Fury of the Frost Giant 5e
Prerequisite: 4th Level, Strike of the Giants (Frost Strike) Feat
You’ve manifested the icy might emblematic of frost giants, granting you the following benefits:
Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength, Constitution, or Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Born of Ice. You have resistance to cold damage.
Frigid Retaliation. Immediately after a creature you can see within 30 feet of you hits you with an attack roll and deals damage, you can use your reaction to retaliate with a conjured blast of ice. The creature must make a Constitution saving throw (DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + the modifier of the ability increased by this feat). On a failed save, the creature takes cold damage equal to 1d8 + your proficiency bonus, and its speed is reduced to 0 until the end of its next turn. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and yo regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
For a feat that comes with a +1 to an ability score to be bad, you need to basically lack any meaningful feature that will contribute to consistently well on an average adventuring day. It's not that high of a bar to clear, yet Fury of the Frost Giant fails to clear it.
The impact Frigid Retaliation has on an average fight is pitiful. It's a limited-use reaction that drops a creature’s speed to 0 with a little bit of damage tacked on. I’m normally all for interesting reactions, but this one will really struggle to function as anything more than a 1d8+ proficiency bonus damage rebuff.
For a feat that requires an already mediocre feat to get, I can’t fathom wanting to commit to this. Resistance to cold damage doesn’t affect the vast majority of encounters, and while you’ll probably get 2-3d8 bonus damage out of Frigid Retaliation per long rest, that’s just not enough to get from an entire feat. You need something that has a bigger impact with limited uses, or a regular impact on every turn.
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