Unpopular opinions go here

[Reynard]

I mean I'll be 40 next August.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I think that most people go through life, thinking every day, "Ugh. I'm not an adult yet. Adulting is what my parents did. Someday, but not today, I will finally be an adult."

And then one day, they will look around them, and they will realize, "Oh no. I'm old. I guess being an adult was what I was doing that whole time....."

 

[Maxperson]

Huh. I don't recall ever seeing that one before.

I'd think that these days, around here, talking about choices is more about "agency" than "balance".

We might sometimes talk about "balance" in terms of adventure design as well - if the GM is throwing really powerful opponents that the PCs can't handle, we might call that an "unbalanced encounter". Do that, and the players' choices become narrowed down to run or die, so I guess I can see where that use might come from. It just isn't one I have run into much.

Run, negotiate or die. When I have encounters that are outside of the PCs ability to defeat in a fight, generally there will be a way to negotiate with them.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Run, negotiate or die. When I have encounters that are outside of the PCs ability to defeat in a fight, generally there will be a way to negotiate with them.

Generally.

 

[Umbran]

Run, negotiate or die. When I have encounters that are outside of the PCs ability to defeat in a fight, generally there will be a way to negotiate with them.

Yeah, but that's often kind of weird, in that if the other options are run or die, it isn't like they actually have much room to negotiate: "Do what I want, because I can easily kill you all without breaking a sweat," isn't much of a negotiation.

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, but that's often kind of weird, in that if the other options are run or die, it isn't like they actually have much room to negotiate: "Do what I want, because I can easily kill you all without breaking a sweat," isn't much of a negotiation.

Never underestimate the villain's desire to have some expendable mooks to Do The Thing.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, but that's often kind of weird, in that if the other options are run or die, it isn't like they actually have much room to negotiate: "Do what I want, because I can easily kill you all without breaking a sweat," isn't much of a negotiation.

What @Reynard said, but additionally all of the options need not be present at the same time. Some could be run or die, others run or negotiate, and others still negotiate or die.

As an example of the last option, suppose you enter an area where there is a group that can't let you leave alive, but aren't dead set on killing you if you don't try to run. There's a lot of room for negotiation there.

 

[Faolyn]

D&D has too many spells. Even just using the PHB Wizard gains access to 34 new spells at level 3, they can pick 2. That’s an absurd amount of new options to choose from. In addition to the lvl. 1 30 spells they Could consider or swap. If you’ve been playing for 20 years, sure, really, it’s a paucity of options, all stale, less so if you’re new. Add other books and it only gets more crazy ridiculous. It’s why those color coded guides to spells exist and why people use them and everyone has the same spells.

Subclasses, and sub-subclassing should dramatically reduce options and compensate with a unique ability. Obviously nothing will stop optimization, but if players pick 2 out of 10 or less (instead 2 of 30+) in their themed subclass there’s less need for a guide and more likelihood of people making inependant choices and being unique.

They'd need to combine more spells, like they did with Bigby's hand. Or even completely rework spells altogether, so that you learn the "throw fire" spell, so with a 1st-level slot, it acts like burning hands; with a 2nd-level slot, it acts like Aganazzar's scorcher; with a 3rd-level slot it acts like fireball, and so on. This would make a lot of sense, lore-wise, since lots of fantasy fiction assumes that their spellcasters progress in a manner like this. You could probably cut the spell list in half or more by doing this.

And/or they could go back to "chance to learn spell," thus ensuring that not everyone will end up with the spell list.

 

[Umbran]

Never underestimate the villain's desire to have some expendable mooks to Do The Thing.

So, negotiation under threat of death isn't negotiation. It is coercion.
Run, die, or allow yourself to be coerced...

 

[Reynard]

So, negotiation under threat of death isn't negotiation. It is coercion.
Run, die, or allow yourself to be coerced...

It's the least bad option sometimes.