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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 3119724" data-attributes="member: 1165">Barbarian - Weak vs ranged and flyers. Not a big deal, IMO.Bard - Bardic Lore is sort of DM dependent. The lack of broad spellcasting also makes them somewhat DM dependant. Mind you, mind control and illusions work on most things anyway.Cleric - already listed. Mostly free of them.Druid - Wild empathy, a fair number of spells. Note that druids do have a lot of spells that can be used in any environment, though, so I don't know why people sometimes say druids are useless indoors.Fighter - Almost entirely DM-independent. A fighter who uses a spiked chain might get annoyed if their enemies are always large four-legged monsters, though (as a counter-example). Some feats, like Improved Disarm, are somewhat DM-dependent.Monk - Some abilties, like immunity to poison and slow fall are quite DM-dependent.Paladin - their anti-evil abilities show up in most games. The use of the mount is somewhat DM-dependent; being immune to disease and being able to relieve disease is very DM-dependent.Ranger - favored enemy is very DM-dependent, and since rangers have few ways of boosting damage, this is a big part of the class.Rogue - sneak attack is a little DM-dependent and a huge part of the class. Trap finding is much more DM-dependent. Fortunately, trap finding is rarely a big part of their concept (IMO). Some of the special abilities (10th-level+) are a bit DM-dependent.Sorcerer/Wizard - like a fighter, they're most DM-independent. Some feats and spells are more DM-dependent than others, and this hurts the sorcerer more than the wizard (fewer spells known, no bonus feats).As stated numerous times already, all abilities are to some extent DM-dependent. "DM-dependent!" abilities are abilities that a player has little choice about whether they can use it or not and is (usually) hard for the DM to make available, sometimes leading to frustration.Still, it wouldn't be so bad, except some classes have lots of these abilities, and some don't. Rangers have a lot of them, whereas wizards that chose broad-brush spells don't really have to worry about it.You're better off with fewer (or, perhaps more precisely, with an equal amount of these abilities per class).Provided the feats in questions are balanced, I like the idea. Also substitution; there's no thematic feats that I can think of that would apply to favored enemy, so why not substitute the ability for something else instead?I disagree. What reason does the ranger have to enter a cave and go shoot oozes? It doesn't advance any sort of plot, it doesn't weaken the bad guys, or anything like that, it just gives the ranger a few more XP. The DM has to create a scenario where the oozes are dangerous to ordinary people, instead of just hiding in a cave where they only hurt spelunkers and adventurers.It's even worse with intelligent beings. A ranger who chose elves as his favored enemy had better not go around killing elves for no reason. Eventually the elven armed forces will come after him!If a ranger took ooze as a favored enemy, the DM should use oozes alongside regular villains. (Oozes, being unintelligent generally, can't be villains by themselves. Unless the DM makes a cool new monster type. Or at least give villainous spellcasters a tame ooze spell.) The MM doesn't have things like intelligent oozes, I believe, however, so it's harder for the DM to make favored enemy (ooze) useful.Even if a DM doesn't pay attention to the "distribution of monster types", almost every campaign will use mostly enemies that can be sneak attacked. So while it's DM-dependent like most game abilities, it's not "DM-dependent!". Any player of a rogue should be able to use sneak attack on a regular basis. (There are obvious exceptions, like a heavy undead campaign.)I don't think that works, actually. So you found a bear. What are you going do, try to tame it? Shoot it for no reason? Even if it attacks, was it going to attack if you hadn't gotten into its face? The player would be better off asking the DM about these things, and hopefully the DM will get the hint and use some overly aggressive dire animals that have been eating travellers in this area or maybe include an evil druid (with animal companion and summons and maybe animals he charmed) in an upcoming encounter or something like that. Or maybe there's a curse on this town that can only be cured when a certain locket is returned to the town ... and the locket is on a collar around an escaped dog's neck, so now the ranger PC has to track that specific dog down, get the animal to approach using wild empathy, and bring the dog and locket back. (It's the best I could come up with in about ten seconds.)In campaigns I've run, players almost never ask me about rarely-used skills. I'll try to work them in, but being a fallible human beings I need reminders. Maybe DMs need to be better about communicating to players that the players can remind them of these things.</blockquote>

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