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Message: <blockquote data-quote="orangefruitbat" data-source="post: 9585521" data-attributes="member: 3013">Sure. One thing I dislike is is weapon masteries. The assigned masteries feel really arbitrary/silly/gamey. They introduce too much advantage/disadvantage into the game (I like A/D, but this is too much of a good thing). As a DM, keeping track of sapped opponents is a PITA. There are lots of small changes which can seem like a good idea, but lead to undesirable gameplay. For example, the fact that you can extend a barbarian's rage simply by spending a bonus action. This logically leads to a barbarian raging for a full ten minutes (when the combat that started it only lasts 2-3 rounds). Now, take something like the World Tree barbarian who can generate temporary HP for the other close-by party members every round. This is a really powerful ability in combat (2d6 temp HP/round at first level!), but now it extends beyond combat. So if the first level barbarian gave the wizard 7 temporary HP in combat and wizard still has them, the barbarian can keep trying to improve that result for the wizard and every other party member every round out of combat (and there could be 97-99 rounds left of rage). This is a huge amount of temp HP for the party if encouters are packed close together (such as in a dungeon).Almost all the changes to the PHB rules INCREASE character's power level (the notable exceptions being wild shape nerfing and making smites a bonus action - both changes I do like) - WOTC just gives players more goodies with no downsides. Even in 5.0, D&D felt like it was in Easy mode beyond level 2. Now it's even harder to challenge PCs without either massive encounters or silly high CRs. They even took away the optional rules from the 5.0 DMG (though I still use some of them). And the MM, while making some monsters a bit easier to run (a good thing), they didn't make them feel more dangerous or scary.I do think some of the changes in 5.5 are good, such as making a beast master ranger or elemental monk that doesn't suck. But for the most part, they did little to make the game more fun/fast/tense/unexpected/exciting in play.</blockquote>

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