Just over levels and through items and boons. feats and ASIs should never have been interchangable.
My brain might be (is probably) mushy. Why not?
Just over levels and through items and boons. feats and ASIs should never have been interchangable.
Because raw numbers should never be an alternative to flavorful abilities or versatility.My brain might be (is probably) mushy. Why not?
Because raw numbers should never be an alternative to flavorful abilities or versatility.
Sure, if you want to play Royle Gladdenstone, World's Strongest Gnome (TM), that's your prerogative. I think the issue is that the game has a very limited upgrade blueprint- if you're a Fighter, anything that isn't making you better at Fightering (I may have made that word up) can have dubious merits.*I am led to believe that a Halfling wanting to be as strong as a Titan is an important character desire to be able to fulfill? (Only part tongue-in-cheak. In a game that uses raw numbers, it feels like improving them might be flavor to some players?)
Sure, if you want to play Royle Gladdenstone, World's Strongest Gnome (TM), that's your prerogative. I think the issue is that the game has a very limited upgrade blueprint- if you're a Fighter, anything that isn't making you better at Fightering (I may have made that word up) can have dubious merits.*
*I say can, because not everyone plays the game the same way. There are certainly tables where a Fighter with a 14 Strength who becomes a master chef or learns the ways of trap-busting is, in fact, far more ideal than accruing a little more DPR, and that's ok. But the game is built with an expectation that fighting things is going to happen a lot, and in these life or death scenarios, being 5-10% better at Fightering can make all the difference to your character's survival).
And forcing players to sit down and calculate whether Feat X or Stat Increase Y makes them better at Fightering seems like a step back to Monte Cook's so-called "ivory tower design", IMO.
The issue is the fact that stats are sharing a resource pool with versatility options.I am led to believe that a Halfling wanting to be as strong as a Titan is an important character desire to be able to fulfill? (Only part tongue-in-cheak. In a game that uses raw numbers, it feels like improving them might be flavor to some players?)