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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 7035138" data-attributes="member: 6683613">"Especially" doesn't mean that. <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/especially?s=t" target="_blank">Look it up in a dictionary</a> if you don't believe me. But stop trying to blame me for your own malapropisms. I can't know when you intend a word to mean something other than what it conventionally means. I have to respond to the text on my screen, not the thoughts in your head....what?Rogues don't get Extra Attack either. Extra Attack is not what signifies the ability to actually, y'know, fight with one's weapon. That honor would go to weapon proficiency.I'm eager to find out what the player comes up with.Are you telling me this because you think I don't know? Do you think I've been arguing that somehow a beast master with a magic weapon works the same as a fighter with a magic weapon? Because I haven't.That's a big and interesting game design question, but does it matter here? Receiving an automatic passive ability isn't even a decision.Well, apart from the beast they tame, the weapon they wield, the spells they learn and cast, the tactics they use. Apart from all those, sure, I'll agree with you that they lack the capacity to make meaningful decisions.For heaven's sake, dude, if you're going to make bold unsupported assertions, at least make them vaguely plausible.Because it's tricky to generate meaningful decisions from passive abilities. Passive abilities that do generate meaningful decisions tend to be conditional, so that you can take actions with an eye toward fulfilling the condition. A prime example of this would be the rogue's Sneak Attack. Sneak Attack also has the benefit of being exciting: when you trigger it, you get to roll a fistful of sweet, sweet bonus dice. On the other hand, bypassing nonmagical resistance is neither conditional nor exciting. It doesn't change the way you might want to act; in fact, it negates an enemy feature which does that. It makes encounters less differentiated for you than they otherwise would be, encouraging you to make the boring default decision ("attack!") more often.I know. Do you see how you're replacing a feature that actually adds something new to the animal with a feature that (you say) the animal simply needs in order to not suck? Like how rangers have to replace a 1st-level spell that might differentiate their character in an interesting way with hunter's mark in order to keep up with damage? Yeah, that's a feature tax.</blockquote>

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