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The 2024 Player’s Handbook changes how Feats work in D&D, making them core mechanics to customize your character. 

This new Feat system gives you more meaningful choices and streamlines character building. Whether you’re building a new character or advancing an existing one, you need to know these changes to get the most out of your character. Let’s take a look at the updates!

The Four Types of Feats

One of the biggest changes in D&D 2024 is the way Feats are organized into four types. Each type serves a purpose in character building from levels 1 to 20.

Origin Feats: The Base of Character Building

Origin Feats are the talents or early-life training that shaped your character before you started your adventuring career. 

Unlike previous editions, these Feats are tied to your character’s background. Every character gets an Origin Feat, and humans get an extra one to represent their adaptability.

What’s cool about Origin Feats is they’re accessible. They don’t have prerequisites or increase ability scores. They focus on core abilities that define how your character approaches adventuring. Some popular Origin Feats:

• Alert: For characters who need to react fast in combat
• Lucky: To turn the tide at the right moment
• Tough: For front-line fighters
• Magic Initiate: For any character to access magic

General Feats: More Character Abilities

As characters level up beyond their initial training, General Feats become available from the 4th level on. 

These Feats represent the broader development of your character’s abilities through experience and training. Unlike Origin Feats, General Feats usually increase ability scores and often have prerequisites because they’re more specialized.

The integration of ability score increases with Feats, which is one of the best changes in the 2024 system. No more do you have to choose between increasing your core stats or getting new abilities. 

Some of the most impactful General Feats include War Caster for spellcasters, Sharpshooter for ranged specialists, and Sentinel for tactical fighters.

Fighting Style Feats: Master Combat

For martial characters, Fighting Style Feats are specialized combat training that sets them apart on the battlefield. 

Available only to Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers when they gain their Fighting Style class feature, these Feats define how your character approaches combat. What’s intersesting is that they can completely change how effective your character is in combat.

While Fighting Style Feats are powerful options, the 2024 rules also offer alternatives. Paladins can choose Blessed Warrior to get divine cantrips, and Rangers can choose Druidic Warrior to tap into nature magic, so there are more options beyond just martial prowess.

Epic Boons

When characters hit the peak of their power at the 19th level, Epic Boons become available. These Feats are legendary abilities. They let you break the rules of mortal men by increasing ability scores beyond 20 and granting superhuman abilities.

Epic Boons aren’t just powerful - they’re transformative. The Boon of Recovery might let you cheat death itself. The Boon of Spell Recall could turn a spellcaster into a magic fountain. These choices are often the climax of a character’s story, the culmination of their development.

Making the Most of the New System

Now that you know about the Feat categories, it’s time to learn how to make the most of them. To optimize your character’s development, you need to consider how all the Feats interact and support your character concept.

Character Development Strategy

Think of your character’s progression as a story, each Feat choice as a chapter in their development. How does your Origin Feat set the foundation, how do General Feats build upon that, and how do Fighting Styles or Epic Boons cap off their journey?

Party Role Optimization

While it’s easy to focus on combat effectiveness, the best characters often balance different types of abilities. A fighter might find Skilled to be useful in non-combat situations. A wizard might take Tough to survive longer in dangerous situations.

Multiclassing

For those who multiclass, the new Feat system offers a lot of possibilities. With careful planning of your Feats, you can support complex multiclass builds and still be effective at all levels. Consider how Fighting Style Feats might enhance a Fighter/Rogue combination or how War Caster could benefit a Paladin/Sorcerer.

Try Them All On Roll20

Ready to try these new feats out for yourself? Roll20’s virtual tabletop makes these complex Feat interactions a breeze. 

Our character sheets track your choices and calculate your bonuses. Our compendium has all the Feat descriptions and rules at your fingertips. So you can focus on the strategy and storytelling of your character instead of getting bogged down in the mechanics.

Ready to get started? Join Roll20 today and see how our tools can help you D&D better – even with the brand-new DMG. Whether you’re building your first character or planning your next campaign, we have everything you need to bring your ideas to life in all-new ways.

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