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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ProfessorCirno" data-source="post: 5457190" data-attributes="member: 65637">Clarify?Whenever I see "simulationist" ascribed to 3e it's done so in the idea that 3e is meant to "simulate" a setting or world.  My issue is that the thoughts behind the mechanics tend to ruin this greatly, and that this style of "simulationism" was never the intention.Like I said, it never even came up when I played 2e.  It was accepted that the world made serious amounts of zero sense, and we loved it for it.  Really, a lot of the more "iconic" D&D monsters were made after children's toys.  Most of the major wizards connected to various spells are hilariously unimaginative (Melf = Male Elf).  It's really, really goofy.  It's also really awesome.At what point do I stop banning spells and realize that it may be the underlying system that is a problem, though? I'm picking a bit on 3e because in many cases 2e wasn't as bad, but the underlying problems are not with individual spells but rather with the underlying idea of "There should be a spell for that."  To which I respond, "No, sometimes, there shouldn't be."It's all well and good to want magic to be wonderous and mystical and strange, but it loses a lot - if not all - of that when it's in the PC's hands.  Because once they get it, it's a tool.Could you actually say what the problem is?  Because you cherry picked a  single sentence and you've told me basically nothing on how it makes me  lose any sort of moral high ground.I stand by my statement. D&D is about medieval knights (paladins) in ren-era armor  (full plate mail), worshipping a greek pantheon (pantheons) and  following a pastiche of modern morality (alignment) while fighting evil  brain-sucking space aliens from the future (Illithids)I could also bring up the evil magical cockroaches (rust monsters) and sentient acidic jello (gelatinous cubes).  But this isn't a bad thing.These are things we love about D&D.  I'm not making fun of  it.  I'm basking in it.  I wouldn't still be playing D&D if these  were things I disliked.I can only speak for myself, but my best and most fond memories of  D&D, regardless of edition, are not ones in which I am captivated by  the "realism" of the setting, they aren't ones in which I am haggling  with a shopkeep or chatting with an NPC, and they aren't ones in which I  am out in the wilderness and not much happens.  My fondest memories are  ones in which something utterly insane happens, the group is horribly screwed, and yet we manage to pull out butts out of the fire somehow.  When the wild mage has a wild surge as combat is going bad and manages to roll "Heal spell to all allies."  When the warblade is the last one standing and has just been paralyzed,  but Iron Heart Surges his way out of it, screams his battlecry, and  finishes the enemy off in one fantastic crit.  When the group is empty on healing surges and the abominations are  closing in, and the psion has one use of Living Missile left and manages  to throw both abominations off a cliff with it.These are the moments I remember from my games.  When everything looked terrible and we were doomed with certain death, and somehow we dragged ourselves kicking and screaming away from the reaper.  It wasn't a simulation of anything.  In most cases, it was really, really goofy.  But it sure as hell was fun!</blockquote>

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