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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5427466" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>The whole "character concept" thing is a bit strange to me. I've toyed with it a bit, because I've run two Rolemaster campaigns to very high levels (mid-20s both) and have over the years, mostly out of curiosity, looked at how you would convert the PCs to various versions of D&D. And the first thing that happens is that, in RM, spell-using PCs are super-focused (eg one PC in a game I ran was a fire mage, another a lightning-bolting demon summoner, another a disintegrator and dominator). And this super-focus doesn't make them mechanically sub-optimal, but rather is one aspect of their mechanical optimality. Breadth of magical ability, in Rolemaster, tends to be a mechanicaly sub-optimal build decision.</p><p></p><p>In D&D, however, it is hard to build an optimal but narrowly focused spell-user (especially pre-4e). Some of the PCs from these old RM games can be reasonably converted into 4e, but others can't (eg a Rolemaster warrior mage, who with spell buffs is about as good a fighter as a RM fighter, plus has flying for maximum ability to charge wielding a two-handed sword, but is weaker in combat when the spells aren't cast - in 4e this is hard to do, though a hybrid barbarian/swordmage can probably approximate to it).</p><p></p><p>3E is about the same. It is probably a bit better at the warrior mage, but in my view doesn't do a psionicist monk so well, if only because that sort of PC will suffer in both spell-casting level and BAB (whereas a 4e psionicist has reasonable AC with Unarmoured Agility, and can take a melee 1 at will force power to handle the martial arts stuff).</p><p></p><p>Both systems are probably more promising than AD&D, just because of the great wealth of character-building options they provide.</p><p></p><p>But ultimately any RPG system constrains the PCs that can be built within it - that is part of what a system does. For me, then, the question isn't "Are there character concepts that 4e doesn't support very well" but "Does it support a viable range of character concepts". And the answer to this question surely is Yes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5427466, member: 42582"] The whole "character concept" thing is a bit strange to me. I've toyed with it a bit, because I've run two Rolemaster campaigns to very high levels (mid-20s both) and have over the years, mostly out of curiosity, looked at how you would convert the PCs to various versions of D&D. And the first thing that happens is that, in RM, spell-using PCs are super-focused (eg one PC in a game I ran was a fire mage, another a lightning-bolting demon summoner, another a disintegrator and dominator). And this super-focus doesn't make them mechanically sub-optimal, but rather is one aspect of their mechanical optimality. Breadth of magical ability, in Rolemaster, tends to be a mechanicaly sub-optimal build decision. In D&D, however, it is hard to build an optimal but narrowly focused spell-user (especially pre-4e). Some of the PCs from these old RM games can be reasonably converted into 4e, but others can't (eg a Rolemaster warrior mage, who with spell buffs is about as good a fighter as a RM fighter, plus has flying for maximum ability to charge wielding a two-handed sword, but is weaker in combat when the spells aren't cast - in 4e this is hard to do, though a hybrid barbarian/swordmage can probably approximate to it). 3E is about the same. It is probably a bit better at the warrior mage, but in my view doesn't do a psionicist monk so well, if only because that sort of PC will suffer in both spell-casting level and BAB (whereas a 4e psionicist has reasonable AC with Unarmoured Agility, and can take a melee 1 at will force power to handle the martial arts stuff). Both systems are probably more promising than AD&D, just because of the great wealth of character-building options they provide. But ultimately any RPG system constrains the PCs that can be built within it - that is part of what a system does. For me, then, the question isn't "Are there character concepts that 4e doesn't support very well" but "Does it support a viable range of character concepts". And the answer to this question surely is Yes. [/QUOTE]
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