D&D 5E Speeding Up Feat Progression

[Gradine]

I'm going to be running a 5e game soon; all my players will be playing Dwarves, and I don't allow multi-classing, so I wanted to do something to help make characters feel more distinct and let players put their own spin on it.

One idea I had was updating the Feat/ASI to every 3 levels. Has anyone had any experience in 5e tinkering with the speed of ASI/Feat progression? I want my players to get more (and earlier) access to feats and other character-defining abilities. I worry that with the way class abilities are handed out this will leave the 4-8-12-16 as something of dead levels.

Would I be better served keeping progression as normal but using another mechanic (say, Blessings) in order to help my players better diversify and define their characters?

 

[Stoutstien]

I take advantage of the Boon system rather than just handing out feats.

You can actually get to the point where feats start feeling generic because of how they are selected in a descending desire.

This is also advantage because you can cater the effect based on their decisions and actions in the game rather than just list shopping

 

[Belen]

I'm going to be running a 5e game soon; all my players will be playing Dwarves, and I don't allow multi-classing, so I wanted to do something to help make characters feel more distinct and let players put their own spin on it.

One idea I had was updating the Feat/ASI to every 3 levels. Has anyone had any experience in 5e tinkering with the speed of ASI/Feat progression? I want my players to get more (and earlier) access to feats and other character-defining abilities. I worry that with the way class abilities are handed out this will leave the 4-8-12-16 as something of dead levels.

Would I be better served keeping progression as normal but using another mechanic (say, Blessings) in order to help my players better diversify and define their characters?

I grant every PC a starting feat at level 1 along with a bonus toolset.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

A few random thoughts:

1. Rogues and Fighters normally get extra Feat/ASIs at certain "in-between" levels. Make sure to honor that somehow if you go with the every 3rd level plan.
2. Level 12 won't be a dead level... being a multiple of 3 and all ... but, yeah, most classes won't get much excitement at level 4 or 8.
3. I haven't done it yet but I've thought of giving out "bonus feats" at level 1 before. I've considered curating the list of available feats to some of the less "attractive" or "powerful" ones since pretty much all feats have some utility, IMO, but some typically get overshadowed/ignored. You might consider that for the early level 3 feat... or even out of the gate at level 1.
4. Maybe give a +1 ASI at levels 4 and 8? Or maybe give out choice (limited or not) of a Charm (DMG pg228 and a bunch more in various other books)?

 

[ichabod]

My thought (which I haven't tried yet) is to divorce ASI's from Feats. Since I use point buy, I'm thinking of giving 2 ability points per level that can be used to increase ability scores with point buy costs. I suppose you could do this whether you're using point buy or not. And you could adjust how many ability points you are giving out each level to suit your taste.

 

[billd91]

Third level is already a pretty big level for differentiating characters considering most classes pick their specialty then. Following that up with a feat at 4th level feels like a really good progression already. Then when 5th level rolls around, spell casters are getting 3rd level spells (hello, fireball) and fighters are getting second attacks. So, for quite a few levels, there are already nice benefits coming on that help differentiate the PCs that, in my opinion, need little enhancement in character class mechanics.

So I'd suggest going with the blessings/charms/marks of distinction round suggested in the DMG. Sit down with the player between sessions when they hit the level you want to give out something new and talk to them about things they think they did that are signature events in their development and then tailor a blessing to that. If you want to put it on a schedule, let your players know so they're thinking about themes and idiomatic behavior for their characters that can be worthy of distinction. And if they can relate it back to their backgrounds, that would be even better (then maybe pitch in something related to that too).

 

[dave2008]

I'm going to be running a 5e game soon; all my players will be playing Dwarves, and I don't allow multi-classing, so I wanted to do something to help make characters feel more distinct and let players put their own spin on it.

One idea I had was updating the Feat/ASI to every 3 levels. Has anyone had any experience in 5e tinkering with the speed of ASI/Feat progression? I want my players to get more (and earlier) access to feats and other character-defining abilities. I worry that with the way class abilities are handed out this will leave the 4-8-12-16 as something of dead levels.

Would I be better served keeping progression as normal but using another mechanic (say, Blessings) in order to help my players better diversify and define their characters?

I would look at Supernatural Gifts and Piety:

• Blessings from the DMG
• Charms from the DMG
• Supernatural Gifts from MOoT
• Piety from MOoT - can be revised to not necessarily rely on a god if so desired. Though I think of dwarves as being strong believers

 

[Horwath]

I grant every PC a starting feat at level 1 along with a bonus toolset.

this.

or a everyone has extra number of half-feats without ASI equal to proficiency modifier.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Is it that all the players independently want to play dwarves, or does the campaign necessitate that they all play dwarves?

If the latter, perhaps the better option would be to allow players to pick other races for their mechanical benefits, while reskinning them to be different kinds of dwarves or reflect their unique attributes.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm going to be running a 5e game soon; all my players will be playing Dwarves, and I don't allow multi-classing, so I wanted to do something to help make characters feel more distinct and let players put their own spin on it.

One idea I had was updating the Feat/ASI to every 3 levels. Has anyone had any experience in 5e tinkering with the speed of ASI/Feat progression? I want my players to get more (and earlier) access to feats and other character-defining abilities. I worry that with the way class abilities are handed out this will leave the 4-8-12-16 as something of dead levels.

Would I be better served keeping progression as normal but using another mechanic (say, Blessings) in order to help my players better diversify and define their characters?

Does it help to use the Feat levels and the Subclass levels interchangeably?