D&D’s Next Edition: Level 4 Feats

Today, we return to our coverage of the One D&D playtest material being released piecemeal by Wizards of the Coast. The last document left me feeling cautiously hopeful, with its improved language and bigger emphasis on feats. Now, we have a new document covering the bard, ranger, and rogue classes, a whole host of new rules and terms, and even more feats.

Unlike last time, we’ll start by examining the feat lists, because some of the largest changes are present within the feats. I also want to share just how bad an idea I think these proposed feats are for the game in general and for martial characters in particular. That means focusing on the level 4 feats, as that’s where the worst changes are. This is a long one, so let’s get into it.

Ability Score Improvement

Repeatable: Yes

You increase one Ability Score of your choice by 2, or you increase two Ability Scores of your choice by 1. You can’t increase an Ability Score above 20.

Starting out with an easy one, we have the “new” version of ASIs. Now, instead of an option you take in place of a feat, it is a feat itself. This is functionally identical to current ASIs, so let’s move on.

Actor

Moving on to a real feat, let’s talk about Actor. This half feat has received some small improvements compared to its current version. The biggest change is shifting Mimicry’s detection test from a contested one to a flat DC 15 check that you need to succeed on. Any character picking up this feat will probably be good enough at performance that a 15 will be almost impossible to fail, whereas before you could still be detected by an expert insight user. I still wouldn’t call this feat good, but it is better.

Athlete

Athlete is another subpar feat that got a small boost. Now you can increase your constitution score instead of only dexterity or strength. Climb Speed also got some cleaned-up wording. Jumping got a boost too, as a higher roll on the check directly increases how many feet you can jump. Once again, better, but still bad.

Charger

Finally we get to a feat that not only got improved, but also is strong enough I’d actually consider taking it. The old Charger feat has been thrown out the window. Now, we have a half feat that gives us some bonus movement when dashing and an actual damage boost when we’re able to charge an opponent directly. Currently, some sloppy wording means this works with ranged weapons as well as melee, but I’m sure that’ll be cleaned up before release. I’m glad to see Charger getting some love, and thanks to some power reduction we cover below, this is probably the largest damage boost available to martial builds at this level.

Crossbow Expert

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Ignore Loading. You ignore the Loading property of crossbows.

Firing in Melee. Being within 5 feet of an enemy doesn’t impose Disadvantage on your Attack Rolls with crossbows.

Dual Wielding. When you make the extra attack of the Light weapon property, you can add your Ability Modifier to the damage of the extra attack if that attack is with a crossbow that has the Light property.

I find it somewhat humorous that the prerequisite for this feat means that you can pick up Crossbow Expert without being proficient with any crossbows. Jokes aside, this is a nice boost to an already good feat. Along with the new standard of becoming a half feat, Dual Wielding has been properly worded to now allow for dual wielding crossbows instead of firing the same weapon twice.

That is a small power loss as now you need two magical crossbows, but that loss is definitely outweighed by the attribute increase. There is a slight issue in that, with 5E rules, both your crossbows require a free hand to reload due to the ammunition property. If that isn’t changed, this feat won’t actually allow you to dual wield, but I have faith that change will be made sometime before 2024.

Defensive Duelist

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Parry. If you are holding a Finesse Weapon and another creature hits you with a Melee Attack, you can use your Reaction to add your Proficiency Bonus to your Armor Class for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.

The main weakness of this feat was and continues to be that it only works against a single attack. Adding a +1 attribute boost doesn’t do anything to address this issue, leaving this feat in the bad column.

Dual Wielder

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Enhanced Dual Wielding. When you are holding a Weapon with the Light property in one hand, you can treat a non-Light Weapon in your other hand as if it had the Light property, provided that Weapon lacks the Two-Handed property.

Quick Draw. You can draw or stow two Weapons that lack the Two-Handed property when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.

This is the first major power decrease we’ve seen. Trading +1 armor class for an attribute point often isn’t worth it. Attributes can be raised using ASIs or other feats, but armor class boosts are hard to come by. Aside from that, there’s also the change to Enhanced Dual Wielding. The 5E version lets you wield non-light weapons in both hands, whereas this feat only allows a non-light weapon in one hand. I hope this second issue is just an error on the designers’ part, but as is I would not recommend this feat for most dual-wielding builds to take.

Durable

Prerequisite: Constitution 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Defy Death. You have Advantage on Death Saving Throws.

Speedy Recovery. As a Bonus Action, you can expend one of your Hit Dice, roll the die, and regain a number of Hit Points equal to the roll.

Another bad feat, another buff. Now you have advantage on death saving throws and can burn a hit die as a bonus action for a bit of health. This method of healing is less efficient than short resting, as you can’t add your constitution modifier to the roll, but it’s nice to have in a pinch.

Elemental Adept

Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature

Repeatable: Yes, but you must choose a different Damage Type each time for Energy Mastery

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Energy Mastery. Choose one of the following Damage Types: Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder. Spells you cast ignore Resistance to damage of the chosen type. In addition, when you roll damage for a Spell you cast that deals damage of that type, you can treat any 1 on a damage die as a 2.

This feat is exactly the same with the addition of an attribute point. While Elemental Adept continues to be useful on builds that rely on a single damage type, I wish they had addressed the problem of immunity. For example, if I’m playing a fire wizard who takes this feat, I have no recourse if I run into a creature that is immune to my fire damage. I’d love to see this feat downgrade immunity to resistance.

Grappler

Prerequisite: Strength or Dexterity 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Attack Advantage. You have Advantage on Attack Rolls against a creature Grappled by you.

Fast Wrestler. You aren’t Slowed when you move a creature Grappled by you, provided the creature is your Size or smaller.

Punch and Grab. When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack Action on your turn, you can deal damage to the target and also grapple it. You can use this benefit only once per turn.

Not only is Grappler easier to access than it used to be, but it’s also significantly better. Swapping out the terrible pinning option of old for improved speed while dragging and combo unarmed strike/grapple with an attribute point on top is very nice for builds looking to focus on grappling. Given how much weaker grappling is in general, I’m not convinced those builds will be good, but it’s nice to see a reasonably strong supporting feat.

Great Weapon Master

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Cleave. Immediately after you score a Critical Hit with a Melee Weapon or reduce a creature to 0 Hit Points with one, you can make one attack with the same weapon as a Bonus Action.

Heavy Weapon Mastery. When you hit a creature with a Heavy Weapon as part of the Attack Action on your turn, you can cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target. The extra damage equals your Proficiency Bonus, and you can deal it only once per turn.

The nerfs to this feat leave me very worried for the future of this upcoming edition of Dungeons and Dragons. In my previous coverage, I noted some reservations about how changes to feat progression could negatively impact martial builds. It turns out things were even worse than I thought. Not only do you have to wait longer to get important martial feats, but also those feats are garbage.

Great Weapon Master has lost the all-important -5 to hit for +10 to damage that was the core of almost every melee damage build in the game. In its place is a piddling 2-6 damage per turn. There is a slight silver lining in that this can now be used with heavy ranged weapons, but that is little comfort compared to what was taken away.

I understand that for many this nerf is well deserved. I’ve seen other content creators say that feats like this stifled build diversity because they were so strong. In some ways, they are right: Great Weapon Master was the best damage option for most melee builds, and not taking it was an active detriment to your character’s efficacy.

However, this feat was also one of the few things keeping martials at all competitive with casters in terms of combat effectiveness. If we’re losing the damage from this feat, something else needs to be given in its place, or else martials will be left even further in the dust. I continue to hope that upcoming playtest documents will reveal some buff to martials that will make up for this loss, but it hasn’t appeared in either rogue or ranger reworks, so I am not optimistic.

Heavily Armored

Prerequisite: Medium Armor Training

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Constitution or Strength score by 1, to a
maximum of 20.

Armor Training. You gain Heavy Armor Training.

This feat is unchanged except now you can raise your constitution instead of strength. Generally, multiclassing for heavy armor is more efficient than taking a feat, but this isn’t an awful way to do it.

Heavy Armor Master

Prerequisite: Heavy Armor Training

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Constitution or Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Damage Reduction. When you’re hit by an attack while you’re wearing Heavy Armor, any Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing Damage dealt to you by that attack is reduced by an amount equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

With more flexible attribute increases and scaling damage reduction, this feat might actually be worth taking even at medium to high levels. Damage reduction is pretty rare in D&D, so feats like this allow for some unique build directions. Or it can simply be used to increase one’s durability.

Inspiring Leader

Prerequisite: Wisdom or Charisma 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Wisdom or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Encouraging Performance. At the end of a Short Rest or a Long Rest, you can give an inspiring performance: a speech, a song, or a dance. When you do so, choose up to six friendly creatures (which can include yourself) within 30 feet of you who witness the performance. The chosen creatures each gain Temporary Hit Points equal to 2d4 + your Proficiency Bonus.

This new Inspiring Leader trades some of the temporary hit point generation for an additional attribute point. On the whole I consider this a nerf, but the feat is still okay, especially at lower levels.

Keen Mind

Prerequisite: Intelligence 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Lore Knowledge. Choose one of the following Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion. If you lack Proficiency in the chosen Skill, you gain Proficiency in it, and if you have Proficiency in it, you gain Expertise in it.

Quick Study. You can take the Study Action as a Bonus Action.

Keen Mind is currently one of the worst feats in the game, so it was hard to go anywhere but up. Thankfully, this new version delivers with expertise in a skill and the new study action as a bonus action. I’m doubtful that such an action will see much use in combat, the only place where such a distinction matters, but I’m ready to be proven wrong. For now, I still consider this feat weak, but it’s a lot better than before.

Mage Slayer

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Concentration Breaker. When you damage a creature that is concentrating, it has Disadvantage on the Saving Throw it makes to maintain Concentration.

Guarded Mind. If you fail an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma Saving Throw, you can cause yourself to succeed instead. Once you use this benefit, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.

I’m happy to see the very cool sounding Mage Slayer feat get some buffs. This newly minted half feat trades reaction attacks and saving throw advantage against casters within 5 feet of you for a single guaranteed mental save success. As I’ve pointed out many times, a single failed save can result in your character being rendered useless for multiple rounds. Always having an auto-success in your pocket is very useful, especially for characters with otherwise weak saves.

Medium Armor Master

Prerequisite: Medium Armor Training

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Dexterous Wearer. While you are wearing Medium Armor, you can add 3, rather than 2, to your AC if you have a Dexterity score of 16 or higher.

For most builds, this new version of Medium Armor Master is stronger than the 5E one. However, there were some interesting rogue builds that really appreciated not having disadvantage on stealth rolls while wearing half plate. The loss of that feature does make this feat less interesting, even if most of the time it won’t be noticed.

Mounted Combatant

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Mount Handler. You have Advantage on Wisdom Checks (Animal Handling) made to handle or train horses and other Beasts employed as mounts.

Mounted Strike. While mounted, you have Advantage on Attack Rolls against any creature that is within 5 feet of your mount and at least one Size smaller than it.

Leap Aside. If your mount is subjected to an effect that allows it to make a Dexterity Saving Throw to take only half damage, it instead takes no damage if it succeeds on the Saving Throw, and only half damage if it fails. For your mount to gain this benefit, you must be riding it, and neither of you can be Incapacitated.

Veer. While mounted, you can use your Reaction to force an attack that hits your mount to hit you instead.

This feat is another martial option that is now significantly worse than before. The main weakness for mount-based builds is the chance their mount will be killed, leaving the character that relied on it stranded. Mounted Combatant was one of the only ways you could protect your mount, a large part of that being the ability to redirect any number of attacks away from the mount and towards the rider. Now, not only does redirecting an attack cost a reaction, but it also redirects a hit onto the rider, where the 5E language still requires the redirected attack to try and hit you. Add this to the growing pile of feats I wouldn’t take on the builds they were designed to help.

Observant

Prerequisite: Intelligence or Wisdom 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence or Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Keen Observer. Choose one of the following Skills: Insight, Investigation, or Perception. If you lack Proficiency with the chosen Skill, you gain Proficiency in it, and if you have Proficiency in it, you gain Expertise in it.

Quick Search. You can take the Search Action as a Bonus Action.

One of the nice things about the flat +5 bonus to passive perception and investigation checks was that the bonus could be combined with skill proficiencies or expertise. With this new Observant, that is no longer the case. As with Keen Mind, I’m not convinced many players will spend time in combat searching for things, making this new Observant an overall nerf.

Polearm Master

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Pole Strike. Immediately after you take the Attack Action and attack with a Weapon that has the Heavy and Reach properties, you can use a Bonus Action to make a Melee Attack with the opposite end of the Weapon. The weapon’s damage die for this attack is a d4, and it deals Bludgeoning Damage.

Reactive Strike. While you are holding a Weapon that has the Heavy and Reach properties, you can use your Reaction to make one Melee Attack against a creature that enters the Reach you have with that Weapon.

Another core martial feat, another nerf, this time in the form of removing spears and quarterstaffs from the pool of weapons eligible for Pole Strike. In 5E, wielding a quarterstaff/spear and shield was a good way to make 1-handed weapon and shield builds viable damage-wise. Now you are stuck with the heavy 2-handed polearms instead. Another bad change is Reactive Strike no longer counts as an opportunity attack, meaning it won’t combine with Sentinel for some martial-based lockdown. This feat still might be worth taking because an extra attack is good, but it’s a lot worse than before.

Resilient

Ability Score Increase. Choose one ability in which you lack Saving Throw Proficiency. Increase the chosen Ability Score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Saving Throw Proficiency. You gain Saving Throw Proficiency with the chosen ability.

Resilient is great in its 5E form, and it continues to be great as no changes were made in this new version.

Ritual Caster

Prerequisite: Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Ritual Spells. Choose two 1st-level Spells that have the Ritual tag from the Arcane, Divine, and Primal Spell Lists. You always have those two Spells prepared, and you can cast them with any Spell Slots you have. The Spells’ Spellcasting Ability is the ability increased by this Feat.

Quick Ritual. With this benefit, you can cast a Ritual Spell that you have prepared using its regular casting time, rather than the extended time for a Ritual. Doing so doesn’t require a Spell Slot. Once you cast the Spell in this way, you can’t use this benefit again until you finish a Long Rest.

While much simpler than the 5E form of Ritual Caster, this new version is both less interesting and situationally worse. The loss of a ritual book you could collect spells with means that non-caster characters taking this feat are stuck with the two rituals this feat provides. For casters, this isn’t a huge issue as they can always pick up more rituals if needed, but it stinks to see another feat where martials get the short end of the stick.

Sentinel

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Guardian. Immediately after a creature within 5 feet of you takes the Disengage Action or hits a target other than you with an attack, you can make an Opportunity Attack against that creature.

Halt. When you hit a creature with an Opportunity Attack, the creature’s Speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.

While the combination of Sentinel and Polearm Master may no longer exist, at least Sentinel is stronger in isolation. The feat is almost identical to its 5E form, except for the additional attribute point. This feat is still a solid pick, but without Polearm Master it is much worse than the 5E version.

Sharpshooter

Prerequisite: Proficiency with Any Martial Weapon

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Bypass Cover. Your Ranged Attacks with Weapons ignore Half Cover and Three Quarters Cover.

Firing in Melee. Being within 5 feet of an enemy doesn’t impose Disadvantage on your ranged Attack Rolls with Weapons.

Long Shots. Attacking at Long Range doesn’t impose Disadvantage on your ranged Attack Rolls with Weapons.

Much like Great Weapon Master, Sharpshooter was butchered in this unearthed arcana. This feat now provides no damage boost; instead, it adds the ability to fire in melee without disadvantage. This is obviously a massively worse feat than the current version, and I would not recommend it over a basic ASI.

Shield Master

Prerequisite: Shield Training

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Shield Bash. If you attack a creature within 5 feet of you as part of the Attack Action and hit with a Melee Weapon, you can immediately bash the target with your Shield if it’s equipped, forcing the target to make a Strength Saving Throw against a DC equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. On a failed save, you knock the target Prone or push it 5 feet away. You can use this benefit only once on each of your turns.

Interpose Shield. If you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity Saving Throw to take only half damage, you can use your Reaction to take no damage if you succeed on the Saving Throw and are wielding a Shield, interposing your shield between yourself and the source of the effect.

There might not be much hope for martials in this document, but the new and improved Shield Master is at least trying. The feat traded the old ability to add your shield DC to single-target dexterity saving throws* for an attribute point, which is a good trade overall. I wish this feat would let us choose between increasing dexterity or strength, and that the Shield Bash portion could be used prior to the attack action, but I’ll take what I can get.

Skulker

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Blindsight. You have Blindsight with a range of 10 feet.

Fog of War. Exploiting the distractions of battle, you have Advantage on any Dexterity Check (Stealth) you make as part of the Hide Action during combat.

Sniper. If you make an Attack Roll while Hidden and the roll misses, making the Attack Roll doesn’t end the Hidden Condition on you.

Another improvement, this time for sneaky characters. Blindsight is a solid sense to have, especially when sneaking around in the dark. Advantage on hide checks is stronger than the lightly obscured improvement made by 5E’s Skulker, and Sniper works with melee weapons now. This isn’t a must-take feat for stealthy characters, but it is a nice way to round out an odd dexterity score.

Speedster

Prerequisite: Dexterity or Constitution 13+

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity or Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Speed Increase. Your Speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing Heavy Armor.

Dash Over Difficult Terrain. When you take the Dash Action on your turn, Difficult Terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement for the rest of that turn.

Replacing the Mobile feat, we have Speedster. The main change here is exchanging the ability to prevent opportunity attacks by attacking a creature for an attribute boost. Personally, I prefer the original Mobile, as this new version is too weak to be worth taking.

Spell Sniper

Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Bypass Cover. Your Attack Rolls for Spells ignore Half Cover and Three-Quarters Cover.

Casting in Melee. Being within 5 feet of an enemy doesn’t impose Disadvantage on your Attack Rolls with Spells.

Increased Range. When you cast a Spell that has a range of at least 10 feet and that requires you to make an Attack Roll, you can increase the Spell’s range by 60 feet.

While the 5E Spell Sniper’s ability to double spell range was good on spells with already long ranges, I prefer the flat 60-foot increase of the new version. Combine that with an attribute increase and no disadvantage when casting attack spells in melee, and you have a good feat for attack-based casters to take.

War Caster

Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Concentration. You have Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws that you make to maintain your Concentration.

Reactive Spell. When a creature provokes an Opportunity Attack from you by moving out of your Reach, you can use your Reaction to cast a Spell at the creature, rather than making an Opportunity Attack. The Spell must have a casting time of one Action and must target only that creature.

Somatic Components. You can perform the Somatic Components of Spells even when you have Weapons or a Shield in one or both hands.

War Caster was already a good feat, and now it gives an attribute point on top of everything else. I can see many builds grabbing this at level 4 to round a 17 in their main casting stat up to an 18 and give them a host of defensive casting goodies.

Weapon Training

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Weapon Proficiency. You gain Martial Weapon Proficiency.

While this feat is better than the four proficiencies offered by the 5E Weapon Master, it is still awful. Almost every build that wants to use martial weapons has a way to get the proficiencies without spending a feat. This is my pick for the worst feat of the list, highlighting how little the new edition seems to care about non-casters.

I am baffled by the systematic removal of every good martial strategy in the game. Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert no longer add any damage, Great Weapon and Polearm Master only add a tiny bit of damage, Polearm Master can no longer be used with a shield, Sentinel no longer works with Polearm Master, and Mounted Combatant can no longer protect your mount against concentrated attacks.

It’s not just martials getting worse, but casters getting better. Spell Sniper and War Caster both received buffs in this document, and Resilience remains as good as it ever was. There was already a gulf between casters and martials, especially at higher levels, and this document succeeds at widening it even further at all levels of play.

I’m not saying the current way martial feats work is perfect, far from it. I don’t like how much power is concentrated in class-agnostic abilities, but I seriously doubt that this is the way to fix it. We’ve seen two martial classes so far, the rogue and the ranger, and neither of them received anywhere near enough buffs to make up for what they’ve lost.* I was excited for One D&D after the first document they released, but now all of that excitement is gone. Instead, I’m looking at the rules being released and thinking about how much work I’ll have to do as GM to make sure my players have fun when picking martial options.