Using Downtime for Feats

Solo Training

This method of training can always be attempted, provided the character doing the training is in a safe location, like camp or in town. Solo Training might seem like a more attractive option at first glance, but a chance of failure is always present. Unlike training with a Trainer, you must roll a d20 and pass a DC determined by the DM when training in any given day. This DC can be decreased by doing related reading to what you’re attempting to learn, finding those who might have knowledge to pass on, or even training with a fellow PC, if they’re willing. However, training with a fellow PC does not guarantee success, it simply helps lower your DC. A certain number of successes are required to train the feat, but every failure will be felt as the time spent training that day is essentially wasted on a failed roll.

Trainers, PCs, & Difficult Feats

Trainers are any person in the world who could reasonably help train you, given enough time and money. If other PCs wish to aid in your training and are capable, they may do so, but at the DM’s discretion (some feats might require the trainer to know the feat or a proper space for the training to be conducted, amongst other potential factors determined by the DM). The PC does not gain any benefit from helping you unless they are working on a feat of their own that is similar to the feat you are training, like training Shield Master against your training Great Weapon Master through nightly sparring.

Some feats can be trained solo, but are yet difficult for your character to reasonably train at first. They might require extra work, time, necessary ingredients and materials, or further study to make proper headway with them on one’s own effort. What this means in game terms is that the DC to succeed on a solo attempt at training will be high at first, but can possibly be brought down through extra work done on the PC’s part, such as reading on the subject or getting instruction from a trainer.

There are pros and cons to both methods of training. Guided Training means a guaranteed success, but a drain on monetary resources, as well as most downtime spent with the trainer. It requires you to be consistent and show up for training every day, a luxury most adventurers do not have; Solo Training, on the other hand, means potentially wasting down time entirely on a failed dice roll or needing to spend that time better preparing yourself for the necessary training.

Determining DC

This section is for Dungeon Masters in particular. However, should players want to read this section and learn how DC is determined for training or how many successes are required in order to gain a feat, they should be encouraged to do so!

To begin, the DC of a training check is determined loosely by the DM based upon a number of factors. From the status of your character to the difficulty of the feat being trained, what might be easy for one PC could be hard or even impossible for another.

With this in mind, DCs for training checks are determined using a number between 10-20 (though the DM could choose to drop or increase the DC outside of those thresholds for various reasons). 10 is considered to be Easy, with 15 being Moderate, and 20 being Hard or even nearly Impossible. For example, a character with the Moderately Armored feat could train the Shield Master feat with a potential DC of 12. Another character who only has a proficiency in shields might then have a DC of 15. Further, a character with no feat or proficiency would have a DC of 20 to train the Shield Master feat, if not be outright blocked from training it at all.

Training DC

When determining the DC of a PC's training check, the DM should factor in many things. First, the DM should consider the source of the Feat. Some feats are racial, such as the Flames of Plegethos. While training this feat might be Hard at first due to it being a Racial Feat, a fairly smart player could research the subject of unlocking a Tiefling's inner fire or learn how to meditate and channel their innate infernal energy for the purpose of eventually gaining this feat. The DC would be determined by the source of the feat as well as whatever other factors the DM thinks should be considered.

However, players can decrease the DC required to succeed on a training check through many things. Reading books related to the subject or being taught by a teacher or trainer are both solid methods of doing so. Even though the Flames of Phlegethos feat is racial and difficult to train on its own, with proper preparation, a player may drop the Training DC. While FoP may start out at a 20 DC, it could be dropped much lower by finding a fellow Tiefling trained in magic, bringing it to a 16 or even a 14. Doing further reading on the subject might drop it by a point, bringing it to 13. More reading may potentially be done, but diminishing returns must eventually come into play.

With this in mind, DMs may also take into account a character's Ability Scores when determining Training DC. A Cleric with a high WIS might be more than capable of training such a difficult feat. As most characters' most important Abilities will normally relate to the feats they take, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to simply decrease the Training DC by the related Ability Modifier.

Total Successes

After determining the Training DC, the DM must decide how many successes a player must achieve in order to fully train a feat. Earlier, Xanathar's Guide was used to explain how long it takes to train a language or tool: roughly ten workweeks or 50 days in total, with the character's INT modifier used to decrease the total number of weeks needed. Feats, on the other hand, are much more powerful than a language or tool proficiency. Understanding this, it's recommended that the DM decide whether a feat is "difficult" or not. If languages or tools take 50 days to train, a normal feat should take roughly 100 days to train and a difficult feat 150 days. This speed can be altered to match the playstyle of a given party, however.

Using the Tiefling Cleric example, with Flames of Plegethos as a racial feat requiring an indirect training method like meditation and much preparation to drop the Training DC down, it would be recommended to set the Total Successes for the feat to 150. However, if that same Tiefling Cleric wanted to train the Medium Armor Master feat instead, they would only require 100 successes as there is a more direct method of physical training and little extra preparation needed.

Training Speed

Feats by Category

Though nearly any Feat could be trained with the right amount of convincing of the DM or a good training regiment created by the players, Feats are still meant to be powerful boosts to a character's capabilities and thus some are not able to be trained or must require the aid of a Trainer or fellow PC.

Guided Training Feats

Guided Training Feats may only be trained when a character is actively aided by a Trainer, a PC who already has the Feat in question or could reasonably aid in Solo Training due to having similar Feats, or when the character has made substantial effort to study and learn what it takes to train the Feat, either from a teacher of some kind or through research.

Solo Training Feats

Solo Training Feats can reliably be trained "right out of the box." This does not, however, guarantee that they are "easy" to train. While one could train these feats without extra effort, it would still be a good suggestion to require characters take some time to study what it takes to train something like Polearm Master as opposed to never doing so.

Skill Feats

These feats are Unearthed Arcana playtest material. They improve your skills, giving you a +1 in the related ability score as well as giving you proficiency (or expertise if you are already proficient). All of these skills also have a third benefit detailed in the original UA Document.