your totem is aquatic, you may gain the ability to breathe water, but can no longer breathe air while transformed.
If you are transformed, your rage doesn't end prematurely unless you let it.
Whether or not you are raging, you gain a supernatural ability to understand and communicate with the natural cousins of your totem, allowing you to act as though permanently under the effect of a speak with beasts spell that operates only on your totem animal or those closely related to it.

Spoiler: Because bear warriors are really cool...

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... but don't actually do anything that warrants an actual subclass, particularly now that totem barbarians are a thing. And variety is always nice, particularly when the central setting of your homebrew is a nautical trade empire. Not that bears don't swim well, but I'm just sayin', sharkbarian vs the kraken. Think about it.

I very much approve of the idea of PRC-Feats in principle-- versatile building blocks for character concepts, instead of the convoluted mess 3.5 PRCs often were.

I'm not sure how these fit ballance wise, the range is probably a bit wide-- but so are official feats.

Sounds like spirit warrior only fits with totem barb. No worries about a berserker barb using it?

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Originally Posted by eleazzaar

I'm not sure how these fit ballance wise, the range is probably a bit wide-- but so are official feats.

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True, but still something I'd rather fix if I can. To some degree it's manageable with PrCs, since those usually come in response to story events and are easily just handed out as a free boon if they seem too weak, but I don't like stuff to be must-have when it's optional.

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Originally Posted by Ralanr

Sounds like spirit warrior only fits with totem barb. No worries about a berserker barb using it?

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It's more fitting with a totem barb to be sure, but nah, I don't think there's anything unreasonable about a frenzy barb who goes bear form. The Berserker subclass is the closer of the two to the 3.path barbarian the bear warrior was based on to begin with, after all.

MOAR! I need more.

And I love that these have no prerequisites, making for level 1 human drunk monk shenanigans!

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Originally Posted by Steampunkette

MOAR! I need more.

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Any specific requests?

Frenzied Berseker!

Maybe some Psionics?

The ability to concentrate on two disciplines would really help balance the Mystic against other characters.

Away from book, but doesn't the totem barb get the speak with animals ritual?

So for the price of a feat, a bear barb just gets get an additional 10ft of movement (the barb is already fast) and the ability to more conveniently talk to a specific animal. Mechanically I don't see much reason to take that as a land creature.

I see your difficulty-- all the obvious, simple bonuses are already included in rage or other barb abilities, but still...

Some updates! Added a (long!) take on the Frenzied Berserker, as per request. I haven't taken a good enough look at 5e psionics to mess with them, yet, so I'll hold off on that.

I also added another of my homebrew classes, the Syddamen Mystic, who originally was a bunch of monk alternate features, tried really hard to become a barbarian subclass and failed, and is now making an attempt at feathood. Best paired with houserules that allow unarmed strike damage to reach reasonable levels even for non-monks, although I fear I may have made it too much of a must-have for monks themselves.

Finally, some tweaks to Spirit Warrior in response to eleazzaar; advantage on scent-related Perception is probably still not worth a feat even for someone who fights a lot of invisible foes or wants to blow a Rage on picking up an enemy trail, but it helps. I just hope I'm not overlooking any non-flying creatures with blindsight....

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Originally Posted by Steampunkette

Frenzied Berseker!

Maybe some Psionics?

The ability to concentrate on two disciplines would really help balance the Mystic against other characters.

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I agree with berserker! Not so much on psionics. I think it's plenty balanced in how their mechanics work.