Review of Player's Handbook II Feats
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:47 pm
Okay, a lot of people seem to be creaming their Neverwinter Nights underoos over the feats in this book. I can't understand it at all. While there are a couple of gems in this book, since David Noonan wrote it there's going to be a high ratio of emetic horseshit to anything that you, you know, can use. This book's ratio is higher than most, so for the convenience of the bitter little powergamers I know you all are, here's LAGO'S REVIEW OF PLAYER'S HANDBOOK II FEATS!!!
Acrobatic Strike- The only possible reason you'd want to use this feat is if you're using the OA variant where you get to stand up from prone as a free action. And the DM roleplays the monster very, very stupidly. Otherwise, it blows.
Active Shield Defense- With a lot of tomfoolery, such as that feat in Complete Adventurer that makes enemies hate you, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike and/or Robilar's Gambit, you might think that you'd be able to experience a minor net gain in AC. But then you realize that there are feats out there that give you a +2 bonus to armor class and still allow you to make your regular attacks.
Adaptable Flanker- For dumbasses too slipshod to coordinate their attacks in even the most perfunctory manner. C'mon, fuckers, it's a swift action; it doesn't even have any application to you for a battlefield in flux!
Agile Shield Fighter- Work out the math, people. The biggest benefit you'd get is being able to shield bash with a large shield while simultaneously using a longsword. This equals a +1 to damage on your offhand attacks.
Arcane Accompaniment- OR you could use your spell slot to do something that's actually, you know, useful.
Arcane Consumption- If you're playing the teleport ambush game then more power to you. Otherwise, this feat is the suck. It requires arcane toughness and arcane consumption.
Arcane Flourish- This feat seriously makes me laugh. There are spells out there that give you a bonus to the perform skill that last longer than this and are probably bigger than the spell you have. And they're not retarded competence bonuses, too. Remember, the kind you get from magic items?
Arcane Toughness- So imagine that you're a total dumbass that gets a little too excited after reading this feat. Actually, you probably have this read to you by your babysitter. Anyway, you take this feat thinking you're all big and bad. You're all 'oh, look at me, there's a bottom limit of -10 hp and I can use this as an immediate action, EYE ARR INVINCIBLE'. Then you come to the game, get the shit kicked out of you, and then try to use this feat to stop you from dying. Then everyone reminds you that you can't use this fucking feat, because you're unconscious. Then everyone laughs at you and you pee your pants in shame. Serves you right.
Armor Specialization- Might I remind you that you need a BAB of +12 to take this feat and by then you'll probably have some trinket that'll give you this for free? More proof that they didn't playtest this game past 10th level.
Battle Dancer- 'Guess what, Roy, this feat gives me a +2 morale bonus to attacks as long as I keep moving. why, yes, Roy, my bardic music hands out a morale bonus. ... what?' 'Nevermind, Elan.'
Bonded Familiar- If you use this feat to save your life, your familiar dies. Since your life is probably worth more than your familiar's, this seems like a good trade. However, when your familiar dies it uses up experience points. You know what you could do instead? Limited Wish yourself a Stalwart Pact. Or if you took Evocation as a banned school, read it off of a scroll. If your DM will allow this ability to work at all then Stalwart Pact will, too.
Bounding Assault- Nice feat and all, but it really comes way too late in life for the people who would want it to benefit from it. They really should've given this feat to 5th level monks as a bonus feat; that would've made the little bastards hapy.
Brutal Strike- Oh my god as if Frenzied Berserkers and spirited chargers didn't own you hard enough already. Good times, bitches.
Combat Acrobat- Dedicated tripsters will definitely want this feat. It's very nice, especially if you use it with Knockdown from Sword and Fist. Anyone remember that feat?
Combat Familiar- Why the fuck would you want your familiar to deliver touch spells for you? Even if it's marginally effective, you don't want to be known as the kind of chickenshit that would send his pet frog to do the fighting for him. NEXT.
Combat Tactician- I remember when Combat Tactician was SEXY. Like, from Song and Silence. Anyone remember that book? It was pretty much the only bright spot in the entire book. Man, I loved that feat a lot. It was cool and topical and maybe made fighters useful for a couple more combats than they were... oh, this version? Sucks balls, assholes.
Cometary Collision- Most of the time you'll end up sucking when you use this feat; however, if you have pounce and/or a spirited charger, you'll get like a bonus +4 to attack +4 to damage. It might be worth it. Me, I'll pass.
Companion Spellbound- This feat allows you to make a better archer out of your familiar you turned into a gnome. Used for any other purpose, this feat sucks.
Crossbow Sniper- Rogues might really want to consider using this feat. With two gloves of storing and some tomfoolery, you get to sneak attack from 60 feet away (well out of range of most darkvision) and gain a bonus equal to your dexterity. And of course offhand attacks. Go Jet Li on your enemies.
Crushing Blows- If you're a fighter who takes up two-weapon fighting with unarmed strikes and a two-handed weapon (pretty much the only way I can recommend non-rogue TWFing), this can bring quite a bit of pain to your enemies.
Cunning Evasion- Oh, yeah. They made hide shitty in this edition. It's too damn bad, too; I can think of a couple of ways to throw out a bunch of crappy area-effect attacks without using too many actions.
Dampen Spell- Since this is an immediate action, you can throw it on top of your counterspell attempt if you don't roll too good on your Great Dispel Magic roll. But spellcasters don't have that many feat slots to begin with, so why bother? There's Improved Counterspell out there and it'll work much better.
Deadeye Shot- It requires a wad of fairly awesome feats and combines them together for utter crap. Seriously, if you have standard actions to burn, pick up Manyshot. Having one half of Rapid Shot and being 2 BAB from an extra attack to get one sucks balls.
Defensive Sweep- The most hilarious thing about this feat is that you get to make fun of the knuckleheads who took Adaptable flanker. Otherwise it's a fairly good fighter bonus feat. Combine it with Brutal Strike or Stunning Fist for fun for the whole family!
Driving Attack- I get to make a bull-rush attack with a bonus from my weapon's damage? It doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity? I get to even send him prone? AWESOME! Sign me... oh. Wait, it's a full-round action and requires a BAB of +14. Nevermind.
Elven Spell Lore- A caster level bonus on a capped spell that you will probably already have a +8 out of +10 when you get it fills me with unbridled rage. And the secondary effect? Wow, it's like a rod of energy substitution, but it only works at time of spell preparation and only works for one spell, ever. I can't tell you how much I hate feats that are objectively worse the more you invest into them. This is one of them.
Fade into Violence- Strictly for people who couldn't 'get' Beavis and Butthead because it was too sophisticated. You get to avoid attacks as long as you don't make any attacks ever. Wow, this is almost as cool as the ability of dodging attacks by not being in their threat range, an ability every goddamn character gets before they even pick a class. Only it requires a skill check and doesn't protect you from attack of opportunities. Who's that stupid fucker responsible for this feat and Adaptable Flanker? I bet he fucking jizzed himself when he thought of his Dragon Disciple bard having these two feats.
Fiery Fist- The sad thing is that all monks will pretty much have to take this feat if the DM decides that Amulets of Mighty Fists are the bee's knees. Otherwise, using up a swift action to add 1d6 to your attacks really bites. You could get a wand with a swift spell in it or something and jack up your Use Magic Device check.
Fiery Ki Defense- Like Fiery Fist, but instead of being mandatory for books-light monks it just sucks. Monks aren't durable in the least; dealing out 1d6 worth of the most commonly resisted damage type in the game when you take 20+ hp worth of damage is bad news. I'd rather just boost my AC.
Flay- See Brutal Strike. But you only effectively give all of your friends a +2 bonus to AC against one creature. Me, I wouldn't bother.
Grenadier- If your DM is letting your rogue sneak attack with vials of acid or allowing you to use exploding weapons, you may want this feat in lieu of weapon focus. Or not. Weapon focus lets you qualify for a lot cooler feats and it's still only a feat you'd pick if you ran out of anything else at all.
Hindering Opportunist- Who in their right minds gives up an attack of opportunity so that their friends can get a +2 bonus to AC or attack for one attack against that one opponent? There are feats out there that hand out bigger bonuses that last longer that don't require you to give up precious damage, so what gives assholes?
Indomitable Soul- Your will-light characters need this feat so hard (as it causes them to auto-fail a will save only one out of every 400 rolls and gives them an average roll of 15) but it requires two shitty feats so they won't ever get it. Sadness.
Keen-Eared Scout- Depending on how liberally your DM rules this this feat, it can either be pure suck or pure awesome for your rogues. Best case: you get to determine everything what a creature is carrying if you make skill check. Whether this will allow you to determine which citizens walking through Faerun have +5 shocking shortswords (for later ganking) or something crappy like a peasant is carrying some pennies depends on your campaign.
Ki Blast- Or you could instead get a wand of produce flame at caster level 5 and sex your fists up. It'd probably do more damage considering the level you'd get this feat. I mean, with this feat and a wisdom bonus of +6, dishes out an average of 16.5 damage per rounds. If you could land two ranged touch attacks, one at -5, you'd be able to dish out 15 points of damage. And it wouldn't rob you of move-equivalent actions and you'd end up with more attacks at higher level, too.
Leap of the Heavens- Jump is such a shitty skill in this edition why bother flushing feats to make it work?
Lunging Strike- OR, because you're doing this as a full-round action, you could use the move-equivalent action you'd normally get to move further, giving you a 'reach' of even further than that. I am going to take a dump on *checks the front cover* David Noonan's face.
Lurking Familiar- Regular pockets big enough to hold the familiars in the PHB take up at most 2 square feet of cloth to make; the combined cost of said cloth, a needle, and some thread will cost you 3 coppers at the most. Then you stick your familiar in said pocket. They get cover and concealment, which is the exact goddamn benefit of this feat. So you take this feat and you save exactly three copper coins.
Mad Foam Rager- A feat that increases in value during the Rocket Launcher Tag games high level play becomes. It can produce some rather amusing effects, such as casually walking through a major creation cage of adamantime that an archmage made or surviving the sheer pain the Word will cause you.
Master Manipulator- The regular diplomacy skill gives way bigger benefits than this feat so I don't know why you'd even bother.
Melee Evasion- Who the fuck wants to gamble with their AC like that? It's an immediate action, so the first time someone attacks you you won't know how hardcore their attack bonus is. Then since it's only modified by BAB, it averages out to be a smaller bonus than your AC most of the time. I mean, a 6th level rogue probably has a +1 mithril breastplate and a dexterity bonus of +4 or +5, not counting any additional magical equipment they may have or even shields. This means, since you have the +1 AC from dodge coming into this class, your AC is like 20 or 21. Your touch AC is 15 or 16. Meanwhile, when you use this feat, your regular AC has an 80% chance of being worse than it normally is and you have a 50% chance of having an AC worse than it normally is. Due to the way d20 works, all things being equal, having a low AC is worse than having a high one, especially against multiple foes. The discrepancy gets worse as you gain more levels.
Melee Weapon Mastery- Hey, look at this feat. It comes at the same time or earlier than Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization and hands out a bigger bonus than both feats combined. It also applies to way more weapons. It's a straight-up +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls, which means that it kind of sucks, but is still one of the better options in this book.
Overwhelming Assault- Gosh, a foe that stand still for one whole round that does absolutely nothing about your presence? Some people say that this feat is a joke because a foe that allows himself to be in threat range of a melee enemy for a full round while doing nothing is either a dumbass or already helpless; a +4 bonus isn't going to amount to much. I say that this is some sort of backhanded jab against the role of fighters late game (this feat requires a BAB of +15). As in that sword-based are such a joke that they need some sort of consolation prize for people who think them harmless.
Penetrating Shot- Or you could get that ranged weapon enchantment in Complete Arrow that allow your projectiles to plow through more enemies for more attacks for more damage per arrow and save a feat slot. You need a BAB of +10 to even have this feat so that enchantment is cheap as hell.
Ranged Weapon Mastery- See Melee Weapon Mastery, only it comes with an even bigger benefit than its regular component feats.
Rapid Blitz- By now, you have enough attacks to actually make your spring attack more fearsome than it normally is. It's a great feat, but comes too late in the game to really make a difference. If monks could get this feat at all, their genitals would explode in sheer joy. I know that doesn't make sense, but it's true.
Robilar's Gambit- Like Karmic Strike, but it works when your foe misses so it's even better. Combine it with Elusive Target, Spectral Skirmish, invisibility, whatever. There really isn't a downside to this feat as long as you have a sufficient AC to support it.
Shield Sling- If you can support carrying like 10 shields around, this feat is better than any other ranged tripping option for sword-based characters out there short of taking levels in Master Thrower. However, prone is kind of a sucky status condition to add to ranged attacks, so why bother?
Shield Specialization- There are feats out there that hand out more benefits than +1 to shield AC, so you wouldn't bother unless...
Shield Ward- Natch. Up to a +8 bonus to defend against bull rush and trip attempts that I fail? Sweet.
Short Haft- Look, you dope, if you had a feat to burn on the ability to use your reach weapon at short range, you'd just pick up a spiked chain and be happy. Spiked chains rule and everything else sucks.
Slashing Flurry- You know, I just can't believe how hard it is for fighters to gain an extra attack without resorting to book-diving. It imposes a -5 penalty to your attacks, so it actually kind of blows, but if your attack bonus is high enough you might consider getting it for your two-handed slashing weapon user. The best martial weapons in the game are slashing.
Spectral Skirmisher- Like Robilar's Gambit, only a tiny bit more awesome. This is just the thing for your rogues with rings of blink to have. A strict wording of the feat states that even if creatures like dragons arbitrarily know that you're there then you still get the AoOs. Sexcellent.
Spell-linked Familiar- Wow, when I get this failure of imagination and understanding called a PHBII feat at 9th level... my familiar gets to cast ONE 0-level spell! MY DM WAS SHAKING WITH FURY! HE THREATENED TO KICK ME OUT OF THE GAME IF I ADDED THAT TO MY CHARACTER SHEET. I did anyway but it turned out to be a trick. My party got TPKed so fucking hard it was on the news. Fucking useless David Noonan feats.
Stalwart Defense- I'm against feats that require you to sell actions that you haven't taken yet. You're banking on the fact that you won't get an AoO (and there are a number of feats in this book that grant extra AoOs) to get an extremely minor benefit. It requires Hindering Opportunist, too. As it is, only newbies to the game or 'roleplayers' will pick this feat, as they don't understand what they're gambling. Nice going, you d-bags.
Telling Blow Trophy Collector, Tumbling Feint, Two-Weapon Pounce-I rubbed my sweaty nuts against these pages to punish future generations who give these shitty feats more than a cursory glance.
Two-weapon Rend- It gives quite a bit of extra damage to people who are using the two-weapon fighting style. For rogues with enough strength to burn (or more likely, people polymorphing into firlborgs), it can give anywhere from an extra 9.5 to 20.5 damage. That's actually really good. It's good to the point of making two-weapon fighters almost catch up to two-handed fighters.
Vatic Gaze- Eh. It's a swift action, which spellcasters tend to use more than anyone else. On the other hand, it gives you insight into the amount of pain an enemy spellcaster can bring with minimal effort, bypassing all defenses, without using spells, and without exposing yourself to danger or counter-detection. You apparently can use this feat at any range, which it what gives it any worth at all.
Versatile Unarmed Strike- Oh looky here, a way for monks to take advantage of some of the nice weapon-style feats in this book? Oh, wait, they don't have Weapon Specialization? Sucks to be them. Damage type isn't a big deal in this edition. This should've probably just been a throwaway monk ability.
Vexing Flanker- It's Dual Strike, but with lower prerequisites and a better benefit (you don't need the +3 to BAB nor a friend to take this feat). But really, did anyone take Dual Strike in the previous or this edition? I didn't think so. There's better ways to waste your feats.
Wanderer's Diplomacy- The only possible use you'd have for this feat is if your DM allows you to abuse the shit out of wealth-creation rules; then you get to force items into the game that you want but can't have. If he does allow you to use this feat then I guess this feat has its uses in making your DM come to his senses faster. Otherwise this feat sucks harder than a second level spell and the regular Diplomacy skill.
Water-Splitting Stone- Oh, good, you get to take a feat that reminds you how much it sucks to be a monk. You can only get it at character level 12, minimum, and by then you have your damage reductions. Only you stop getting it against the more common types. Fucking d-bags.
Weapon Supremacy- Holy moley. This feat grants a lot of benefits to a single-classed fighter. Unfortunately, it requires 18 levels of a shitty class and 5 rather crappy feats. As in, after essentially what amounts to 10 levels of advancement, you get a net bonus of +4 to attack and +6 to damage with a chosen weapon. I shouldn't have to tell you how crummy that is. This feat tries to be a nice bonus to a fighter for hanging in there for so long but it's really just icing on the ass-shaped cake. And the cake is a urinal cake.
Next up, I'll review the rest of the feats in this book. Just so you know, this is pretty much as good as the book gets by a long shot. Fuck you for making me do this, gentle reader.
Acrobatic Strike- The only possible reason you'd want to use this feat is if you're using the OA variant where you get to stand up from prone as a free action. And the DM roleplays the monster very, very stupidly. Otherwise, it blows.
Active Shield Defense- With a lot of tomfoolery, such as that feat in Complete Adventurer that makes enemies hate you, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike and/or Robilar's Gambit, you might think that you'd be able to experience a minor net gain in AC. But then you realize that there are feats out there that give you a +2 bonus to armor class and still allow you to make your regular attacks.
Adaptable Flanker- For dumbasses too slipshod to coordinate their attacks in even the most perfunctory manner. C'mon, fuckers, it's a swift action; it doesn't even have any application to you for a battlefield in flux!
Agile Shield Fighter- Work out the math, people. The biggest benefit you'd get is being able to shield bash with a large shield while simultaneously using a longsword. This equals a +1 to damage on your offhand attacks.
Arcane Accompaniment- OR you could use your spell slot to do something that's actually, you know, useful.
Arcane Consumption- If you're playing the teleport ambush game then more power to you. Otherwise, this feat is the suck. It requires arcane toughness and arcane consumption.
Arcane Flourish- This feat seriously makes me laugh. There are spells out there that give you a bonus to the perform skill that last longer than this and are probably bigger than the spell you have. And they're not retarded competence bonuses, too. Remember, the kind you get from magic items?
Arcane Toughness- So imagine that you're a total dumbass that gets a little too excited after reading this feat. Actually, you probably have this read to you by your babysitter. Anyway, you take this feat thinking you're all big and bad. You're all 'oh, look at me, there's a bottom limit of -10 hp and I can use this as an immediate action, EYE ARR INVINCIBLE'. Then you come to the game, get the shit kicked out of you, and then try to use this feat to stop you from dying. Then everyone reminds you that you can't use this fucking feat, because you're unconscious. Then everyone laughs at you and you pee your pants in shame. Serves you right.
Armor Specialization- Might I remind you that you need a BAB of +12 to take this feat and by then you'll probably have some trinket that'll give you this for free? More proof that they didn't playtest this game past 10th level.
Battle Dancer- 'Guess what, Roy, this feat gives me a +2 morale bonus to attacks as long as I keep moving. why, yes, Roy, my bardic music hands out a morale bonus. ... what?' 'Nevermind, Elan.'
Bonded Familiar- If you use this feat to save your life, your familiar dies. Since your life is probably worth more than your familiar's, this seems like a good trade. However, when your familiar dies it uses up experience points. You know what you could do instead? Limited Wish yourself a Stalwart Pact. Or if you took Evocation as a banned school, read it off of a scroll. If your DM will allow this ability to work at all then Stalwart Pact will, too.
Bounding Assault- Nice feat and all, but it really comes way too late in life for the people who would want it to benefit from it. They really should've given this feat to 5th level monks as a bonus feat; that would've made the little bastards hapy.
Brutal Strike- Oh my god as if Frenzied Berserkers and spirited chargers didn't own you hard enough already. Good times, bitches.
Combat Acrobat- Dedicated tripsters will definitely want this feat. It's very nice, especially if you use it with Knockdown from Sword and Fist. Anyone remember that feat?
Combat Familiar- Why the fuck would you want your familiar to deliver touch spells for you? Even if it's marginally effective, you don't want to be known as the kind of chickenshit that would send his pet frog to do the fighting for him. NEXT.
Combat Tactician- I remember when Combat Tactician was SEXY. Like, from Song and Silence. Anyone remember that book? It was pretty much the only bright spot in the entire book. Man, I loved that feat a lot. It was cool and topical and maybe made fighters useful for a couple more combats than they were... oh, this version? Sucks balls, assholes.
Cometary Collision- Most of the time you'll end up sucking when you use this feat; however, if you have pounce and/or a spirited charger, you'll get like a bonus +4 to attack +4 to damage. It might be worth it. Me, I'll pass.
Companion Spellbound- This feat allows you to make a better archer out of your familiar you turned into a gnome. Used for any other purpose, this feat sucks.
Crossbow Sniper- Rogues might really want to consider using this feat. With two gloves of storing and some tomfoolery, you get to sneak attack from 60 feet away (well out of range of most darkvision) and gain a bonus equal to your dexterity. And of course offhand attacks. Go Jet Li on your enemies.
Crushing Blows- If you're a fighter who takes up two-weapon fighting with unarmed strikes and a two-handed weapon (pretty much the only way I can recommend non-rogue TWFing), this can bring quite a bit of pain to your enemies.
Cunning Evasion- Oh, yeah. They made hide shitty in this edition. It's too damn bad, too; I can think of a couple of ways to throw out a bunch of crappy area-effect attacks without using too many actions.
Dampen Spell- Since this is an immediate action, you can throw it on top of your counterspell attempt if you don't roll too good on your Great Dispel Magic roll. But spellcasters don't have that many feat slots to begin with, so why bother? There's Improved Counterspell out there and it'll work much better.
Deadeye Shot- It requires a wad of fairly awesome feats and combines them together for utter crap. Seriously, if you have standard actions to burn, pick up Manyshot. Having one half of Rapid Shot and being 2 BAB from an extra attack to get one sucks balls.
Defensive Sweep- The most hilarious thing about this feat is that you get to make fun of the knuckleheads who took Adaptable flanker. Otherwise it's a fairly good fighter bonus feat. Combine it with Brutal Strike or Stunning Fist for fun for the whole family!
Driving Attack- I get to make a bull-rush attack with a bonus from my weapon's damage? It doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity? I get to even send him prone? AWESOME! Sign me... oh. Wait, it's a full-round action and requires a BAB of +14. Nevermind.
Elven Spell Lore- A caster level bonus on a capped spell that you will probably already have a +8 out of +10 when you get it fills me with unbridled rage. And the secondary effect? Wow, it's like a rod of energy substitution, but it only works at time of spell preparation and only works for one spell, ever. I can't tell you how much I hate feats that are objectively worse the more you invest into them. This is one of them.
Fade into Violence- Strictly for people who couldn't 'get' Beavis and Butthead because it was too sophisticated. You get to avoid attacks as long as you don't make any attacks ever. Wow, this is almost as cool as the ability of dodging attacks by not being in their threat range, an ability every goddamn character gets before they even pick a class. Only it requires a skill check and doesn't protect you from attack of opportunities. Who's that stupid fucker responsible for this feat and Adaptable Flanker? I bet he fucking jizzed himself when he thought of his Dragon Disciple bard having these two feats.
Fiery Fist- The sad thing is that all monks will pretty much have to take this feat if the DM decides that Amulets of Mighty Fists are the bee's knees. Otherwise, using up a swift action to add 1d6 to your attacks really bites. You could get a wand with a swift spell in it or something and jack up your Use Magic Device check.
Fiery Ki Defense- Like Fiery Fist, but instead of being mandatory for books-light monks it just sucks. Monks aren't durable in the least; dealing out 1d6 worth of the most commonly resisted damage type in the game when you take 20+ hp worth of damage is bad news. I'd rather just boost my AC.
Flay- See Brutal Strike. But you only effectively give all of your friends a +2 bonus to AC against one creature. Me, I wouldn't bother.
Grenadier- If your DM is letting your rogue sneak attack with vials of acid or allowing you to use exploding weapons, you may want this feat in lieu of weapon focus. Or not. Weapon focus lets you qualify for a lot cooler feats and it's still only a feat you'd pick if you ran out of anything else at all.
Hindering Opportunist- Who in their right minds gives up an attack of opportunity so that their friends can get a +2 bonus to AC or attack for one attack against that one opponent? There are feats out there that hand out bigger bonuses that last longer that don't require you to give up precious damage, so what gives assholes?
Indomitable Soul- Your will-light characters need this feat so hard (as it causes them to auto-fail a will save only one out of every 400 rolls and gives them an average roll of 15) but it requires two shitty feats so they won't ever get it. Sadness.
Keen-Eared Scout- Depending on how liberally your DM rules this this feat, it can either be pure suck or pure awesome for your rogues. Best case: you get to determine everything what a creature is carrying if you make skill check. Whether this will allow you to determine which citizens walking through Faerun have +5 shocking shortswords (for later ganking) or something crappy like a peasant is carrying some pennies depends on your campaign.
Ki Blast- Or you could instead get a wand of produce flame at caster level 5 and sex your fists up. It'd probably do more damage considering the level you'd get this feat. I mean, with this feat and a wisdom bonus of +6, dishes out an average of 16.5 damage per rounds. If you could land two ranged touch attacks, one at -5, you'd be able to dish out 15 points of damage. And it wouldn't rob you of move-equivalent actions and you'd end up with more attacks at higher level, too.
Leap of the Heavens- Jump is such a shitty skill in this edition why bother flushing feats to make it work?
Lunging Strike- OR, because you're doing this as a full-round action, you could use the move-equivalent action you'd normally get to move further, giving you a 'reach' of even further than that. I am going to take a dump on *checks the front cover* David Noonan's face.
Lurking Familiar- Regular pockets big enough to hold the familiars in the PHB take up at most 2 square feet of cloth to make; the combined cost of said cloth, a needle, and some thread will cost you 3 coppers at the most. Then you stick your familiar in said pocket. They get cover and concealment, which is the exact goddamn benefit of this feat. So you take this feat and you save exactly three copper coins.
Mad Foam Rager- A feat that increases in value during the Rocket Launcher Tag games high level play becomes. It can produce some rather amusing effects, such as casually walking through a major creation cage of adamantime that an archmage made or surviving the sheer pain the Word will cause you.
Master Manipulator- The regular diplomacy skill gives way bigger benefits than this feat so I don't know why you'd even bother.
Melee Evasion- Who the fuck wants to gamble with their AC like that? It's an immediate action, so the first time someone attacks you you won't know how hardcore their attack bonus is. Then since it's only modified by BAB, it averages out to be a smaller bonus than your AC most of the time. I mean, a 6th level rogue probably has a +1 mithril breastplate and a dexterity bonus of +4 or +5, not counting any additional magical equipment they may have or even shields. This means, since you have the +1 AC from dodge coming into this class, your AC is like 20 or 21. Your touch AC is 15 or 16. Meanwhile, when you use this feat, your regular AC has an 80% chance of being worse than it normally is and you have a 50% chance of having an AC worse than it normally is. Due to the way d20 works, all things being equal, having a low AC is worse than having a high one, especially against multiple foes. The discrepancy gets worse as you gain more levels.
Melee Weapon Mastery- Hey, look at this feat. It comes at the same time or earlier than Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization and hands out a bigger bonus than both feats combined. It also applies to way more weapons. It's a straight-up +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls, which means that it kind of sucks, but is still one of the better options in this book.
Overwhelming Assault- Gosh, a foe that stand still for one whole round that does absolutely nothing about your presence? Some people say that this feat is a joke because a foe that allows himself to be in threat range of a melee enemy for a full round while doing nothing is either a dumbass or already helpless; a +4 bonus isn't going to amount to much. I say that this is some sort of backhanded jab against the role of fighters late game (this feat requires a BAB of +15). As in that sword-based are such a joke that they need some sort of consolation prize for people who think them harmless.
Penetrating Shot- Or you could get that ranged weapon enchantment in Complete Arrow that allow your projectiles to plow through more enemies for more attacks for more damage per arrow and save a feat slot. You need a BAB of +10 to even have this feat so that enchantment is cheap as hell.
Ranged Weapon Mastery- See Melee Weapon Mastery, only it comes with an even bigger benefit than its regular component feats.
Rapid Blitz- By now, you have enough attacks to actually make your spring attack more fearsome than it normally is. It's a great feat, but comes too late in the game to really make a difference. If monks could get this feat at all, their genitals would explode in sheer joy. I know that doesn't make sense, but it's true.
Robilar's Gambit- Like Karmic Strike, but it works when your foe misses so it's even better. Combine it with Elusive Target, Spectral Skirmish, invisibility, whatever. There really isn't a downside to this feat as long as you have a sufficient AC to support it.
Shield Sling- If you can support carrying like 10 shields around, this feat is better than any other ranged tripping option for sword-based characters out there short of taking levels in Master Thrower. However, prone is kind of a sucky status condition to add to ranged attacks, so why bother?
Shield Specialization- There are feats out there that hand out more benefits than +1 to shield AC, so you wouldn't bother unless...
Shield Ward- Natch. Up to a +8 bonus to defend against bull rush and trip attempts that I fail? Sweet.
Short Haft- Look, you dope, if you had a feat to burn on the ability to use your reach weapon at short range, you'd just pick up a spiked chain and be happy. Spiked chains rule and everything else sucks.
Slashing Flurry- You know, I just can't believe how hard it is for fighters to gain an extra attack without resorting to book-diving. It imposes a -5 penalty to your attacks, so it actually kind of blows, but if your attack bonus is high enough you might consider getting it for your two-handed slashing weapon user. The best martial weapons in the game are slashing.
Spectral Skirmisher- Like Robilar's Gambit, only a tiny bit more awesome. This is just the thing for your rogues with rings of blink to have. A strict wording of the feat states that even if creatures like dragons arbitrarily know that you're there then you still get the AoOs. Sexcellent.
Spell-linked Familiar- Wow, when I get this failure of imagination and understanding called a PHBII feat at 9th level... my familiar gets to cast ONE 0-level spell! MY DM WAS SHAKING WITH FURY! HE THREATENED TO KICK ME OUT OF THE GAME IF I ADDED THAT TO MY CHARACTER SHEET. I did anyway but it turned out to be a trick. My party got TPKed so fucking hard it was on the news. Fucking useless David Noonan feats.
Stalwart Defense- I'm against feats that require you to sell actions that you haven't taken yet. You're banking on the fact that you won't get an AoO (and there are a number of feats in this book that grant extra AoOs) to get an extremely minor benefit. It requires Hindering Opportunist, too. As it is, only newbies to the game or 'roleplayers' will pick this feat, as they don't understand what they're gambling. Nice going, you d-bags.
Telling Blow Trophy Collector, Tumbling Feint, Two-Weapon Pounce-I rubbed my sweaty nuts against these pages to punish future generations who give these shitty feats more than a cursory glance.
Two-weapon Rend- It gives quite a bit of extra damage to people who are using the two-weapon fighting style. For rogues with enough strength to burn (or more likely, people polymorphing into firlborgs), it can give anywhere from an extra 9.5 to 20.5 damage. That's actually really good. It's good to the point of making two-weapon fighters almost catch up to two-handed fighters.
Vatic Gaze- Eh. It's a swift action, which spellcasters tend to use more than anyone else. On the other hand, it gives you insight into the amount of pain an enemy spellcaster can bring with minimal effort, bypassing all defenses, without using spells, and without exposing yourself to danger or counter-detection. You apparently can use this feat at any range, which it what gives it any worth at all.
Versatile Unarmed Strike- Oh looky here, a way for monks to take advantage of some of the nice weapon-style feats in this book? Oh, wait, they don't have Weapon Specialization? Sucks to be them. Damage type isn't a big deal in this edition. This should've probably just been a throwaway monk ability.
Vexing Flanker- It's Dual Strike, but with lower prerequisites and a better benefit (you don't need the +3 to BAB nor a friend to take this feat). But really, did anyone take Dual Strike in the previous or this edition? I didn't think so. There's better ways to waste your feats.
Wanderer's Diplomacy- The only possible use you'd have for this feat is if your DM allows you to abuse the shit out of wealth-creation rules; then you get to force items into the game that you want but can't have. If he does allow you to use this feat then I guess this feat has its uses in making your DM come to his senses faster. Otherwise this feat sucks harder than a second level spell and the regular Diplomacy skill.
Water-Splitting Stone- Oh, good, you get to take a feat that reminds you how much it sucks to be a monk. You can only get it at character level 12, minimum, and by then you have your damage reductions. Only you stop getting it against the more common types. Fucking d-bags.
Weapon Supremacy- Holy moley. This feat grants a lot of benefits to a single-classed fighter. Unfortunately, it requires 18 levels of a shitty class and 5 rather crappy feats. As in, after essentially what amounts to 10 levels of advancement, you get a net bonus of +4 to attack and +6 to damage with a chosen weapon. I shouldn't have to tell you how crummy that is. This feat tries to be a nice bonus to a fighter for hanging in there for so long but it's really just icing on the ass-shaped cake. And the cake is a urinal cake.
Next up, I'll review the rest of the feats in this book. Just so you know, this is pretty much as good as the book gets by a long shot. Fuck you for making me do this, gentle reader.