Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 8325056" data-attributes="member: 16586">There's a basic problem of the incentives involved when it comes to trading off prowess in your class' strength for prowess elsewhere in 5e. Ability Score increases and proficiency are extraordinarily scarce resources. Bounded accuracy means that even if you give it all she's got you are likely to still have a pretty substantial chance of failing in critical moments. You also do not gain much for diverting resources. Resources have a linear impact regardless of where they are spent.Compare this to other RPGs which either silo off resources in a way that allows you to broaden your focus without giving up too much potency elsewhere (Apocalypse World, Pathfinder Second Edition, Exalted Third Edition) or have some form of diminishing returns on specialization so that there is a more worthwhile tradeoff between specialization and investing in your weak areas (World of Darkness, Blades in the Dark, Exalted, Rogue Trader).Look I have tried diverting resources from my main competency in 5e. It's almost always a fool's errand. Instead of being decent in one area and deficient in others you end up mediocre at everything. It's a game that rewards specialization. There are commendable things about that, but acting like we kind of just wish that way by playing around it is not a bridge I'm willing to buy.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Campbell, post: 8325056, member: 16586"] There's a basic problem of the incentives involved when it comes to trading off prowess in your class' strength for prowess elsewhere in 5e. Ability Score increases and proficiency are extraordinarily scarce resources. Bounded accuracy means that even if you give it all she's got you are likely to still have a pretty substantial chance of failing in critical moments. You also do not gain much for diverting resources. Resources have a linear impact regardless of where they are spent. Compare this to other RPGs which either silo off resources in a way that allows you to broaden your focus without giving up too much potency elsewhere (Apocalypse World, Pathfinder Second Edition, Exalted Third Edition) or have some form of diminishing returns on specialization so that there is a more worthwhile tradeoff between specialization and investing in your weak areas (World of Darkness, Blades in the Dark, Exalted, Rogue Trader). Look I have tried diverting resources from my main competency in 5e. It's almost always a fool's errand. Instead of being decent in one area and deficient in others you end up mediocre at everything. It's a game that rewards specialization. There are commendable things about that, but acting like we kind of just wish that way by playing around it is not a bridge I'm willing to buy. [/QUOTE]

Verification