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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ColonelHardisson" data-source="post: 412527" data-attributes="member: 363">Beyond the people who have little or no time for a lot of customization, it strikes me that there are many who get hung up on the actual mechanics to the point of not being able to see how easy it is to personalize their game. I'll try to explain what I mean.Spells are perhaps the best example, or rather the whole D&D magic system is. Many seem to think that D&D magic is cast in one certain way, a way that somehow does not jibe at all with the magic from whatever book or movie happens to be a favorite. It's a metagaming mentality - "well, the guy in the book didn't cast the spell that way, so the entire D&D system has to be scrapped!" I've seen that a lot in regards to Middle Earth, for a specific example.What is disregarded is that the mechanics are there to ensure that the spell works consistently with the rest of the game. The way the casting of the spell is described is far more mutable. Vocal components can be singing, forceful speaking, poetry recitation, mathematics equations, jokes, patter, a barely audible hum, a prayer, gibberish, whatever. Somatic components can be anything from sweeping and impressive arm-waving to a "robot dance." Material components can vary just as much. Any number of other effects can be added, from a blue nimbus around the caster's head to translucent demonic figures swirling around the caster. Whatever you want. Beyond those cosmetic things, complaints are levelled at everything from spell slots (which are simply not that different from spell points) to levels (the characters don't run around saying "I went up a level, and now I can cast third level spells!" Levels just provide a game guideline, not necessarily setting atmosphere.). It really takes just a little rationalization, and almost no actual rules-changing, to make any of these factors unique to one's campaign.Excuse the rant. I know it's nigh-incoherent. And I know that a flurry of posts will come along to tell me how wrong I am. So, to pre-empt it - You're right. I'm wrong. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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