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Proficiencies don't make the class. Do they?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6608141" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>...so...I covered all of this. Remarkable Athlete does nothing except giving you extra jump distance, or +2 to stuff you aren't proficient in (for most of the game). It's a feature, certainly, but the amount of benefit it gives to exploration is terribly scanty. The EK gets magic, sure, and the cantrips can be great for pretty much any pillar--but the higher-level magic, AFAICT, has to come from the combat-related schools (Evocation and Abjuration, IIRC?) The cantrips are really the heavy lifters there. And, as stated, Know Your Enemy <em>only applies to combat.</em> It has literally zero use for anything not related to combat: you cannot learn anything about the target except its physical stats, HP, AC, general level, and Fighter level--and even then you have to pick just two, AND you only learn how it compares to you (higher/same/lower). It's NOT an interaction feature, nor is it an exploration feature. It's a combat feature, because it gives you information exclusively about combat and nothing else.</p><p></p><p>So, in summary: Champions can jump 1-5 feet further and get a +1 to +3 bonus on certain stuff they aren't proficient in, <em>some</em> of which is exploration. The absolute barest minimum you could possibly have and still call it an "exploration feature."</p><p>EKs get cantrips. They're good. 'Nuff said. <em>Most</em> of their magic won't be that useful outside of combat, but enough will.</p><p>Battlemasters get proficiency in one set of artisan's tools, which <em>may</em> be useful outside of combat. Or may not! It may not ever have any use at all, in fact--a lot of the options are pure fluff, like painter's supplies or brewer's supplies. Know Your Enemy doesn't do a single thing about non-combat stuff--you will never learn anything about a person's psyche, motives, etc. Unless you're house-ruling, of course, in which case the entire subject is moot anyway.</p><p></p><p>And if <em>that</em> is the standard we're setting for "having features," then simply having weapon proficiencies and the ability to make attacks should be plenty sufficient. Hell--a weapon proficiency is equivalent to artisan tool proficiency AND more broadly useful (since a weapon works in all combats ever, more or less, while artisan's tools are only useful in a narrow selection of exploration or interaction situations), and furthermore, it'll give a bigger bonus than Remarkable Athlete (twice as big, to be specific).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Feats are not a core feature of the game, for one. For two, I'm never, ever going to accept "You can boost your Int/Cha/Wis!" as an "Exploration or Interaction" feature--particularly if I'm not going to accept class skills as "features." Yes, Fighters get 4 extra stat points to play around with--eventually. For the majority of the game, though, they're only 2 points ahead (starting at level 6; next 'extra' one is at level 14). And if I consider Remarkable Athlete a pittance, an extra +1 to your Int/Cha/Wis mod is even less. It's not an "exploration" or "interaction" *feature.* It's a stat boost. The stat boost may be workable to your favor in such situations, but that's not what it's "for." They're for boosting your stats. I wouldn't consider adding to your Str/Con/Dex to be a "combat" feature either. Now, something that lets you add your modifiers *to a combat action*? That's a combat feature. "Half your proficiency, round up" to stuff you're *not* proficient at? Barely a drop in the bucket. It's something, I cannot deny that, but (as stated above) if that's the bar we have to meet, the bar is very, very, VERY low indeed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 6608141, member: 6790260"] ...so...I covered all of this. Remarkable Athlete does nothing except giving you extra jump distance, or +2 to stuff you aren't proficient in (for most of the game). It's a feature, certainly, but the amount of benefit it gives to exploration is terribly scanty. The EK gets magic, sure, and the cantrips can be great for pretty much any pillar--but the higher-level magic, AFAICT, has to come from the combat-related schools (Evocation and Abjuration, IIRC?) The cantrips are really the heavy lifters there. And, as stated, Know Your Enemy [I]only applies to combat.[/I] It has literally zero use for anything not related to combat: you cannot learn anything about the target except its physical stats, HP, AC, general level, and Fighter level--and even then you have to pick just two, AND you only learn how it compares to you (higher/same/lower). It's NOT an interaction feature, nor is it an exploration feature. It's a combat feature, because it gives you information exclusively about combat and nothing else. So, in summary: Champions can jump 1-5 feet further and get a +1 to +3 bonus on certain stuff they aren't proficient in, [I]some[/I] of which is exploration. The absolute barest minimum you could possibly have and still call it an "exploration feature." EKs get cantrips. They're good. 'Nuff said. [I]Most[/I] of their magic won't be that useful outside of combat, but enough will. Battlemasters get proficiency in one set of artisan's tools, which [I]may[/I] be useful outside of combat. Or may not! It may not ever have any use at all, in fact--a lot of the options are pure fluff, like painter's supplies or brewer's supplies. Know Your Enemy doesn't do a single thing about non-combat stuff--you will never learn anything about a person's psyche, motives, etc. Unless you're house-ruling, of course, in which case the entire subject is moot anyway. And if [I]that[/I] is the standard we're setting for "having features," then simply having weapon proficiencies and the ability to make attacks should be plenty sufficient. Hell--a weapon proficiency is equivalent to artisan tool proficiency AND more broadly useful (since a weapon works in all combats ever, more or less, while artisan's tools are only useful in a narrow selection of exploration or interaction situations), and furthermore, it'll give a bigger bonus than Remarkable Athlete (twice as big, to be specific). Feats are not a core feature of the game, for one. For two, I'm never, ever going to accept "You can boost your Int/Cha/Wis!" as an "Exploration or Interaction" feature--particularly if I'm not going to accept class skills as "features." Yes, Fighters get 4 extra stat points to play around with--eventually. For the majority of the game, though, they're only 2 points ahead (starting at level 6; next 'extra' one is at level 14). And if I consider Remarkable Athlete a pittance, an extra +1 to your Int/Cha/Wis mod is even less. It's not an "exploration" or "interaction" *feature.* It's a stat boost. The stat boost may be workable to your favor in such situations, but that's not what it's "for." They're for boosting your stats. I wouldn't consider adding to your Str/Con/Dex to be a "combat" feature either. Now, something that lets you add your modifiers *to a combat action*? That's a combat feature. "Half your proficiency, round up" to stuff you're *not* proficient at? Barely a drop in the bucket. It's something, I cannot deny that, but (as stated above) if that's the bar we have to meet, the bar is very, very, VERY low indeed. [/QUOTE]
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Proficiencies don't make the class. Do they?
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