two said:
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Prep time is brutal for levels 6+. Create an NPC Wiz who doesn't suck (level 10, say), get the spells/theme picked, get DC's, get skills, get equipment, get level up bumps, get rough skill set, get hp's... then do rough tactics, special tactics, defensive spells, common buffs... then you have to make the apprentice(s).
Yes you can handwave a lot of it. But if you really want a legitamite (tough) well defended sensible good-feat choice wiz/sorcerer/cleric/etc NPC it takes a long time. 30 min? 1 hour? at levels 10+ it's often more than an hour. This isn't fun for many.
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You baldly and blandly assert this. D&D 3.5 is the most complex game ever published (with regards to number of rules and page count). There are not a few variables. There are hundreds of variables. Even to do something like stun an opponent you need to know how the stun is delivered (hit? what is the bonus to hit? is it tough or melee) and the stun DC. Is it a spell? Does casting it provoke AOO in this case? Does the dwarf get a special racial bonus against the spell (yet another variable)? What is the effect if any for a made save. And if you do fail, what does "STUN" actually do in the game (look it up, likely).
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You might think people are complaining overmuch about slow combat... and your "defense" is to claim simplicity for D&D...
D&D is not simple nor straightforward; particularly at levels 6-8+. Above level 15, it can be an absolute nightmare, even with players/GM focussed on speed.
If you have managed to tame this complexity and it works well for you and your group: fine.
You might even want to give us some tips at speeding up combat.
But don't try to tell us D&D isn't a huge, complex game!
Is 3.5 complex? Yes. Is it the MOST complex game out there? I take it you've never played the Hero system or Rolemaster. Hero's character generation and endurance cost calculation is easily more complex than anything in 3.5 and Rolemaster isn't derisively known as "tablemaster" for nothing.
But that's beside the point. Some people master D&D better than others. When I run combats, they generally don't take too long unless my players are looking up a lot of spells. But now that they're 9th level, most of their bread and butter spells are well known around the table and things are fairly streamlined.
When it comes to dealing with generating NPCs, I agree that things do get a bit complex, but they're NPCs and not PCs. I don't have to have extremely carefully choosen feats that are designed to be effective throughout the life of the character. I'm not playing the NPC throughout its life. It makes an appearance or two on the stage of my campaign and its gone. Skill and save buffing feats make excellent choices for NPCs precisely because they don't have a lot of contingent effects and just add to static values while still tailoring the NPC in the direction I want to take it.
I will admit I spend a fair amount of time on prep, but then I'm also rewriting stat blocks using the new Dungeon format (because, though it takes up more space, it's MUCH faster to use) and reviewing monster special abilities so that I don't have to bone up on them at the table during play time. It's not like I have tons of time during the day (I have 2 kids, one of them a dynamo of a 2-year old, I work full time, my wife is constantly filling up our weekends with stuff to do, and I do the cooking and dishes in the evening), but I do try to use the time I have effectively. So my co-workers might see me taking the Monster Manual to the john once in a while... who cares? I'm getting prep work done.
At its core, D&D just isn't that hard to deal with. It may be reasonably complex, but most of that is situational and doesn't come up all the time. A lot can be eased by good use of documentation by the DM. Spells are giving the party a morale bonus? Write it on a whiteboard for all to see and use. Put boxes to check off next to it to count down the duration. Have players look up their own spells before it's their turn and hand you their books open to the right page. There are tons of ways to manage the complexit effectively and efficiently.
At least 3E/3.5, while adding some complexity over earlier editions, has taken great steps to regularize it. Try calculating the chances of surprise in 1st edition after the Fiend Folio and Unearthed Arcana came out (with drow and deep gnomes and their irregular chances to be surprised) and compare it to 3E's opposed spot/hide or listen/move silently checks.