Summary
Throughout yourDungeons & Dragonscampaign, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to take feats, or special abilities that can help improve your character build. In my experience as a Dungeon Master and as a player, there are a handful of feats that people tend to gravitate towards again and again. And while these feats may be good, they can also be overrated.
So, the next time you’re leveling up your character and you find yourself reaching for one of these overrated feats, we’re going to suggest you try an alternative choice instead. Here are some overrated DND feats, and alternate options to try instead.
10Weapon Master
Shield Master
Weapon Master is a great offensive feat that allows you to gain a Mastery Property of one simple or martial weapon of your choice. Of course, for this feat to work, you have to already have proficiency with this weapon, but you can change the kind of weapon to another whenever you take a Long Rest, which is highly versatile.
However, while offensive feats are really fun in Dungeons & Dragons, you should also consider taking a more defensive feat like Shield Master. When you take this feat, if you attack a creature within five feet, you’re able to also attack with your shield and force them to make a Strength save or be knocked prone or pushed. You can also reduce damage with this feat, which can save your life on the battlefield.
9War Caster
Spell Sniper
War Caster is a classic feat that a lot of full casters (myself included) often have equipped. And truly, this is a great feat that has a lot of benefits. But, because War Caster is so popular, it does often overshadow another great feat for full casters known as Spell Sniper.
When you have Spell Sniper as part of your build, you’re able to ignore half and three-quarters cover for ranged spell attacks, which makes this a great offensive feat. You also don’t get disadvantaged in melee and ranged attacks. Plus, all of your ranged spells that have a range of at least ten feet can be expanded to 60 feet. Overall, if you’re looking to improve the power of your spells, Spell Sniper is a great feat to take.
8Grappler
Crusher
For melee combatants who are interested in crowd control, Grappler often seems like a great choice. However, it should be noted that this feat has a Strength or Dexterity prerequisite of 13, which can make it so that certain characters can’t take it. Conversely, Crusher has great offensive abilities and some crowd control, but has prerequisites.
With Crusher, you may push a creature up to five feet when you use an attack that deals bludgeoning damage. Plus, when you score a Critical Hit with a bludgeoning attack, any subsequent attacks made against that creature have advantage until the start of your next turn. There’s no limit to how many attacks this can apply to, which is simply fantastic.
7Keen Mind
Observant
Keen Mind is a popular feat that many Intelligence-based characters use. It’s a great feat for wizards to be sure, and also allows you to gain expertise or proficiency in a handful of Intelligence-based skills.
However, if you want to increase your Intelligence score, but perhaps also augment some Wisdom-based skills, we’d recommend you take the Observant feat instead. This feat also allows you to increase your Intelligence score and augment some important skills like Insight, Investigation, or Perception. Overall, this feat is just a bit more well-rounded than Keen Mind.
6Durable
Resilient
Durable is a really solid feat that a lot of people take reflexively. Or, they take this feat because it sounds powerful. Being able to heal yourself on a bonus action is great, and having advantage on Death Saves is also fantastic. However, wouldn’t you rather avoid making Death Saves or taking damage altogether?
If you’re looking at Durable as a feat, consider taking Resilient instead. With this feat, you can increase an ability score of your choice (provided you lack saving throw proficiency in it), and then subsequently gain saving throw proficiency with the chosen ability. While this may sound less flashy, this type of feat will actually save you more damage in the long run.
5Dual Wielder
Defensive Duelist
Dual Wielder is a really fun-sounding feat that a lot of people take because they love the image of it. And frankly, I can’t really blame them. The ability to wield two weapons at once and make extra attacks is fantastic for melee combatants. However, the quick draw feature is a bit of a solution with no problem,as very few DMs implement rulesabout stowing and drawing weapons in their games.
That’s why, instead of Dual Wielder, we recommend looking at Defensive Duelist instead. With this feat, if a creature attacks you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your Proficiency Bonus to your AC, which can potentially cause the attack to miss. This is another instance where a more defensive feat can actually prove more useful for close-range combatants than an offensive one.
4Lucky
Skilled
Lucky is a great feat that a lot of players take, especially newer players. The ability to reroll bad rolls just sounds too good to pass up most of the time. Believe me, I understand.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t have to reroll rolls if your rolls are good to begin with. That’s why, the next time you find yourself creating a character with the Lucky origin feat, you might want to consider the Skilled origin feat instead. With Skilled,you simply gain proficiencyin any combination of three skills or tools of your choice. You can also repeat this feat at later levels if you so desire.
3Savage Attacker
Tough
This is our final example of an offensive feat proving less useful than a defensive one. Keep in mind, when picking feats, flashy fighting can be fun, but sometimes it’s better to strengthen your resolve first. Savage Attacker allows you to roll your weapon’s damage twice and select either roll, which is great at early levels.
However, Tough is really the original feat that keeps on giving. When you take this feat, your HP max increases by twice your character level, and you continue to gain an extra two HP every time you level up. If you want to be able to take a ton of damage, or prevent your squishy wizard from going down too easily, consider Tough next time instead of Savage Attacker.
2Dueling
Blind Fighting
These next two feats are both fighting style feats, so they only pertain to a handful of classes, like fighters and rangers, who can actually take these types of feats. Dueling is a feat that allows you to gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls made with a melee weapon, so long as you’re only holding that weapon. This is great if you have a favored weapon of choice.
However, Blind Fighting is an underrated fighting style feat that people overlook in favor of melee-based feats like Dueling. With Blind Fighting, you have Blindsight within ten feet, which obviously includes melee range. This means you’ll never have disadvantage imposed on you again for lack of sight, especially not within ten feet of your opponent.
1Boon Of Combat Prowess
Boon Of Energy Resistance
Last but not least,when it comes to Epic Boons, you can’t really go wrong. However, I did lie; I have one more defensive recommendation. The Boon of Combat Prowess is great, and basically allows you to turn any missed attack into a hit, which is great for clutching those last-minute kills.
However, the Boon of Energy Resistance allows you to redirect damage taken back towards an enemy, provided they aren’t behind total cover, which can have a similar effect of getting last-minute kills. In addition, you can also gain resistance to two different damage types, and even switch these out each Long Rest, meaning you have the opportunity to tailor your resistances as needed.
