Oct 13

Oct 13 A Player's Guide to Feats - Durable

* I purposely skipped over the Dungeon Delver feat. I'm not sure anyone has ever taken the feat, nor should they.

So I skipped over Dungeon Delver and went straight to Durable, thinking, "What a waste of time to write about traps. Durable has to be better, right? Turns out I wasn't. The Durable feat sounds excellent, if for no other reason than the name implies it will be. Unfortunately, the feat is underwhelming (to say the least). I'm not sure how you would improve it, but for now, let's examine what we've got.

What is the Durable Feat

There's a little to unpack here.

Hardy and resilient, you gain the following benefits:

Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

When you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, the minimum number of hit points you regain from the roll equals twice your Constitution modifier (minimum of 2).

Dissecting the Feat

Sadly, there isn't much to look at here. Any ability stat boost is always nice, and Constitution is a universal boost everyone can use. A +1 is extremely useful if your character has an odd number in Constitution. Otherwise, it's delayed gratification until you can find another way to bump it up an additional point. As I've said before, more hit points are always better.

The meat of the feat is, well, bad, and that's being nice. First, you need a minimum Constitution of 12 for the feat to work. Unless you're a low-level spellcaster or have focused all your points into a single stat, this should be fine, especially given the +1 you get with the feat.

You can do the math, but it's simple if you are horrible at anything to do with numbers. You have a Constitution of 18 (+4), so multiply the modifier of 4 by 2, equaling 8. Then, add the modifier to the total for 12 hit points in healing (4*2+4=12). For characters that only get to roll a d6 for their hit points, that's better than they could possibly get.

Now, to address the problems with the feat.

1. There are only two classes with a hit die that's a d6: the sorcerer and the wizard. It makes no sense for either of these classes to have a Constitution of 18, rendering the feat useless.

2. At most, you'll take a single short rest during a session. Does it come in handy on those rare occasions? Sure, but it doesn't happen often.

3. Is it really worth passing up another feat for? No.

I have seen a few posts about combining the Dwarven Fortitude and Durable feats to heal yourself during battle. I have a few issues with that.

1. It's limited to a single race.

2. You must commit to taking two feats to make this work.

3. You only get to roll a single-hit die.

4. You must use the Dodge action to roll said hit die. If you're a fighter with a +4 modifier, you could heal yourself for 12 points per round. Wasting an action for only 12 hit points isn't worth it. That's what the party has clerics for, right? (I jest)

The Durable Feat Useability by Class

Artificer: Not worth taking

Barbarian: A weak, maybe at best. With a +4 modifier at lower levels, you'll get 12 hit points back, which is decent. It scales horribly since magic items and better heal spells from party members will heal more.

Bard: Not worth taking

Cleric: Not worth taking

Druid: Not worth taking

Fighter: A weak, maybe at best. With a +4 modifier at lower levels, you'll get 12 hit points back, which is decent. It scales horribly since magic items and better heal spells from party members will heal more.

Monk: Not worth taking

Paladin: A weak, maybe at best. With a +4 modifier at lower levels, you'll get 12 hit points back, which is decent. It scales horribly since magic items and better heal spells from party members will heal more.

Ranger: Not worth taking

Rogue: Not worth taking

Sorcerer: Not worth taking

Warlock: Not worth taking

Wizard: Not worth taking

Conclusion

Sadly, I cannot recommend the feat to anyone. I know I skipped Dungeon Delver, saying no one should ever take the feat. I'm going to have to say the same for the Durable feat. There are many great feats, not to mention ASI, for anyone to bother with it.

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