Feats?

[Falstaff]

Has anyone created feats as an optional addition for BFRP, or is it a small matter to just add them from an applicable d&d system?

[orobouros]

I think it would be easy enough to fit in. In fact, if you wanted to play with feats you could just give a +(char level) to that particular action -- or rather, dice roll -- to a character. As far as I know, feats are like "special moves" that some characters just have and which they can exploit to gain an advantage in certain situations. As such, they don't really need to be balanced, so there's not much that needs to be said. They're just straight up house rules to advantage the players. Go with what works for you and your group.

[Falstaff]

Ok thank you Orobouros

[Clever_Munkey]

There is also this:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1866&p=52134&hilit=Feat#p52134
Although it is incomplete.

I also have a friend who used something akin to feats in his game. I'll ask him more about it, and share that with you.

[Falstaff]

That's an interesting document

Was it ever expanded on?

[Clever_Munkey]

That's an interesting document

Was it ever expanded on?

Not that I know of. It needs to be in the BFRPG format at a minimum. Many of the feats make no sense mechanically in the context of BFRPG. As Orobouros said,

They're just straight up house rules to advantage the players. Go with what works for you and your group.

Given that, I still think that they should be internally consistent, i.e. one feat should not be more powerful than another.

I should also say that there is no OGL or copyright notice in the original document, so I have no idea if any revisions can be posted here, or how that would be credited.

[Clever_Munkey]

My friend's rules went like this: "I just let my players home brew stuff, and adjusted balance so nothing would be more powerful than a +2 ability score increase, and gave feats at level multiples of 4. I also gave the option of just increasing an ability by +2 at these levels."

Note he had other house rules as well (ability scores grant bonus spells, etc.), and I think ability scores were capped at 18 or 20.

Personally I find that magic items work better than feats, because the GM has much more control over what they do, how often they work, and who has them. Players also don't feel cheated when magic items don't work the way they expect.

[Falstaff]

I've been looking for something like this; a rule for players creating their own feats.

Thanks for the advice Joe

[orobouros]

Given that, I still think that they should be internally consistent, i.e. one feat should not be more powerful than another.

Within a single game this is absolutely true. I'd go farther and say that a list of common feats and their limitations could be shared so that people have realistic expectations of what a feat by the same name does in different games/settings/situations/GMs/etc.

Though there's an inherent difficulty in balancing feats. One feat could be "history" while another could be "bow aiming," both giving, say, +6 bonus. One is going to be extremely useful for combat but useful for puzzle solving, and vice versa. Feats as a game mechanic allow players to be creative and apply their "superpower" to the situation. So their utility rests as much within the inherent bonus (+6 or whatever) as with the creative application. The former is very easy to balance, but the latter almost impossible.

[teaman]

A humble suggestion (cribbed from 5E, but with an old school approach):

Players have some background separate from their class. Sure they are a "Thief", but maybe they were raised as a Pickpocket Urchin. When something would fit that bill, allow them to roll 2 d20's (aiming for under their ability score) and keep the better result. This is roughly 5E's advantage mechanic.

Pros:
Easy, gives players some narrative control and more customization, doesn't completely unbalance things (hopefully). Also, it will make players think of situations where they can use this.

Cons:
Doesn't increase with levels. Though in old school, you tended to get better at things with levels, not necessarily to get new abilities/powers. The exception are the MU and Clerics getting cooler spells.