D&D Feats and Pathfinder Feats, what’s the difference?

Understanding the Difference: D&D Feats vs Pathfinder Feats (2025 Guide)

I was gaming last night and a friend and I briefly discussed the difference in feats between D&D and Pathfinder. He said that feats in D&D 5.5 had much more of an impact on a character than in Pathfinder, even though PF had more of them. Is this true and why does it matter?

Imagine you’re at a table: one player’s PF2e Champion just picked up their 10th feat, Retributive Strike, at level 5 and suddenly turns the battlefield into a gauntlet of micromanaged options. Meanwhile, your 5.5e Fighter is sitting on a +2 Strength from level 4, waiting until level 6 to take a feat that grants a single broad benefit. Who’s going to feel more ‘in control’ of their character right now? And which game is going to feel more satisfying moving forward?

D&D 5.5e Feat Design

Remember that D&D 5.5 is an update of 5e’s ruleset that maintained backward compatibility while making some targeted changes. There was a philosophical shift as well. The primary approach in 5.5 is to make feats more integral to the build–in 5e they were totally optional–and to balance out classes and shore up their weaknesses (especially martials). Another reason was to frontload power, this is why feats are now available from level 1.

In 5e classes were never specifically designed to be balanced. Feats were expanded in 5.5e as a tool to smooth this out. Instead of rebalancing the classes they offloaded power onto feats for three purposes: to make martials more viable long-term, to let players compensate for inherent class weaknesses, and to add early access to feats via backgrounds to frontload power.

It also introduces a little power creep. For example, now nearly all feats give a +1 to an ability score, whereas in 5e there was a tradeoff between taking a feat or getting an ASI. Some feats are very broad and very powerful. One or two add-on feats can completely redefine your PC.

Pathfinder 2e Approach

In Pathfinder by contrast, feats are the integral building blocks of your character. Instead of a few feats that define your PC, feats build toward an overall goal. Having more options at each level is called “horizontal progression.” Vertical progression is just increasing power, horizontal is expanding options and capabilities whether or not power is increased. Pathfinder offers horizontal progression in a vertical structure. What does that mean? Let me break it down:

Vertical Progression (D&D and Pathfinder)

1. The Proficiency System:  proficiency ranks increase with your level
2. Level-Based Bonuses:  PC’s add their level to proficiency-based checks
3. Ability Score Improvements:  Characters receive ability boosts at set levels
4. Hit Points:  PC’s gain HP’s every level
5. Spell Slots: Obviously increase in number and power as characters level
6. Class abilities:  Classes gain new abilities only as they level up
7. Equipment:  Gear can give vertical or horizontal abilities

Horizontal Progression (Pathfinder)

1. Class feats:  PC’s gain class feats at 1st level and every even level, which give new abilities/options, but they can give vertical power as well
2. Class specializations:  Most classes must pick a subclass at first level, which usually add more options, not bigger numbers
3. Skill feats:  Gained every odd level; these give characters new ways to use their skills
4. General feats:  Gained at level 4 and every four levels; they give general abilities to increase versatility or customize your build
5. Ancestry feats:  These are gained six times from level 1-20. Improved in Remaster, they let PC’s develop their race in a unique way over the course of their career
6. Archetypes:  part of the multiclassing system. If taken, archetype feats are given and replace class feats

Horizontal Progression (D&D)

1. Origin feats:  they provide abilities without ASI’s at level 1
2. Subclasses:  they provide different features 5 times from 1-20
3. General feats: taken at levels 3, 5, 11. They can give vertical progression also

I’m oversimplifying a bit as Pathfinder intentionally uses both progression types in a structured way in their feats. From a meta perspective, moving from 2e to Remaster didn’t make Pathfinder 2e simpler—it made the rewards for picking feats clearer and more satisfying. Feats now feel more meaningful without changing how deep or customizable the system is. It’s a cleanup, not a rewrite, meant to strengthen what already works.

Core Differences in Feat Philosophy

The 5.5e feat system is a bit smarter, more flexible, and better tuned than 5e, especially for levels 1–10. The goals are to bring balance to the system and lean further into the PC’s niche. It does shift the game deeper into system mastery territory in the process. In D&D, feats are powerful extras you pick up occasionally as you level up to fix class weaknesses, frontload power or make a class really excel at something.

A potential issue is when players discover powerful combinations like Great Weapon Master + Polearm Master–they can end up far stronger in combat than friends who chose feats based on a character concept rather than optimization. Most feats are available regardless of class, so you might have multiple party members with the GWM or Lucky feat for example.

Pathfinder 2 takes a completely different approach. Feats aren’t just add-ons to the system, they ARE the system. The goal of the Remaster is to improve clarity and mechanical cohesion with feats. You get many different types, each improving specific aspects of your character, but it takes more planning to get where you want to be. Due to the designers’ intent two fighters can play very differently depending on their feat choices, while still being roughly equally effective. Even with the design changes some feats are still stronger than others, nothing is perfect.

There is one more thing that needs to be said about the intended purpose of feats. Pathfinder’s feat system is intentionally designed to promote teamwork. Their entire mechanical ecosystem is built to reward you for positioning, reacting, and “plugging into” what your allies do. D&D’s feat system is designed around beefing up an individual. With only half‑a‑dozen feat choices in twenty levels, each one has to solve or enhance something about you.

So my friend was right, in a way. D&D’s feats are often more powerful because they are intended to be signature abilities. They are meant to be broad, memorable choices and as a result they are high-impact but infrequent. Pathfinder feats are meant to be modular. As a result each level’s choice is comparatively narrow but you end up with a more diverse, highly tuned build the more you level up. I just prefer Pathfinder’s approach.

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