We have been doing the free feat at level 1 for a while now and we will likely keep it that way for the foreseeable future. We also don't allow Variant Human or Custom Lineage at all, though we did decide as a group that if we were to allow them, they would just get a single Feat and not two.
I always offer a free level one feat to my players that create a backstory! Its a very small favor to ask and the reward makes their efforts feel appreciated. Plus at level one, the PC needs as much help as they can get because one wrong sneeze could mean a TPK lol.
I'll say this... if you're running a pre-written adventure, it can be OP if you don't compensate for it. I DM'd my friends through Lost Mines of Phandelver, and for fun I gave everyone a feat at level 1... it led to some really interesting character stuff, because it helped to define everyone's character more intensely even at level one when they were all just plain level one characters without a subclass to really define them. But on the other hand, I was still new to DM'ing and I didn't adjust the combat in the module, so the Half-Elf Ranger with Sharpshooter annihilated every combat they came across, and the Bard with Observant and proficiency in Perception was virtually immune to surprise and trivialized any hidden items.
It's basically the equivalent of treating all your players as though they're starting one level higher than their actual character level, so adjust CR as necessary.
This might sound OP as all heck but my group likes to run a free feat at level 1, standard array, and a feat+ASI at every ASI level. We really enjoy the feeling of character progression it gives and has lead to very unique characters. We've also actually gotten more use out of some of the less desirable feats due to not having to make that choice.
Yes there's ASI quantity disparity between classes but that already exists. We aren't really a fan of rolled stats as progression feels stale or very minor. If you rolled high stats it's a no brainer to take feats a lot of the time where the low stat party member often struggles to not take the ASI. Point buy felt ok to us but we were really just using it to be able to take feats later without feeling ****** main stat wise. Which is why we ended up settling where we did. I think if the adjustment had been a problem for me as DM I would have made a new starting stat array. It's worked out pretty well though and I've found it doesn't really matter as the adjustments I feel I need to make vary vastly between groups regardless.
I ran a game with the free feat at 1st level and didn't find it overpowering it bumped the power a bit but also made much more interesting unique characters. It balances out by 3 or 4th level and with a little bumping of the size of encounters would probably be fine. I was homebrewing encounters and didn't use a calculator for the enemies but eyeballed things so I'm not sure how much difference it would make.
This might sound OP as all heck but my group likes to run a free feat at level 1, standard array, and a feat+ASI at every ASI level. We really enjoy the feeling of character progression it gives and has lead to very unique characters. We've also actually gotten more use out of some of the less desirable feats due to not having to make that choice.
I've thought of doing something like this, but instead of the standard array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8, we'd use 14, 13, 12, 11, 9, and 8, and then do half feats at levels 1, 3, & 5, plus a feat and ASI at level 4. The Party would start out behind the curve, but be ahead of it by level 5. Or something along those lines.
We have been doing the free feat at level 1 for a while now and we will likely keep it that way for the foreseeable future. We also don't allow Variant Human or Custom Lineage at all, though we did decide as a group that if we were to allow them, they would just get a single Feat and not two.
How do you make VHs worth it, then? They seem to have been balanced by having the additional fear because they [effectively] sacrifice +1s to 3 of their ASs?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I'll say this... if you're running a pre-written adventure, it can be OP if you don't compensate for it. I DM'd my friends through Lost Mines of Phandelver, and for fun I gave everyone a feat at level 1... it led to some really interesting character stuff, because it helped to define everyone's character more intensely even at level one when they were all just plain level one characters without a subclass to really define them. But on the other hand, I was still new to DM'ing and I didn't adjust the combat in the module, so the Half-Elf Ranger with Sharpshooter annihilated every combat they came across, and the Bard with Observant and proficiency in Perception was virtually immune to surprise and trivialized any hidden items.
It's basically the equivalent of treating all your players as though they're starting one level higher than their actual character level, so adjust CR as necessary.
Hmmm...might be a way to help balance when you have small parties though. I tend to find that even when you adjust things using their scales, it's still harder for small parties (because it might be 1 boss plus 5 mooks rather than 1 boss and 10 mooks when you half the party size, but that's not half the strength on Team Evil). At least, in DoIP, which I assume is similar to TLMoP.
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That's an interesting point I hadn't considered. I was playing with a 4 person party, which I personally think is just about the ideal party size, so I didn't have any problems with the party being too small, but I can see the free feat at level 1 being especially beneficial for smaller parties.
We have been doing the free feat at level 1 for a while now and we will likely keep it that way for the foreseeable future. We also don't allow Variant Human or Custom Lineage at all, though we did decide as a group that if we were to allow them, they would just get a single Feat and not two.
How do you make VHs worth it, then? They seem to have been balanced by having the additional fear because they [effectively] sacrifice +1s to 3 of their ASs?
The bolded part covers your question, however I would also like to point out that the only reason to take V Human is for a free Feat. Once we gave everyone a free feat, it was no longer even a consideration for anyone at the table. The standard human on the other hand is very popular.
... so the Half-Elf Ranger with Sharpshooter annihilated every combat they came across, and the Bard with Observant and proficiency in Perception was virtually immune to surprise and trivialized any hidden items.
So how would this have gone differently if it'd been a variant human ranger with Sharpshooter and a variant human bard with Observant?
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I've played and GMed numerous games where the party got to start with a bonus feat. It's always nice, but it's never caused any serious balance issues.
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"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Feats are a bit funny, in that for most builds you're generally better to prioritise ASIs until you max your primary stat (unless you have odd numbers you can "sand off" with a feat). Unless you're rolling your stats, you may not even be able to take a feat until level 12 as a result. Generally this makes feats a lot less important than people make them out to be.
Free feats change that dynamic, allowing you to add some character-defining features without slowing your ability score progression. Really the only problem is if everyone's using the opportunity to take overpowered/low-flavour feats like Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, and Lucky; Heavy Armor Master is also a bit overpowered at level 1, but does lose its edge later on. But even if that's the case, you can just bump your encounter CRs the way you would to account for magic items.
Another option is to assign the free feats for your players. You're giving away something for free (so nobody should complain) but you're avoiding the above instance where players are encouraged to "break" the development economy. It's a great opportunity to make use of flavourful feats that aren't popular (like Actor, Skulker, or Tavern Brawler) based on character backgrounds.
I use a copy of the Heroic chronicle of the forgotten realms which was an article here on DDB, and in it you have a chance at a feat during character creation so if someone was v. human or custom lineage they would get 2 potentially.
Why would you want to take variant human, if you get a free feat at level 1 anyway? Yeah, I read the part about not allowing it. Just go regular human and get +1 to all six scores.....and a feat. VHuman on steroids. Let everyone else get their +2/+1 or 3 +1's, you get 6 +1's
... so the Half-Elf Ranger with Sharpshooter annihilated every combat they came across, and the Bard with Observant and proficiency in Perception was virtually immune to surprise and trivialized any hidden items.
So how would this have gone differently if it'd been a variant human ranger with Sharpshooter and a variant human bard with Observant?
Honestly, if neither of them had darkvision they would have been perfectly balanced... And that's on top of all the other benefits of being a half elf and tiefling. Now I've got a bard who can't be surprised, and can see and the dark Plus hellish rebuke daily.
... so the Half-Elf Ranger with Sharpshooter annihilated every combat they came across, and the Bard with Observant and proficiency in Perception was virtually immune to surprise and trivialized any hidden items.
So how would this have gone differently if it'd been a variant human ranger with Sharpshooter and a variant human bard with Observant?
Honestly, if neither of them had darkvision they would have been perfectly balanced... And that's on top of all the other benefits of being a half elf and tiefling. Now I've got a bard who can't be surprised, and can see and the dark Plus hellish rebuke daily.
If they're third level or higher (so Hellish Rebuke kicks in for the Tiefling) then the Darkvision spell is a possibility. Not yet for the Ranger, but certainly for a Wizard, Sorcerer or Druid in the party. And there's both magical and mundane means for providing light. I mean, sure, this eats up more resources and there are limitations, but on the whole I don't really see a significant issue. Maybe your campaign takes place in the dark, but generally speaking a big chunk of encounters in any given adventure are not going to be impacted by a lack of darkvision (and if that's not the case, races lacking Darkvision arguably will feel lacking).
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And if yes, what would you do if there is a variant human/custom lineage in the campaign? 2 feats overall?
Strong, but that matters little if everyone has one.
Taking vh or Lineage though could create broken builds at low levels.
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We have been doing the free feat at level 1 for a while now and we will likely keep it that way for the foreseeable future. We also don't allow Variant Human or Custom Lineage at all, though we did decide as a group that if we were to allow them, they would just get a single Feat and not two.
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I always offer a free level one feat to my players that create a backstory! Its a very small favor to ask and the reward makes their efforts feel appreciated. Plus at level one, the PC needs as much help as they can get because one wrong sneeze could mean a TPK lol.
What a wonderful idea. I think I will do this for the new game I am going to run after graduation.
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I'll say this... if you're running a pre-written adventure, it can be OP if you don't compensate for it. I DM'd my friends through Lost Mines of Phandelver, and for fun I gave everyone a feat at level 1... it led to some really interesting character stuff, because it helped to define everyone's character more intensely even at level one when they were all just plain level one characters without a subclass to really define them. But on the other hand, I was still new to DM'ing and I didn't adjust the combat in the module, so the Half-Elf Ranger with Sharpshooter annihilated every combat they came across, and the Bard with Observant and proficiency in Perception was virtually immune to surprise and trivialized any hidden items.
It's basically the equivalent of treating all your players as though they're starting one level higher than their actual character level, so adjust CR as necessary.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
This might sound OP as all heck but my group likes to run a free feat at level 1, standard array, and a feat+ASI at every ASI level. We really enjoy the feeling of character progression it gives and has lead to very unique characters. We've also actually gotten more use out of some of the less desirable feats due to not having to make that choice.
Yes there's ASI quantity disparity between classes but that already exists. We aren't really a fan of rolled stats as progression feels stale or very minor. If you rolled high stats it's a no brainer to take feats a lot of the time where the low stat party member often struggles to not take the ASI. Point buy felt ok to us but we were really just using it to be able to take feats later without feeling ****** main stat wise. Which is why we ended up settling where we did. I think if the adjustment had been a problem for me as DM I would have made a new starting stat array. It's worked out pretty well though and I've found it doesn't really matter as the adjustments I feel I need to make vary vastly between groups regardless.
I ran a game with the free feat at 1st level and didn't find it overpowering it bumped the power a bit but also made much more interesting unique characters. It balances out by 3 or 4th level and with a little bumping of the size of encounters would probably be fine. I was homebrewing encounters and didn't use a calculator for the enemies but eyeballed things so I'm not sure how much difference it would make.
I recommend it strongly.
I've thought of doing something like this, but instead of the standard array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8, we'd use 14, 13, 12, 11, 9, and 8, and then do half feats at levels 1, 3, & 5, plus a feat and ASI at level 4. The Party would start out behind the curve, but be ahead of it by level 5. Or something along those lines.
How do you make VHs worth it, then? They seem to have been balanced by having the additional fear because they [effectively] sacrifice +1s to 3 of their ASs?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Hmmm...might be a way to help balance when you have small parties though. I tend to find that even when you adjust things using their scales, it's still harder for small parties (because it might be 1 boss plus 5 mooks rather than 1 boss and 10 mooks when you half the party size, but that's not half the strength on Team Evil). At least, in DoIP, which I assume is similar to TLMoP.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
That's an interesting point I hadn't considered. I was playing with a 4 person party, which I personally think is just about the ideal party size, so I didn't have any problems with the party being too small, but I can see the free feat at level 1 being especially beneficial for smaller parties.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
The bolded part covers your question, however I would also like to point out that the only reason to take V Human is for a free Feat. Once we gave everyone a free feat, it was no longer even a consideration for anyone at the table. The standard human on the other hand is very popular.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
So how would this have gone differently if it'd been a variant human ranger with Sharpshooter and a variant human bard with Observant?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I've played and GMed numerous games where the party got to start with a bonus feat. It's always nice, but it's never caused any serious balance issues.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Feats are a bit funny, in that for most builds you're generally better to prioritise ASIs until you max your primary stat (unless you have odd numbers you can "sand off" with a feat). Unless you're rolling your stats, you may not even be able to take a feat until level 12 as a result. Generally this makes feats a lot less important than people make them out to be.
Free feats change that dynamic, allowing you to add some character-defining features without slowing your ability score progression. Really the only problem is if everyone's using the opportunity to take overpowered/low-flavour feats like Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, and Lucky; Heavy Armor Master is also a bit overpowered at level 1, but does lose its edge later on. But even if that's the case, you can just bump your encounter CRs the way you would to account for magic items.
Another option is to assign the free feats for your players. You're giving away something for free (so nobody should complain) but you're avoiding the above instance where players are encouraged to "break" the development economy. It's a great opportunity to make use of flavourful feats that aren't popular (like Actor, Skulker, or Tavern Brawler) based on character backgrounds.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
I use a copy of the Heroic chronicle of the forgotten realms which was an article here on DDB, and in it you have a chance at a feat during character creation so if someone was v. human or custom lineage they would get 2 potentially.
Why would you want to take variant human, if you get a free feat at level 1 anyway? Yeah, I read the part about not allowing it. Just go regular human and get +1 to all six scores.....and a feat. VHuman on steroids. Let everyone else get their +2/+1 or 3 +1's, you get 6 +1's
:oP
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Honestly, if neither of them had darkvision they would have been perfectly balanced... And that's on top of all the other benefits of being a half elf and tiefling. Now I've got a bard who can't be surprised, and can see and the dark Plus hellish rebuke daily.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
If they're third level or higher (so Hellish Rebuke kicks in for the Tiefling) then the Darkvision spell is a possibility. Not yet for the Ranger, but certainly for a Wizard, Sorcerer or Druid in the party. And there's both magical and mundane means for providing light. I mean, sure, this eats up more resources and there are limitations, but on the whole I don't really see a significant issue. Maybe your campaign takes place in the dark, but generally speaking a big chunk of encounters in any given adventure are not going to be impacted by a lack of darkvision (and if that's not the case, races lacking Darkvision arguably will feel lacking).
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].