This plus if you give out a feat at level 1 there is even a less chance people will take a feat at level 4 as opposed to ASI.
I think that chance is fairly low allready ...
I mean, feel free to corect me but if im not wrong ... chances that we get up to level 16 are basicaly none ... meaning (presuming we get at least level 12) we will get 3 ASI (4for Rogues and Fighters, unless we get up to level 14 in the end) ...
Meaning basicaly +6 to ability scores ...
Presuming Larian will keep their word and will provide us Rolled Stats ... and presuming that we will be stubborn enough to roll until we get 3x18 (Happened to me at second atempt on Roll20 btw
) ... and with taking under concideration racial bonuses ...
Most of our characters will probably have at least one free (read as: Will not feel any urge to pick ASI since his most important stats will be allready maxed) feat to pick ...
Question is ... is that *really* enough? O_o
Presently, there are only a few feats that I even kinda sorta consider. Most, I do not because Larian hasn't given us a real reason to. Gale getting light armor, or Astarion getting medium armor, doesn't do much good because, well, it does them no good. It's a waste. Even Great Weapon Mastery for Lae'zel doesn't really appeal as much as ASI on Strength/Dex.
So, I agree with you that there isn't much appeal for feats to begin with, but that's kinda my point. Allowing for feats at level 1 makes it even LESS likely that people will pick feats at levels 4, 8 or 12. My opinion is that they need to add more interesting feats to fix this. I don't think the answer is to make it worse by providing free feats at level 1.
That said, I agree with Niara that some maybe newly created feats could add flavor to characters, but they'd have to be minor feats - something like, "Honest Looking" adds +2 to Persuasion/Deception checks but -2 to Intimidation. People tend to trust you because you just look trustworthy, but this also means they don't feel threatened by you."
