Yeah, I just think that free feat at level one should be available for all racial choices.
Nah. I disagree. But then, you knew I would. Again, giving EVERYONE a free feat makes Variant Human not special, and it opens up for more imbalance issues.
Variant Human gets 2 feats then - the one given by their class and their free feat. Still special. And giving everyone a free feat unbalances all classes equally - unlike many of the other balance changes people argue against - where the solution is just to make combats more difficult to compensate.
I guess. It's just, feats in 5e are supposed to represent either special racial/class traits or a character's more advanced training. Giving them out at level 1, to me, seems to whitewash starting racial traits for different races, etc.
I mean, if you allow a free feat at character creation, Level 1 characters could then use Great Weapon Mastery right from the start. Or, I could use Dual Wielder immediately, equipping someone at Level 1 with 2 non-light weapons.
So, where's the buildup? I've already started awesome. Got nowhere to go from there but build up Ability scores. And you can only do that for so long because there's a cap on Ability scores. So, by level 8, Lae'zel could be pretty much maxed out on Strength with Great Weapon Mastery and so forth.
I just think it leaves too much room to yet again unbalance the game. You THINK it won't, and who knows, maybe it won't. I've never tested handing out free feats at level 1, but I think it likely would.
I certainly would be less inclined to take a feat at level 4, that's for sure. If I can take one at level 1, I'd likely take what I want at level 1 and just do an ASI at level 4. Maybe, I might take another, but I doubt it. Feats would become even less valuable, I would think.
