Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the latest video game adaptations based on the wildly popular tabletop system, Dungeons and Dragons. It will use rules taken from the fifth edition source material, which has added plenty of feats to the game over the years.
Feats are a great way to add some versatility to a character build or increase what they are already doing well by an even greater margin. You get many different kinds of feats, such as those suited for combat, to more utility-based options. You will be able to give these feats to your player character and their companions as they level up throughout your playthroughs.
Updated by Chad Thesen on August 22, 2023: This list has been updated for the purpose of adding additional entries to give it a more expansive range of coverage so that readers are able to make more informed decisions for their choices in the game.
20 Lightly/Moderately/Heavily Armored
Depending on which of these you select, this feat lets you gain proficiency in Light, Medium, or Heavy Armor. It will also let you increase either your Strength Ability or your Dexterity Ability by 1, to a maximum of 20.
This feat is intended to help give you a higher caliber of armor, and thus, more AC. What puts it so low is that Multiclassing with a class that has the armor option you want will always give you more than this feat.
19 Durable
This feat will increase your Constitution Ability by 1 to a maximum of 20. Constitution will help govern your starting HP and how much HP you will have in total as you level up throughout the game. This feat will also let you regain all of your HP whenever you take a short rest.
This feat sounds great in theory. However, the longer you are in combat, the higher your chances of failure. You want to end fights as soon as possible, that means front liners and back row characters alike taking feats that will help them obliterate their foes.
18 Athlete
This feat will let you increase either your Strength Ability or your Dexterity Ability by 1, up to a maximum of 20. This will let your character use a lot less movement to get back up from them being prone. It will also increase the distance they are able to jump.
While these are nice, this feat does not significantly affect being in combat or being out of combat. It is a much better call to get one of the other feats that raise the Ability you want or take Ability Improvement for two points.
17 Medium Armor Master
A Rogue may turn down the chance to wear some armor due to how it may impose Disadvantage on Stealth Checks. This fear will let you avoid that by negating that Disadvantage. This will let the character who has it have more AC than what they would with Light Armor and still be stealthy.
Furthermore, the Dexterity Modifier is increased from a +2 up to a +3, making them even more tanky. It may not be an amazing feat compared to other options, but it’s not bad.
16 Mobile
Falling short on movement feels bad, this is why having momentum can be such an amazing thing in the game. The Mobile feat will increase your character’s movement speed by 3 meters. More so, difficult terrain will not slow them down when they use Dash.
The best thing about this feat is that if the user moves after making a melee attack, they don't provoke Opportunity Attacks from their target. This lets one deal damage and then flee with extra movement, preventing their target from getting back into melee range.
15 Dungeon Delver
You will have an Advantage on Perception Checks made to detect hidden objects and an Advantage on Saving Throws made to avoid traps. You will also have an Advantage on Saving Throws to resist the damage caused by any traps you do set off.
This all sounds great, but in truth, an optimized scout in the group gains very little from this feat compared to what others could give them. A group of sub-optimal adventurers will benefit from this more, with their primary lookout being able to have an easier time detecting things.
14 Actor
Actor packs a really big punch in terms of what it gives you, but what drops it so far down this list is how circumstantial the skills used are. You will get to increase your Charisma Ability by +1. Right off the bat, it is great for rounding off an odd-numbered Ability and being worth taking.
You will gain proficiency in 2 skills, Deception and Performance. Finally, your proficiency bonus for these two skills is doubled. That is a lot of extra points, all from one skill.
13 Alert
This feat is short and sweaty. You will gain a +5 bonus on your initiate rolls, and you cannot be surprised. While the ability to not be surprised is great, being able to get that bonus initiative is much better.
Having the initiative and going first allows you to pile onto a single target to remove it from the battle before it has even begun. Not only will this make the whole encounter easier, it completely mitigates all damage that the target would have caused during the encounter.
12 Defensive Duelist
While your character is using finesse weapons, they will be able to add their proficiency bonus to their AC. This means that every time they are attacked, there is a higher chance for their attacker to miss them.
The number of times a character is hit, the less you need to worry about healing them. This is great for less tanky front-liners, such as a Warlock, that only get proficiency in medium armor. This bonus applies even if they only attack with cantrips, so long as the weapon in hand is finesse.
11 Dual Wielder
This lets you ignore an established rule of the game and use Two-Weapon Fighting when the weapons in your hands do not have the “Light” keyword. You will also have a +1 to your AC while you have a weapon in each hand. This lets you dish out more damage and avoid taking damage at the same time. While a Two-handed weapon will still be the better choice for a Fighter, or a Barbarian, this is a great feat for someone like a Ranger that uses Dexterity as their primary Ability.
10 Heavy Armor Master
This gives your front-liner characters a bump up in terms of how much of a beating they can take. With this feat, whenever one of them takes damage from an attack that deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, the amount of damage they take is reduced by 3.
Not only would this reduce damage received, but it can also mitigate receiving damage entirely if the amount is 3 or less. The final bit of frosting on top is that you also get to increase your Strength Ability Score by 1.
9 Tough
This is your go-to option if you worry that one of your characters is just way too glassy and you don't want to slow them down with cumbersome heavy armor. This feat will straight-up give you 2 HP for each level that your character has. So at Level 12, that is 24 extra points of HP.
While there are certainly better combat feat options to take, this can be the difference between surviving an encounter with 1 HP left or having to say goodbye to a character for good.
8 Magic Initiate
You will see several forms of this feat, each being for different kinds of spellcasters. These are perfect for picking up a low-level spell for a class that makes use of the same primary ability and normally would not have access to magic.
A great example is a Rogue with high Charisma who can access Sorcerer or Warlock spells. Another great use of it is to give one spellcaster class access to spells outside their own spell list, such as giving the Druid access to a Cleric spell and 2 of their cantrips.
7 Lucky
With this feat, you will have 3 Luck Points. Whenever you make an attack roll, make an ability check, or make a saving throw, you will be able to spend one of these Luck Points.
If you spend one, you roll a second D20 and will be able to then choose which D20 you would like to use for the outcome of the roll. Since you spend the point after rolling, it is best to use them only for failed rolls in an attempt to change the outcome to a success.
6 Crossbow Expert
With this feat, characters will be able to ignore “reload” on weapons they are proficient in. You will also not receive the penalty of having a "disadvantage" for using your crossbow at close range.
Finally, whenever you make an attack with a one-handed weapon, you will be able to use a bonus action to make another attack with a one-handed crossbow you have in the other hand. This will let you go in crossbows akimbo at various ranges without needing to stop and reload.
5 Polearm Master
Whenever you use a glaive, halberd, quarterstaff, or spear, you can use your bonus action to make another melee attack. The downside to this is the damage die is only 1d4 and will always be a set damage type, bludgeoning.
This is big, as the ability to make more attacks in a turn is just as good as getting extra turns. Having this feat will also extend the range of your opportunity attacks, meaning the character is an even more effective Frontliner for their team.
4 Sharpshooter
When you attack at a long enough range, you normally accrue "disadvantage" from the attack. With this feat, you will no longer get that disadvantage. In addition to this, your ranged attacks will now ignore half-cover and three-quarters cover. You can reduce the value of your attack roll by 5 to increase your damage output by 10.
For a ranged attacker, this is outrageously powerful, borderline OP. Not only can you deal increased damage, but you can be so far away that enemies will not be able to even try to retaliate on their turn, and any small bits of cover they try to take while perusing you are futile. The only reason this is not second on the list is because of situations where you will be forced to face enemies in a small room, such as a boss encounter.
3 Great Weapons Master
With this feat, whenever you have scored a critical hit against a target or you have killed a creature, you will be able to use your bonus action to make a follow-up melee attack. Just like with Polearm Master, this is big for the ability to make more attacks in a single turn.
It will help eliminate enemies from an encounter faster and give you a massive boost to survivability. Attacks made with Heavy Weapons that you are proficient with will suffer a -5 to attack rolls but will deal an increased 10 damage.
2 Sentinel
Whenever you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, its speed will drop to 0, keeping it locked where you want it. These creatures cannot even use disengage to avoid these opportunity attacks and will keep their allies on the back lines safe from would-be rushers.
If a creature in your range attacks a character that is not you, you will be able to use your reaction to make an attack against them. When optimized with something like Great Weapons Master, this feat rivals the top-placing feat from how many attacks you’re making.
1 Ability Improvement
Your Ability Scores will determine how often you succeed at checks, and nothing is worse than falling short by a single point. Taking this feat will allow you to add 2 Ability Points to any of your Abilities. This will affect many different aspects and not just your checks.
Increasing your Wisdom will not only give you a higher chance of success on your Perception and Insight rolls but also increase the potency of casting spells that use Wisdom. Always aim to max out your primary Abilities early to greatly improve your character’s performance.