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Balance of Power Problems in 5e: Self created?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7034151" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think the issue in the context of RPGing isn't the fictional element (ie does it satisfying the logic of the story to add another person to the team). I think the issue - and hence the motivation for the "naysayer" - is a practical one about the real world elements of RPGing: namely, that adding another character to the team means having someone run that character, which creates potential issues whether that is (i) an existing player (multiple players per character is sometimes contentious, even if one is positioned as a henchman/retainer; and it tends to dilute the player's effort-per-character), (ii) the GM (well-known issues with DM workload, DMPCs, etc) or (iii) a new player (besides the question of availability - qv [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION]'s loungeroom - or desirability - qv the same - there is also the issue of how many players a group wants, or realistically can handle, at the table).</p><p></p><p>Anyway, I went back to check the "naysayer" post - not [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION]'s to whom you were actually replying (after all, you agreed with Lanefan), but (presumably) Nagol's post to which Lanefan's post with which you agreed was a reply:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If that is the issue - that players in a "play circle" generate PCs blindly, and then turn up, and so may not have every class or "role" covered, and hence can't be guaranteed to have a full suite of spellcasting or similar specialist solutions available - then what is the answer? In the context of a "play circle" of the sort Nagol describes, I don't think recruiting an extra player is necessarily going to be viable. Introducing an NPC, whether under player or GM control, has its own issues.</p><p></p><p>I can certainly see why Nagol thinks that a wider range of capacity for non-casting PCs might be part of an answer. And I don't think that's because he's unfamiliar with The Hobbit.</p><p></p><p>No. But Nagol framed a pretty concrete problem - the all-fighter party, or the no-cleric party, having difficulties with some fairly standard scenario types unless the GM throws them some bones. And then suggested some possible solutions.</p><p></p><p>Lanefan suggested the solution of recruiting a character to fill the expertise gap. You reiterated that solution with reference to The Hobbit. All I did was point out that such a solution may not be the right one, because - even back when recruiting NPCs to fill gaps was a central part of the rules - it was far from universally practised. I certainly didn't have in mind recruiting a new player, but that's because - as with Nagol and Lanefan - I was envisaging the play happening in the context of an established "play circle" rather than a drop-in environment of the sort that you have described in your later posts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7034151, member: 42582"] I think the issue in the context of RPGing isn't the fictional element (ie does it satisfying the logic of the story to add another person to the team). I think the issue - and hence the motivation for the "naysayer" - is a practical one about the real world elements of RPGing: namely, that adding another character to the team means having someone run that character, which creates potential issues whether that is (i) an existing player (multiple players per character is sometimes contentious, even if one is positioned as a henchman/retainer; and it tends to dilute the player's effort-per-character), (ii) the GM (well-known issues with DM workload, DMPCs, etc) or (iii) a new player (besides the question of availability - qv [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION]'s loungeroom - or desirability - qv the same - there is also the issue of how many players a group wants, or realistically can handle, at the table). Anyway, I went back to check the "naysayer" post - not [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION]'s to whom you were actually replying (after all, you agreed with Lanefan), but (presumably) Nagol's post to which Lanefan's post with which you agreed was a reply: If that is the issue - that players in a "play circle" generate PCs blindly, and then turn up, and so may not have every class or "role" covered, and hence can't be guaranteed to have a full suite of spellcasting or similar specialist solutions available - then what is the answer? In the context of a "play circle" of the sort Nagol describes, I don't think recruiting an extra player is necessarily going to be viable. Introducing an NPC, whether under player or GM control, has its own issues. I can certainly see why Nagol thinks that a wider range of capacity for non-casting PCs might be part of an answer. And I don't think that's because he's unfamiliar with The Hobbit. No. But Nagol framed a pretty concrete problem - the all-fighter party, or the no-cleric party, having difficulties with some fairly standard scenario types unless the GM throws them some bones. And then suggested some possible solutions. Lanefan suggested the solution of recruiting a character to fill the expertise gap. You reiterated that solution with reference to The Hobbit. All I did was point out that such a solution may not be the right one, because - even back when recruiting NPCs to fill gaps was a central part of the rules - it was far from universally practised. I certainly didn't have in mind recruiting a new player, but that's because - as with Nagol and Lanefan - I was envisaging the play happening in the context of an established "play circle" rather than a drop-in environment of the sort that you have described in your later posts. [/QUOTE]
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