D&D: Five Feats That Are Surprisingly Powerful
Feats are one of D&D’s least optional “optional rules”. The vast majority of people play with them, and here are five of our faves.
For an optional rule, D&D’s feats sure get taken a lot. Every game I’ve ever played in uses them. Even D&D’s official organized play society allows them. They enable some of the best character builds. The right one can change the way you play your character.
The only downside is that often, you’re picking a feat at the cost of increasing an ability score. Meaning most people will wait, with few exceptions, until they hit 20 in their primary stat before branching out into feats. But One D&D will give more feats to more people. So with that in mind, here are some feats you might find surprisingly powerful.
Eldritch Adept
Eldritch Adept is a curious feat. It grants a portion of a Warlock’s power without needing to take a level in Warlock. There are plenty of restrictions if you don’t. Mostly this feat is intended to help Warlocks round out their selection of Eldritch Invocations.
But non-Warlocks have access to a small slice of Eldritch Invocations. And perhaps the most useful one of these is Devil’s Sight. This ability allows you to see nnormally in darkness, magical or otherwise. Which means suddenly anyone, even the Paladin, can take advantage of the Darkness spell’s ability to rob any creature of their sight, no save required. Normally Darkness does nothing, but when you’re an Eldritch Adept, you can see your enemies, but they can’t see you.
Piercer
Piercer is one of the new feats introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Like Crusher and Slasher, this adds on extra options for characters using piercing weapons. Which is Rogues, first and foremost, but any character who uses ranged weapons will want to pick this up.
Especially if you’re playing with feats like Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert already in your toolbelt. Piercer lets you reroll one damage dice once per turn, allowing you to pick up some extra damage on most occasions. And when you score a critical hit, you roll an additional damage die. Which is a godsend for Rogues, but Rangers, bow-wielding Monks, archer Fighters, and more, can all get significant mileage out of this one.
Telekinetic
This feat might slip under your radar. Since its true potential isn’t realized until you start thinking in terms of your party. Telekinetic is simple: it grants the Mage Hand cantrip, which is already an extremely useful feature. But on top of that, it grants you a bonus action that allows you to telekinetically shove one creature up to 5 feet in any direction.
Which doesn’t sound like much. Until you realize you can use this ability to trigger something like a Cleric’s Spirit Guardians spell. Meaning that, with just a bonus action, you can deal potentially an extra 3d8 damage, halve a creature’s speed, and then set them up to do it all over again.
And it only gets worse when you have spells like Wall of Fire or Prismatic Wall. But even if you’re not a spellcaster, this feat lets you push enemies off of cliffs, or through windows because who doesn’t love a good defenestration now and then?
Chef
Courtesy of D&D Hero’s Feast Cookbook
This feat will turn you into the party’s secret anchor. Its primary benefit is that you can cook food so good it heals people who eat it. You can cook a meal that lets anyone spending a Hit Dice on a short rest regain an extra 1d8 hit points. Or, at the start of your day, you can cook up to your proficiency bonus in treats, which, once eaten, grant that many temporary hit points, allowing you to buff up your party, no magic required.
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon
Finally we have Gift of the Chromatic Dragon. Introduced in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, this feat allows you to channel the power of a Chromatic Dragon into your weapon. With a bonus action, you infuse a weapon with an extra 1d4 points of extra energy damage that you choose. It’s a minute long buff that doesn’t require concentration to maintain.
So you can keep the train rolling with other spells. Making it perfect for anyone looking to smite their enemies.
Or you can use a reaction to grant resistance to incoming elemental damage (of your choice).
Happy Adventuring
