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<blockquote data-quote="kalani" data-source="post: 6420483" data-attributes="member: 88085"><p>I am both, and yes I am well aware of the nightmare that was the christmas tree effect. I am also a firm believer in balance and believe that Dnd is at its core, a fundamentally <strong>co-operative</strong> game, rather than a competitive one - and as such, I do not place the enjoyment of any player (DM included) over that of any other.</p><p></p><p>With that being said, I will point out that by making ad hominem attacks which call into question my motives and game experience, you undermine the foundation of your own argument. However, in an effort to prevent further argument, I will state the following (although I find bragging distasteful):</p><p></p><p><strong>DM Experience (1990-Present)</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I have DMed all editions of Dnd to date including: BECMI, 1E, 2E, Players/DMs Option, Dragonlance 5A (Saga), 3E, 3.5, 4E, Essentials, and 5E.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I was a sanctioned RPGA DM for 3.5</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I organized/ran the "World D&D day" and 4E launch at my local FLGS</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I was a sanctioned UDE Judge for Yugioh - a game with complicated (and often-times hidden) rules interactions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I wrote the book on Priority, and the Summon Negation/Response Chains in Yugioh - and coined the term "Summon Negation Window" in 2005. I accomplished this by comparing and compiling over 5000 card interaction rulings. In doing so, I discovered hidden underlying mechanics to the game and wrote the book on them. I submitted them online in 2005 however they were eventually archived and deleted in late 2007. I then updated and reuploaded them in 2008 to both pojo and TCGplayer.... These guides still exist to this day.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I am currently an Organized Play DM for 5E, running Encounters/Expeditions on Tues and Wed night, weekly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I have been reverse-engineering RPGs since 1997.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I am a hobby-level RPG developer - with 17 years design/development experience.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In 2015 I plan on releasing my first professional RPG (designed from scratch) for public playtesting.</li> </ul><p></p><p>I fail to see how +5-15% accuracy "heavily slants the math" - especially when the DM can <em>always</em> give their opponents magic items as well. Not only that, but as stated in the Monster Manual - monster gear is not salvageable unless indicated by the DM. </p><p></p><p>I obviously come from a different perspective than yourself. I want magic items to remain meaningful at all levels. As such, I want the value of a +1 sword to be consistent regardless of character level (1-20). By scaling math to account for magic items two things occur:</p><p></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The value of the item diminishes with ascending level - cheapening magic items as a result.... Depending on level, a +1 or +2 weapon is equivalent to a mundane weapon at 1st level. I do not want magic items to feel cheap at any level.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It exacerbates the Christmas tree effect, as PCs are <strong>required</strong> by the system math to have +X items of X, Y, Z nature by the time they reach levels A, B, or C. Should the players fail to acquire said items by the respective levels, the math is skewed <strong>against</strong> the players - creating frustration as a result.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Both of these effects combine to force DMs to hand out magic items like candy, so as not to unfairly disadvantage their players. This caused numerous conflicts in the forums and at numerous tables depending on how liberal the DM was with handing out said treasure - something the 5E Dev's took note of. Furthermore, should the DM choose to run a low-magic setting, it required them to manually alter the stats of all monsters to accommodate this.</p><p></p><p>On the flip side - by removing magic items from the games math, it allows DMs greater flexibility and control over magic items in their setting, and requires fewer math adjustments as a result as the DM can choose when/if to alter the creatures math on a case-by-case basis. If they want the BBEG to have defenses that negate the benefit of the PCs magic items, it requires little more work than increasing the NPCs AC (or other relevant stat) by +X. </p><p></p><p>Altering 1-2 statistics on a single monster >>>> Rewriting every monsters entire stat block.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kalani, post: 6420483, member: 88085"] I am both, and yes I am well aware of the nightmare that was the christmas tree effect. I am also a firm believer in balance and believe that Dnd is at its core, a fundamentally [B]co-operative[/B] game, rather than a competitive one - and as such, I do not place the enjoyment of any player (DM included) over that of any other. With that being said, I will point out that by making ad hominem attacks which call into question my motives and game experience, you undermine the foundation of your own argument. However, in an effort to prevent further argument, I will state the following (although I find bragging distasteful): [B]DM Experience (1990-Present)[/B] [LIST] [*]I have DMed all editions of Dnd to date including: BECMI, 1E, 2E, Players/DMs Option, Dragonlance 5A (Saga), 3E, 3.5, 4E, Essentials, and 5E. [*]I was a sanctioned RPGA DM for 3.5 [*]I organized/ran the "World D&D day" and 4E launch at my local FLGS [*]I was a sanctioned UDE Judge for Yugioh - a game with complicated (and often-times hidden) rules interactions. [*]I wrote the book on Priority, and the Summon Negation/Response Chains in Yugioh - and coined the term "Summon Negation Window" in 2005. I accomplished this by comparing and compiling over 5000 card interaction rulings. In doing so, I discovered hidden underlying mechanics to the game and wrote the book on them. I submitted them online in 2005 however they were eventually archived and deleted in late 2007. I then updated and reuploaded them in 2008 to both pojo and TCGplayer.... These guides still exist to this day. [*]I am currently an Organized Play DM for 5E, running Encounters/Expeditions on Tues and Wed night, weekly. [*]I have been reverse-engineering RPGs since 1997. [*]I am a hobby-level RPG developer - with 17 years design/development experience. [*]In 2015 I plan on releasing my first professional RPG (designed from scratch) for public playtesting. [/LIST] I fail to see how +5-15% accuracy "heavily slants the math" - especially when the DM can [I]always[/I] give their opponents magic items as well. Not only that, but as stated in the Monster Manual - monster gear is not salvageable unless indicated by the DM. I obviously come from a different perspective than yourself. I want magic items to remain meaningful at all levels. As such, I want the value of a +1 sword to be consistent regardless of character level (1-20). By scaling math to account for magic items two things occur: [LIST] [*]The value of the item diminishes with ascending level - cheapening magic items as a result.... Depending on level, a +1 or +2 weapon is equivalent to a mundane weapon at 1st level. I do not want magic items to feel cheap at any level. [*]It exacerbates the Christmas tree effect, as PCs are [B]required[/B] by the system math to have +X items of X, Y, Z nature by the time they reach levels A, B, or C. Should the players fail to acquire said items by the respective levels, the math is skewed [B]against[/B] the players - creating frustration as a result. [/LIST] Both of these effects combine to force DMs to hand out magic items like candy, so as not to unfairly disadvantage their players. This caused numerous conflicts in the forums and at numerous tables depending on how liberal the DM was with handing out said treasure - something the 5E Dev's took note of. Furthermore, should the DM choose to run a low-magic setting, it required them to manually alter the stats of all monsters to accommodate this. On the flip side - by removing magic items from the games math, it allows DMs greater flexibility and control over magic items in their setting, and requires fewer math adjustments as a result as the DM can choose when/if to alter the creatures math on a case-by-case basis. If they want the BBEG to have defenses that negate the benefit of the PCs magic items, it requires little more work than increasing the NPCs AC (or other relevant stat) by +X. Altering 1-2 statistics on a single monster >>>> Rewriting every monsters entire stat block. [/QUOTE]
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