Best Feats of 3.5

[T.G. Oskar]

Strange that Divine Shield is missing. Maybe it's because YMMV on its effectiveness, but it's one of the easiest ways to get Charisma to AC, and is one feat away from Charisma to touch AC, which is always good. Also lasts for longer than Divine Might (1/2 your character level rounds instead of 1 round). If you're going Sword & Board and have Turn Undead, there's a lot worse feats to choose from.

I wouldn't ignore Shield Ward either - if you're taking Agile Shield Fighter, you already took that prerequisite feat. It works for many combat maneuvers, and there's a few spells and monster attacks that happen to provide bull rush or trip attempts - adding your shield bonus to AC for all those events is a good idea. Just mention that Parrying Shield is a better option if you're aiming JUST for shield bonus to touch AC, unless you also aim for Agile Shield Fighting.

There's another feat that's pretty awesome, but requires you to be evil-only and is in Elder Evils - Evil's Blessing. Basically, as a standard action you get Divine Grace for 5 rounds; if you deal at least 1 point of damage to someone with the Good subtype or with an aura of good, the bonus doubles for 1 round. You can do it as a pre-battle buff (as the last component of it, BTW) or as part of a surprise attack, or even as part of your first attack while everyone starts buffing. The only other way you can get that is through a class feature. Finally...it's an Elder Evils Vile feat, so you can pledge allegiance to an Elder Evil and get it for free.

Finally, Corrupt Arcane Studies, from Ghostwalk. First, the bad news: -2 penalty to Wisdom and you have to make a Wisdom check every day you sleep or end up being unable to prepare spells (ouch!). You...also have to dress in gray or black, but that's no problem. The benefit? +1 to CL to beat Spell Resistance (meh...) and +1 to ALL spell save DCs. That's the equivalent of Spell Focus feat for ALL schools, and if there was an Universal spell with a save DC, you'd also get it. YMMV on whether 1 day out of a few without spells is a good trade-off for +1 to spell save DCs, but if you have a way to compensate (such as going Warlock and then Eldritch Theurge), you could do worse. This last one, unlike the rest which I feel are oddly missing, is only left to your consideration, though please note that it mentions that you can't prepare spells - far as I know, Sorcerers don't prepare spells at all. Or any of the spontaneous spellcaster classes (such as Dread Necromancer), so a strict RAW reading might actually make this feat pretty powerful.

[Flickerdart]

Strange that Divine Shield is missing. Maybe it's because YMMV on its effectiveness, but it's one of the easiest ways to get Charisma to AC, and is one feat away from Charisma to touch AC, which is always good. Also lasts for longer than Divine Might (1/2 your character level rounds instead of 1 round). If you're going Sword & Board and have Turn Undead, there's a lot worse feats to choose from.

Standard action activation time makes it a lot less sexy than Divine Might.

[JoshuaZ]

Is there some way to improve the formatting so that the notes don't go off the page like they currently do?

[T.G. Oskar]

Standard action activation time makes it a lot less sexy than Divine Might.

At first or second level? Maybe.

At 10th level? That's 5 good rounds worth of protection, Charisma based (so anything that boosts Charisma also boosts the feat's worth)...there's spells that offer worse benefits. Divine Might still lasts for 1 round - you'd be burning through uses of TU trying to get the same effectiveness.

Except for Epic Divine Might. Damn, that feat is sexy!

Again - with Parrying Shield or Shield Ward, that's Cha mod to Touch AC. That means there's a LOT of spells and attacks that won't hit you as hard, and last I know, you need to jump some hurdles to get non-AC defenses like concealment on those classes that actually can use the feat.

So I don't see the "lot". I can see the "less sexy" (Action Economy is king), but it's not like Divine Shield is straddled with a 1-round duration AND standard action activation (now that would make it a flop).

[Flickerdart]

At 10th level? That's 5 good rounds worth of protection

At 10th level, you'll be hard-pressed to find a combat that lasts for 6 rounds, so most of your duration will go unused.

[Calimehter]

Just wanted to say thanks for posting this. I'm starting up a generic classes E9 campaign (i.e. feats abound) and this has already been a mighty handy reference for PC and NPC design.

Thumbs up!

[Curmudgeon]

At 10th level, you'll be hard-pressed to find a combat that lasts for 6 rounds, so most of your duration will go unused.

Really? I tend to run higher-level games, and my combat round counts almost always go into the double digits. Sure, stupid opponents or 1-2 big monsters will make for easy targeting, but I prefer numbers of smart enemies who will stay dispersed, use cover, and Hide. There will also be reinforcements who hear the battle/are summoned, and arrive some rounds later. It doesn't really matter that a spellcaster or an übercharger can kill any single enemy they can hit if

• they can't see most of the enemies, so they waste time trying to find targets;
• it uses up their round's actions to attack one enemy; and
• there are a couple dozen enemies.

[Flickerdart]

Eh, your mileage may vary between tables and encounters; that's such a standard disclaimer that it goes without saying. In my own extensive experience with high-level play, it is a rare combat that is outside the 2-5 round range - and with how long a turn takes for a 15th level caster truly dedicated to vanquishing his enemies, even that sometimes feels too long!

[Endarire]

I like to give my psicrystals the Lifesense feat since they, as true Constructs, have no CON score. (I also assume I can choose my psicrystal's feats as it gains HD.)

[137beth]

Wow, that is a great guide!

In the books you don't own category, I'm also a fan of Extra Rings (ECS), which allows you to use four magic rings at once, and Extraordinary Artisan (ECS, reduce crafting costs of magic items by 25%).

[Grod_The_Giant]

I finally remembered to update the guide with new feat suggestions-- including Divine Shield (you got me, Oskar). I might not take it, but it's got good potential.

Is there some way to improve the formatting so that the notes don't go off the page like they currently do?

Try zooming out-- it's a window size issue.

I like to give my psicrystals the Lifesense feat since they, as true Constructs, have no CON score. (I also assume I can choose my psicrystal's feats as it gains HD.)

Do psicrystals get feats? I'm not seeing anything in the writeup about that.

In the books you don't own category, I'm also a fan of Extra Rings (ECS), which allows you to use four magic rings at once, and Extraordinary Artisan (ECS, reduce crafting costs of magic items by 25%).

Good ones.


By the way, if anyone's got an account on BSG, maybe notify the guy who makes the Handbook Index about this thread?

[Troacctid]

Do psicrystals get feats? I'm not seeing anything in the writeup about that.

They get feats based on their hit dice, as all non-mindless creatures do. Unlike familiars, they have actual hit dice equal to their master's, instead of simply being treated as having that many hit dice for the purposes of effects that care about hit dice.

The example psicrystal has the Alertness feat, but presumably you should be able to choose what feats it takes.

[Grod_The_Giant]

They get feats based on their hit dice, as all non-mindless creatures do. Unlike familiars, they have actual hit dice equal to their master's, instead of simply being treated as having that many hit dice for the purposes of effects that care about hit dice.

The example psicrystal has the Alertness feat, but presumably you should be able to choose what feats it takes.

Huh. Already, adding that in.

[Curmudgeon]

The example psicrystal has the Alertness feat, but presumably you should be able to choose what feats it takes.

Yes, if by "you" you mean the DM. From page 103 of Dungeon Master's Guide:

EVERYONE IN THE WORLD
It’s your job to portray everyone in the world who isn’t a player character.

Selecting and portraying every aspect of all the NPCs is how the DM has fun.

Now, if the psicrystal is attached to your character, you can certainly request a particular feat for it. That doesn't necessarily mean your idea of fun and the DM's idea of fun will overlap much.

[Rubik]

Yes, if by "you" you mean the DM. From page 103 of Dungeon Master's Guide: Selecting and portraying every aspect of all the NPCs is how the DM has fun.

Now, if the psicrystal is attached to your character, you can certainly request a particular feat for it. That doesn't necessarily mean your idea of fun and the DM's idea of fun will overlap much.

The psicrystal isn't just attached to your character. It's a part of your character. It's the direct result of the Psicrystal Affinity feat, and unlike Leadership and similar effects, it actually creates the psicrystal from your character's essence. Your personality shaped it, and it follows your commands without issue. That means you're in charge of it and its progression.

[Curmudgeon]

Your personality shaped it, and it follows your commands without issue. That means you're in charge of it and its progression.

Not if your DM decides otherwise, and that's not an abuse of DM power. They'd be strictly following the rules (as I cited).

[Psyren]

Curmudgeon is correct - while familiars, psicrystals etc. are inclined to follow your orders, strictly speaking they can have their own ideas or attitudes about how those orders are followed.

"Companion and servant" has a surprising amount of leeway - a familiar who has your best interests at heart may decide that following your orders to the letter isn't actually the best way to serve you.

[Rubik]

Curmudgeon is correct - while familiars, psicrystals etc. are inclined to follow your orders, strictly speaking they can have their own ideas or attitudes about how those orders are followed.

"Companion and servant" has a surprising amount of leeway - a familiar who has your best interests at heart may decide that following your orders to the letter isn't actually the best way to serve you.

There's a quick and easy solution to this. Metamorphosis + Psychic Reformation. Tell it which feats it will take.

Or just tell it before you level up. It's not hard.

[atemu1234]

I like Divine Metamagic, personally.

[Warrnan]

Great job. I did notice one error. Knock-down and greenbound summoning have the same descriptor text

[Nifft]

Hope I'm not violating necro rules. It seems like this is a living resource, and the OP is an active user.


Anyway, some thoughts...

Update Knock-Down - The class info & descriptive text were displaced from the above feat (Greenbound); see the actual description of Knock-Down here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/div....htm#knockDown

Remove Ordered Chaos - This is a speed-bump prereq. It's worse than Dodge, which is excluded by virtue of being a speed-bump prereq. Ordered Chaos should also be excluded.

Add Mark of the Dauntless (Eberron: Dragonmarked) - This is a great feat for anyone with a True Dragonmark, but especially great for those with spells or abilities that can Stun or Daze, or who face opponents who can Stun or Daze. It's common to talk about how difficult Daze is to resist -- this gets you immunity. Great in combo with spells like celerity and metamagic feats like Born of the Three Thunders.