The Observant feat is arguably one of the best feats in the 5th Edition rules. It has a set of very useful abilities, as well as a stat bonus that makes for a fantastic feat for almost all characters. Let’s look at the basics.
Firstly, it gives you a plus one to your wisdom or intelligence score. Not the most useful score for all classes, but overall, there are more classes that could use one of these stats that has no use for them. Really only a fighter or barbarian come to mind as classes that have no real need for this score to be boosted, save to get a better bonus save or a skill for a particular build. So the stat this geat gives is useful.
The next ability is that if you can see a creature’s mouth while it is speaking a language you understand, you can interpret what it’s saying by reading its lips. No skill check, no distance listed, just you can interpret what it’s saying. To be fair, this description is open to, well, interpretation. Interpret what it’s saying is not the same as knowing exactly what they are saying. So passwords and other nuanced things could be lost. Also, it does not list a distance, but the DM, as always, should reserve the right to say no. Still, this is a super useful thing to have for sneaky types.
The final ability is gaining a +5 to all passive Perception and Investigation scores. Plus five to 2 things that most characters find very good to have. Wow, that is pretty awesome.
All of these abilities combine to make Observant a feat that pretty much every character could find some use to the abilities. It’s wide scope of use make it a very powerful feat.
Final thoughts, TL;DR: The Observant feat has some great abilities all in one package. It is good for almost any character.
Cunning Action Final Rating: A+, This feat might be a bit overpowered. It is really great.
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