Before diving into articles inspired by everything that happened at GenCon this weekend, we’re continuing our quest to find the best feats in 4e D&D. With over 3,000 feats available to level 1 characters, narrowing the list down to a cool 10 was no easy task.
We began with 32 feats and asked you to vote for the ones that you felt were the best. After dividing the list in half, we took the sweet 16 and further subdivided the list down to the top 10. Beginning today you can vote for the very best heroic tier feats currently available in 4e D&D.
We began this whole exercise when we realized that an overwhelming majority of players took the same core utility feats for their characters over and over again, regardless of their class or race. It made us wonder if some feats are just better than others. The answer has been a resounding yes.
Realizing that not all feats were created equal, we decided to find the very best of the best. If a few select feats were really that much better, then maybe they should be given to every PC for free during character creation. Or maybe DMs could create a list of the top feats and players could choose one of them free. Or maybe these super feats should be removed from 4e D&D all together. In the end it’s really up to you to decide what you want to do with the data once the voting is closed.
Although the voting is now closed in Round 1 and Round 2, I encourage you to go back and see how the voting turned out. More importantly I think it’s worth noting which feats were eliminated and in some cases how close the voting truly was. Before proceeding to the final round, let’s quickly look at some of the results from round 2. The top four feats after round 2 were:
- Backstabber / Killing Curse / Lethal Hunter
- Multi-class feat
- Improved Initiative
- Toughness
The extra damage feats for strikers vaulted into first after not even making the top four in the first round. We’ll see if it remains on top during the final round. The other three feats in the top four were all there after the first round. The one that missed the final four this time around was Improved Defenses, but it did make the top 10.
I was surprised that Jack of All Trades and Resilient Focus didn’t make the final 10. There’s no doubt that these are all great feats, but I guess in the end the voters felt that there were other feats that were better.
The final round of voting will remain open for two weeks so be sure to cast our vote.
What are the Best Feats?
Final Round
[poll id=”39″]
Feat Summary
- Backstabber / Lethal Hunter / Killing Curse (increase extra damage to d8s)
- Durable (gain 2 healing surges)
- Dwarven Weapon Training (proficiency with all axes & hammers, +2 damage rolls)
- Improved Defenses (+1 fort, ref, will)
- Improved Initiative (+4 initiative)
- Master At Arms (+1 to attack, minor action to sheath/draw weapon)
- Multi-class feat (skill training & power)
- Superior Will (+2 will, save vs daze, stun at beginning of turn)
- Toughness (+5 hit points)
- Versatile Expertise (+1 to attack with a weapon group and an implement type)
View Comments (5)
Versatile Expertise is definitely a must-have for me, since I enjoy swordmages and bladesingers. Improved Initiative is also very helpful when just starting out. I've never played martial strikers, but if I did, Backstab would definitely be top of my list.
backstabber means the improved dice, d8 has a 37.5 % chance of equalling or bettering a d6 max damage roll. which means that statistically its more than just an average of plus 1 to damage...
Wow, I'm a little surprised improved initiative is still in the mix.
Improved Initiative is essential for Defenders and Controllers.
Most of the others are striker-bumps.
@BeanBag I guess I had that perception because people at my FLGS hate on it so much. Encounters program monsters always have ridiculous initiatives, so even with this feat, they generally go first anyways (unless you're a dex build and have a +9 or more).