Unpopular opinions go here

Emberashh · Sep 22, 2023

pemerton said:
This is what the combat rules in D&D do - they set up a structure of turns

No, it isn't.

Social Mechanics =/= Combat mechanics, and frankly, I don't believe you if you're going to try and reassert that you don't see the difference.

So say you don't means you're not acknowledging any of the context here and whats collectively understood when people talk about social mechanics.

Talking about combat is a complete non-sequitor and it doesn't even matter if Im explaining myself well enough for you or not; context matters and Im clearly and explicitly not talking about combat.

Reynard · Sep 22, 2023

Faolyn said:
I don't need to tell the difference, and I don't assume that anytime a man holds a door for me that they're doing it for sexist reasons. The difference is in what type of person you (generic you) are in general, and little beliefs like that tend to just be one example of your greater personality.

What people do is infinitely more important than what they think.

Thomas Shey · Sep 22, 2023

overgeeked said:
Exactly. Or, unless you're incredibly unlucky, you can make the stats work for the character you want. If you get a 15 instead of an 18 your character concept can still work...unless you're trying for an AD&D paladin. In modern D&D, where they've removed all class restriction, this shouldn't be a problem.

If part of my concept is a strong character, someone with a bunch of 8's and 10's isn't going to work for me in any D&D version. They progressively buffered against that sort of thing, but only a few versions outright prevented it.

overgeeked · Sep 23, 2023

Thomas Shey said:
If part of my concept is a strong character, someone with a bunch of 8's and 10's isn't going to work for me in any D&D version. They progressively buffered against that sort of thing, but only a few versions outright prevented it.

That's what I was saying up thread. Unless a player's concept includes not being bad at anything, random rolls should be fine. You'll get a few good stats and a few bad stats. Put the good stats where you want the character to be strong, put the bad stats where you want the character to be weak. If you don't want your character to be weak in anything, that proves my point.

Thomas Shey · Sep 23, 2023

overgeeked said:
That's what I was saying up thread. Unless a player's concept includes not being bad at anything, random rolls should be fine. You'll get a few good stats and a few bad stats. Put the good stats where you want the character to be strong, put the bad stats where you want the character to be weak. If you don't want your character to be weak in anything, that proves my point.

How is "I need one specific attribute good" "not being bad at anything"? Again, as I tell people around here all the time, read what I said, not what's going on in your head. I was not using 8's and 10's as example accidentally; it wasn't that hard to do back in the 3D6 days, and it was far from impossible in the 4D6-toss-the-lowest-and-place days, because I saw it several times in the former and did it at least once in the latter.

Alzrius · Sep 23, 2023

overgeeked said:
That's what I was saying up thread. Unless a player's concept includes not being bad at anything, random rolls should be fine. You'll get a few good stats and a few bad stats. Put the good stats where you want the character to be strong, put the bad stats where you want the character to be weak. If you don't want your character to be weak in anything, that proves my point.

There's also an issue regarding not wanting a character to be bad (or, as an extension of that, having them be really good, or even "the best") in one particular area.

The best example of this that I've ever seen is someone who wanted to play a "halfling titan" character in D&D 5E. The idea was that their halfling was so strong they could put even a goliath bodybuilder to shame. The problem with this is that D&D 5E limits a PC's Strength (and that of most non-monstrous NPCs) to 20 which means that, for some sort of opposed Strength content (e.g. arm wrestling), it's going to be effectively a random roll. (Plus, for something like comparative lifting, the goliaths will still win, being Medium creatures with the powerful build trait.)

Faolyn · Sep 23, 2023

Reynard said:
What people do is infinitely more important than what they think.

What they think informs what they do.

Thomas Shey · Sep 23, 2023

Alzrius said:
There's also an issue regarding not wanting a character to be bad (or, as an extension of that, having them be really good, or even "the best") in one particular area.

The best example of this that I've ever seen is someone who wanted to play a "halfling titan" character in D&D 5E. The idea was that their halfling was so strong they could put even a goliath bodybuilder to shame. The problem with this is that D&D 5E limits a PC's Strength (and that of most non-monstrous NPCs) to 20 which means that, for some sort of opposed Strength content (e.g. arm wrestling), it's going to be effectively a random roll. (Plus, for something like comparative lifting, the goliaths will still win, being Medium creatures with the powerful build trait.)

Yeah, that's an issue where a rules set effectively just doesn't let a particular concept exist. In some cases not necessarily for any in-setting reason (the Strength cap might have a reason, but the other part is an artifact of how opposed rolls work with that big linear D20).

Alzrius · Sep 23, 2023

Faolyn said:
What they think informs what they do.

Some (not necessarily very much) of what they think informs what they do, but a significant portion of thoughts have little-to-no relationship to actions undertaken. Given that there's no way to know what someone's thinking anyway (the only way is for them to tell you, and they don't have to be honest), trying to chart a causal link between thoughts (which includes beliefs, attitudes, opinions, etc.) and actions tends to oversimplify attempts to understand other people to such a degree that (from my observations) it tends to hinder that understanding, rather than help it.

Cadence · Sep 23, 2023

Unpopular opinions go here

Emberashh

Hero

Reynard

aka Ian Eller

Thomas Shey

Legend

overgeeked

Open-World Sandbox

Thomas Shey

Legend

Alzrius

The EN World kitten

Faolyn

(she/her)

Thomas Shey

Legend

Alzrius

The EN World kitten

Cadence

Legend

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