Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 6791552" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Why is that assumption being treated as a given? Lots of characters aren't proficient with shields. What about them? What are they giving up? Many that do have shield proficiency choose not to use them, preferring to keep a free hand. Eldritch Knights have shield proficiency but need a free hand to cast spells. If a character holds a dagger in her otherwise free hand, she doesn't give up that free hand, since she could always drop the dagger and have full use of the hand.  An ASI isn't available to a first level character. What is a variant human giving up? Maybe a +1 to a relevant score, maybe not. If the choice is between a feat and an ASI, why assume the increase is going to benefit the character's combat performance? Maybe the player has other priorities, like being able to dual wield with a weapon that isn't light. An ASI won't help you do that. By choosing an ASI, the player is giving up the ability to wield the weapons of her choice. Does that make the ASI a trap option?Being first level isn't an edge case. Discourages how? There's no penalty for dual wielding like there was in certain other editions. To the contrary, a feat has been included that allows you to dual wield any two one-handed melee weapons you'd like. Also, if by historically accurate fighting style you mean using a companion weapon, I wouldn't characterize that as two-weapon fighting in the sense of making an attack with both weapons every round. In that style, the off-hand weapon's primary purpose is to parry, not attack. You can also parry with a single weapon, so I don't see any particular reason why using a companion weapon should significantly boost your AC or give you extra attacks. Sure, and I have no problem with you doing that in your games. Personally, I'm fine with the feat covering everything beyond basic TWF. I don't feel that a higher level of granularity is necessary to make players feel their choice is the most optimal. That way, a player that takes the feat in order to do longsword +dagger, for example, always has the option of using two longswords if she feels she isn't doing enough damage. Does giving up a feat, one that may be important to your character concept, make elf a trap option?</blockquote>

Verification