Going over key differences between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder, there is one that stands out: in Pathfinder, you get one feat every two levels; and in 3.5 you get one every three. In SBRPG, you buy semi-similar things called 'special moves' with your level-awarded character points. It is an interesting difference between the two implementations of D&D, and one that is worth exploring in a game-design sense.
Let's get our resources out of the way, and link the Pathfinder Feats and the D&D 3.5 SRD Feats here for reference. I could go over the differences in these to no end, as they are not entirely 100% compatible, and they are built along different deign goals. Also, Pathfinder's list is longer, you may want to go to the Unofficial Pathfinder SRD, and filter by the original rulebook to get a better comparison between the base games.
Pathfinder has about 50% more feats than the 3.5 SRD, and they have been reviewed and balanced a bit finer than D&D 3.5's list. Since you get feats more often, there have to be more, and also, they have to be power-balanced since you are getting more of them. At twentieth level, a Pathfinder character will have ten feats, where a D&D 3.5 character will have six. One result is an increase in complexity for Pathfinder characters, in addition to the per-level powers built into your class, you are tracking nearly twice the feats.
Power-balanced is an intentional term, since Pathfinder needs to work harder at feat-balance than D&D 3.5. It does not mean less powerful, since some Pathfinder feats are more powerful (cleave), and some are weaker (with a standard action use requirement). In general, Pathfinder feats are more specific, and 3.5 feats are more general purpose. It is a design decision possibly reflected by balance, class powers, the number of feats, and a bunch of other factors.
Feats and special moves are like the talent system used in many MMOs, and server the same purpose - to make your character different than others who have the same character class. It is interesting to see some MMOs split these into two or three specializations in the class, along with talent tree (WoW), specializations with their own talent trees (early WoW, Diablo 2), and pick-all systems like 3.5 (EQ, EQ2). Feats in Pathfinder and D&D seem to be more like rules tweaks than MMO character customizations, so it is a comparison with key differences.
Do feats need to be broadened, and allow for greater customization? Possibly so, you could imagine picking less feats (1/4 perhaps), and gaining greater powers inside the feat. Selecting an 'elemental fire warrior' that gives you extra fire damage per attack, fire immunity, and other powers would be cool, and move the feat system towards a higher-level of customization than just rules tweaks like 'improved crit range'.
It depends on your goals 100%, if your game is more focused towards tweaking rules, than feats how they exist are fine. If you see feats as being character customization, you need less of them with more power and 'punch' to them. One thing you don't want to do is lay extra systems on top of feats to accomplish the same thing, such as creating an extra class specialization system on top of your already in-place and working feat system. If the goal is to allow for customization, make one system that does it well, and avoid duplication of sub-systems.
One of the problems with D&D4 was excessive duplication. They had two multi-classing systems, a feat system, synergies within class power trees, and they also made new classes to cover variant builds. It was a nice system in the first three books (the first multi-class system was not the best), but it quickly grew unmanageable one you added expansion volumes. Needing a computer program to generate valid characters was a problem at most of out D&D4 games, many players enjoyed the convenience, but they also did not like the ability to do it themselves, and craft builds in their heads.
What is the lesson to take away? Possibly that character customization systems need to be built into the game from the ground-up, in order to avoid duplication and complexity. Building them in from the start also gives the system a feeling everything works out of the box, that this is the way classes work, and these are the ways you can customize each one. Give people clear paths, and they will be happy and walk them.
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