Relatively new DM here, though not new to dnd. I just had session 0 with my player group of 5 and helped them all to create level 1 characters. They are all pretty new to dnd.
I plan on giving all 5 of my players a free feat at level 1. Here's what I'm thinking:
Heavily Armored for our front-line goliath Blood Hunter who uses strength and a 2h axe
Chef feat for our very caring wood elf druid (who happens to be an incredible baker IRL)
Lightly Armored or War Caster for our Booming Blade-based Firbolg Storm Sorcerer (what do you think would be more helpful for her? She did grab mage armor but idk if that really compensates for her lack of armor)
Elven Accuracy or Strike of the Giants for our archery-based dex eladrin elf fighter who will eventually go Rune Knight (do you think either of these would be too OP compared to the other feats?)
Homebrew Help for our Tabaxi Ranger. I'm hoping you guys can help with this! He wants to build dex because he wants to be really mobile, stealthy, and good at shooting bows, but he really wants to use either his natural tabaxi claws or a glaive (or glaive-adjacent) weapon as dex weapons. I have mentioned just going monk to him, but he doesn't seem to keen on that and really wants to be a ranger. I'd like to give our Tabaxi Ranger a feat that lets him use his claws and a glaive or spear as finesse weapons that are equal with these feats. But I don't know how to balance it (to make it a half-feat or not? to let him use glaives as finesse or impose the same rules as Monk dedicated weapon?)
Questions for you:
Is there any existing way beyond multiclassing for rangers to get dex-based claw or spear/glaive attacks thats balanced?
What do you think of a half-feat that simply gives something like +1 dex and allows the use of tabaxi claws and glaives/spears/polearms as finesse weapons? Would that be OP? Would restricting it to monk dedicated weapons be more balanced?
Would Lightly Armored or War Caster be more helpful to our Firbolg Booming Blade Storm Sorcerer?
Would either Elven Accuracy or Strike of the Giants by too OP for our elven fighter (future archery Rune Knight)?
What do you think of the overall balance of the level 1 feats for my party I'm proposing?
Sorry for asking so much. I appreciate any wisdom you can give!
Rangers can use dex weapons like daggers, spears and short swords so with two weapon fighting and some reflavoured weapons claws could be daggers etc
when I DMed a campaign i gave my party some lv1 feats. I restricted half feats as this potentially allows for some higher stats at lv1 which I was worried would throw off game balance. One player did take the alert feat instead which was crazy powerful in a horror campaign where I’m trying to pull of jump scares and surprises.
Rangers can use dex weapons like daggers, spears and short swords so with two weapon fighting and some reflavoured weapons claws could be daggers etc
when I DMed a campaign i gave my party some lv1 feats. I restricted half feats as this potentially allows for some higher stats at lv1 which I was worried would throw off game balance. One player did take the alert feat instead which was crazy powerful in a horror campaign where I’m trying to pull of jump scares and surprises.
Just a quick comment but spears do not have the finesse property so they can't be used with dexterity.
To the OP, as for your Tabaxi, I would probably just let them use their claws as a finesse weapon since I could see them working much like a dagger. I'd be a bit more cautious about the glaive mostly due to the 10' reach.
However, in the Eberron source material, there is a double bladed scimitar which is a 2 handed weapon that does 2d4 damage with the main attack and allows a bonus action attack for d4 damage .. both of which add the stat damage to it. In addition, there is the Revenant Blade feat which is a half feat adding +1 to dex or str, adds +1 to AC when wielding a double bladed scimitar in two hands, and also lets the character use the finesse property with that weapon. This is quite a good feat for certain characters but since the double bladed scimitar doesn't work with Great Weapon Master, the effect is more like a specialized dual wielder feat.
Anyway, you could either see if the Tabaxi player is interested in a double bladed scimitar and then use the Eberron rules directly or use the Eberron example as a template and create a homebrew feat. However, glaives are heavy, two-handed, reach weapons that would seem to me not a great option for the finesse property (i.e. using dex for attack and damage).
It's very nice of you to build your player's PCs for them, but the point of building a PC is kind of to do it yourself.
I like that you've given this thought, but honestly, let you players do this.
I typically let players pick a half-feat at level 1, but without the ASI. It helps keep the power creep to a minimum. I then sometimes also let them pick a free feat at level 3 or 5 from a list of curated feats. These feats are not considered powerful, and are more for flavor.
I'd just let the players choose a feat at 1st level if you're going to give them a bonus feat. Or, if you want to limit how much of a power boost they get, give them the option of taking either Skilled or Tough.
As a side note, Strike of the Giants works on melee or thrown weapon attacks so it's of very limited use to a character who's built for Archery.
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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.
I am attempting a bonus feat in our next campaign and so far told the players to make sure that the feat is thematic to their background. I'm 50% happy with their choices, so I may re-visit the rules before the next one starts.
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Hello!
Relatively new DM here, though not new to dnd. I just had session 0 with my player group of 5 and helped them all to create level 1 characters. They are all pretty new to dnd.
I plan on giving all 5 of my players a free feat at level 1. Here's what I'm thinking:
Homebrew Help for our Tabaxi Ranger. I'm hoping you guys can help with this! He wants to build dex because he wants to be really mobile, stealthy, and good at shooting bows, but he really wants to use either his natural tabaxi claws or a glaive (or glaive-adjacent) weapon as dex weapons. I have mentioned just going monk to him, but he doesn't seem to keen on that and really wants to be a ranger. I'd like to give our Tabaxi Ranger a feat that lets him use his claws and a glaive or spear as finesse weapons that are equal with these feats. But I don't know how to balance it (to make it a half-feat or not? to let him use glaives as finesse or impose the same rules as Monk dedicated weapon?)
Questions for you:
Sorry for asking so much. I appreciate any wisdom you can give!
Thank you!!
Rangers can use dex weapons like daggers, spears and short swords so with two weapon fighting and some reflavoured weapons claws could be daggers etc
when I DMed a campaign i gave my party some lv1 feats. I restricted half feats as this potentially allows for some higher stats at lv1 which I was worried would throw off game balance. One player did take the alert feat instead which was crazy powerful in a horror campaign where I’m trying to pull of jump scares and surprises.
Just a quick comment but spears do not have the finesse property so they can't be used with dexterity.
To the OP, as for your Tabaxi, I would probably just let them use their claws as a finesse weapon since I could see them working much like a dagger. I'd be a bit more cautious about the glaive mostly due to the 10' reach.
However, in the Eberron source material, there is a double bladed scimitar which is a 2 handed weapon that does 2d4 damage with the main attack and allows a bonus action attack for d4 damage .. both of which add the stat damage to it. In addition, there is the Revenant Blade feat which is a half feat adding +1 to dex or str, adds +1 to AC when wielding a double bladed scimitar in two hands, and also lets the character use the finesse property with that weapon. This is quite a good feat for certain characters but since the double bladed scimitar doesn't work with Great Weapon Master, the effect is more like a specialized dual wielder feat.
Anyway, you could either see if the Tabaxi player is interested in a double bladed scimitar and then use the Eberron rules directly or use the Eberron example as a template and create a homebrew feat. However, glaives are heavy, two-handed, reach weapons that would seem to me not a great option for the finesse property (i.e. using dex for attack and damage).
It's very nice of you to build your player's PCs for them, but the point of building a PC is kind of to do it yourself.
I like that you've given this thought, but honestly, let you players do this.
I typically let players pick a half-feat at level 1, but without the ASI. It helps keep the power creep to a minimum. I then sometimes also let them pick a free feat at level 3 or 5 from a list of curated feats. These feats are not considered powerful, and are more for flavor.
I'd just let the players choose a feat at 1st level if you're going to give them a bonus feat. Or, if you want to limit how much of a power boost they get, give them the option of taking either Skilled or Tough.
As a side note, Strike of the Giants works on melee or thrown weapon attacks so it's of very limited use to a character who's built for Archery.
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.
I am attempting a bonus feat in our next campaign and so far told the players to make sure that the feat is thematic to their background. I'm 50% happy with their choices, so I may re-visit the rules before the next one starts.