Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I can haz WILD MAGE and the first DRAGONBORN art?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 6351781" data-attributes="member: 6677017"><p>Yes, it's a 1 in a 1,000 chance each time the DM has you make the roll to see if you surge (which might not even be each time you cast a spell). To me, that's a pretty acceptable risk. I'd ask the party before the campaign starts to make sure they are cool with it, but it sounds like a minor issue.</p><p></p><p>It seems to me that some people's objections are based primarily on the fact that it is based on the explicit use of a class ability and this result cannot be reasonably predicted. On the other hand, to me it seems less likely to kill the party than the rogue failing to properly disarm a nasty trap, or the fighter not choosing the right monster to protect the party from.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps the distinction is the concept that often crops up of it being okay to kill a PC if the player makes a "stupid choice," but not at other times. This personally strikes me as kind of an odd judgment call to make. Are we judging the overall mental faculties of the player and thereby punishing them because we feel that they are, as a person, just an idiot? Or are we accusing them of intentionally doing something to the detriment of the rest of the group? If not it seems like we are punishing them for a temporary lapse in judgment, which seems little different to me than being punished for a bad dice roll. It is something that can't really be reasonably prevented, and no one came into the game deciding "man I'm going to be a dumb jerk and get the party killed" anymore than they came in thinking, "I sure hope I roll poorly and blow the whole party up with a trap." (Or if they did, the issue seems a bit deeper than a one time decision, and probably should be dealt with in a different manner than punishing the players or their characters).</p><p></p><p>But back to the idea of a bad dice roll killing the party. It seems to me that you have precisely the same options regarding wild-surge as you do regarding similar situations. You can avoid putting yourself in those situations. There usually is just as much opportunity to put distance between yourself and your mage as their is to put distance between yourself and your rogue (to continue the example). If you are afraid he's going to blow up and kill your character <em>don't stand next to him</em>. </p><p></p><p>So to summarize, while I agree that there is a minor distinction between activating a class ability and just making a bad roll out of the blue, I think making a bad roll out of the blue is just as likely (if not moreso) to have the same effect. Some people might be uncomfortable with the direct conceptual connection "It's <em>that</em> stupid class feature we have to worry about!" which I suppose is a valid preference. But the class ability itself isn't really much more dangerous to the party than other abilities characters could roll poorly on (trap disarming or spotting as great examples).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sword of Spirit, post: 6351781, member: 6677017"] Yes, it's a 1 in a 1,000 chance each time the DM has you make the roll to see if you surge (which might not even be each time you cast a spell). To me, that's a pretty acceptable risk. I'd ask the party before the campaign starts to make sure they are cool with it, but it sounds like a minor issue. It seems to me that some people's objections are based primarily on the fact that it is based on the explicit use of a class ability and this result cannot be reasonably predicted. On the other hand, to me it seems less likely to kill the party than the rogue failing to properly disarm a nasty trap, or the fighter not choosing the right monster to protect the party from. Perhaps the distinction is the concept that often crops up of it being okay to kill a PC if the player makes a "stupid choice," but not at other times. This personally strikes me as kind of an odd judgment call to make. Are we judging the overall mental faculties of the player and thereby punishing them because we feel that they are, as a person, just an idiot? Or are we accusing them of intentionally doing something to the detriment of the rest of the group? If not it seems like we are punishing them for a temporary lapse in judgment, which seems little different to me than being punished for a bad dice roll. It is something that can't really be reasonably prevented, and no one came into the game deciding "man I'm going to be a dumb jerk and get the party killed" anymore than they came in thinking, "I sure hope I roll poorly and blow the whole party up with a trap." (Or if they did, the issue seems a bit deeper than a one time decision, and probably should be dealt with in a different manner than punishing the players or their characters). But back to the idea of a bad dice roll killing the party. It seems to me that you have precisely the same options regarding wild-surge as you do regarding similar situations. You can avoid putting yourself in those situations. There usually is just as much opportunity to put distance between yourself and your mage as their is to put distance between yourself and your rogue (to continue the example). If you are afraid he's going to blow up and kill your character [I]don't stand next to him[/I]. So to summarize, while I agree that there is a minor distinction between activating a class ability and just making a bad roll out of the blue, I think making a bad roll out of the blue is just as likely (if not moreso) to have the same effect. Some people might be uncomfortable with the direct conceptual connection "It's [I]that[/I] stupid class feature we have to worry about!" which I suppose is a valid preference. But the class ability itself isn't really much more dangerous to the party than other abilities characters could roll poorly on (trap disarming or spotting as great examples). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I can haz WILD MAGE and the first DRAGONBORN art?
Top