NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jefe Bergenstein" data-source="post: 6584794" data-attributes="member: 31506">To address a few concerns:I view your total die modifier as training (proficiency bonus) + aptitude (stat bonus). 1st -3rd level is the apprentice tier, and your modifier rises soon after. An apprentice ISN'T that well trained in comparison to a random guy off the street with equal aptitude. Rather than futz with the modifiers, might I suggest often granting auto success to those trained for DC's under 10 or so, or in rarer occasions, only allowing trained to roll? You let the trained skill feel like it counts more, and in circumstances where everyone is rolling, all have a shot. Moreover, there is still uncertainty. I feel this was lost in 3E, where your bonus soon rapidly eclipsed even a 20, often making the roll itself pointless other than to see how well you succeeded.As far as other classes becoming an expert - welcome to a class based game! Things are set aside for class/niche protection, otherwise we may as well just do free form point buy on character creation (which is perfectly fine, but in general considered "not D&D"). Only paladins and clerics can turn undead. Only rogues can sneak attack. Only barbarians can get mad enough to get a damage bonus. as noted above, there are lots of mechanical components of a character. Skill choice, background, race, subclass. But the most important choice for character differentation is how you roleplay them. Even if mechanically identical, a hothead champion fighter is going to seem different in play than the grizzled vet who is only 2 dungeons away from retirement. I think this is more an armchair analyst concern. As a DM, I get that, we spend more time looking at the big picture. However most players tend to focus on their own character's abilities. So long as they get to do cool things, it doesn't matter that much if someone else can theoretically do the exact same cool thing. Plus, how often is this going to come up? Same build in the same game? 5E could stand to grow a bit in options, but I can't take another Pathfinder/3E/4E crunch bloat onslaught. Or hey, grant a feat at 2nd level.  I did to give one group more options, and just count them 1 level higher when building encounters. It doesn't break the game, everyone gets to play with the new toys before their "mandatory" prime stat bumps. The game engine is really resilient w 5E. I'd argue non-alt human is too weak, barring a lucky random stat array and a class that can benefit from all the boosts. Halfing, tiefling and half elf are really popular here. The ability to re-roll 1's always brings a smile and the extra skills from half elf are just great.</blockquote>

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