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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9257208" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Counterspelling is a classic example of 3e design, where someone felt that there should be rules to do a thing, even if there's not often a good reason to do so.If you know, for example, that Sharu Garrul, the Master of the Keep of the Four Worlds, is a lazy duelist and always opens with Lightning Bolt, then giving someone the option to plan around it is better than not (the magical equivalent of &quot;I know how he fights, he always dodges to the left&quot;), even if there's likely a better way to go about it (cast Protection from Elements before the fight).This compares well with AD&amp;D design, where the books were full of bespoke subsystems to cover corner cases (how often did anyone ever use the subdual rules in 1e, or punching/wrestling in 2e?)...except that, for whatever reason, the 3e design team never encountered a rule that they didn't immediately make painful to use, including several hurdles to ensure that it would be difficult to exploit in any meaningful way.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9257208, member: 6877472"] Counterspelling is a classic example of 3e design, where someone felt that there should be rules to do a thing, even if there's not often a good reason to do so. If you know, for example, that Sharu Garrul, the Master of the Keep of the Four Worlds, is a lazy duelist and always opens with Lightning Bolt, then giving someone the option to plan around it is better than not (the magical equivalent of "I know how he fights, he always dodges to the left"), even if there's likely a better way to go about it (cast Protection from Elements before the fight). This compares well with AD&D design, where the books were full of bespoke subsystems to cover corner cases (how often did anyone ever use the subdual rules in 1e, or punching/wrestling in 2e?)...except that, for whatever reason, the 3e design team never encountered a rule that they didn't immediately make painful to use, including several hurdles to ensure that it would be difficult to exploit in any meaningful way. [/QUOTE]

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