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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 5463646" data-attributes="member: 3400">I've heard this defense before and I find it unconvincing, and I'd point back at the comment I quoted by Pemerton. The difference is in how the game has changed its approach to the issue of building in situations for PCs to encounter. The problem that I see is that, in Pemerton's quote, the implication is that the DM didn't describe up the lock to match the selected difficulty. That's putting the cart in front of the horse as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather the game encourage DMs to decide what sort of lock was appropriate for the situation and have the DC determined from there. Not really. Sure, any campaign I, as DM, devise is ultimately arbitrary in what I choose to develop, what sort of dynamics to build into it. But once ground assumptions are in place, players know how they fit in, select the places they want to go, and all that, what follows should be anything but arbitrary. Is the rogue breaking into a wealthy merchant's home, a fire giant's fortress, a thieves guildmasters hideaway, or a random apartment in a tenement? What follows from the PC's choice should not be arbitrary but should make sense given the internal logic of the situation. You're right, it's not. But notice we're getting there from the situation and not from picking the right difficulty for the PC rogue. If we happen to assign them a level from the DC the lock may be, then we're moving in the right direction. But that's not what I think 4e is conditioning people to do and it's not the impression I got from Pemerton's post. It's not relatively cheap for a hireling who makes 2-3 silver pieces a day, nor even for the professional who may make about 10 gp a week. Is he really going to save 15 weeks of wages for a lock?For successful adventurers and other powerful people, sure, they'll have the better locks. They can easily afford it. But again, this is about looking at the context in which that lock will appear and not looking at the context of the person who will be trying to pick it. I'll admit there's always been a bit of the tail wagging the dog in RPGs. Any time you tailor your encounter to the PCs, you're doing some of what I see 4e really pushing with the whole DC for various situations to provide a challenge for the PCs. There's a balance to be struck between letting the difficulty flow the situation and tailoring the situation to the difficulty. 4e has taken whatever balance D&D had between tailored and status quo situations (to borrow terms in the 3e DMG) that helped to keep a game reasonable for player characters while also adding to the immersiveness of the world and tossed it firmly in the direction of tailored. The game, as I see it, is utterly unbalanced at its heart, in its design principles, despite its much ballyhooed mechanical balance. And while I may play it every 2 weeks as part of a friend's campaign and even have some fun in the skirmishing, it's definitely not what I'm looking for in an RPG that I'm going to play for many years to come.</blockquote>

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