Anything to give a D&D character a amend adventure at survival during a chancy adventure needs careful consideration. Feats can be one of the most powerful and useful abilities to add together to a grapheme. There are a lot of choices, and some feats are situational, coexisting, or won't be allowed by the DM. Dungeons & Dragons is about covering weaknesses or enhancing strengths, which is exactly what feats allow players to do.

A nifty feat volition either shore upwardly a weakness or heighten existing strengths. The all-time feats exercise both and/or introduce totally new options to a character's arsenal. Many feats will completely alter how a graphic symbol plays in or out of combat, and they tin exist dandy opportunities for people to fully customize their characters in terms of both flavour and mechanics.

Updated by Kristy Ambrose on April 13th, 2021: With all of the new supplemental materials for D&D coming from fans, players, and other sources along with all the extras from The Wizards of the Sword Coast, information technology'south fourth dimension to add a few more than handy feats to our list. Unlike sure other skills, like low-level spells or cantrips, feats don't have to be magical in nature and tin can apply to sure stats, making a character stronger in a very specific manner. Some feats might present problems with your DM or the storyline they've prepared, and then the feat you choose might be something to review with your boyfriend players before y'all put it into practice. Here are a few suggestions when yous're wondering which feat is the best for you, your character, and your political party.

Updated May 5, 2022 by Declan Lowthian: Every bit more and more content comes out, feats become an fifty-fifty more than crucial part to consider virtually a grapheme'due south build. This article was updated to include some new feats also every bit some old favorites that are even so extremely powerful today.

15 Magic Initiate, Player'south Handbook

Magic Initiate allows a player to cull another class and acquire ane first-level spell and two cantrips from that class'southward spell list. This is fantastic because it of a sudden gives any class a 1d10 ranged attack with Firebolt or Eldritch Nail, plus it tin can allow access to peachy utility spells like Guidance or Spare the Dying. A nonmagic grade with one magic spell can drastically change the way that course plays.

Finally, the paladin tin get some cantrips. Finally, the barbarian can get a niggling magic in their life. Finally, the warlock gets i extra spell slot at the first level. Since the spells chosen volition use the aforementioned ability score the class does, characters are somewhat express in which classes they volition be able to pick from. Only that doesn't cease this from beingness i of the best feats ever made.

14 Flames of Phlegethos, Xanathar's Guide to Everything

D&D Sorcerer/Fighter, levitating a book and casting a spell

This feat is available only to tieflings, but information technology is extremely worthwhile for any that focuses on burn down magic. In addition to boosting Charisma or Intelligence, essential for whatever wizard, bard, warlock, or sorcerer, Flames of Phlegethos helps ensure the user never rolls minimum harm on their fire damage. Additionally, it allows the user to surround themself with flames, dealing damage to anyone who dares get close. This feat can be the perfect complement to a fire-based build, dealing damage and keeping the caster safe.

13 Tavern Brawler, Player's Handbook

This feat allows the user to grab anything they want and turn it into a weapon, calculation their proficiency bonus to improvised attacks. Creativity is really the limit with this ability. It also upgrades their unarmed strike from doing simply a single point of damage to using a d4. Just perhaps the most useful bonus is the ability to grapple a target every bit a bonus action.

Grappling is powerful, but information technology usually isn't worth a full action. Being able to tie up a target'south movement in improver to making a total assault really opens up some room for fun builds. Combining this with a barbarian's reward on Strength rolls while raging is perfect for building the all-time grappling build possible.

12 Crossbow Good

dnd character wielding two crossbows in combat against devils

Virtually characters looking for a ranged weapon in D&D immediately reach for a bow, but Crossbow Good helps even the playing field. It eliminates the demand to spend time reloading, allowing a graphic symbol to make their total number of attacks each turn. It likewise allows crossbows to exist used in melee at no penalization, something non hands washed with bows. Anyone looking to dual wield tin can take advantage of its third characteristic, which basically allows the normal dual wielding rules to utilise to a hand crossbow as well. The archetype "stab and shoot" build for a rogue relies on this feat to be functional, and it's well worth taking.

11 Alert, Role player's Handbook

D&D, partiually hidden figure with a knife

Alert is perfect for whatever party whose DM likes to ambush them at every opportunity. It grants a +5 bonus to initiative, every bit well as negating near of the advantages other creatures go from surprising the grapheme in question. This can be used to great upshot on an already dextrous grapheme to ensure they always go first, but it can exist equally valuable on a character with an otherwise terrible initiative score. A party actually only needs 1 Alert character to help warn everyone else most impending danger.

ten Elemental Good, Player's Handbook

D&D, spellcaster with orb of white light

The Elemental Skillful feat is limited to casting classes, as it requires the ability to cast at to the lowest degree level i spell, just it can be extremely useful for a grapheme that focuses on one blazon of impairment, like a Draconic Bloodline sorcerer or a Pact of the Fiend warlock. It allows the user to ignore all resistances to that damage type, essentially negating the biggest drawback of focusing on ane impairment blazon. It too ensures that they never scroll minimum harm on a spell, every bit it upgrades all damage rolls of ane into twos.

9 War Caster, Role player's Handbook

Essential for any character looking to cast spells while engaged in melee combat, War Caster has a number of amazing perks. It grants reward on concentration saving throws, which are triggered every fourth dimension the character takes damage and will therefore be much more than common for melee characters.

Perhaps the most powerful characteristic, withal, is the ability to cast spells as opportunity attacks. This opens upwards a huge variety of options in combat, as the spell cast need non be exclusively a damage spell. Being able to demark a creature with Hold Monster as a reaction can be an extremely powerful combat play tricks.

8 Lucky, Histrion'southward Handbook

Rolling dice is the core mechanic of D&D, and then a feat that essentially offers costless rerolls is going to be extremely powerful. Lucky grants the user three luck points, which can be used to reroll near whatever d20 coil. From trying to fix a missed attack to line-fishing for a success on an important skill cheque, Lucky is applicative in basically every state of affairs. Information technology can even be used on attacks made confronting the grapheme, helping them avoid nearly certain death. The sheer versatility of Lucky is what makes it and so skillful, and information technology is a groovy pick for almost any character class or build.

seven Athlete, Player's Handbook

In improver to boosting Dexterity or Strength by one, Athlete provides a slew of small benefits that volition be of use to but nigh whatsoever character in improving mobility. Adventurers who focus on the dungeons office of Dungeons and Dragons will dear that climbing no longer costs them extra movement and that they can make running jumps with barely any atomic number 82-up. More combat-focused heroes will enjoy being able to stand with just 5 anxiety of their motion, allowing them to leap to their feet later being healed and renter the fray immediately.

6 Healer, Player's Handbook

The healer'south kit is already a great item in D&D 5th Edition, as information technology allows the user to instantly stabilize a dying animate being. However, the Healer feat allows the user to utilise a healer's kit to heal party members more than proactively.

Healer's kits have 10 uses, and a character with the Healer feat tin spend one use to heal a target for a solid amount. This feature is limited to in one case per balance per character, simply it can be an excellent backup option for a party without a designated healer.

5 Sentinel, Player's Handbook

Lookout man essentially takes the fighter'due south mark power from 4th Edition D&D and ports it over to fifth Edition. It grants the user several abilities that allow them to lock downwards any opponent that tries to evade them, and even allows them to brand reactive attacks against a creature that attacks anyone just them. Picking this feat sets the grapheme upwardly to serve as the party'southward tank, able to go on enemies in identify and punish them for trying to spread around damage. Famously, it pairs extremely well with the Polearm Master feat to create a near-impenetrable spear wall.

four Mobile, Player'south Handbook

Plenty of characters tin can benefit from increased speed, and Mobile does that and more. It increases a character's base of operations speed by 10, allowing a first-level wood elf to walk into the game at level ane with a 45-human foot speed. Its nigh cardinal change, notwithstanding, is assuasive the user to ignore opportunity attacks from creatures they hit. Beingness able to strike a creature and rush out of the way is extremely powerful, especially for characters similar monks and rogues who can take additional Dash actions on their plow.

3 Fey/Shadow Touched, Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything

Harengons frolicing in the feywild in the wild beyond the witchlight in Dungeons and Dragons

Getting access to spells is always powerful, and this pair of feats is i of the all-time ways to do and so. Unlike Magic Initiate, these feats provide a bonus to an ability score in addition to granting some spells.

Each feat grants a predetermined spell, Misty Step for Fey Touched and Invisibility for Shadow Touched, plus a choice of another spell from some prepare schools of magic. These feats offer a supreme level of customizability, and basically any class will be able to find some spell on the list that compliments their build.

2 Mounted Combatant, Player's Handbook

Mounted combat isn't conducive to every campaign, but if it can be made to work information technology is extremely powerful. A character with Mounted Combat can have hits in place of their mount, helping to mitigate the fact that most mounts have extremely low Air conditioning and/or striking points. It also grants the mountain an evasion ability to enhance its survivability. Perhaps the most useful, yet, is the reward on set on rolls against unmounted characters. The archetypical mounted combatant is of class an armored knight, but a rogue with this feat would get admission to Sneak Attack every turn, assuming they are ever the only one on a mount.

1 Polearm Master, Player'southward Handbook

This feat functionally gives the user an actress attack when they wield a polearm, every bit they can strike with the edgeless end of their weapon as a bonus action for 1d4 damage. The most notable characteristic of Polearm Master, still, is the ability to strike at anyone who enters the character'south reach. In addition to adding a lot more than opportunities for damage output every round, this pairs remarkably well with the Picket feat, essentially halting any attempts to pass inside ten feet of the user. Dipping into the less mutual D&D races and edifice a bugbear with these feats creates the ultimate wall character.

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