Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Diceman65 Aug 22, 2014 7:07:26	My gaming group is barely starting to run through our first campaign. We are using the Lost mines of Phandelver as our starting point and have only been using the basic rules so far. I only purchased my copy of the PHB last weekend and have not read it cover to cover yet. One thing I am considering is  not allowing feats or multiclassing for  this first campaign.   Full disclosure: I have been playing D&D since 1978. When 3.0 and 3.5 came out I really did not care for the feat system nor the multiclass system. I felt like it transformed the game so that players who didn't min/max their characters and wanted to keep things simple were at a distinct disadvantage compared to players who were stacking feats and multiclassing/prestige classing.   As far as the skill system introduced in 3.0, I liked it to a point but felt that there were too many choices. When  4E came out I likes that they simplified and made the system more general. I felt like it allowed for more improvising by the players when they wanted to try non combat related tasks. The only drawback  was that 4E didn't really lend itself to role playing as much as it did to straight combat.   Looking at it from todays perspective my attitude has softened, as I did play the Star Wars saga edition and had no issue with those same mechanics when used in that setting.   But so far my limited experience with 5E has some of the feel of First and Second Edition D&D. I like that the devs have kept  the skills system and healing system from 4E and strived to keep things  simple and streamlined as a starting point.   So I think I want to see  how the rules play over the course of an entire campaign before we introduce feats and multiclassing back into our game. Especially since we have   12yr old and 13 yr old girls playing in their first ever D&D campaign.   Am I the only person who is going to take such a slow approach to the game? Do you think it is unfair to the more veteran players to deny them these options for the time being?   Are their DMs out there that plan to never allow these mechanics in their game?
#2 Kravell Aug 22, 2014 7:42:55	No feats in my campaign. We had some multiclassing due to the changing packets but now that we're converting over to 5E we may not have that anymore either. We've played to 14th level with the playtest with no feats and it worked great.
#3 Emerikol. Aug 22, 2014 7:56:03	I believe as the DM you are entirely within your rights to not use feats if you want your campaign to go a certain way.   Of course if all your players are madly in love with feats this could create some conflict especially if they are willing to quit the game over it.   Personally I tend to favor even as a player giving the DM the leeway to do the campaign how he wants including houserules/options choices.      I'll be curious how it goes if you do run it.   Let us know.
#4 JohnLynch Aug 22, 2014 8:00:57	I believe Zardnaar was considering the reversal at one point and banning ability score increases. I personally will not only be allowing feats and multiclassing, but should an appropriate story event occur I'm even willing to waive the ability score requirements for multiclassing. Waiving said requirement would be the equivalent of giving the character a powerful item that requires attune meant (and so decrease their available slots for at tuning magic items).   i don't consider it unfair If everyone is happy to play by it. I personally feel feats can help round out martial characters. And multiclassing I'd be happy to do without if the DM was willing to allow exceptions for story based multiclassing.   Disclosure: I started with 4th ed and moved on to Pathfinder.
#5 Zardnaar Aug 22, 2014 8:26:14	JohnLynch wrote:
#6 JohnLynch Aug 22, 2014 8:28:14	What route are your PHBs taking? I got mine and I'm in Western Australia!
#7 1eejit Aug 22, 2014 8:31:54	Keep in mind that no feats could make playing a fighter mighty dull. 7 stat bumps, yawn. Perhaps consider a short whitelist of feats which fighters can take.
#8 CrispyCrew Aug 22, 2014 8:43:46	I'm on the fence about feats, but in the organized play game I'm in, they don't seem to be ruining the experience at all. But I'm almost positive that I'm banning multiclassing; the players are already discussing single-level dips, and that really bothers me. There used to be a rule (I don't remember which edition) that imposed a significant penalty for characters with level gaps that got too big. It'd be nice to see that reintroduced.
#9 bawylie Aug 22, 2014 8:51:35	No multiclassing. No wizards. Feats ok.
#10 Zardnaar Aug 22, 2014 8:57:00	JohnLynch wrote:
#11 sailoroswald Aug 22, 2014 8:58:53	bawylie: What's your reasoning behind no multiclassing? I'm always worried it'll cause massive power disparity between PCs.
#12 draegn Aug 22, 2014 9:03:02	We have a drastically reduced number of feats. See Shadowrun edges and flaws and Talislanta quirks for an idea of what we use.    We have hated feats since 3.0. Feats as instituted are nothing more than a marketing ploy to get MtG players to play the RPG and vice versa. The sheer number of feats can be directly compared to the number of cards in a MtG set.   Increasing the number of skills in the game reduces the need for multiclassing and reduces the number of feats.
(Reply to #11) bawylie	sailoroswald wrote:
#14 Diceman65 Aug 22, 2014 9:36:21	sailoroswald wrote:
#15 sleypy Aug 22, 2014 10:53:23	I am probably going to ban stat boost or limit it to +1 to two stats. I think there are plenty of feats with +1 boost to a stat so I am likely going to ban it all together.