Why I Hate Feats

Why Do I Hate Feats?

While I usually disdain from talking negatively about game systems in general, I have lately been reading a lot about how "awesome" Feats are with respect to a numer of new source books. With their introduction in 3^rd edition D&D, the OGL, and all the diaspora that have stemmed from them, Feats manifest an especially cold, crystallized, lightless cavern of hatred in my heart when it comes to roleplaying games, next to the use of standard distribution curve for mechanics and use of the term “roleplaying game” when it is applied to any computer-based simulation first-person simulation.

I hate feats because they make a game unnecessarily complicated and slow down play.

By adding feats, clarity becomes lost as modifier stacking rules, precedence rules, and exceptions to both sets of rules become more and more convoluted. Whether or not players have their modifiers memorized, feats slow action down as they accrue if they haven't been pre-calculated. Further, play can get slowed down by others who try to help the player to maximize the benefits of the feats and feat combinations. Tie in multiple classes/roles held by a single character, multiple sourcebooks adding their own feats specific to a setting, as well as online and homebrew feats, complexity increases quickly and gameplay gets exceedingly slower.

As a general rule, a major HiBRiD concept is that only ONE number should EVER be added to a die roll; anything else slows down play. The rules of HiBRiD go out of their way to reinforce this idea. As a director, I don’t want to have to know every go****n feat to adjudicate an action and slow down my narrative. Lately, online, people have been asking me how I can run 12 players at a time in a game and the answer is easy: the players have only one number to add, leaving them to focus on their description of the action; there are no numeric, mechanic-based, pieces of Scheisse gumming up the works. Ask anyone who has played HiBRiD at a convention. They know. They'll tell you. If I want to add numbers to solve a puzzle, I’ll play [Samuel L. Jackson expletive] Soduku. Seriously.

I hate feats because they reinforce number crunching and rule mongering rather than imaginative play. 

This does not mean an imaginative player can’t play well within a more structured and numeric system such as that created by feats; it is just that two things tend to happen at the gaming table when feats are in play.

The first thing that can happen is that the extent of an action can become proscribed by the limits of the feats. This can be limiting to a more imaginative player, especially when an action is boiled down to a modifier that must be stacked with or depend on another feat and another and so forth. The goal then becomes gathering a list of feats so that they can be selected from and mixed and matched in real time. This either slows play (as mentioned above) or alters it to become like a CCG, where you are just collecting things to mix and match during play. If I want to do that, I’ll play the Pokemon CCG. Personally, as a player, I just don’t give a damn about what my numbers are; my character does what my character does, screw my modifers! I would rather use abilities to give me ideas for cool actions; not to define what my actions can or cannot be.

The second thing that can happen is that the imaginative player may wish to extend the ability of a feat to an action in which the feat is not designed to give a “bonus” or confer some sort of in-game strategic, mechanistic advantage. The director, or course, can make a rule off-the-cuff or house rule to provide for this, but then, really, doesn't that just defeat the point of having the feat system anyway?

I hate Feats because they are not what they say they are

To me, a feat is a one-time action, taken to reflect a heroic effort on the part of a character. A character commits a feat of derring-do. Accomplishing the slaying of a dragon in one blow is no small feat. A feat that can be done more than one time ceases to be a feat; it is simply an Ability. Of course, then the question becomes, if all characters in these games have 6 Abilities, so what does one call Feats? How about calling them "Excuses To Make And Sell New Rule Books?? What about "Creativity Killers"? 

Conclusion 

When I encountered Feats as part of 3E, I was excited by the many changes in the system ran a 3E game for 3 years, trying to get behind it. My frustrations (as I mentioned above) became apparent and as they began to accrue, I realized it was time to jump ship. The evolution of the d20 family of games accepting feats as an accepted norm was the final push I needed to stop playing the games of others and finish up HiBRiD.

HiBRiD Things For Your Game #8: Improvised Items

Improvised Items: Knicknacks and Clutter

I HATE EQUIPMENT LISTS! 

HiBRiD is a game of action, not accounting; a game of improvisation, not lists. In addition to listing and describing your character’s clothes, weapons, and items required to support your character concept, rather than listing every single item and trying to account for every item your character might need to carry, you will also be given a number of generic, unidentified items referred to as Improvised Items.

Improvised items are like placeholders. They represent any of a number of nameless items that any character might need at any given time that they would have no way of knowing they would need beforehand. Perhaps your character, stranded on a rural dirt road and camping out until help arrives, feels a sudden need for a bag of marshmallows? Perhaps your character was mystically transported from a rain forest to a desert and suddenly finds a real need for a canteen of water? What if your character went to the library expecting to find a book to answer a riddle, only to find a secret passage and a sudden need for a flashlight? Improvised Items come to the rescue!  

Improvised Items Defined

Improvised items are classified as one of two types. The first type of items, Clutter items, are simple with few if any moving parts, fit into a large pants pocket or small purse, and possess low or no monetary value, typically less than five dollars, euros, or whatever the base unit of exchange would be, based on the genre description. The second type of items, Knicknacks, may be of moderate complexity, no larger than a breadbox, and must be able to be purchased commonly by anyone of a cost less than a hundred dollars, euros, or whatever the base unit of exchange would be based on the genre description.

There are few restrictions to what your character may declare as an Improvised Item, however items that are rare, not part of the genre of the game, or extremely expensive may not be declared as Improvised Items. Likewise, weapons, ammunition, or equipment related to your character concept may also not be declared as Improvised Items.

Using Improvised Items

To use an Improvised Item, you simply need to declare the item you wish your character to possess and integrate the type of Improvised Item your character will be declaring into the description of your character’s action, e. g. I pull out my flashlight Knicknack, throw in a few batteries from the Clutter in my pockets, and light it up to get a good look around”.

You may declare as many Improvise Items as you wish at a time, as long as you have enough items remaining on your character sheet to do so. You may also choose to declare one Knickknack as if it were two pieces of Clutter or vice versa as a general rule, though if the situation arises, the director may alter this exchange rate for purposes of keeping the story moving along or game balance. For example, if a flashlight needs two batteries, the director may rule that two batteries make up an item of Clutter rather than two.

As you declare each item, you will cross out the current number of items of the appropriate type your character possesses and decrease it by the appropriate number of items you have declared, then record the specific item in the appropriate location on your character sheet to keep track of it.

Your character receives a number of Knicknacks as well as a number of Clutter items equal to the Heroic Factor of the campaign.

Determining Improvised Items

In HiBRiD, all characters receive a number of Improvised Items equal to the Heroic Level of the campaign. For OSR/d20/3E/5E games, characters begin play with one and gain an additional item each level of experience.

Directing Improvised Items

Over the course of the game, the director, rather than describing every item in a location, may choose to describe in terms of the number of Clutter items and Knicknacks a party or character finds. In these cases, the director can simply add them to the number of items your character has not yet declared. When doing so, the director should award them in aliquots of N items, where N is the number of players in the party to make distribution as easy as possible for the group.