Feats

When you create a 1st-level character, you select one feat. (If you’re hyur, you have an additional feat at 1st level, so you start with two feats.) You gain an additional feat at every even-numbered level and at 11th and 21st levels. When you choose a feat, you must meet the feat’s prerequisites.

Generally, you can’t take the same feat more than once, and most of the time you wouldn’t want to. A few feats, however, specify that you can take the same feat multiple times. That means you can apply the bonus from the feat to more than one situation—multiple weapon groups, powers you know, and so on.

How Feats Work: Most feats give you small, static bonuses to one of the numbers on your character sheet. When picking feats, there’s one important rule to remember about these bonuses: Bonuses of the same type don’t add together (or stack). Some of these bonuses apply in any situation. These are defined as feat bonuses: Great Fortitude gives you a +2 feat bonus to your Fortitude defense, and that bonus is always in effect. If you have two feat bonuses that apply to the same number, only the higher bonus applies—the bonuses don’t add together. So if you have both Alertness (which gives you a +2 feat bonus to Perception checks) and Miqo’te Senses (which gives you a +1 feat bonus to Perception checks), you have only a +2 bonus—the bonuses don’t add up to +3.

A bonus that’s untyped (such as one expressed as simply a “+2 bonus”) usually applies only in certain situations. These situational bonuses reward particular combat tactics. For example, Combat Reflexes gives you a +1 bonus to attack rolls with opportunity attacks. Unlike feat bonuses, however, untyped bonuses stack with themselves. If you have both Defensive Advantage (which gives you a +2 bonus to your AC against a foe when you have combat advantage) and Defensive Mobility (a feat that gives you a +2 bonus to your AC against opportunity attacks), you have a +4 bonus as long as both circumstances apply. Bonuses of different types stack as well. If you have Fleet-Footed and Fast Runner, you have a +1 feat bonus to your speed all the time (from Fleet-Footed), and an additional +2 bonus when you charge or run (from Fast Runner). So your speed when you charge is 3 higher than it would be if you had neither feat.

Feats and Keywords: When a feat provides a benefit related to using a power that has a keyword, that benefit applies when you use a power of a magic item, as well as when you use a power granted by your class, your race, or another feat.

Types of Feats

A few types of feats have special rules that apply to all feats of the same category.

Class Feats: Class feats help characters of a specific class improve their class features and powers, or specialize their capabilities along the lines of their builds. A class feat is denoted by the name of a class in brackets after the name of the feat: Expanded Spellbook [Black Mage or White Mage] is a feat that only black mages or white mages can take. Class feats are also available to characters who have taken a multiclass feat in the class the feat is associated with. For example, if you’re a fighter who has the Sneak of Shadows feat, you can take Press the Advantage, which is a thief feat.

Multiclass Feats: Multiclass feats are a special category of feats. Most multiclass feats are denoted by a bracketed phrase that includes “Multiclass” followed by the name of a class: Student of Battle [Multiclass Knight], for example, is the feat that lets you gain a feature of the knight class. Three of the multiclass feats in this book are of a different sort—they allow you to exchange a class power you have from your primary class for a power of the same type from the class you have chosen to multiclass in. These feats are denoted by a bracketed phrase that includes “Multiclass” followed by the type of power (Encounter, Utility, or Daily) that can be exchanged.

Racial Feats: Racial feats are available only to characters of a specific race. They build on the innate talents of each race and help you create a character who feels like an ideal representative of your race. A racial feat is denoted by the name of a race in brackets after the name of the feat: Lost in the Crowd [Moogle] is a feat that only moogles can take.

The feats are presented in the format described below.

In the header that gives the name of the feat, the type of feat (if appropriate) appears in brackets after the name.

Prerequisite(s): You must meet these additional requirements to take the feat. If you ever lose a prerequisite for a feat (for example, if you use the retraining system to replace training in a prerequisite skill with training in a different skill), you can’t use that feat thereafter. If this entry is absent, the feat has no prerequisites.

Benefit: This section (which might be more than one paragraph) describes the advantage you gain when you take the feat.

Special: Occasionally, special rules apply to a feat. This entry specifies whether you can take the same feat multiple times and any provisions that apply if you do so. It also can indicate any other requirement for using the feat.