Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Enhanced Edition Feats and Feat Chains Guide

• WHO is this guide for?
  • Newcomers to Pathfinder 1e (video game adaptation) who are kinda confused and want to know what feats make sense for their characters–and WHY those feats make sense.
• QUOI is this guide?
  • A list of feats and feat chains that work well for certain builds, with an explanation of why they are useful.
• POURQUOI read this guide?
  • Vous obtenez 10 feats on your character (unless you have bonus feats). That isn’t enough to waste slots of Feats that underperform, and Pathfinder 1e has bad feats (trap options) that should be avoided. However the huge number of feat options can be overwhelming for players unused to the system.

• NOTE: In this guide we refer to related feats that serve as prerequisites for one another and feed off one another as “feat chains”.
• NOTE: It is important to plan ahead, because some feats have requirements before you can take them. Toi’ll need to look up the prerequisites elsewhere (suggested: the Wrath of the Righteous Wiki).
  • A titre d'exemple, the feat “Focus d'arme” offers a meager +1 bonus to attack rolls, but is a prerequisite for a number of other feats.
  • Cornugon Smash, on the other hand requires not just the Feat “Attaque électrique”, mais aussi 6 ranks in the Persuasion skill, so if you waited until level 6 to get it but didn’t apply skill ranks appropriately, toi’ll have to wait still longer.
• NOTE: Some common terminology will be used here. UN ”feat tax” is an otherwise mediocre-or-poor feat that is required to get into better feats later on, famously Weapon Focus is one of these. ”BAB” is an acronym for “Base Attack Bonus”, a modifier that is added to your attack rolls as the character levels up. Different classes have different BAB progression, known as Full-BAB, 3/4 BAB, et 1/2 BAB. Typiquement, combat specialists are full or (la plupart) 3/4 BAB classes.
• NOTE: If a feat doesn’t appear here it doesn’t automatically mean it is mauvais (though lots are), it may instead mean it was too situational to include, and this is a beginner guide. Mounted combat feats can be good, but should only be considered for mounted characters. Monk feats can be good, but are largely only useful to Monks. You get the idea.

Combat specialists (mêlée ou à distance) are the characters that lean furthest into feats and feat chain selections, defining what they will do by their feats. A Fighter or Rogue with strong feat selections isn’t as “spiky” as a spellcaster, but can operate near that level of damage-per-turn in combat. Et, in contrast to spellcasters, combat specialists can do what they do all adventuring day long–ou, at least they can once they have a few levels to specialize.

D'autre part, a combat specialist with poor feat selections will not be able to hit or damage late game enemies, much less hold their own with spellcasters.

NOTE:Due to character limits, this portion of the guide covers multiple sections. Désolé.

• WHO should consider this feat?
  • Melee combatants using STR (Attaque électrique)
  • Finesse-weapon DEX melee combatants (Piranha Strike)
  • Ranged combatants using DEX and STR (Deadly Aim)
• QUOI does this feat do?
  • Trades a scaling small penalty to the attack roll for a scaling boost to damage.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Combat specialists have high enough BAB that they can easily trade the penalties to reliably do increased damage. Without the increased damage, tu as gagné’t be able to compete with high-level damage spells. Avec ça, you can compete all day long.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • All ranged combat specialists. Sérieusement, if you plan to primarily bow and arrow you need every one of these feats.
• QUOI do these feat chains do?
  • Tir vide de point (PBS) and Precise Shot let you reduce penalties to hit. Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot, and Manyshot let you improve your damage.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Without PBS and Precise Shot you won’t hit often with a bow. Without Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot, and Manyshot you won’t hurt the enemy much when you do hit. Take every feat listed here.
  • NOTE: Why should you bow over crossbow? Composite bows let you add your STR modifier to damage, crossbows don’t. Damage is what you do. More damage is more better.
  • NOTE: these feats are necessary for bow/crossbow combatants BUT your mages that happen to have a crossbow likely won’t take them because they need feats for spellcasting and feats for not-dying.
  • NOTE: il y a “improved” versions of some of these feats but improved ones are meh and optional, unlike the core feats listed here. The mythic versions are worthwhile, cependant.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Critical Hit focused builds.
  • NOTE: These builds should always use one of a few weapons that natively have an expanded Critical Threat Range (values which count as a Critical Hit other than the default 20). 18-20 threat range weapons are highly recommended for any crit-focused build, ce sont:
    • Elven Curve Blade
    • Estoc
    • Fauchon
    • Fauchard
    • Kukri
    • Rapière
    • Cimeterre
  • NOTE: (continued) 19-20 threat range weapons aren’t as strong but can also be used. Ce sont:
    • Bardique
    • Épée salaud
    • Poignard
    • Double Swords
    • Dueling Sword
    • Falcata
    • Espadon
    • Heavy Crossbow
    • Heavy Flail
    • Light Crossbow
    • Épée longue
    • Shortsword
    • Tongi
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Allows you to stick a free(!) debuff on a target if you confirm a Critical Hit (meaning after you “threatened” a Critical hit by rolling an 18-20 you rolled again and beat the AC of the enemy). Depending on the feat(s) you take, you get to stack Fatigued (-2 to STR and DEX), Exhausted (-6 to STR and DEX), Sickened (-2 to attacks, damage and saves), or Staggered (can only take one action per turn) sur un adversaire. Those are bad-to-crippling conditions, and unless the enemy is immune to the condition, ils volonté appliquer, ils ne le font pas’t even allow a save (except for Staggering Critical which does allow a save to reduce the duration; but the debuff is so awful they will probably be dead by the time it wears off).
  • NOTE: Pourquoi est-ce que’t Blinding Critical on the list? Lots of monsters are immune to it (extra eyes or non-visual perception), il’s easy to remove (fire/regen being notably common), and it allows a Fortitude save to reduce the debuff from Blinded to Dazzled. Not good, you need to pass on that.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Toi’re stacking free(!) debuffs for doing what you do, which is Critical Hit.
  • NOTE: Amélioration de la critique will double your threat range from 18-20 à 16-20, donc toi’ll be critting. Tous. Le. Temps. Que est why you took one of the 18-20 weapons in the first place, droite? Note though, that the feat doesn’t stack with the Passionné property so if you do have such a weapon, il’s a wasted feat. Personnellement, je’d take it for flexibility in being able to equip any weapon of the type, regardless of properties. This is especially notable for named variants of the weapon, which often lack the Passionné weapon property, such as any named Scimitar in Wrath of the Righteous.
  • NOTE: The Magus loves this chain with Amélioration de la critique. Laugh as the few enemies that don’t immediately explode from your Critical Shocking Grasp are too debilitated to do anything on their turn.
  • NOTE: Normally you can only apply one of the critical feats at a time. toutefois, if you can access Fighter feats (some classes other than Fighter, for example the Cavalier, can get them as bonus Combat Feats), Maîtrise critique is also great to have since you get to add another critical feat to simultaneously use and stack yet more free debuffs on your crit-focused combat character. For example your Falchion-wielding fighter might Exhaust et Sicken an enemy every time they confirm a critical. Que’c'est vraiment, vraiment bien.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Melee fighters, especially DEX melee fighters.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Greatly increases the number of Attacks of Opportunity you can make as long as your DEX modifier is decent to good. Even a +1 modifier from DEX is still a 100% augmenter.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Attacks of Opportunity are triggered when an enemy chooses bouger, bien sûr. But if you have a combat maneuver specialist (or certain spells) tu peux force mouvement (and AoO).
    • If for example your Wolf companion Trip specialist knocks them down and they stand, you forced an AoO .
    • If in another example, your spellcaster successfully cast Battering Blast and the free Bull Rush attempt is successful, you forced an AoO.
  • You can also get extras if you are using Outflank (Travail d'équipe) whenever crits are rolled.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Characters who benefit from sneak attack damage (mêlée ou à distance).
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Once you hit a Shaken enemy during your turn, they are flat-footed against you for the rest of the turn—and flat footed lets you add sneak attack damage. Sneak Attack is a énorme boost to damage per turn.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • By the time you can take Shatter Defenses, you have enough BAB for a second attack, which is just ok at that time. This feat chain really blossoms later on however, when you have lots of extra attacks. It is particularly potent for ranged sneak-attackers who will get to full attack (attack the maximum amount of times with no movement) more often than moving melee-users, et alors add the extra attack from Rapid Shot.
  • NOTE: Bow-wielding Slayers in particular love this chain, with a larger BAB than Rogues they get another attack, and the Studied Target: Swift Action ability means they can still full attack after improving their to-hit. Slayers can add Sneak Attack damage to almost every attack if they are paired with a melee monster who has the Dreadful Carnage chain.
  • NOTE: You really need to be targeting enemies who are already shaken if you want to maximize damage. Therefore this chain should be paired with a teammate who can apply shaken for free, as with the Cornugon Smash or Dreadful Carnage chains.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Melee combatants with high CHA, notably Paladins.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Allows you to add a free(!) demoralize attempt whenever your Power Attack does damage.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Adding free actions onto your turn is great. The Shaken state is kind of decent, imposing a -2 to most things. toutefois, this is free(!) and it lets you demoralize a single enemy and then gib them with the sneak attackers that have the Shatter Defenses chain.
  • NOTE: Vous ne’t avoir to use someone with high CHA for this: if you also take the feat Intimidating Prowess (which adds the STR modifier that you’ll have anyway). But honestly, maximizing the number of skill ranks you put into Persuasion is probably more important than a +3 ou +4 bonus from CHA or STR anyhow. If you have extra feats, then go ahead.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Melee combatants who will kill enemies, especially combatants with high CHA like Paladins.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • This allows you to make a free(!) demoralize attempt on tous enemies within 30ft of your character any time they reduce an enemy to 0HP.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • This is the big brother of the Cornugon Smash chain. While Shaken on its own is only an ok debuff (imposing -2 to most things) combined with the Shatter Defenses feat on someone with sneak attack damage, this will crowd control for days. And the attempted demoralize is free, alors pourquoi pas.
  • NOTE: if you take this feat chain, remember that Dazzling Display also requires the Weapon Focus feat tax.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • 2H (two-handed) weapon specialists with reach weapons including:
    • Bardique
    • Fauchard
    • Glaive
    • Longspear
  • NOTE: The Longspear is considered a “Lance” if you were confused by the ambiguous terminology in the Cavalier class descriptions.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Lets you get into a crowd of mooks and hit them all, devastating if not completely destroying the whole crowd
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • There are two general types of encounter in most RPGs, a single heavy that outclasses any individual on your team, or crowds of weenies that you have to eliminate. This feat chain will auto-win the weenie encounters.
  • NOTE: This chain is particularly strong on Cavaliers (or other mounted+reach combatants) that also took the Spirited Charge feat. They charge into melee, Full Attack (since the mount was the character that used the movement), double damage from Spirited Charge and spread it around with Cleaving Finish once the primary target dies. Fais-moi confiance, try this and see what Cleave was always meant to be.
  • NOTE: Some people feel that you can stop at Cleaving Finish if you are feat-starved. I disagree, I think that if you are committed you should commit all the way. But if you are going to stop, do stop there. Great Cleave is merely a feat tax when considered on its own, because you are going to be Full-Attacking, not spending a standard action on Cleave or Great Cleave.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Full BAB classes that like the flavor of wielding two weapons.
  • NOTE: Si tu’je fais ça, toi’re doing it for flavor. Mechanically, 2W fighting does less damage than fighting with a 2H weapon (two-handed weapon), et 2H weapons don’t need as many feats to use, pretty much just requiring Power Attack.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Lets you use two weapons without crushing penalties to your to-hit and damage.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Bien, as the note above says this is mechanically weaker than using a 2H weapon but sometimes you just gotta use a cool idea. You really should make sure you use a full-BAB class for this or you’ll miss most of the time, cependant. Say no to 2W Rogues! Sneak Attack doesn’t add damage if you missed.
  • NOTE: An interesting variant of the 2W combatant is the 1H Weapon & Shield Fighter-or-Ranger who adds the Shield Bash, Shield Master, and Bashing Finish feats into the mix. This keeps your AC (Classe d'armure) high and also mitigates attack penalties. These characters can stand in a crowd and resist some hits while dishing out damage. But really only Fighters or Rangers can afford this because it needs so many feats it really has to use some bonus feats, and even with bonus feats it still takes a while to get enough of them to become effective, according to my planned character it’niveau 9 before this gets good.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • DEX melee fighters.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • DEX fighters complain that they are missing out on 2 à 3 extra damage per attack because they have to add their crappy STR modifier instead of their great DEX modifier. These let you add DEX instead of STR on your attempts to hit and to your damage.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • A bonus to-hit of +2/+3 (or more late game when your modifiers continue to increase) to every attack is non-trivial. The extra damage is just incremental, in my opinion though. The chain isn’t sexy, but it does do work.
  • NOTE: Very rarely are you going to need to count a slashing weapon as a piercing weapon, as Slashing Grace allows you to. But if you need it, il’s there so hey. Also note there aren’t any feats adding damage to bludgeoning weapons, but really slashing and piercing is enough. Your idea for a club-wielding Duelist was silly anyway and you know it.

Spellcasters are usually defined by two attributes: (1) whether they are spontaneous or prepared casters (laisser’s ignore the Arcanist class please), et (2) which spell list they can choose from. They further specialize based on the spells they add to their list of spells known.

Par conséquent, this feat list is a lot shorter because these characters are defined by their spells (and method of casting) rather than by the feats and chains that may modify these spells.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Spellcasters who want to cast spells on enemies with spell resistance, such as demons and devils (there are many in Wrath of the Righteous).
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Helps you overcome spell resistance.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • If you fail to overcome spell resistance, you wasted a turn. That is bad. Bad enough to warrant one or two feats trying to prevent it, En fait.
  • NOTE: If you are playing a different game with less spell resistant enemies (c'est à dire. fewer demons/devils) this becomes a much much weaker chain.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Spellcasters who primarily summon minions. Likely classes include but aren’t limited to:
    • Druids
    • Cleric necromancers
    • Sorcerers
    • Bardes
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Dramatically upgrades your summoned minions with a better melee to-hit and damage (via the STR modifier) and more health (via the CON modifier).
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Minions mean more actions per turn, even though you don’t control them directly in the video game adaptations. No matter how high a level you are, you still get one move action and one standard action per turn. Unless you have, dire, three skeletons. Then you have four move actions and four standard actions per turn. MAIS! You say, the skeletons are sucky, they are just distractions. Bien, this feat chain makes those minion actions more worthwhile. This is even stronger than an animal companion.
  • NOTE: Assuming you are a spontaneous caster, you can use the Metamagic (Étendre) feat to make your summoned minions last longer in exchange for a longer cast time (as opposed to a prepared caster who has to use a higher level spell slot). You should be casting summons outside of combat anyway, so a slower cast time doesn’t do much to hurt you, but the benefits of an extended summon are great.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Prepared “blaster” casters who want to increase damage on spells.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Multiplies damage by 1.5X the rolled value. This is numerically superior to the Metamagic (Maximize) feat and boosts the spell level by less.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • You made a blaster because you like damage spells. This increases damage. (P.S.A. even a blaster caster should have buffs, débuffs, and utility spells in addition to their damage)
  • NOTE: Spontaneous casters can still use Empower, but really only while they have a rod that adds the Metamagic (Quicken) to their spells. Otherwise it takes too long for the casting time to be practical.
  • NOTE: Metamagic (Maximize) is terrible due to the higher opportunity cost (additional spell level) and the worse damage compared to Empower. But if you have a rod of Maximize in addition to your Empower feat, then you can really do some damage.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Spellcasters who want to cast two spells in one turn.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Converts a standard or full action spell into a swift action so you can spend the standard action on a different spell. Comes at a steep cost, pourtant: the spell level is increased by 4.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • je’Sois honnête, Je n'en ai pas’t like this feat, even with the ability to cast two spells in a turn. The opportunity cost of consuming a spell slot four(!) levels higher–just so I don’t have to wait a turn to cast the next spell–stinks to me.
  • NOTE: Je n'en ai pas’t like the feat. toutefois, metamagic rods that apply quicken let you do what you want (cast more spells) and the opportunity cost is drastically reduced from the default of penalizing your spell slots to taking one of your inventory belt spots. Metamagic rods of quicken are great.

Bien, there are a few feats that you can stick in

siyou already got the essential build feats and it’s late game. Or if you are playing a class that doesn’t have essential build feats (lire: spellcasters).

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Characters who dislike having 0 HP.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Adds extra character HP.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Je sais, I know +3HP and then +1 for each die size per level after 3 sounds sucky (this translates to +1 par niveau, Je n'en ai pas’t know why you get the first three levels in advance). MAIS! Consider a specific case to see why this is not bad, even though it isn’t a sexy feat.
    • Consider a melee Rogue. Par défaut, the sad-Rogue gets a d8 HP hit die per level (actually +5HP since Wrath doesn’t roll hit dice on level, it just awards the average value).
    • Sad-Rogue is squishier and reaches 0 HP more often than the Fighter who has a d10 (+6HP per level) and who is also in melee range of enemies.
    • Weep no longer, sad-Rogue, because new-and-improved-Toughness-Rogue gets an extra +1 every level, thus giving the same HP as the Fighter (at least until Fighter also takes Toughness).
  • NOTE: The case study above is for melee characters, but make no mistake, the same logic applies to ranged fighters and spellcasters who don’t like dying, il’s just less urgent for them because they are out of claw and fang range.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Anyone who will ever flank an enemy (c'est à dire. combat specialists and also part-time melee characters such as Clerics)
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Increases the bonus to hit from flanking and the damage while flanking for you et your buddies with this feat (depending on which one you take or if you take both).
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • You should be flanking (in the videogame adaptation simply having a second character is all you need to flank, so actually just ganging up) with melee characters anyway, this is bonus gravy for playing smart.
  • NOTE: Si vous le pouvez’t afford to take both, I prefer a bonus to hit (Outflank) over damage since you can’t do damage if you don’je n'ai pas frappé.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Anybody who has one or more weak Saving Throws (lire: everyone who hasn’t multi-classed, and plenty of multi-classers, aussi).
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Shores up your weakest saves.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Another unsexy feat. MAIS! Poisons and diseases are bad. Curses and mind-affecting debuffs are bad. Damage is bad (though not as bad because it’s easier to fix). Experience less of this badness with better saves.
  • NOTE: Vous ne’t need all of these feats, just look up which one(s) your character needs on the character screen before leveling up. Aussi, you can probably leave Reflex saves with a low modifier, c'est vraiment le cas’t matter as much as Fortitude and Will, just cast a “Cure XX” spell or drink a potion afterwards and you’c'est bien.

• WHO should consider this feat chain?
  • Characters who dislike going last.
• QUOI does this feat chain do?
  • Lets you add a bonus to initiative rolls so you get to have a turn sooner.
• POURQUOI is this worthwhile?
  • Bien, I have mixed feelings about this. Il’s a low static bonus that you only get to apply once per combat.
  • D'autre part, if you need to wait for a friendly to cast a spell (buff or debuff, terrain modifying) you can always delay to go after them; mais tu peux’t push yourself forward in initiative once it’s rolled (unless you skip a turn to go sooner next turn but you knew that’s not what I meant, smarty-pants).