Feats are a fun addition to character customization. But not all of them are game changing. In fact, some are just downright not good. Let’s go over some of the worst feats Dungeons and Dragons 5e has to offer. *Note: Most feats can be very strong or weak depending on the challenges you’ll encounter in your games. Context can easily make the following feats effective, while others are just bad choices. I made this list with a Feat’s general use in mind, and how unlikely they’ll impact your character.
10. Inspiring Leader
Inspiring Leader lets you do a 10-minute pep talk to give you and your allies temporary hit points. The movie Braveheart comes to mind when using this feat, which can sound epic… until it gets old real fast. One person talking for ten minutes to gain temporary hit points doesn’t sound like a great time. If you can get away with a 10-minute speech every session then I salute you and your friends’ patience. Most times, you won’t be roleplaying a speech at all. The “level + Charisma modifier” temporary hit points you get from Inspiring Leader has little use unless you really need a damage buffer.
9. Tough
This feat isn’t useless, but not very interesting either. Tough gives you hit points equal to double your level, and an additional 2 hit points every subsequent level. The scaling is deceiving until you do the math. When you reach level 20, you gain 40 hit points. I’m not saying 40 hit points is nothing. But it’s not great either. Tough is decent if you have a feat to spare. But it should be taken after careful consideration.
8. Actor
I don’t see many common scenarios where Actor will help you. Being proficient in Deception and Performance will cover your disguise needs. Especially if you have high Charisma. On top of that, Wizards and Sorcerers have the spell Alter Self at their disposal, making Actor even more underwhelming. You’ll at least get a few laughs trying to imitate someone at your table but mechanically, Actor isn’t ideal.
7. Linguist
Linguist is a situational feat. It gives you an additional point in Intelligence, but its features are what put it on this list. Roleplay wise, I could see why learning three languages could be useful. But it won’t be often. Speaking Common is the way you’ll likely communicate with creatures in your games anyway. Combat-wise, just ignore Linguist all together. Linguist lets your write in ciphers which can be of some use for confidential information. But again, very situational.
6. Grappler
The Grappler feat should fulfill your wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu fantasies. That is, until you look closely into the grappling mechanics. Grappling your foes to the ground takes two actions to execute. So you waste two rounds where you could’ve easily just hit your target with a sword twice. When you grapple someone, you also put yourself in a state of Restraint, inviting enemies to land easy critical hits. Restraining yourself makes the Grappler feat much worse than it should’ve been.
5. Dungeon Delver
Dungeon Delver is, at best, not bad. Granted, it can be excellent when you find your party in a Beholder’s lair, an ancient crypt, or a Goblin nest. Most campaigns have dungeons. But your party won’t be in one all the time. Unless an Indiana Jones-themed character is needed in your campaign, you could ignore Dungeon Delver and still be fine with Perception and Investigation checks. The Dungeon Delver feat grants you advantage for spotting secret doors and traps, gives resistance to trap damage, and won’t drop your Perception by 5 while moving fast. Dungeons are meant to be done slowly and carefully. And if you’re hurriedly escaping a dungeon the same way you got in, you’ve already cleared most traps on the way in anyways.
4. Lightly/Moderately/Heavily Armored
This group of feats has little use in my opinion. Most classes already allow you to wear armor that’s suited to your class’ play style. Not a lot of builds would call for these feats to maximize their AC, either. If you have high Dexterity, you have good AC in Light Armor and would want to avoid wearing Heavy Armor. If you have low Dexterity, you don’t want to be caught unarmored unless your class calls for it. The increase in AC will probably be minimal if not equal, so I don’t find much point in these feats.
3. Durable
The only use for Durable is to make up for Constitution being your dump stat. It’s not great. And if you’re worried about your Constitution score being low, you could just position yourself better during encounters. Even then, 1 extra Constitution isn’t going to do much for you. Durable also makes a floor for how low you can roll for healing. You’ll likely find use for it during short rests, but its effectiveness is minimal and certainly not worth a feat spot.
2. Keen Mind
Keen Mind has a lot of redundant features, which I think needs to be addressed. Keen Mind grants you an internal compass allowing you to determine which direction is north. This may be useful if you’re going to explore wide unknown areas and if you know you won’t have any instruments at your disposal. If the sky is always covered in thick black clouds or if no one knows that the Sun rises in the east, maybe there’s some use to this feature. But that’s being generous. Anyone with a decent Survival score, proficiency in Cartographer tools, or anyone with the item “Orb of Direction” makes this section of Keen Mind useless. Now this feat also gives your character an internal clock, letting you know the number of hours before sunset or sunrise. This may find use when you’re racing against a time-based curse or constantly combating vampires… but I’m sure there are many other ways to tell the time. Most real-life survivalists have multiple ways to tell time using their environment anyways. Keen Mind also lets you accurately recall what you’ve seen or heard, as long as it happened within the past month. I find it silly that your character suddenly forgets things after a month. This problem is easily bypassed by having a decent Intelligence score. Honestly, this feat seems to be for the lazy who don’t want to take notes. The only reason I’d see Keen Mind being useful is if a Wizard loses their spellbook and needs to remember, in extreme detail, its contents. And let’s be honest, that doesn’t happen very often. Not worth a feat.
1. Weapon Master
I tried to give this feat a chance. But Weapon Master is often taunted & made fun of in the Dungeons and Dragons community for good reason. Yes, Weapon Master gives you an increase to Strength or Dexterity, and proficiency in four weapons of your choice. But choosing Dwarf or Elf as your race already gives you this. While Weapon Master may sound cool at first, let me remind you about a few basics. Choosing a class already gives you proficiency in weapons that you’ll likely use. This is especially true if you’re a martial class. Classes that aren’t going to be using weapons often won’t need this feat either. If they do, multiclassing is an option. If you’re trying to make a viable melee Wizard, make an Arcane Trickster. If you’re opting for a melee Warlock, get Pact of The Blade. If firearms are part of your setting then maybe Weapon Master could be useful. But other than that, it’s useless.
