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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5854954" data-attributes="member: 17106">That's perfectly valid.It's worth pointing out, though, that the DM often has to say no. You're not trying to win a popularity contest, and players often ask for things they really shouldn't get. That said, a general "say yes" or "yes, but" DMing approach is often a good one. This is a topic for the DMG to deal with. Of course, the rules will never prevent some people from acting stupidly, on both sides of the screen.You shouldn't need to take a feat to cleave, power attack, trip, etc.; that's true enough. You shouldn't have to take a power either.So here's the two big problems that I see, based on my experience.The first is that powers are a list of what you can't do. Particularly once books start piling up, there's no way for a character to take every power (or feat, item, etc.) that makes sense for that character. That means that you have a large, cogent, clarified set of things that any individual character cannot do. This tends to create frustration in the players. The DM doesn't have to say no, because the rules already have. Players complain all the time about not being able to use a certain feat they don't have; I can't imagine that proliferating that even more is a good idea. The added complexity is also a barrier for beginners or casual players who don't want to read through a list of powers and decide which are best without having the system mastery to do so competently.The second is the AEDU part. There are a lot of problems associated with that. My experience with 3.X barbarian players is that they absolutely hate rage. Why? Because it's nonsensical. You rage, once per day, for maybe a minute, and then you're done. Unless you're 4th level, when you *magically* gain the ability to do it twice. Why can't you do it again, particularly if the circumstances are appropriately desperate or "enraging"? Is you character tired? Not really (there is a fatigue, but it goes away fast and rage doesn't become available when it's over). He is mechanically fine in most ways.Daily resource management is also ineffective as a game balance tool, because there's no knowing how much a given group will do in a day, or what a given player will do. Many players conserve daily resources in an absolutely paranoid fashion; I see this even though I rarely have multiple battles in the same game day. Spellcasters have always dealt with it, but expanding the problem, tacking on an even more arbitrary "encounter" category (what's an encounter again), and making all the classes use the same basic mechanic, one that was so deeply flawed to begin with, is not a good idea. Again, the daily limitations aren't about what you can do, they're about what you can't do.***So what can be done mechanically?First, dissociate combat mechanics from individual characters. Stunts, maneuvers, exploits, whatever you want to call them, should be out there, available to all.Second, write open-ended mechanics; the PF combat maneuver system does a wonderful job of this. It gives you a nice list of set maneuvers, but encourages you to use your CMB for anything you can think of. Simply having a CMB encourages the DM to say yes.Third, create a diverse set of basic combat statistics on the character sheet (the six saves are a good start). If a fighter can outpace a wizard on four or five out of six saves, as well as an active defense/damage reduction statistic, AC, hit points, initiative, attack bonus, and CMB, that makes him pretty effective.Fourth, use the action economy. TB's combat reactions do a wonderful job of giving fighters an advantage and they're limited by round (the unit of time that actually matters in D&D).Fifth, use the health system. The more complex and meaningful damage is, the more ways there are for a fighter/barbarian/ogre to have an advantage in that system. It also creates more design space for there to be nasty consequences for getting hit.Sixth, fix magic.</blockquote>

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