There are many ways to make a character inDungeons & Dragons. Spells, abilities, tone, or just for fun; whatever your first step on the drawing board for a new adventurer is a valid one. One of the last things you will have to consider is what feats your character will have, either through their origins or ability score increases.
While some players like tomin-max their characters, everyone will agree that not all feats are made equal. Some have more niche benefits, while others quickly lose steam. Regardless, anything you pick for your character can be a fun experience, even feats that don’t have much benefit, as long as you know how to have fun with them.
8Healer
A Helping Hand
Like with so many other origin feats, Healer starts off with a good idea in mind and quickly loses steam as your character gains levels. With this feat, you can use your Healer’s Kit to have a creature roll one of their own Hit Point Dice to heal. You also get to ignore rolls of one when healing a creature and reroll the die instead.
It’s a handy feat, but one that is quickly overshadowed by more beneficial and bountiful healing options like spells or abilities. It can be quite fun to dive into the idea of a battlefield doctor or medic, though, as part of your backstory, even if more arcane healing options are easier.
7Crafter
A Tinkerer By Heart
Another of the origin feats available when creating a character, Crafter gives you some better prices when buying non-magical utility and trade items from merchants. In addition, you can craft many of these items yourself during a rest and given you have the right tools.
It’s handy in a pinch, but having to preempt what items you need, and take the time to craft them individually quickly becomes redundant as your party makes more gold. Being able to be the witty crafter, even as a hobby during rests, adds a fun amount of depth to your character that can deviate them from only being combat focused though.
6Musician
Just A Small Tune
Not every entertainer has to have a diploma froma bard’s college. The Musician feat allows any player the ability for a rousing song and dance to aid their companions during a rest, giving a number of them inspiration for their next adventure.
Compared to having a bard in your party, or spells like Guidance, it just loses its luster. Being a folk musician, or just a character who likes to unwind with a song can be helpful for giving your character some more emotion. Or, you’re able to use it to make your bard friends mad. Both are valid.
5Chef
The Spice Of Life
Every adventurer likes a home-cooked meal once in a while. Those with the Chef feat can use their expertise to create food for the party, giving them either 1d8 HP or a Proficiency Bonus worth of temporary HP, depending on what is used.
It is a fun idea, one that can easily add some spice to your character as you describe what you cook, and even tie that in to your adventures. It’s just the HP bonuses are lackluster for anything but low-level adventures. Not that your characters will complain about a nice snack.
4Tavern Brawler
Throw A Chair Once In A While
There are plenty of feat options for your characters to choose from, but few are as genuinely fun as the Tavern Brawler feat. The damage you do in addition, thanks to the feat, don’t add up too much. The Push ability is a little bit handier, but not in comparison to a Telekinetic Shove or similar ability.
The real fun part is the Improvised Weaponry ability for the feat. With this, anything not nailed down can be swung or flung at an enemy. It’s a perfect excuse to leave your weapons at the door and start a fight in your local bar. Just make sure you don’t get carried away.
3Thrown Weapon Fighting
Daggers, Daggers Everywhere
The fighting-style feats are great for helping your character stand out on the battlefield, but the Thrown Weapon Fighting option seems odd in comparison to some of the others. The +2 to any thrown weapon’s damage roll is good in a pinch.
It isn’t as helpful if you havea ranged weapon, considering you have to go retrieve your thrown weapon if you want to keep it, and the damage is usually minimal in general. Being an assassin with a clutch of knives to throw at your enemy is a lot of fun though, as long as you may keep track of all of them.
2Ritual Caster
Sigils And Chants
A more popular feat, Ritual Caster is a favorite of those who want to have as many spells as possible. Ritual Caster is probably the least helpful of the arcane-flavored feats out there, though. It isn’t without its benefits, but they don’t hold up to the other choices for a valuable ASI slot.
It can be fun to have a few spells you can cast as a ritual if only for flavor. Having the ability to, during a rest, to sit with your party and cast a potentially useful spell can be a great way to draw the party to you, especially if you tie it into your backstory and how exactly you came to be able to know such powerful rituals.
This is a great option to add some flavor to your character in a low-magic campaign.
1Martial Weapon Training
A Weapon For Every Problem
Martial Weapons training is a rather niche choice for your feat in 5e. Considering the benefit from martial weapons isn’t that much better, most classes that would need them already have proficiency in them, and you could always just dip into one of these classes for one level if you did need proficiency in them.
That doesn’t leave a lot of room to want the feat. Unless… you want to go on an epic training journey to learn aseries of martial weapons. It could be a great use of a level up where you had a long amount of downtime to train, and explain why you decided to learn martial abilities for a class that doesn’t already have them.
