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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Archetypal vs. Menu-style characters
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<blockquote data-quote="nopantsyet" data-source="post: 1957511" data-attributes="member: 3109"><p>Well if Merric says there can't be a middle ground, then I guess it must be so.</p><p> </p><p> I actually don't think he's too far off on that. Any so-called middle ground is influenced far more by the primary mechanic. I would prefer a menu-based system with archetypes implemented as pre-built paths.</p><p> </p><p> That said, I also agree that the menu approach is problematic in it's own way, and relies very much on the willingness of the players to create cohesive concepts and of the DM to enforce the downsides of abusive builds. (Wait--did I just use a "banned" word or three? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":-P" title="Stick out tongue :-P" data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":-P" />)</p><p> </p><p> I am fortunate enough to have such players, and have in fact ruled to allow <em>But the Numbers</em> in my game. Only one player is using it, and we have yet to see how it will play out in the long term. I'm not completely convinced that D&D is compatible with a fully menu-based system, but I think it's definitely worth finding out.</p><p> </p><p> <em>Afterthought: I don't disagree with the assertion that without classes it would not be D&D. Of course 3E/3.5 isn't D&D in the strictest sense either. It maintains some of the sacred cows, but is a very different game than earlier versions. But I'm all right with that. I play D&D because it's a flexible system that's widespread enough that it's possible to keep a game going in spite of real life, not because of the game it used to be.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="nopantsyet, post: 1957511, member: 3109"] Well if Merric says there can't be a middle ground, then I guess it must be so. I actually don't think he's too far off on that. Any so-called middle ground is influenced far more by the primary mechanic. I would prefer a menu-based system with archetypes implemented as pre-built paths. That said, I also agree that the menu approach is problematic in it's own way, and relies very much on the willingness of the players to create cohesive concepts and of the DM to enforce the downsides of abusive builds. (Wait--did I just use a "banned" word or three? :-P) I am fortunate enough to have such players, and have in fact ruled to allow [i]But the Numbers[/i] in my game. Only one player is using it, and we have yet to see how it will play out in the long term. I'm not completely convinced that D&D is compatible with a fully menu-based system, but I think it's definitely worth finding out. [i]Afterthought: I don't disagree with the assertion that without classes it would not be D&D. Of course 3E/3.5 isn't D&D in the strictest sense either. It maintains some of the sacred cows, but is a very different game than earlier versions. But I'm all right with that. I play D&D because it's a flexible system that's widespread enough that it's possible to keep a game going in spite of real life, not because of the game it used to be.[/i] [/QUOTE]
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