Looks like what I am seeing is the overall feeling about taking a feat or an ASI is what I am experiencing. I guess this is why I am leaning towards wanting a dice roll system like in the original BG series. That way I can get the attributes I want, without cheesing it to much, AND be able to take the feats that makes my characters non cookie cutter.
The best way I can say it the attributes are the outlines and pencil strokes in the art of our characters, but the feats are the color strokes and depth of our characters.
This was brought up on the Ability Score thread and me pointing out that that's how my brother does things.
In my case, I also made Feats into story rewards (which is an option mentioned the DMG, actually) so like you can have a training arc where instead of a magic item you learn how to be a Sharpshooter. I often tied them to Faction rewards/reputation.
My brother also introduced lesser Tomes and Manuals (like the ones that increase your Ability Scores) that teach skill, tool, weapon, and armor proficiencies or Feats.
