Feats are just… things you can do or qualities that you have that are kinda special. Every character gets a free feat at 1st level, and then gets another free feat at every odd-numbered level. (Humans get two feats at first level instead of just one.) Most classes will also award you bonus feats as you advance in levels. Sometimes they are specific (Swashbucklers getting Weapon Finesse at 1st level, e.g.), and sometimes they give you a choice from a limited list (Fighters get a combat feat every other level, e.g.).
Over the years, Pathfinder has racked up a lot of feats. And I mean a LOT of feats. 3,501 of them, at least. They started with a handful of categories (combat, metamagic, item creation, and general) and kept adding new types as the years went on. It can be quite imposing when you look at the entire list. I’m going to make an attempt to narrow them down.
Firstly, there are feats that are specific to certain classes. Most of the time, they will be called something like “Improved [class feature]” or “Extra [class feature]”, but sometimes they have strange names like Abundant Revelations for the Oracle or Expanded Arcana for spontaneous casters. There are even entire categories of feats for some classes, like Grit (gunslinger), Panache (swashbuckler) and Stare (mesmerist). If you have a cool feature in your class, like channeling energy or hexes, you can probably find feats that can make them better, or use them more often.
Secondly, there are feats that are limited to one race. Some random examples include Defiant Luck (human only), Black Cat (catfolk only), Fiend Sight (tiefling only), Drow Nobility (drow only), Ironhide (dwarf, orc, half-orcs only), and Magical Tail (kitsune only), but there are dozens of them. There’s no official list of these feats, so you may have to use the “search in page” function on your browser to find them all. (This site has compiled and sorted a list of them, but it’s incomplete.)
Then, you have feats that can compensate for low scores. First, there’s the three saving throw boosters: Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, and Great Fortitude. If you have low Constitution, Toughness immediately gives you 3hp, and at 4th level it’ll increase to 4hp, then 5hp at 5th, and so on. If you have low Intelligence, Cunning will give you an extra skill point every level. And if you need some extra speed, Fleet can help.
“Necessary” Magic Items
The Pathfinder game assumes you will be getting certain magical items as you go along. At higher levels, the monsters you face will largely be unbeatable without them. Most of these are classed as wondrous items. They take up discrete slots on your body, which is another way Pathfinder tries to balance things. You can read about the slots here.
Here the major items the game assumes you will be getting and upgrading as the game progresses:
- shoulders: Cloak of Resistance (wondrous; gives saving throw bonuses)
- headbands: Magical headbands (wondrous; increase your Int, Wis or Cha)
- belts: Magical belts (wondrous; increase your Str, Dex or Con)
- neck: Amulet of Natural Armor (wondrous; increases AC)
- wrists: Bracers of Armor (wondrous; only useful for those who can’t wear armor)
- rings: Ring of Protection (ring; deflection bonus to AC) or Ring of Resistance (ring; more expensive than the Cloak, only use if you can’t use the Cloak for some reason)
Next, there are the magic-related feats. The Metamagic Feats are cool, but largely useless until at least 3rd level, when some classes get access to 2nd-level spell slots. Realistically, they don’t become good options until higher levels, and it’s often better to just buy a metamagic rod that has the feat built directly into it.
Item Creation Feats are better, but again don’t really pay off until at least 3rd level when you can get the incredible Create Wondrous Item feat. The list of wondrous items is massive, and includes stuff everyone will want/need eventually (see sidebar). As for the other feats, Craft Wand might be a good choice, if only to churn out wands of cure light wounds, the most cost-effective, non-evil healing source. But the other item crafting feats are either a waste of money (scribe scroll, brew potion) or show up too late to be truly useful (you may not have enough time between adventures to make use of forge ring, or craft magic arms and armor). At 1st level, only Craft Poppet looks interesting to me, and it’s more for the role-playing flavor of having a little helper to do menial tasks around the house.
Next, there are the Combat Feats. A lot of these come in “chains”, which means you need one feat before you can qualify for the next feat in the chain. Note: the feat listings will have extra information, like “combat tricks” and “mythic” versions; we probably won’t go Mythic, and the combat tricks require a different feat before you can use them, so you can safely ignore all that info.
For ranged combat, you should start with Point-Blank Shot. Once you have that, you can qualify for Precise Shot, another great feat. If you’re using a bow, the other options include Rapid Shot and Manyshot. If you’re using a crossbow, look into Rapid Reload instead.
Melee-focused characters should look into Power Attack and Combat Expertise. With P.A. you can move on to Cleave. With C.E, you can focus on combat maneuvers, which are actions you can take instead of attacking. Maneuvers provoke attacks of opportunity, unless you pick up their corresponding feat. Improved Trip can knock foes down, Improved Disarm can take away their weapons, and Improved Dirty Trick can debuff foes in other ways. Note: There are several other combat maneuvers, and some of them require Power Attack to get their improved version, but I personally don’t think they’re quite as useful as the three above.
If you know you’re going to be using a certain weapon most of the time, Weapon Focus might be a good fit for you. It can work with melee weapons, ranged weapons, and even unarmed strikes and magical ray attacks (for you spellcasters who want to focused on ranged touch attacks for some reason).
If you have high Dexterity, look into feats like Combat Reflexes, which lets you get multiple attacks of opportunity per round, and Weapon Finesse. Other good options include Two-Weapon Fighting and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting.
Non-melee characters may like Dodge, which gives you a dodge bonus to AC, and leads to Mobility, which gives you a bigger dodge bonus when you try to run away from the angry ogre with a club that keeps hitting you.
Finally, Improved Initiative is good for everyone. Going first in a battle is a huge advantage, especially at later levels.
In my opinion, you ought to avoid the following:
- Feats that just give a bonus to a skill or two, unless that skill is highly important to you.
- Teamwork Feats, which are rather useless unless you either 1) have a class that can share the feat with others (hunter, inquisitor, e.g.) or 2) if you and a friend are closely coordinating your characters and you both think you can make it work.
- Feats that grant natural attacks. Manufactured weapons will generally hit harder and better, and are easier to upgrade. Improving your natural attacks means feats like Improved Natural Attack, investing in an amulet of mighty fists, and/or constant use of the magic fang spell. It’s easier to just buy a scimitar and then get the scimitar +1, +2, etc, as you’re able.