Pretty much the same, possibly a bit less interesting.
Aside from the fact that I am one of those DMs that use the "1=autofail/20=autosuccess" homerule (that some find unfair, I discovered), I consider Expertise little more than an interesting utility feature mechanically speaking, but one that opens up quite a bit of roleplaying focus, due to the additional specialisation the player can give his/her specific Rogue.
Most often than not, the preferred ones, I'd suspect, would be Stealth and Perception for a combat-oriented Rogue, but there are so many other options that can make a Rogue really stand out and cover so many roles in the party that the possibilities are indeed great. Taking that away, is taking away part of the Rogue reason to exist, as it would otherwise be mostly a Sneak-attack machine[edit]/trap-detector-and-disarmer[/edit] and little more (imho).
If rogues didn't have Experitse, they'd have some kind of bonus for doing rogue-stuff, primarily around stealth and thief tools, I imagine. Not much else changed.
I played rogue only once, then I took thieves' tools (because my DM allowed me to set traps using this), stealth, deception, insight and persuasion (why stop at four? Take prodigy!). Mainly because I played my rogue as someone who preferred to talk his way into the treasury, rather than try to sneak in).
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This is just a fun thought experiment. Imagine if Expertise were an optional Feat. What do you imagine the base Rogue class would look like?
"Time is money. Nobody knows how much time they have, but you can always count how much time you spent. So spend it wisely."
Pretty much the same, possibly a bit less interesting.
Aside from the fact that I am one of those DMs that use the "1=autofail/20=autosuccess" homerule (that some find unfair, I discovered), I consider Expertise little more than an interesting utility feature mechanically speaking, but one that opens up quite a bit of roleplaying focus, due to the additional specialisation the player can give his/her specific Rogue.
Most often than not, the preferred ones, I'd suspect, would be Stealth and Perception for a combat-oriented Rogue, but there are so many other options that can make a Rogue really stand out and cover so many roles in the party that the possibilities are indeed great.
Taking that away, is taking away part of the Rogue reason to exist, as it would otherwise be mostly a Sneak-attack machine[edit]/trap-detector-and-disarmer[/edit] and little more (imho).
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Could you imagine if Expertise were optional Feats instead of Bard and Rogue class features? What kind of shenanigans would that open up?
"Time is money. Nobody knows how much time they have, but you can always count how much time you spent. So spend it wisely."
The Prodigy feat already does that.
"Time is money. Nobody knows how much time they have, but you can always count how much time you spent. So spend it wisely."
If rogues didn't have Experitse, they'd have some kind of bonus for doing rogue-stuff, primarily around stealth and thief tools, I imagine. Not much else changed.
I played rogue only once, then I took thieves' tools (because my DM allowed me to set traps using this), stealth, deception, insight and persuasion (why stop at four? Take prodigy!). Mainly because I played my rogue as someone who preferred to talk his way into the treasury, rather than try to sneak in).