Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
[3.5] No good reason to get rid of Ambidexterity...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Mike Sullivan" data-source="post: 1023545" data-attributes="member: 9824"><p>Sort of.</p><p></p><p>The thing is, the basic penalties for two-weapon fighting could as easily be written as "-200/-600." Frankly, you'd have to be totally out of your mind to take a -6/-10 to hit.</p><p></p><p>Suppose that I make a feat as follows:</p><p></p><p><strong>Negative Energy Attack</strong></p><p>Prerequisites: 1d6 sneak attack, 1 Cleric level, evil alignment</p><p>Benefits: When making a sneak attack, you can choose for your sneak attack damage to be negative energy damage instead of physical damage. If you do so, you do only 1 point of damage for each 1d6 that you'd ordinarily roll.</p><p></p><p>Now, I think we could all agree that that feat is not overpowered (it may be inappropriate for a variety of other reasons, because I made it up on the spot, but it's not overpowered, right?)</p><p></p><p>Now, what if I make a house-rule in my game that says, "Any evil Cleric with sneak-attack damage can do 1 point of negative energy damage for every 1d6 sneak attack damage that they'd normally do, but if they do so, they take a -20 to hit."</p><p></p><p>After I've made that house-rule, my <strong>Negative Energy Attack</strong> feat could be described as, "Giving a +20 to hit." Does that suddenly make the feat, with the exact same effect, overpowered? No, of course not. It's still a rather weak feat -- the creation of an entirely seperate (punitively difficult-to-use) rule doesn't affect that.</p><p></p><p>Would the value of the Ambi/TWF feats suddenly go up if the penalty for TWF was increased to -20/-18? No, your character with the feats would be exactly the same. He hasn't become more powerful, but, by your description of the feat, it would have gone from giving a +8 to giving a +18! And yet... The character isn't any better.</p><p></p><p>That's why people don't worry about the "+8." It's not really a "+8." It's a feat which makes a given manuever possible, when it wasn't possible before -- like Spring Attack or something.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mike Sullivan, post: 1023545, member: 9824"] Sort of. The thing is, the basic penalties for two-weapon fighting could as easily be written as "-200/-600." Frankly, you'd have to be totally out of your mind to take a -6/-10 to hit. Suppose that I make a feat as follows: [b]Negative Energy Attack[/b] Prerequisites: 1d6 sneak attack, 1 Cleric level, evil alignment Benefits: When making a sneak attack, you can choose for your sneak attack damage to be negative energy damage instead of physical damage. If you do so, you do only 1 point of damage for each 1d6 that you'd ordinarily roll. Now, I think we could all agree that that feat is not overpowered (it may be inappropriate for a variety of other reasons, because I made it up on the spot, but it's not overpowered, right?) Now, what if I make a house-rule in my game that says, "Any evil Cleric with sneak-attack damage can do 1 point of negative energy damage for every 1d6 sneak attack damage that they'd normally do, but if they do so, they take a -20 to hit." After I've made that house-rule, my [b]Negative Energy Attack[/b] feat could be described as, "Giving a +20 to hit." Does that suddenly make the feat, with the exact same effect, overpowered? No, of course not. It's still a rather weak feat -- the creation of an entirely seperate (punitively difficult-to-use) rule doesn't affect that. Would the value of the Ambi/TWF feats suddenly go up if the penalty for TWF was increased to -20/-18? No, your character with the feats would be exactly the same. He hasn't become more powerful, but, by your description of the feat, it would have gone from giving a +8 to giving a +18! And yet... The character isn't any better. That's why people don't worry about the "+8." It's not really a "+8." It's a feat which makes a given manuever possible, when it wasn't possible before -- like Spring Attack or something. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
[3.5] No good reason to get rid of Ambidexterity...
Top