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A not dissimilar question is asked here: Feat classification/ranking

The PHB only has 42 feats. A main problem with the above question is the volume of feats in 3.x.

Would a 5e version be on topic?

Should one just ask about specific feats and their goodness?

or perhaps lumping them into categories? "Which 5e feats are bad or very situational?"?


An example of an individual question (not asked, that I know of) would be:

Is the Weapon Master feat (5e) good?

And then all of the feats could be compiled into a signpost?

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For feat evaluation, go one feat at a time: tier list not On Topic

Your question sets up a "tier" system as being too broad. Hard to scope.
Which feats are good? Which feats are bad?
Well, good or bad for what?
Without identifying what a feat choice is for, or what its purpose is, scope suffers.

You also ask:

Should one just ask about specific feats and their goodness?

Yes. That kind of question can retain scope and stackableness; as I review the various of 230 questions1 on , a lot of them do just that.

Feat comparisons (eg: Lucky versus Keen Mind) can probably be scoped.

A feat comparison or feat choice question, of which IIRC we have a few already, can be kept within scope if the question has criteria or a build that is linked to that choice/decision.

A question asking for "best feats to fit a build" we have plenty of. (Example is here).


1As of today, Apr-24-2019, we have 424 hits on D&D 5e and feats tags, with 230 questions total. The kinds of questions are detailed enough in that, for the most part, they stay limited in scope. (of the 230, we have ten duplicates, four closed).

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This would be very vulnerable to being opinion-based.

There are certainly feats that some of us consider S-tier (or whatever ranking you'd like to make the highest), like Lucky.

However, even with Lucky, and especially with the feats in the middle tiers, the question becomes "what is the criteria that you judge these feats on", because otherwise, my game of political intrigue and negotiation is going to value Skilled much higher than it's going to value Weapon Master, and Billy Bob Joe's hack-and-slash game is likely going to value Weapon Master above Skilled.

Asking for a tier list, therefore, or even a section of the tier list ("Which 5e feats are bad or very situational?" = "what feats are D or F tier"), is going to depend on what the criteria on.

You can make this not opinion-based by giving clear criteria.

For example, what I think would be a good question in this sense is:

"For fighters, what is a tier list of feats to make you better in combat?" (This list is drastically different for wizards, for example, and even has differences from barbarian)

or

"What is a tier list of feats for my low-combat game that focuses on exploration?"

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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure how to vote on this, because I agree that it's vulnerable to being opinion-based, but I'm not crazy about the suggested improved questions. Ruminating.... \$\endgroup\$
    – nitsua60 Mod
    Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 18:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @nitsua60 is there a suggestion you'd make, or a more specific problem with the suggested questions? The first one especially seems pretty objective (measured by things like dpr and damage nullification) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 18:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ Not... yet? I'm on the fence over whether I think a tier-listing is a good fit for the Stack model. I think of excellent guides/rankings I've seen on GitP or ENWorld, with their Gold/Sky Blue/Blue/Black/Purple/Red (or whatever) systems... those I've interacted with have done a great job, and it's not clear to me that our architecture is well-suited to making such a thing happen. But that's just the ramblings of a sheep stuck to a fence.... \$\endgroup\$
    – nitsua60 Mod
    Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 18:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ @nitsua60 usually for tier lists, there's some level of "if X becomes stronger, Y becomes weaker because X counters Y". However, in the non-pvp nature of most D&D games and the nature of just one way to measure damage for martial classes (dpr), I think that there can only really be one correct answer to the first suggested question, which seems to be all about what the stack is about. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 18:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ As with nitsua, I disagree that your suggested criteria necessarily make it not primarily opinion-based. Simply making it more focused doesn't make it less opinion-based. If you ask which feats would improve expected damage per round the most for a particular character, it might be more appropriate. But by definition, the optimal feat choices are ultimately dependent on specific context. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 18, 2019 at 20:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast Would sufficiently scoped criteria and context avoid the issue? \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 14:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @GcL: It's possible, yes. Though it'd have to be quite narrowly scoped to avoid being opinion-based. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 18:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast would you say micro scoped? \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 18:20

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