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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Benimoto" data-source="post: 4013679" data-attributes="member: 40093">I can see where you're coming from, but it sounds to me like the main reduction in power or authority is that the DM is expected to say to the players first that he intends to run a low-treasure or high combat difficulty game to the players first instead of just springing it on them.Although I didn't play much 1st edition, my understanding is that there always was a measure of how difficult a monster encounter was, either through hit dice or XP value, so I'm not sure there ever was a time when the players didn't have the authority to argue that a given encounter was too tough.  So I can't really agree that this is something in 3rd/4th edition that takes power away from the DM.I do somewhat agree that the wealth-by-level system takes some power away, although it does so in order to make the game easier for everybody to play.  In 2nd edition and earlier, if a new player joined, it was completely up to the DM as to how much money or equipment he had.  He might give the PC as much equipment as the other players, give the new player less, or none or whatever.  Now, the most likely answer is that he'll give the new player the amount that the table says is appropriate.  This is generally an easier solution, especially if it's not easy to add up the GP value of the other PCs' equipment (due to custom items, or other rewards not found in an equipment table.)The thing is that while the new systems do reduce the power of the DM to just make up numbers and say that they're final, that kind of power is only maintained in a vacuum.  You could get the same kind of power just by never letting the players see the monster manual or DMG.  In addition, while the DM was free to say that it's perfectly appropriate for a 2nd level PC to have a vorpral sword or fight a purple worm, players with experience in other games or as DMs themselves would know that's false.In the end, all of the DMs power in a game is dependent on the will of the players to play his game.  While codifying some of the information in 3rd and 4th edition reduces the DMs ability to just make stuff up, it also helps him keep a challenging game going by reducing his chances of making disastrous mistakes.  I think the powers gained by increasing the DMs knowledge greatly outweigh the power lost in the DMs ability to rule by fiat.</blockquote>

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