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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5898534" data-attributes="member: 2067">So we have:a) A &quot;Feat&quot; hits all three pillars, orb) A &quot;Feat&quot; hits combat pillar. A &quot;Skill&quot; hits the exploration pillar. A &quot;Trait&quot; hits the interaction pillar.I think of these, I'm a bigger fan of (a).The reason is because there's no reason to have distinct mechanics for each pillar. That is to say, an attack roll and a Nature check and a Diplomacy check all use the same mechanic: d20+mods vs. DC. They're all &quot;skill checks.&quot; They're all things you can do from level 1. They're all things that improve with level. But as a feat, &quot;Whirlwind Attack&quot; is different. It's effectively a new action you can take in a round. And &quot;Power Attack&quot; is different still. It's a modification of your core mechanic. And &quot;Ritual Caster&quot; or &quot;Vampire&quot; are different still (opening up new mechanics or character options). They're all new things you can opt into when you gain a level. That's a different sort of bucket.So say we have a player who is really into the Exploration part of the game. They love wandering through ruins and finding new vistas and pushing the boundaries of the map and hexcrawling or whatever. And then you say to them: &quot;Everything you want to do is handled by this skill check.&quot;In the same party, you have a player who is really into the Combat part of the game. They love killin' things. Tactics arouse them. And then you say to them: &quot;You get to make attack rolls, and modify them with feats, and gain new attacks, and have more options.&quot;The first player is going to feel kind of shafted in this design. Why don't they get more cool options as they level up to play in the way they want? If it helps, swap it: attacks are only limited to d20 rolls, but you get feats like, I dunno, Basic Survival Skills, and Pick Locks, and Stealth as you level up. Clearly, one player isn't being engaged as much as the other.Schwalb mentions a few downsides:Given that one of the big complaints about the feat subsystem has been &quot;bloat,&quot; this doesn't really seem to be a problem to me.A few powerful choices is almost always a better approach than a million largely ones of low significance (even if they can add up). So my vote is for (a). Something maybe like:ToughnessYou are rugged and hardy. You gain the following benefits:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul"> +5 maximum hit points</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Endurance checks +2</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Intimidate checks +2</li>
</ul></blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5898534, member: 2067"] So we have: a) A "Feat" hits all three pillars, or b) A "Feat" hits combat pillar. A "Skill" hits the exploration pillar. A "Trait" hits the interaction pillar. I think of these, I'm a bigger fan of (a). The reason is because there's no reason to have distinct mechanics for each pillar. That is to say, an attack roll and a Nature check and a Diplomacy check all use the same mechanic: d20+mods vs. DC. They're all "skill checks." They're all things you can do from level 1. They're all things that improve with level. But as a feat, "Whirlwind Attack" is different. It's effectively a new action you can take in a round. And "Power Attack" is different still. It's a modification of your core mechanic. And "Ritual Caster" or "Vampire" are different still (opening up new mechanics or character options). They're all new things you can opt into when you gain a level. That's a different sort of bucket. So say we have a player who is really into the Exploration part of the game. They love wandering through ruins and finding new vistas and pushing the boundaries of the map and hexcrawling or whatever. And then you say to them: "Everything you want to do is handled by this skill check." In the same party, you have a player who is really into the Combat part of the game. They love killin' things. Tactics arouse them. And then you say to them: "You get to make attack rolls, and modify them with feats, and gain new attacks, and have more options." The first player is going to feel kind of shafted in this design. Why don't they get more cool options as they level up to play in the way they want? If it helps, swap it: attacks are only limited to d20 rolls, but you get feats like, I dunno, Basic Survival Skills, and Pick Locks, and Stealth as you level up. Clearly, one player isn't being engaged as much as the other. Schwalb mentions a few downsides: Given that one of the big complaints about the feat subsystem has been "bloat," this doesn't really seem to be a problem to me. A few powerful choices is almost always a better approach than a million largely ones of low significance (even if they can add up). So my vote is for (a). Something maybe like: [U]Toughness[/U] You are rugged and hardy. You gain the following benefits: [LIST] [*] +5 maximum hit points [*] Endurance checks +2 [*] Intimidate checks +2 [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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