12:07 PM
@KRyan let's define low levels as 1-6. that would be 1-4 feats, and yes, you are only shooting for the ones absolutely fitting your concept (and get 95% or even 99% of overall feats ignored, not just bad ones). While you are right that decision tree gets pruned really fast leaving only a handful of best feats to consider, this "best feats" set is obviously different for different character concepts, which is the fact you seem to overlook.
@KRyan but yes it does. If we're talking core only, weapon focus is a decent feat - not the best one, but I would be perfectly okay with taking it in certain circumstances in core-only game. It gets significantly worse when you add splatbooks to the mix, because of sheer quantity of clearly better options.
As for Combat Expertise or Point Blank Shot, they are certainly viable. Combat Expertise is a prerequisite for Improved Trip AND is actually used with the trip, since it does not affect trip check and touch attacks tend to hit anyway. Point Blank Shot is a prerequisite for a number of good feats (Rapid Shot among them), and +1 to atk/damage is nothing to scoff at in a game where ranged character has almost no feats to choose from.
8 hours later…
8:23 PM
@JeorMattan "a prerequisite for actually good feats" does not a good feat make; it makes a feat tax. Lack of good options does not make bad options better. If you feel the need to include supplements to accept that the bad feats in Core are bad, then fine, include them. To my mind, those feats were bad from the moment the PHB was printed, even if you did get forced to take them for lack of other options or because of poorly-considered prerequisites.
ignoring the Fighter (a poorly-designed class in any case), and ignoring feat tax prerequisites, a Human gets 4 feats. As far as power is concerned, the 6th-level feat should be Leadership for basically anyone who's not a Druid; then again, Leadership is not what I'd consider a well-designed feat (it's hideously overpowered)
8:52 PM
for melee warriors, in Core, you have Power Attack, Improved Trip, Exotic Weapon Focus (Spiked Chain), and Spirited Charge as the best feats available.
my Weapon Focus is better than Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain) if you take it for Reach weapons and do not care for the Spiked Chain's disarming and finessing properties.
so my argument is that while my version of Weapon Focus is among the best feats available, it is not so good that every character ever would definitely take it
out of core, you have stuff like Martial Study, Shape Soulmeld, Hidden Talent, etc. for accessing other subsystems in a limited way; those are powerful options
but basically, my Weapon Focus is likely to find its way into a lot of builds, but it's not the be-all, end-all of feats
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