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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Esker" data-source="post: 7642200" data-attributes="member: 6966824">I mean that's almost identical to granting advantage. In some ways it's actually better, since you might already have advantage, in which case now you can use your bonus action to roll four dice. I guess the way it's worse is you can't use it to remove disadvantage, which rogues especially hate. (You probably want to call it something different, by the way, since there's a halfling racial feat called that already) I'd definitely take it, though.So this is basically giving them back what finesse already does, but making them use a bonus action to get the benefit? Eh.What about something like:Disarm: When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can use a bonus action to attempt to cause the creature to drop one item of your choice that it is holding. Make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creature's athletics or acrobatics (their choice). If you succeed, the creature drops the item at its feet.Yeah, but the fighter is going to put ASIs in strength anyway. Nobody in their right mind puts a precious ASI into a stat they don't use for anything except one kind of skill check. It seems like you're focused on the fiction, whereas I'm focused on the game balance. What you're saying makes sense in simulationist terms, but in game terms, you're taking a distinctive feature away from a class, which is already perceived by most people as a bit on the weakish side, mechanically.I mean, this is exactly what RAW does: expertise eventually adds +6, which is the gap between the lowest possible ability modifier (assuming standard generation methods) and the highest.Yes, it's good. It should be good! The rogue is an expert at sneaking around, having devoted a precious resource to getting that 80-90% chance of success (or more precisely, getting that chance of a catastrophic outcome down to 10-20%)! It just doesn't feel like you (or the DM of your group) are taking seriously the idea that (a) the rogue paid a lot (in opportunity cost) for the ability to do that, and (b) for it to be worthwhile to attempt something as dangerous as sneaking alone, you want to be pretty confident you're going to succeed!Sure, but being able to do extraordinary things achieved via skill checks are defining for those classes. Other classes have other kinds of extraordinary things they can do.Okay, I can understand that position, but to fix that and retain game balance would take a wholesale overhaul of the monster manual. If you're not going to do that to address the fighter's "excessive" to-hit bonus (which I assume you're not), then at least recognize (and I think you at least somewhat do) that messing with expertise upsets the game balance just as much in its sphere.</blockquote>

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