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Message: <blockquote data-quote="slobster" data-source="post: 6004477" data-attributes="member: 6693711">It's pretty clear that the GM and the players aren't on a level playing field. For instance, if my warrior wants to kill a goblin he rolls a d20 and goes through the familiar motions of resolving an attack. If the GM wants to kill a goblin she could summon forth Great Cthulu to rip the goblin's soul out through its belly button, and dance a merry jig on the ashes of its homeplane. Or any number of other things. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />I know, you're talking about NPC creation following a social contract where the GM is given the same toolbox as the players, but a greater freedom to use that toolbox. Is that correct? (my post above was half for humor, but half a serious point)That's a valid way to approach GMing, but so is my way, which is that the GM is in charge of the game and is given pretty much unlimited power to run that game. It's advisable that she stay within the bounds of a limited toolbox, for a whole host of reasons. But if she decides that the fun would be enhanced by "breaking the rules", then her players should trust her to make that decision. In my experience, this leads to the best playing experience for everyone involved. So that's how I GM.In other words, players use the character classes to generate characters because there needs to be a baseline for common power levels and because it's an enjoyable minigame. The GM uses the known capabilities of those character classes over the course of the game (i.e. monster creation guidelines) to create interesting opposition, but at some point reaches the system mastery and competence to start stepping outside the bounds of the monster creation guidelines when it would enhance the game. And she can do that, 'cuz she's omnipotent. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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