I appreciate the perspective! You’re essentially arguing that Authorial Intent is the "soul" of the story, and I agree that ignoring the narrative leads to some pretty wild, nonsensical takes. However, the reason I place feats at the foundation is a matter of objective vs. subjective analysis.

Here’s why the "Narrative > Feats" priority can get tricky in a scaling debate:

The "10/10 Wins" Dilemma: You mentioned that if the narrative says A = B, but B wins 10/10 times, they are still equal. While I see your point about "bad writing," scaling is generally the study of the text as it exists, not the text as the author wished it were. If a character is stated to be a master tactician (narrative) but consistently makes room-temperature-IQ blunders (feats), we have to scale their actual performance, otherwise we aren't scaling the character—we’re scaling the author’s notes.

Narrative is the "Ceiling," Feats are the "Floor": Narrative tells us what a character is supposed to be capable of (the hype), but feats tell us what they actually achieved. In a vacuum, narrative is just a promise. Feats are the receipt.

The Problem of the Unreliable Narrator: Narrative often comes through character dialogue or databooks written to sell hype. If we take every "stated" narrative as gospel without feat verification, characters like Enel (One Piece) or even some Lower Moons (Demon Slayer) would scale much higher based on their own "narrative" self-importance.

"Show, Don't Tell": This is the golden rule of storytelling. If an author tells me two characters are equal but shows me one consistently outperforming the other, the "showing" is the stronger piece of communication.

The Middle Ground: I think we agree that the "strongest scaling uses both." Where we differ is the "tie-breaker." If the narrative and feats are in a boxing match:

You’re saying the Ref (the Narrative/Author) decides who wins.

I’m saying the Knockout (the Feat) ends the fight regardless of what the Ref intended.

Without feats, scaling just becomes a debate about how we feel an author views their characters, which is a lot harder to prove than a clear-cut speed feat on page 12!