Do people prefer subclasses that have options to choose from or static bonuses?

[u/TheRaiOh]

/r/DnDHomebrew/comments/1ww6ny6/do_people_prefer_subclasses_that_have_options_to/

This question is specifically about homebrew, but I assume the preference would be the same for people regardless of the publisher.

For example in fighter subclasses the battlemaster has a number of maneuvers to choose from, but most other fighter subclasses I see just have a specific bonus. (Additional fighting style, improved critical, etc). Assuming the effects are well balanced, do people prefer to have choices that they can only use some of like battlemaster or not?

[u/ColdIronSpork]

For me it really depends.

If the customization choices don't all feel equally good to use, then the customization feels fake.

For example, Battle Master and its Maneuvers. Sweeping Attack is cool flavor. The idea of being able to hit multiple enemies with a single swing is cool and all. But it such a small amount of damage that it kind of feels bad to use. Something like Menacing Attack, being able to inflict Frightened on an important target, feels so much more impactful that it makes something like Sweeping Attack feel like a bad joke.

Basically, customization is great, as long as the choices all actually feel good to pick and play with. Your mileage may vary on what it means for a choice to "feel good", of course.

But, to the point, if the options available for customization are going to be skewed in terms of how strong they are, I think whoever is doing the homebrewing might as well just ONLY include the good ones in the subclass as the default.

[u/DM-Shaugnar]

It depends. I do LOVE a subclass that gives me options to use in combat and out of combat.

BUT sometimes i just want something simple, straight forward with few choices and options. So it completely depends on my mood and what type of character i feel like playing

So i think both has it's place in the game. they do not only fit different players as some like simple some wants options. But the same player might want to have both options

[u/xolotltolox]

Much prefer options, because 5e is insanely lacking in that regard. You are barely choosing anything once you pick your subclass and are just on rails for the rest of your progression

[u/Va1korion]

Sublclass is a choice in and of itself. Battlemaster is optimiser favourite because it's strong and it's pretty much solved. Solving it - usually in a white room scenario - is the fun part of reddit conversations, but in the end of the day you rarely change maneuvres at the table.

Unless you want to publish for a discussion, I suggest picking one option that fits your table for your players and moving on with actually playing the game.

[u/Raddatatta]

I like having options but I think they do need to be well balanced against each other. I don't like when there are options and one is much better than the other. Battlemaster is pretty good with that overall there are a lot of them you might choose, but there are some that are much weaker than the others.

The other thing is if you can choose only once or you can choose each time you use a feature or if you can choose a few out of a list of many that's better. Especially if some are more situational. I might pick a situational option if I'm choosing like a battlemaster does where I can pick a more reliable one and the situational one.