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My position has been to merge the two groups that are very similar and both partially lacking in long-term durable appeal--halfling and gnome--to create a single group with more options and stronger inherent flavor than either option alone. It's a rare example of me favoring an ever-so-slightly...

Well then, I apologize for not seeing your intent. For the record, I do understand that other people feel that fun. I simply have not ever felt it myself, ever, despite repeatedly trying (mostly in non-D&D contexts, to be clear.) Being beholden to the dice in that way makes me anxious and...

Not in D&D. Your framing, incidentally, biases things inherently. Why would pacts be "cheat codes"? Why wouldn't they be, say, carte blanche, or stuff too hot to handle (which is the analogy I used)? You're inherently twisting it so the only story you permit is the one that makes you right and...

You have--very clearly--never inherited stuff. Because I have, and I've helped friends navigate that goddamn minefield. It's awful. So no. Money you inherit IS NOT the same as money you just have because you put it in a bank account yourself. It has all sorts of hoops and problems and BS and...

It literally doesn't. Money you inherit almost always has strings attached. Money you earn yourself is yours to do whatever the hell you want with. Money you find generally has a bunch of legal red tape before you can get to it. And then in D&D: Does your Warlock sugar daddy let you use...

"Need" is irrelevant. Necessity is never a reasonable standard, because we are talking about a leisure-time activity. Nothing in D&D is a "need". It is, always, an elective choice. And this elective choice exists for a clear reason: because people want mechanics to have a story, and story to...

Precisely. People tend to have Issues when even one single character gets recast. Consider the issues with T'Challa needing to be recast because of the unfortunate death of Chadwick Boseman, the original actor. They literally put in an explicit "This actor is Black Panther now" scene with the...

Inheritance vs purchase will always be different stories, and thus people will want mechanics which express that difference. That you can squint and pretend the two are the same does not suddenly quench the bone-deep intuition that the two stories are, in fact, different.

There are four pathways to power. Earned power: you studied, you labored, you put in the time. Inherited power: your physiology, or your inheritance, confer power upon you. Inflicted power: power sought you, rather than the other way around. Purchased power: You literally paid something to...

I mean...taking on a challenge you know is going to actually help expand your horizons, rather than a task that could easily be only the tiniest bit different...? I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

If you're going to argue that all uncertainty is gambling, you're going to have to prove it, not just continually asserting it. I've given good evidence. You've given nothing but "it totally is though".

I would say that there is the potential for going further outside your comfort zone, but there's exactly equal potential to go not even the slightest bit outside. Conversely, with a chosen character, yes you can always choose to be something completely inside your comfort zone...but you can...

Said comedically, but yes, exactly. I don't really have much interest in one-shots. I vastly prefer campaigns intended to go long-haul.

No. That would make me incredibly anxious. It would spoil the experience. I cannot do that.

No, it isn't. You have to actually show why it is. Declaring it so does not make it so. The definitions available to me literally disagree. Like they literally specifically call out that gambling means reckless risk for a possible high payout and a likely loss. No. You are taking a very small...

I don't really see the "improve" part. Stress, perhaps, but nothing about a random thing guarantees you are improving any more than playing something chosen. Indeed, there's an an argument a chosen one is more effective, since you can elect to specifically choose something you aren't comfortable...

I can only base my conclusions on what evidence I have actually seen. The actual evidence I have seen, in my personal life, has been so massively, exclusively against the very idea of starting at any level other than 1st, that games which do so are almost unheard of.

I cannot do that. It's just not how my brain works. The only way that could happen would be if I were given a system I knew absolutely nothing about, at all...and I would never try to create a character in a completely unknown system without reading its rules carefully first.

Sure, I see the appeal. Hence why I think it should be an option, but signposted for its consequences.

While that may be true, for me that is simply not feasible. The instant I think about character creation, I am already selecting class or race options in my mind. There literally isn't any moment where I am thinking "you know, a character would be cool" without having a concept I want to explore.