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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 7140516" data-attributes="member: 6677017">It's definitely unfortunate timing at least. Whether it is reasonable or not depends on the nature of the campaign. Does the DM have something in particular in mind that requires a reasonable chance of the party being surprised now and again? If so, then allowing that feat could very well have messed things up so much he'll have to artificially make things more difficult for your character (would you rather have the feat and see it's actual effects nerfed in play because all the enemies seem to be absurdly good at stealth and such now, or just have the DM tell you it isn't a good fit for the campaign and he'd prefer if you switched it for another).As an example, I'm running a 5e game for a group new to 5e. The one player who isn't new to 5e considered a rogue with Observant. The problem is that the intention of this game is to let the new players get a good feel for how 5e plays. We're playing the first two adventures in Tales From the Yawning Portal, which are trap filled dungeon adventures. Observant means he's almost never going to miss a trap, since none of them have a DC higher than his passive perception would be with Observant. Now, I consider traps as something you actually have to make a bit of effort to avoid as a basic part of the game experience. Taking that feat would essentially mean that the group is deprived of that particular element of play. We went back and forth discussing it, he mentioning that spotting the trap doesn't necessarily mean you know how to disarm it (true), etc. But I'm looking at the adventure and thinking that as a player I'd have a better time actually having the traps matter. What I finally decided is that if he did want to play that character (he had other ideas, and that isn't the one he went with) we'd have a talk with the rest of the group first. I'd explain the situation, let them know how their experience would change if this feat were in the game, and let them decide what they wanted to do.The feat isn't overpowered--but it is game changing. The same could be true about Alert, and you might want to ask him about it. Perhaps his reasoning will make sense to you once you hear it, or perhaps your reasoning will make sense to him. (The funny thing is, as much as I take a hardline DM empowerment angle on the forums, I'm a push over to a well-reasoned proposal in my actual games. One of my players in particular is always able to come up with a perfectly reasonable proposal that breaks my rules in a non-objectionable way.)</blockquote>

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