Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 3166074" data-attributes="member: 29398">Perhaps, though I'd have it work differently than a normal skill.  I know it'd be slightly more confusing to have yet another mechanic, but the current skill system to me seems like someone took the old Thief skills, tidied them up, and then said "hey, let's see how much else we can stuff into this same model", with some results working better than others.That's a brilliant adventure concept...sometime, I might just have to borrow that one. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  The trick with any such thing is to get the players to buy in up front; for a long-term campaign it's tough to convince everyone to start out as a Dwarf, or as part of the same militia unit, or whatever.  For one-offs, it's much easier.You can easily access lots o' loot only if the DM puts (or leaves) it there to be accessed.  Perhaps the 4e DMG could include an option section on low-to-no-wealth campaigns, and suggest the corollary adjustments; I suspect many would find that useful.As far as I'm concerned, everything is there to be tweaked. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Temple defenses are the easiest; all you need is a high-level "Ceremony" spell that gets cast once and renewed each year, granting the temple all kinds of divine defenses.  A variant on said spell could exist for palaces.I hear you.  Unfortunately, in a magic-based world such as most D+D realms, spells become the superior method of problem-solving.  There's been threads in here recently, for example, about how magic would impact day-to-day medieval life with relative mundanities like continual-light streetlights...hardly the stuff of heroism, but that's logically what'd happen; it's probably something the core books should at least touch on.  As for adventuring spell abuse...that's what spells are for, ain't it? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I've failed my share too...but that doesn't mean I want the failure chance not to exist; I'd like to see it brought back in 4e.Re: scaling damage and too much damage at a time:If you let the enemy casters last long enough to get away several area-effect blast spells you've got problems the rules can't solve in any edition. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I prefer it to be somewhere in between.  3e as written had it much more save-reboot than I liked; from what I gather 3.5 fixed this somewhat, but this is one area where 1e actually worked well.  If a death or two is that disruptive to your game, that's probably something specific to your particular table rather than the design.  I'll be very disappointed (though, sadly, not surprised) if 4e nerfs death or makes it much harder to die.Re: character similarity in mechanics: You can pour the same foundation for 10 houses, but each house will end up very different once built and lived in.  I think we might have to agree to disagree on this one... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Re: 100-level scalingTrue.  But every time you increase or augment a power of any kind, the player has to do the requisite bookkeeping, and at my table that's just asking for headaches.  I mean, as a player I try to keep half-decent records, and even then I screw up on a regular basis (usually with 3e combat modifiers); if I was level-bumping every session instead of every several months, the mistakes would only multiply.  In the 1e games I run, bumping happens rarely enough that they (usually) can stay on top of the bookkeeping...but tracking treasury items and possessions (i.e., things that change often) is a nightmare!  So, from a design perspective, the fewer things that change on a regular basis, the better; an example is base stats.  When a base stat changes it changes lots of other things as well, every one of which can then be screwed up; and 3e has stats changing on a whim from items, buff spells, poison, etc.I've no problem with things like this as castable spells, if only because they last a short time and then Go Away.  They get broken when made into permanent abilities via Permanence spell (this is one spell that needs to be made *much* higher level, much harder to cast, or reworked so it's not just an ability provider).Lanefan</blockquote>

Verification