D&D 3.x [3.5] Why Enlarge PERSON?

[AdamBank]

Ever had a player try to sell an enlarged gold ingot or gemstone? Or how about casting permanency + enlarge on some mithril or adamantium so they'd have enough for a suit of armor?

Annoyingly clever, players is.

 

[Metalsmith]

Does anyone have any idea why they changed enlarge and reduce to only affect humanoids?

This is actually 2 questions: a) why only humanoids, it seems pretty silly to have a different spell to enlarge a horse, treant or dragon. b) What about enlarging or reducing objects? It was always a great strategy to enlarge a closed door to make it harder for pursuers to open, or reduce a brick to weaken a wall.

Sigh.

It's another example of, "You were playing the game wrong, so we Fixed it."

 

[Darklone]

Excuse me if I'm wrong... but isn't Enlarge Person a 4th level spell now???

 

[Kae'Yoss]

You're excused. Enlarge Person is 1st-level.

Mass Enlarge Person is 4th (fun for the whole family)

 

[Erdrick Dragin]

I think this is a perfect example of changes that came in 3e and have continued in 3.5e. Whenever you see a change to the game, or wonder "why was it handled this way?" ask yourself: "How does this make it easier to program in a video game?"

Actually, I'm serious. I'm seeing a very strong trend toward making D&D compatible with computer programmers' needs. It's pretty hard for a computer programmer to envision every use a player might have for a spell, so if you restrict it, you make it easier to handle in a computer role-playing game.

Take identify as another example. Try programming "identify 1 item per level, and casting time is 8 hours." In most online games, one hour goes by in 75 - 90 seconds. Imagine a player having to take 12 minutes of real time to cast a spell. You, as a programmer, also have to allow 1 item per caster level. It's a lot easier to say, "it takes only 1 hour (i.e. 90 seconds) and you only identify 1 item."

I know there are folks who would disagree with my assessment, but as a computer programmer, I'm seeing the changes as a path to easier development of CRPGs. I think we'll see even more as we approach 4e D&D.

You had insider information, didn't you?

 

[Theroc]

Unholy thread necromancy, Batman!?

 

[HeavensThunderHammer]

I know, pretty amazing necro, I have to agree... However, I still find it amazing how often someone, somewhere, makes really prescient comments about the future.

While I feel saying "D&D 4E is just like a MMO computer game" may go to far, there are some similarities... and it does seem more "programming" friendly.

 

[Nifft]

I know, pretty amazing necro, I have to agree... However, I still find it amazing how often someone, somewhere, makes really prescient comments about the future.

While I feel saying "D&D 4E is just like a MMO computer game" may go to far, there are some similarities... and it does seem more "programming" friendly.

Wildly inaccurate predictions are hardly cause for excitement.

3.5e and 4e are terrible for CRPGs. Interrupts are an absolute nightmare, and everyone in 4e has interrupts.

At least 3.5e mostly kept interrupts in the hands of the players -- which was still terrible for a CRPG, since it means every player must wait for every other player every single turn. Kinda defeats the point of turns, doesn't it?

Sorry, kids, the edition war trolling here is simply not clever enough to stand up to 7 minutes of scrutiny, let alone be worth a 7 year revival.

Cheers, -- N

PS: The reason the spell was renamed enlarge person? They'd wanted to call it enlarge man, but every memo mentioning that fact was discarded by WotC's internal spam filter.

 

[Daazimal]

I think you are on to something there. Baldur's Gate had infinitesimal amount of changes especially when it came to spells, and character ability. My group had tried the switch from 2nd edition to 3rd edition and we felt it was too video game like, when items would be restricted to level. Not to mention the feat system, which to us a feat is something that is done, like destroying the pesky red dragon or annihilating a horde of orcs, not abilities gained.
Our main argument was, that it took a lot of the roleplay element out and made characters way overpowered. So we canned it.