Feats: Capable, Destined, & Doomed (Updated)
Artwork Credit: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6b4VaV
Have you ever wanted to play a character powered by their own death flags? What about a character with a unique, destiny-driven backstory? Maybe both at the same time? Today's preview of three feats from Legends of Prestige & Prowess, the upcoming final D&D Unleashed compendium, includes two feats that have been previewed before and one that is brand new. The brand new feat, Capable, is a generic feat designed as a half-feat to compliment existing Dungeons and Dragons 5e feats such as Skilled. The other two, Doomed and Destined, have seen updates since their first previewing that change, improve, and streamline their function.
The Destined feat is designed as an option to add extreme narrative weight to a character's backstory and help them feel like they are an important part of the story, no matter what is happening. Without altering the way a character fights, this feat allows you to build a character with a complicated and multifaceted backstory that is almost guaranteed to come up in any campaign story. Previously, the feat had one section that mimicked the effects of the Lucky feat, but that has been updated to the new d4-style of roll-boosting to match general 5e design and to balance the feat well.
The Doomed feat, on the other hand, has been cleaned up and made to match the style of 5e better. Previously, this feat directly referenced and used the rules for the Lucky feat. Just like with Destined, this part of the feat has been updated. Now it allows you to choose one full feat and one ability score improvement or two feats of your choice. This way the feat can't increase your ability scores more than a regular Ability Score Improvement. Doomed was intended to function as a sort of "anti-feat" -- a feat that grants you the benefits of an Ability Score Improvement and an extra feat, but at the cost of a major downside.
There are all sorts of characters in fiction who feel more powerful than they should be -- and end up dying early to accommodate the narrative as a result. These characters usually carry symbolism and foreshadowing that indicates their unlikeliness to survive the whole story, often called Death Flags. Characters like-- well, we could make a list of characters with notable death flags who don't survive their whole story, but that would be nothing more than a parade of spoilers. We know you already have some favorites in mind when the topic comes up! With the Doomed feat, you can play such a character, reveling in the extra power afforded by your doomed nature while enjoying the "death flag"-style foreshadowing that you and your DM are able to perform.
Doomed characters are excellent choices for temporary characters or for one-shot adventurers. Destined characters are ideal for anyone who wants to feel connected to the roleplaying of their game and utilize their backstory as often as possible. You can even combine them, taking Destined as your free feat granted by Doomed. With both of these feats combined, you can build a character who is sure to leave a lasting impact on your narrative, burning bright before inevitably being snuffed out.
