Things that just bother me when it comes to D&D.

[Mercurius]

You know what bothers me about D&D? I'll tell you. It is such a ridiculous game in so many ways and is filled with all kinds of non-sensical rules and anachronistic tropes....but its so much damn fun despite, even because of, all of that.

Go figure.

 

[Mercurius]

As for gods and all that, I agree with the notion that it really depends upon what the basic assumptions and cosmology of the campaign world are. What is the nature of gods? Are they the embodiment of cosmic and natural forces or highly evolved beings? Etc.

For the sake of a role-playing, in he question above I prefer the latter approach - along the lines of the Thor movie in which the gods are more akin to very powerful extra-dimensional beings that probably evolved to that point, whereas PCs are more akin to superheroes that are either "mutants" with inborn powers that they develop (arcane spell-casters) or mundane heroes who are just really good at killing things (the Batman types - rogues, fighters, etc), or gifted by those same extra-dimensional beings to be their agents on earth (divine spell-casters).

As someone said above, mortal PCs also have that "hero factor" which isn't solely the purview of D&D but exists in movies, books, and myths for thousands of heroes. Think of the Greek heroes who prevail against titans and gods; now many of those heroes are demi-gods or have some kind of divine lineage (usually through that old perv Zeus), but they still win out not because of overwhelming power but a heroic quality that allows them to do crazy things.

But there are so many ways you could make an interesting cosmology that frames the game in different ways. Maybe the gods are highly evolved extra-dimensional (or planar) beings that draw power from the worship of mortals but also keep them capped in terms of power lest they challenge their rule (or figure out the truth of things). Maybe the gods send nasty divine assassin-creatures to kill off any PC that becomes 20th level, which gives an actual rationale for capping levels. That would be a fun way to end a campaign! And if the PCs survived, then they'd have to face the gods...There you go, imagine an epic tier campaign in three parts: Fleeing the Gods, Facing the Gods, Becoming the Gods.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Maybe you would prefer the cosmology of Mystara and BECMI D&D. I import something like it into every edition and game world of D&D I run.

 

[Elf Witch]

For me I think things should be campaign specific when it comes to killing gods. One of the reason I love the setting Kingdoms of Kalamar is that so many things are not stated out leaving it up to the DM to do it so it fits their game. Depending on the games I run sometimes there is no way to kill a god or a major demon all you can do is weaken them for awhile maybe a hundred years or more but you can never out right kill them.

Things that I don't like about DnD I have already said in various threads. Those are falling damage, immunity from mobs and armies after a certain level.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that rule zero is often viewed by some players as DM cheating and I think that has hurt the game.

As for the divine/arcane magic split I like it I enjoy the fact that magic comes from different areas. Though I always wondered what would happen if you got rid of it and just said pick your spells from the entire list.

 

[Stormonu]

As for the divine/arcane magic split I like it I enjoy the fact that magic comes from different areas. Though I always wondered what would happen if you got rid of it and just said pick your spells from the entire list.

Probably everyone would play clerics and never play sorcerers & wizards. You'd have to do something about the better weapon proficiencies, armor and attack advancement to compensate for "spells for everyone! Errr, except you Mr. Fighter." (Remember, the rogue's got access to Use Magic Device)

 

[Argyle King]

Similar to the god issue...

Sometimes I think to myself "if the town guards are higher level than us (and it's obvious they are because they beat the bejesus out of one of us for breaking the law,) why is the king bothering to hire us to fight goblins?"

I try not to think about it. However, I'll also say that's a reason why I find myself moving toward systems which don't have levels in the D&D sense.

 

[billd91]

Sometimes I think to myself "if the town guards are higher level than us (and it's obvious they are because they beat the bejesus out of one of us for breaking the law,) why is the king bothering to hire us to fight goblins?"

Maybe, he needs his town guards at home beating up on lawbreakers? Is that really a stretch to conclude?

 

[Sunseeker]

Similar to the god issue...

Sometimes I think to myself "if the town guards are higher level than us (and it's obvious they are because they beat the bejesus out of one of us for breaking the law,) why is the king bothering to hire us to fight goblins?"

I try not to think about it. However, I'll also say that's a reason why I find myself moving toward systems which don't have levels in the D&D sense.

The town guard are too busy beating up punks like you to fight kobolds!

 

[Elf Witch]

Probably everyone would play clerics and never play sorcerers & wizards. You'd have to do something about the better weapon proficiencies, armor and attack advancement to compensate for "spells for everyone! Errr, except you Mr. Fighter." (Remember, the rogue's got access to Use Magic Device)

For some that may be true no so much with my group. We don't tend to pick classes based on how powerful they are but rather on if they fit the concept we want to play. It would soon get boring to play nothing but a cleric. My roommate and I are going to experiment with it and see what happens.

 

[Argyle King]

Maybe, he needs his town guards at home beating up on lawbreakers? Is that really a stretch to conclude?

In a world where the level of the lawbreakers are more similar to the power level of guards? No.

In a world where one or two guards can easily crush PCs? Yes.

...unless the lawbreakers are of a similar power to that of the guards. In such a case that everyone in town is stronger than the PCs, are the goblins really a viable threat?


That explanation works in a world where it makes sense. In D&D, it really doesn't because of the way levels work.