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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7638996" data-attributes="member: 12731">The idea to Foster creativity and variety crashes and burns hard against the notion the game needs to feature challenge to be fun.Yes, if adventures let you run around fighting obviously inferior foes (including generous ways to take harder goes on one at a time, etc) then yes, you can create pretty much any character, and feats like, say, Linguist isn't trap options.But in any scenario where players will want to meet a certain DPS threshold first, and go for colorful personalities only second, you will want options balanced for effectiveness.A feat like Linguist, for example, gives you zero combat utility. And in a world with Comprehend Languages magic, it honestly doesn't give much utility at all. So why not recognize that by saying it costs 1 &quot;build point&quot; while the power attacks and spell focuses costs 4.The main advantage isn't even the balance in &quot;this feat is worth less, so we price it at a quarter&quot;.The main advantage would be that the price itself sends a clear message to players:&quot;This feat costs only 1 build point, so it is clearly a ribbon ability, something I understand even before reading what it does.&quot;&quot;I get that it likely won't do much to my character's ability to win fights. On the other hand, I get four of them for the price of one solid combat feat, so picking this one won't hurt my chances much.&quot;&quot;In the end, I might consider it a fair trade: it might help me to build a character personality I like to play, and it doesn't cost me too much&quot;In the end, the former &quot;trap option&quot; has- been clearly labeled- no longer hoses you vs a minmaxed build (since a single build point won't break your character)- allows the game to offer colorful personality enhancers without asking players to sacrifice effectiveness</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 7638996, member: 12731"] The idea to Foster creativity and variety crashes and burns hard against the notion the game needs to feature challenge to be fun. Yes, if adventures let you run around fighting obviously inferior foes (including generous ways to take harder goes on one at a time, etc) then yes, you can create pretty much any character, and feats like, say, Linguist isn't trap options. But in any scenario where players will want to meet a certain DPS threshold first, and go for colorful personalities only second, you will want options balanced for effectiveness. A feat like Linguist, for example, gives you zero combat utility. And in a world with Comprehend Languages magic, it honestly doesn't give much utility at all. So why not recognize that by saying it costs 1 "build point" while the power attacks and spell focuses costs 4. The main advantage isn't even the balance in "this feat is worth less, so we price it at a quarter". The main advantage would be that the price itself sends a clear message to players: "This feat costs only 1 build point, so it is clearly a ribbon ability, something I understand even before reading what it does." "I get that it likely won't do much to my character's ability to win fights. On the other hand, I get four of them for the price of one solid combat feat, so picking this one won't hurt my chances much." "In the end, I might consider it a fair trade: it might help me to build a character personality I like to play, and it doesn't cost me too much" In the end, the former "trap option" has - been clearly labeled - no longer hoses you vs a minmaxed build (since a single build point won't break your character) - allows the game to offer colorful personality enhancers without asking players to sacrifice effectiveness [/QUOTE]

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