Rules as Law vs. Rules as Guidelines

[Lanefan]

• I drop the Vancian Magic from D&D whenever I can usually opting for a Spell Points system

Side question: what has your in-play experience been like with spell points?

I used spell points in D&D for well over 20 years and while they work fine at low levels they get completely out of hand at higher levels, particularly in a system where characters don't have to pre-memorize spells each morning (a mechanic I've come to rather loathe over time).

And so, for my current campaign I went back to slots; but using similar mechanics to the 3e Sorcerer (i.e. if you know the spell and have a slot left of its level, then cast away; but no up- or down-casting: the slot used must match the level of spell being cast). It's better, but I still need to tweak downwards the number of slots they can amass at higher levels.

 

[Lanefan]

Does "you" here refer to GMs, players, or both?

Not the person you asked, but in my case based on the examples given it'd be just the GM; as those examples are all system kitbashes and thus the sort of thing that's done during the design/prep phase before - and maybe long before - play even begins.

Once a campaign starts it's probably a bit late to be kitbashing the system that campaign is using.

 

[Maxperson]

Does "you" here refer to GMs, players, or both?

I guess it would depend on the system used. For D&D, it will typically be the DM only.

 

[clearstream]

I guess it would depend on the system used. For D&D, it will typically be the DM only.

The question and your answer here points out the misnomer in the thread title. The doubt is not whether folk follow rules, but which rules they follow.

 

[Maxperson]

The question and your answer here points out the misnomer in the thread title. The doubt is not whether folk follow rules, but which rules they follow.

Right, which is why I said for D&D it's "typically" the DM. If rules are guidelines, and they always are, they could house rule D&D to allow players to change rules.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The question and your answer here points out the misnomer in the thread title. The doubt is not whether folk follow rules, but which rules they follow.

Well, and how offhand they are about ignoring them and who gets to decide. Its not like its hard to get the following situation: GM: "We're going to not do this the way the rules say; it'll be better"; Player A: "I disagree"; Players B-F: [sit mum].

 

[Darth Solo]

Side question: what has your in-play experience been like with spell points?

I used spell points in D&D for well over 20 years and while they work fine at low levels they get completely out of hand at higher levels, particularly in a system where characters don't have to pre-memorize spells each morning (a mechanic I've come to rather loathe over time).

And so, for my current campaign I went back to slots; but using similar mechanics to the 3e Sorcerer (i.e. if you know the spell and have a slot left of its level, then cast away; but no up- or down-casting: the slot used must match the level of spell being cast). It's better, but I still need to tweak downwards the number of slots they can amass at higher levels.

The "you" I referred to was the GROUP: I like player buy-in when rules get changed (we go as RAW as they like).

On spell points, I give mages points equal to their INT and spells cost them the level of the used spell +1. Points refresh with rest. Never had a problem as I've been lucky with players agreeable to the change.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Well, if the group has total buy in, that's effectively just creating houserules or having a group that's comfortable with ad-hoc rules. It might end up being a mistake in individual cases (because no one understands the implications of the rules change), but its not a problem as such.

 

[Maxperson]

The "you" I referred to was the GROUP: I like player buy-in when rules get changed (we go as RAW as they like).

On spell points, I give mages points equal to their INT and spells cost them the level of the used spell +1. Points refresh with rest. Never had a problem as I've been lucky with players agreeable to the change.

So a 1st level wizard with an 18 int and a 20th level wizard with an 18 int can both cast 9 1st level spells and are then out of power?

 

[Lanefan]

On spell points, I give mages points equal to their INT and spells cost them the level of the used spell +1. Points refresh with rest. Never had a problem as I've been lucky with players agreeable to the change.

So their spell points don't increase as they level up, then? That's an interesting wrinkle.