feat-creator

name: feat-creator description: > Create complete custom feats for D&D 5e 2024, formatted to match the 2024 Player's Handbook style. Covers all four feat categories: Origin feats (level 1, no prerequisite, no ASI), General feats (level 4+, +1 Ability Score Increase included — the 2024 half-feat structure), Fighting Style feats (Fighting Style feature prerequisite), and Epic Boons (level 19+, ASI up to 30). Each feat ships with a PHB-format entry (name, category, prerequisite, repeatable flag, named benefits), calibration against named official feats, a lore paragraph and 1–2 plot hooks. Produces ONE feat per call or a small thematic set of 2–4 linked feats (e.g. a knightly order chain: 1 Origin + 2 General + 1 Epic Boon). Use on "crée un don", "create a feat", "custom feat", "homebrew feat", "origin feat custom", "epic boon for my barbarian", "half-feat homebrew", "feat chain", "don pour mon paladin", "fighting style homebrew", "feat for my campaign", "balance this feat idea". Boundary: class and subclass features (Eldritch Invocations, Battle Master maneuvers, Metamagic, monk techniques) are NOT feats — out of scope. Backgrounds referencing an Origin feat are built by the backgrounds skill; when that background needs a CUSTOM Origin feat, this skill is the authority. Spells use spell-creator; magic items use magic-item-creator; validating an existing supplement uses ttrpg-supplement-reviewer. Targets 2024 rules only.

Feat Creator

Create publication-ready custom feats for D&D 5e (2024 rules), formatted to match the 2024 Player's Handbook style. The output is what a publisher's mechanical designer would deliver for a player-options supplement, a campaign primer, or an adventure's signature reward.

The skill is mechanical and narrative: category discipline and calibration against named official feats are non-negotiable, but a feat without an identity, an origin, and a notable practitioner is just a stat bump with a label.

Scope and Boundary

This skill covers standard 5e 2024 feats across all four categories.

Boundary with backgrounds: that skill builds complete backgrounds, which reference an Origin feat. When the background calls for a custom Origin feat, this skill designs the feat (mechanics, calibration, lore); the background then references it by name.

Boundary with monster design: creature abilities are never feats — use monster-creator.

Before You Begin

Five things to settle before designing:

1. Concept. What is this feat about? "The reflexes of someone who grew up dodging dockside cranes" beats "a Dexterity feat." Without a concept, you build a stat bump.

2. Category. The category fixes the template, the access point, and the power band:

   Category	Access	ASI	Power position
   Origin	Level 1, via background	none	Floor — never must-pick
   General	Level 4+ feat slots	+1 (max 20)	The homebrew reference
   Fighting Style	Fighting Style feature	none	Narrow, combat-only
   Epic Boon	Level 19+	+1 (max 30)	Capstone, rule-breaking

   Load references/feat-categories-2024.md for the full anatomy of each category, official examples dissected, and the routing decision tree when a concept straddles two categories.

3. Prerequisites. Only for General feats (level, ability score 13+, class feature, or training) and the fixed gates of Fighting Style / Epic Boon. A prerequisite must gate something real — see references/balance-and-anti-patterns.md.

4. Power budget. Which 2–3 official feats occupy the nearest niche? If you cannot name them, the category is probably wrong. Load references/power-budgets-and-benchmarks.md for floor/ceiling benchmarks per category and quantified effect costs.

5. Identity hook. The one thing that makes this feat itself and not interchangeable with an official feat of the same niche. The hook is usually in the trigger condition, the secondary effect, or the narrative texture — not in bigger numbers.

If any of these is unclear, ask before designing. In non-interactive contexts (batch generation, orchestrated calls), state your assumptions explicitly in the deliverable and proceed.

The Six-Step Creation Workflow

Every feat passes through these steps. Output assembles them into a PHB-style entry.

Step 1 — Concept and Name

• Name. Distinctive, evocative, not generic. "Lanternbearer's Vigil" beats "Improved Alertness." Epic Boons follow the official naming scheme: "Boon of [the] X."
• One-sentence identity. Write it before any mechanics: "the feat for characters who [fantasy]." Every benefit must serve this sentence.
• Avoid names that collide with official feats or imply a different category (don't name an Origin feat "Boon of…").

Step 2 — Category and Prerequisites

• Confirm the category against the decision tree in references/feat-categories-2024.md, then apply its header template exactly:
  • *Origin Feat*
  • *General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+[, …])*
  • *Fighting Style Feat (Prerequisite: Fighting Style Feature)*
  • *Epic Boon Feat (Prerequisite: Level 19+[, …])*
• General feats: pick the ASI's short thematic list (1–3 scores).
• Add at most one substantive prerequisite beyond the level gate, and only if it shapes who benefits.

Step 3 — Mechanical Design

• 2–3 named benefits maximum — not counting the Ability Score Increase — and exactly one signature. The signature is the benefit the player will tell stories about; the others are support. All benefits serve the Step 1 identity sentence — a grab bag is a design failure.
• Build from the bricks in references/feat-effect-library.md: resource patterns (once per turn / 1 per Long Rest / PB per Long Rest / recharge), combat riders, exploration and social bricks, the Magic Initiate and Fey-Touched chassis for spell-granting feats.
• Action economy is the danger zone. Bonus Action attacks need a trigger (crit or kill — the Great Weapon Master pattern). Extra Reactions or extra turns: never below Epic Boon.

Step 4 — Calibration

Run the 5-step protocol from references/power-budgets-and-benchmarks.md:

1. Name 2–3 official feats of the same category and niche.
2. Compare benefit by benefit (stronger / equal / weaker) in a table.
3. Stronger on every axis → nerf (condition, once-per-turn, PB scaling).
4. Weaker on every axis → buff or narrow the niche.
5. Write the one-line verdict: "Comparable to X, narrower than Y."

Then run the stacking audit and the anti-pattern scan from references/balance-and-anti-patterns.md — must-pick and trap-option tests, the 10-point catalog, and the final checklist. A feat that fails any Critical check goes back to Step 3.

Step 5 — PHB 2024 Text

Write the entry in the official format:

#### Feat Name
*General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+, Strength 13+)*

You gain the following benefits.

**Ability Score Increase.** Increase your Strength or Constitution
score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

**Named Benefit.** Benefit text.

**Repeatable.** (only if menu-shaped) You can take this feat more than
once, but you must choose a different [option] each time.

Vocabulary rules (2024 only):

• Capitalized game terms: Advantage, Disadvantage, Heroic Inspiration, Long Rest, Short Rest, Speed, the conditions (Prone, Grappled…), action names (the Attack action, the Dash action, Bonus Action, Reaction).
• Resource phrasing: "a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest."
• Banned 2014 syntax: "racial traits," uncapitalized advantage/disadvantage, "−5 to hit / +10 damage" mechanics, "one skill of your choice from your class list."

Step 6 — Lore and Plot Hooks

• Origin paragraph (3–6 sentences). Where does this training, blessing, or knack come from? Who teaches it, what does practicing it look like, what does it cost?
• Notable practitioner. One named NPC (or order, or lineage) known for it — usable as patron, rival, or corpse.
• 1–2 plot hooks tied to the origin or the practitioner. A feat is also an adventure seed: someone wants this technique taught, suppressed, or avenged.

Output Format

Deliver each feat as:

#### [Feat Name]
*[Category Feat (Prerequisite: …)]*

[PHB-format benefits, per Step 5]

---

**Design Notes** *(GM-facing)*
- **Calibration:** [one-line verdict naming the 2–3 reference feats;
  add the benefit-by-benefit comparison table only when the design is
  contested or the feat sits near a category ceiling — otherwise the
  table stays internal]
- **Watch for:** [any table-level interaction worth flagging, or "nothing unusual"]

**Origin.** [lore paragraph + notable practitioner]

**Hooks.**
1. [hook]
2. [hook]

The Design Notes block is what separates a publishable feat from a forum post — never omit the calibration verdict.

Thematic Set Mode (2–4 feats)

When the request is a linked set (a knightly order's training path, a dragon cult's gifts, a campaign's regional feats):

• One shared mechanical theme expressed differently per category — use the scaling ladder in references/feat-effect-library.md (Origin → General: add ASI, remove a restriction; General → Epic Boon: remove the limit, make it permanent).
• Naming coherence. A shared lexical root or formula ("Vigil of…", "…of the Ember Court") so the set reads as one tradition.
• Progression, not repetition. The General feat should make the Origin feat's owner feel continuity, not obsolescence — upgrade the same fantasy.
• Intra-set stacking audit. A character may legally hold the whole set by level 19. Run the stacking audit on the combination, not just each feat alone.
• Shared lore: one origin paragraph for the tradition, then 1–2 lines per feat, and hooks that chain across the set.

Common Requests