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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 7735992" data-attributes="member: 2525">Because it's an optional rule established prior to a campaign beginning, which has meaningful impacts on the entire group.If playing in a group that uses the Feats option, then a series of things a PC might try is disallowed during the game because those things are covered by feat rules. For example, if you want to try and shield bash someone down on the backswing of your hammer blow as a sort of athletics trick, you might be allowed to try that every once in a while under appropriate circumstances in a game without feats. However, in a game with feats that mechanic is covered by the Shield Mastery feat, and if you didn't select that feat then you cannot try it because you'd be stepping on the toes of those who did spend that precious resource to get that feat (or the opportunity cost of the feat at least).  And that example can be applied, situationally, to most feats. This is not really the sort of logic which applies very well however to most of the other things you mentioned, like spells. Nobody tries to cast a spell they don't know as a skill check for example, and the choice of spells doesn't have an impact of the existence of spells in the game or not - they will exist, even if nobody in the party has access to them, unlike feats. The game runs without feats and does not assume you're using feats due to it's optional nature, but it doesn't make this same assumption about spells. Assuming you disagree, why does your logic not apply to other optional rules in the game? There is an optional rule to have short rests be only 5 minutes instead of 1 hour, and an optional rule for Facing rules as well. Why are you not arguing each PC gets the choice to use those optional rules? And to make it clear feats are optional it says right in the Player's Handbook, "But this chapter is for players who - with the DM’s permission — want to go a step further. This chapter defines two optional sets of rules...Your DM decides whether these options are available in a campaign."</blockquote>

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