Skilled Feat 5e: What To Take With This Feat – Player Guide

Last Updated on August 25, 2023

Clearly you’ve come here to read up on the skilled feat. This guide will break down the feat for you and give you the answer all DnD players want to know when taking a feat: “Is it good or not?”

Let’s get into it, shall we? 

What Is the Skilled Feat in DnD 5e?

The Skilled feat in 5e allows you to gain proficiency in any 3 skills or tools of your choice. This allows for a wide variety of combinations that you can do. 

This is an extremely versatile feat as you can see, so now that you’ve read what it can do, let’s dive into how you as a player can benefit from this feat. 

(For a list of all the Feats in D&D 5e you can refer to our Feats List)

What Can I Do With This Feat If I Take It?

Skilled is an extremely versatile feat, allowing for multiple player options in terms of proficiencies and/or tools if you so wish.

ANY class can benefit from this feat.

A wizard who constantly fails athletics checks can gain proficiency in it.

A Path of the totem barbarian who wants to gain proficiency in acrobatics or maybe religion can do both with this feat if he or she so wished.

A bard could even take the remaining skills that are all charisma based if they so wished, making them versed in all things charisma, literally. 

Proficiency also scales up with level, meaning that as you progress, your proficiency bonus increases, which increases your chance of succeeding skill checks.

Proficiency Bonus Table:

• +2 from levels 1 to 4
• +3 at level 5
• +4 at level 9
• +5 at level 13
• +6 at level 17

This means that as you level and become proficient in more skills, the chance of you failing checks drastically drops. 

Some skills you might want to gain proficiency in when taking this feat are: 

• Perception (This is the most used skill in DnD as it determines on what your character perceives – a must-have) 
• Stealth (For obvious sneaky reasons)
• Athletics (Anything related to physical aspects may require an athletics check)
• Insight or Investigation (Two others that can aid you in many situations where you have to figure something out) 
• Persuasion (Nothing better than when you try to seduce a random npc and it succeeds – try it) 

If you’re playing in a group of four or less, you can fill some pretty good skill gaps with this feat.

Especially if you coordinate your strengths and weaknesses as a party, filling skill-check gaps with this feat is pretty easy and will make it far less difficult.

In a normal campaign setting, it doesn’t take too long to figure out the skill holes that your party has. 

What Classes Should Take This Feat?

As I said before, any class can and should consider taking this feat. I know it can be overlooked by some as its combat benefits aren’t the greatest; however, it should still be considered by any class.

There are two classes, however, that do have a slight edge over the others when it comes to this feat. 

Bards – Bards are extremely well-versed in a variety of skills, and with this feat, that gets amplified drastically. You can become a serious jack-of-all-trades if you happen to take this feat. I’m sure your party will appreciate it very much. 

Rogues – Rogues have the highest amount of base starting skills, and with this feat, there are only a few skills that you won’t have proficiency in. Another class that can literally be the problem solver or the jack-of-all-trades in the group. 

So, Is This Feat Actually Good?

This feat is one of the most versatile feats in the game as any character, no matter the class, can benefit from it.

You can turn nearly any class into a jack-of-all-trades class. You can make an all-charisma bard or a wizard proficient in athletics or even make a persuasive sorcerer or ranger if you so desire. 

Obviously, there are some classes that benefit from this feat more so than others, but this feat shouldn’t be overlooked by any means.

For a player who needs to gain proficiency in those crucial skills, such as perception, stealth, or acrobatics, this is something you should definitely take should you require proficiency in those skills.

This is a feat you don’t want to pass up; then again, at the end of the day, it’s up to you on what you decide to take.

In my honest opinion, this feat is something every character in DnD should consider taking when leveling up.

If you’re looking for other Feats, try these two:

Shield Master Feat 5e

Skulker Feat 5e