Feat Toughness (General)

You are tougher than normal.

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.

Benefit: You gain +3 hit points.
Special: A character may gain this feat multiple times. Its effects stack.

How Toughness Works

Toughness permanently adds 3 hit points each time the feat is selected. The increase is straightforward: add the new hit points to the character’s normal maximum rather than treating them as temporary hit points.

Taking Toughness More Than Once

Unlike many feats, Toughness explicitly stacks with itself. A character who selects Toughness twice gains 6 hit points in total; taking it three times grants 9 hit points. Each selection still uses a feat choice.

Toughness Example

A character with 12 maximum hit points selects Toughness and increases the maximum to 15. If the character later selects Toughness again, the maximum rises by another 3 hit points to 18 before any other level-based or Constitution changes are applied.

When Toughness Is Most Noticeable

The fixed increase is especially noticeable on characters with low starting hit points or in campaigns where surviving one additional attack matters. At higher levels, the same +3 remains useful but represents a smaller fraction of the character’s total durability.

See the Feats index for other defensive and survivability options.