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The redefinition of feats.
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<blockquote data-quote="Skallgrim" data-source="post: 4789095" data-attributes="member: 79271"><p>I think that this idea (incorporating race and class options into the race/class) isn't a bad one, but a bad one for D&D's publishing model.</p><p></p><p>D&D doesn't produce all of their races, or classes, at one time. They will introduce new races (which fit into old classes) and new classes (which are available to both old and new races) all the time. Thus, it is untenable to roll the race combinations into the classes (since you don't know all the races when you design the class), or roll the class combinations into the races, etc.</p><p></p><p>In another system (or even in a different business model of D&D) where there are no supplemental books introducing either new races, or new classes, this would be possible, desirable, and probably very well received.</p><p></p><p>I think that sometimes (in particular, when a person is pretty intelligent, as most of the posters have seemed to be), we (as a group) run up against the tension between good game design, and good product design. A well designed game would include all of the possible character generation rules in the intial rulebook(s). Then, you could produce additional books which showed you HOW to combine those rules to make particular characters, but which did not actually introduce any new rules.</p><p></p><p>However, that system is really bad for introducing new books which actually sell. Most buyers, over the years, of D&D books seem to really, really want <em>new rules</em> in their new books. Some players will buy a book which is entirely setting and background, but it really, really sells a book when there are new races, classes, powers, and feats in that book. It may make the rule process messier (and boy, does it) but it is a surefire way to boost the potential sales of the book.</p><p></p><p>GURPS almost accomplished this (they left some stuff out, so had to roll it into Powers, and Magic is it's own ball of twine), but GURPS also sells many, many fewer books than D&D. That is fine, as they are operating under a different business model.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That's a long way of saying that the initial observation is both correct, and perceptive, but probably didn't happen NOT because it was a good idea, but because it conflicted with the way WOTC sells books (which is not to demonize WOTC).<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devil.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":devil:" title="Devil :devil:" data-shortname=":devil:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Skallgrim, post: 4789095, member: 79271"] I think that this idea (incorporating race and class options into the race/class) isn't a bad one, but a bad one for D&D's publishing model. D&D doesn't produce all of their races, or classes, at one time. They will introduce new races (which fit into old classes) and new classes (which are available to both old and new races) all the time. Thus, it is untenable to roll the race combinations into the classes (since you don't know all the races when you design the class), or roll the class combinations into the races, etc. In another system (or even in a different business model of D&D) where there are no supplemental books introducing either new races, or new classes, this would be possible, desirable, and probably very well received. I think that sometimes (in particular, when a person is pretty intelligent, as most of the posters have seemed to be), we (as a group) run up against the tension between good game design, and good product design. A well designed game would include all of the possible character generation rules in the intial rulebook(s). Then, you could produce additional books which showed you HOW to combine those rules to make particular characters, but which did not actually introduce any new rules. However, that system is really bad for introducing new books which actually sell. Most buyers, over the years, of D&D books seem to really, really want [I]new rules[/I] in their new books. Some players will buy a book which is entirely setting and background, but it really, really sells a book when there are new races, classes, powers, and feats in that book. It may make the rule process messier (and boy, does it) but it is a surefire way to boost the potential sales of the book. GURPS almost accomplished this (they left some stuff out, so had to roll it into Powers, and Magic is it's own ball of twine), but GURPS also sells many, many fewer books than D&D. That is fine, as they are operating under a different business model. That's a long way of saying that the initial observation is both correct, and perceptive, but probably didn't happen NOT because it was a good idea, but because it conflicted with the way WOTC sells books (which is not to demonize WOTC).:devil: [/QUOTE]
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