Skip to content
5e Homebrew

Skills and Feats

* Modified: *

Skills

  • Explicitly disconnecting Skills from specific Abilities. This is already an option in 5e RAW (PHB p.175).
  • Need to ask “What” and “How” — the method to the outcome — to determine which Skill and Ability combination is used.
  • Removing Acrobatics (covered by Athletics(DEX) in most situations).

Feats

  • Removing Great Weapon Master (replaced with Weapon Specialization).
  • Removing Sharpshooter (replaced with Weapon Specialization).
  • Durable (PHB p.166) also allows for one roll per Long Rest to prevent a level of Exhaustion (most often from a lack of food and water or Fast travel).
  • Ritual Caster (PHB p.169) is required to cast any spell with the Ritual tag as a Ritual. Without this Feat, any spell with the Ritual tag must be cast using spell slots.
  • Weapon Master (PHB p.170) grants proficiency with all Simple and Martial Weapons.

New Feats

Cosmopolitan

You are well-traveled or otherwise well-educated in other languages and cultures. You receive proficiency in five additional languages (Root + Dialect combination). In addition, once per long rest, you may spend 10 minutes to study a dialect unknown to you by listening to the dialect in coversation. You must know the Root language. You draw upon this knowledge to remove Disadvantage to a check imposed by not knowing the dialect. The knowledge disappears immediately following the check, requiring a Long Rest and 10 minutes of observation to attempt again without Disadvantage.

Danger Sense

Prerequisite: Wilderness Cultural Setting. A life in the wilderness has tuned your senses to always be on guard for potential threats. You cannot be Surprised in combat. In addition, you have Advantage on Perception checks to detect hidden creatures, and Advantage on Insight checks to sense ill intent.

Explorer

Prerequisite: Proficiency in Survival. You have extensive experience navigating and surviving the in wilds. Choose two types of terrain: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, hills, mountains, swamp, underdark (others are possible; consult with the DM). You have Advantage to Navigation and Foraging checks in these terrains. On a successful Foraging check, in addition to finding food for yourself, you find food for one other person.

Fatebound

Requires at least two characters with the Fatebound Feat. Your fate is bound to another, allowing you to share power. On your turn, you may use your Action as if it were the Action of the character you are Fatebound to, including access to all abilities and spells. Doing so does not affect the activation costs, spell slots, etc. of the other character. This ability may be used once per Long Rest. If one of the Fatebound characters falls below 1/2 of their Hit Point Maximum, the other character receives one level of Exhaustion. If one of the characters is reduced to zero(0) Hit Points, the other immediately falls unconscious regardless of current Hit Points. If one of the characters dies, the Fatebound character immediately dies as well.

Powerful Build + Damage Reduction 2

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. In addition, you have an innate Damage Reduction (DR) value of 2.

Night Hunter

Prerequisite: Beast Kin Ancestry. The blood of nocturnal predators runs in your veins. You have Darkvision up to 60’, and ignore Disadvantage to Perception checks in Dim Light.

Team Synergy

Requires at least two characters with the Team Synergy Feat. You and your teammates have an extraordinary ability to work in tandem. On your turn, you may use a Bonus Action to activate an Action by another character with the Team Synergy Feat that is within 5’ of you. Alternatively, you may use your Action to activate a Bonus Action from another character with the Team Synergy Feat that is within 5’ of you. The character you activate forgoes their Action on their next turn.

Weapon Specialization

Prerequisite: Proficiency in the chosen weapon. You have focused training in a single type of weapon; for example, shortsword, battleaxe, crossbow, halberd, etc. Choose a single weapon for which you have Proficiency. You gain +1 to hit, +(Proficiency Bonus) damage, and +1 critical range with that weapon. This feat may be taken multiple times, once per a given weapon.

Thoughts on Game Design

Since the home game I’ve created emphasizes exploration, I’ve added a new Feat to help with that aspect. This is following the same vein of thought that the future of D&D Class customization is making Class features available via Feats (or a similar system). In this case, Rangers and Druids have a natural Advantage to exploration in their chosen environments; I’m opening this up to any Class via a Feat.

I’ve always wanted a way to work in more team-based actions into D&D. The Team Synergy and Fatebound Feats are meant to give an opportunity for this while preserving Action Economy.

In play, I and others have found the Great Weapon Master Feat to be overpowered in any situation that grants Advantage to an attack, and in some cases Sharpshooter, as well. To compensate for their removal and to add a more generic weapon mastery Feat (as in older editions), I’ve created the Weapon Specialization Feat which ties a damage bonus to the level-dependent Proficiency Bonus.

Night hunter allows for Beast Kin characters to have innate Darkvision tied to their Ancestry; Danger Sense — while highly appropriate to some Beast Kin — allows anyone who has grown up in the wilds to always be on the lookout for predators.