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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9342495" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Nah. That's a completely artificial way of doing things--predicated on the bad design of D&D spells.It absolutely is not. If the fundamental design is already borked, it's a GIGO situation. That's extremely relevant. If you already have a freshly-cut sow's ear, you're not making a silk purse.You literally just proved it is in any environment where the players can use it as often as they like.So. Just to be clear. Having +1 AC, +level HP, and healing +1 more point per HD spent, vs doing +1 damage, hitting 5% (in absolute terms, not relative terms) more often, and having a 2-foot-longer running long jump, is a meaningful differentiator? Because that's all that those two choices do, other than (I guess) Con saves being generally better than Str saves. Con doesn't even add to any skills anymore, since 5e dropped Endurance, and it only adds to AC because you're talking about a Barbarian.I don't see how that cashes out. It sounds like you have invested that choice with a hell of a lot more meaning than what the actual rules themselves communicate. Which is, unfortunately, one of the greatest problems in discussions of this sort. Rules that have long-held traditional value are given carte blanche for being flavorless nothing, while rules that actually work to produce the experience required are judged harshly with a microscopic lens. Then, they're held to the impossible standard of being flawlessly good at generating flavor but in zero ways "forcing" any flavor; any error to either side is ripped into as utterly unacceptable. Either it's "bland flavorless garbage" or it's "Golden Wyvern Adept." Nothing is allowed to exist long enough to become a new tradition, the perfect catch-22, you can't get a job without having experience, and you can't get experience without having a job.The vast majority of characters never see more than two ASIs, because you get your third at level 12. Also, you're wrong, it's not "at least half a dozen," it's five for anyone except Rogues (six) and Fighters (seven). Giving up 50% of your actually-likely-to-get-them ability score increases, and 20% of your even-theoretically-possible ability score increases, for a usually-heavily-specialized benefit is a losing deal...in most cases, unless it's quite powerful or quite general or both. Hence Lucky, SS, PAM, GWM, etc.Why do you think 5.5e is making first-level automatic feats a thing? Because despite feats being a popular mechanic, actually using them is very rare, except for the small handful that so many DMs continuously bitch, whine, moan, and complain about. E.g. Lucky, Sharpshooter, Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master. (Which is ironic, of course, because only one feat threatens Lucky's supremacy, and that's Elven Accuracy. A half-feat which has a more powerful bonus than almost all "full" feats.)</blockquote>

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