DnD One Durable Feat Guide

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The Durable Feat is meant to show an extraordinary ability to just keep going. An adventurer hits the point where they are hardened and can just keep going, can dance at death’s door and still push through, exhausted, to the other side to keep on going. Durable is an interesting feat and one that had quite a rework for One DnD.

The One DnD Durable feat gives advantage on death saving throws, improves Constitution by +1, and allows the player to use their hit dice to heal via a bonus action instead of waiting for a long-rest.

So how good is this feat? How does it compete with its 5th Edition counterpart? Let’s dive in and find out!

durable jogger
The durable adventurers just keep on going and keep on going.

Durable Feat DnD One Review

The best way to break down a feat is to check out the exact wording.

From Unearthed Arcana:

4th-Level Feat

Prerequisite: Constitution 13+

Hardy and resilient, you gain the following benefits:

Agility Score Increase. Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Defy Death. You have Advantage on Death Saving Throws.

Speedy Recovery. As a Bonus Action, you can expend one of your Hit Dice, roll the die, and regain a number of Hit Points equal to the roll.

Unearthed Arcana, Expert Classes 2022

Let’s break down these benefits one by one.

Benefit #1: Increase your Constitution by 1.

Simple, but solid. Constitution is one of the most important ability scores no matter which class you are playing and getting a +1 to that potentially increases your chances for making an important save but getting extra hit points for all your levels.

Benefit #2: The Defy Death benefits gives you advantage on all Death Saving Throws.

This is a great way to avoid those 1’s that seem to have an insane ability to come up whenever a death saving throw is on the table. This increases your chances of rolling a 20 to get conscious but it also just drastically increases your chances of passing versus failing, and that’s a fairly solid little benefit that is the definition of being there when you need it most.

Benefit #3: The Speedy Recovery benefit allows you to use your Bonus Action to take a hit dice and roll it to recover those hit points now instead of during a short rest.

An interesting little benefit that allows you to borrow from future healing to take it when you need it right now. Since this uses a bonus action, it’s assumed to happen during a battle, which at low to mid levels makes this potentially a fairly powerful little boost when you need every little hit point to keep going.

How Does Durable Feat Measure Up?

This isn’t a bad feat, but it’s not mind-blowing, either. If you need a +1 to Constitution the extra benefits here that come in worst case scenarios might be worth taking this as opposed to an Ability Score Improvement Feat. It’s a middle of the road feat that can be a nice little buffer especially during low levels, but it’s going to have a hard time competing with many of the stronger feats in this system.

In many ways this looks like a decent monk feat because monks seem to be the martial character most likely to go down, so this can be an important bit of insurance that pushes the Constitution score to an even number before they focus on their other stats and feats throughout the rest of the build.

But even then in many cases, there might be a better choice.

I wouldn’t make fun of anyone for taking this feat, which is useful, but it’s not one that jumps to the top of the list as a “Must Have” with any class or build that I can think of.

Durable Feat: DnD One Vs 5E

The Durable Feat looked very different between the two systems, with both sharing many characteristics. The biggest change is that 5E’s system has a “Super Short Rest” type of benefit where the minimum a hit dice could give back was sometimes more than the value of the hit die for that class.

It was funny, cute, and gave squishy characters a reason to consider this, especially during a dungeon crawl style of campaign. This was replaced in DnD One with advantage on Death Saving throws and being able to use a hit die to heal with a bonus action during combat, which moves when you get the hit points, but gives them to you at a more crucial time.

Related Article: 5E Durable Feat Guide

Overall, I’d say that the DnD One version is better. While overcharged healing during short rests was a cool little quirk, this version of Durable gives you a boost when you need it most. It prevents you from dying and helps you heal during combat when things go sideways. Those might be very niche benefits that are only useful in very particular times, but when you truly need them you will have them.

Who Should Take the Durable Feat in DnD One?

This is a viable feat for anyone to take while it’s not a must take for anyone. This is a middle of the road feat that will likely be great for low-level, dungeon crawl, and combat heavy campaigns while it’s a less important feat for combat light, political/intrigue heavy, or higher level feats.

I don’t recall ever taking this feat, but I considered it many times, and that’s kind of the Durable Feat in a nut shell. Some players will swear by it, and I can see their point of view. Some people will never pick the Durable feat, and I can see their point of view as well.

If you tend to find yourself going down in battle a lot and struggling to make the saving throws, then maybe this is the feat that you’ve been looking for.

DnD One Durable Feat Final Grade

I would say Durable is a solid B. It’s not an A-level feat, but C-level seems a bit too low. This is an above average feat that is absolute gold when the niche situations come up where it’s needed. No one should look down on you for taking this feat in a build, but at the same time it’s not a combo that is going to wow anyone, either.

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