Unearthed Arcana An Unearthed Arcana I would like to see - mechanical fixes

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Satyrn]

What happens if WotC's proposed fix for a problem isn't as good for your table as your own house rules?

 

[Dausuul]

What happens if WotC's proposed fix for a problem isn't as good for your table as your own house rules?

Then one carries on with the house rule, of course.

 

[Yunru]

I value their expertise as designers specialising in D&D-style RPGs, and their access to design resources such as salient data sets, time and playtesting. That's an important part of why I part with money for their game rulebooks.

But apparently not enough to consider that they might feel these "issues" aren't really issues?

 

[ccs]

"Quote Originally Posted by clearstream View Post
I value their expertise as designers specialising in D&D-style RPGs, and their access to design resources such as salient data sets, time and playtesting. That's an important part of why I part with money for their game rulebooks"

THIS. As somewhat of an aside, I think the above hits on one of the problems with the "just houserule it" response that is frequently given to comments like those expressed in this thread's opening post. Yes, I CAN houserule it, but I am not a professional game designer, I have a full time plus job, a family, other hobbies, etc. As the above post recognizes, given my life's circumstances, a game design company and professional game designer can bring many more resources -- both in terms of actual resources (time, more extensive playtesting, surveys) as well as in knowledge and experience -- than I can. Yes, I know I can "just do it myself" but, as the above post indicates, I pay WoTC for their expertise and resources, if I have to do it myself, why am I paying them?

To me, on some level, the response of "just houserule it", is like telling someone who wants to go out to eat for a gourmet meal "just cook it yourself". Yes, the average person is capable of cooking something, but they go out to eat and pay a professional chef because that professional chef has more time to devote preparing a meal, has cultivated special expertise and knowledge related to cooking, and has access to more resources (for example, more high quality or unusual ingredients) than your average person. A professional gourmet chef working in a gourmet restaurant will almost always produce a better meal than your average person whose job is not cooking preparing something at home. That is why "we" (as a society) have and pay gourmet chefs and why people can have the job of gourmet chef.

"Just houserule it" does not address the point of this thread. Ultimately, I can just "make up a game myself", but I have chosen to pay others who have more time and expertise than myself to do that for me.

Sigh....
Re-quoted for the umpteenth time is the best advice to ever to be given by the game designers. It's from page B3, Part 1: Introduction, 2nd column 3rd paragraph, of my copy of the 1981 BASIC rulebook. I assume it's written by Tom Moldvay.
Bolded parts theirs, not mine.

"While the material in this booklet is referred to as rules, that is not really correct. Anything in this booklet (and other D&D booklets) should be thought of as changeable - anything, that is, that the Dungeon Master or referee thinks should be changed. This is not to say that everything in this booklet should be discarded! All of this material has been carefully thought out and playtested. However, if, after playing the rules as written for a while, you or your referee (the Dungeon Master) think something should be changed, first think about how the changes will affect the game, and then go ahead. The purpose of these "rules" is to provide guidelines that enable you to play and have fun, so don't feel absolutely bound by them."

Gygax wrote similar advice in the 1e books.

For those of you wanting WoTC to address your very minor problems, you should take into account that:
1) These things might be working exactly as they intended.... Didn't think of that, did you?
2) These things don't register as being important enough to waste their time tweaking.
3) Despite the vast quantity & quality of material that's come along since I first opened that BASIC book nearly 40 years ago, you're STILL involved in a very "do it yourself hobby". So get busy & modify those rules in whatever way your games need.
4) Stop trying to claim your too busy to change a rule you don't like.
You've already thought about it - in the shower, during your commute, while you're slacking off at work/school, during that block of time you've already set aside to play the game....
You've also wasted time posting about what you dislike & how you wish WoTC would spoon feed you alt rules. In some cases you've even posted exactly WHAT you want them to feed you.
You've already invested the time, so go implement your ideas in the only environment that matters - your game.
5) Stop thinking the designers are better at this than you are.

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

Why would WotC spend time doing this when they know most tables are going to make house rules anyway? It's not worth their time. And I guarantee that if they did make changes, a good portion of us wouldn't care for the changes made and stick to the original rules or the house rule.

I'm going to say something that a lot of people on this forum might not like: 5e is such a well made game that the majority of the complaints about it sound like picking pepper out of fly sh*t.

 

[Yunru]

We had a mechanical fix; they scrapped it and instead decided to just make more powerful subclasses and ignore the issue.

 

[Pauln6]

You don't need a house rule for skills per se. I'm sure they already state that you can use the most appropriate ability modifier. Throw the guy against the wall to use Strength to intimidate. Use your innate connection to the land to use Wisdom for Nature. Intelligence is simply the default.

 

[Yunru]

You don't need a house rule for skills per se. I'm sure they already state that you can use the most appropriate ability modifier.

They do... in the DMG... under Variant Rules.
Which is dumb.

 

[clearstream]

1) These things might be working exactly as they intended.... Didn't think of that, did you?

I did think of that. It's part of why I'm interested in what they might list.

2) These things don't register as being important enough to waste their time tweaking.

This could come to feel like an argument between disposable and endurable cultural artifacts.

3) Despite the vast quantity & quality of material that's come along since I first opened that BASIC book nearly 40 years ago, you're STILL involved in a very "do it yourself hobby". So get busy & modify those rules in whatever way your games need.

This doesn't seem like a sound argument. Partly because it makes it hard to understand why anyone ever bought any of the D&D books. What were they looking for, if it was all "do it yourself"?

4) Stop trying to claim your too busy to change a rule you don't like.

One of the vexing things for game designers is getting respect for their expertise. It's one of those "everyone can do it" crafts. Except they can't. It takes time, training, experience, access to playtesting resources, access to data, access to analytics. It's a real profession. I will stand up for my colleagues in the games industry against anyone denigrating their craft as a... nothing. I feel that is unfairly dismissive. I have a deep admiration for the WotC design team and absolutely believe they bring more to the table than "DIY".

5) Stop thinking the designers are better at this than you are.

I think hair dressers are better at hair dressing than I am, I think teachers are better at teaching. I will goddamn 100% of the time tell you that game designers are better at game design than people who are not trained and experienced in that craft.