Resilient: Keep On Keepin’ On

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

Snore. Resilient may just be the feat with the least happening in the game. It feels like a feat they included just to make sure player’s who felt bad not having a specific saving throw could have access to it, and let's be honest, that’s not worth a feat. A +1 in the related score is often going to be all you want out of an ability score improvement anyway, so if you’re planning on bumping up your Dex to an even number for that modifier increase, and don’t already have proficiency with Dex saves, if no other feats appeal to you that also bump Dex up, sure, grab Resilient.

Now, who out there actually is in that situation? A big problem with Resilient is while it lets you improve any score, most characters will already have proficiency in a save associated with a score they’ll want to increase. If you’re playing a rogue, and want to increase your Dex from a 15 to a 16, this has no other text as you already have proficiency in the save. You aren’t likely going to benefit all that much from an increase to something like your Strength or Wisdom instead, as the bulk of what rogues tend to do revolves around your Dexterity modifier. This leaves you in this awkward space where it’ll feel suboptimal, or just plain bad, to bump a score you’re using infrequently just to get your proficiency bonus to the occasional save.

Also, not all saves are created equal. Dex, Con, and Wis saves out number the other three dramatically, with Con being incredibly common against venomous monsters and Dex and Wis each favoring encounters against spellcasters. This means if you’re looking to bump up your Int, Cha, or Str, I’ve got bad news for you. The difference between these groups is somewhere around 4-1, meaning for every four Dex saves you make, you’ll make one Strength save.

This reality leaves Resilient being at its best when you’re playing a frontline character that wants a Dex bump for their AC, like on a Dex based fighter. That opens up a relevant saving throw and adds to their ability score they care about the most. Bumping Con feels incredibly hard to justify, as the Tough feat exists which gives you a flat +2 HP per level regardless of your Con score. This will often feel like a +4 to your Con score, at least against the majority of attacks and damaging saves in the game. Wis can be somewhat valuable, but if you’re just taking it to bump something like your perception skill up a little bit and get a more well defended mind on your wizard, it's really not adding much to your sheet where something that helps you maintain your concentration (War Caster) or give you extra tools to engage the world with (Magic Initiate) do. Paladins might up their Con to increase their survivability, and not care that much about the extra hit point they’d get out of Tough versus proficiency in Con saves. Paladins also tend to like Strength, so if you’re going to bump up your Strength and it's on an odd number, might as well take proficiency in Strength saves if for some reason all of the other Str or Con based feats don’t appeal to you.

You take Resilient when you’ve expended all your other options and for some reason still have an odd ability modifier in a score you don’t already have the save for. That exact circumstance is nearly non-existent. You’re almost always better off with any of the other feats that add a +1 if that’s what you’re looking for.

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