D&D 5E "But Wizards Can Fly, Teleport and Turn People Into Frogs!"

[Sunseeker]

Great! I'm a professor.

There are also many "experts" outside of colleges that have no use for "theories" and simply believe whatever their experiences lead them to. If they take an herbal supplement and their flu goes away, they conclude they've found a cure for the flu. If a fortuneteller tells them a change is coming and something changes in their life, they conclude psychic powers are real. If they see a storm they conclude that some bearded man named "Zeus" must be throwing lightning bolts at them (hey, it makes for great fantasy fiction). That's what experience gets you.

And you can go right on peddling your "experience".

Awwww, it's the field work vs theorizing divide! It's so much fun!

 

[Ahnehnois]

Awwww, it's the field work vs theorizing divide! It's so much fun!

Essentially, I'm a wizard, and he's a fighter. Ironic, isn't it?

 

[Siberys]

Re: Levels - to me, level has always meant "power", such that two characters of equal level should be equally powerful (however the game quantifies that). If it's important that spellcasters be on average more powerful than non-casters, just give them a few levels.

In a team-based mixed-party game, I don't know how fun that'd be, but that's not what's at question. :/

 

[Ahnehnois]

Re: Levels - to me, level has always meant "power"

Have you ever played a non-fantasy level-based rpg? To me, that's probably what makes it clear that levels don't seem to be about power.

For example, in my last CoC d20 game, my players showed up with three characters: a music student, an air marshal, and an NFL player. They were all of a particular level and "class" (CoC has only two). How would you ever balance those concepts?

To me it's clear that a fighter 2 should be better than a fighter 1, and a fighter 15 should be much better. So that's power. But a bard 2 compared to a fighter 1? To me that's not much different than a running back and a musician. They're so different in concept that I don't see that they can ever be the same in power.

 

[Garthanos]

If levels dont mean "player" power... ability to influence the story (in D&D via that avatar we call a player character )... then they are meaningless and shouldn't exist.

 

[Dannager]

No.

I am perfectly confident in my ability to make informed judgments about things that I do not have first-hand experience with. As a human, I have the capacity to learn and reason. Most of my knowledge is not firsthand, with regards to D&D or anything else. Nor, I suspect, us anyone else's.

Which is fine. When you're arguing with other people who have equally little experience and none of you really gives a damn about what actually is the case.

On the other hand, when you're in the middle of a group of people who have infinitely more experience than you and they're all telling you that your assumption based on zero experience is wrong, it's generally a sign that your lack of experience has not supplied you with the wealth of knowledge you think it has.

And perhaps more to the point, overreliance on first-hand knowledge is one of the most basic of fallacies.

So what are you over-relying on, then?

 

[Ahnehnois]

If levels dont mean "player" power... ability to influence the story (in D&D via that avatar we call a player character )... then they are meaningless and shouldn't exist.

I guess they shouldn't exist then.

 

[Garthanos]

Can I rely on religious faith and conjecture?

 

[Garthanos]

I guess they shouldn't exist then.

That was my conclusion during AD&D days and one of the many reasons I quit D&D.

 

[Ahnehnois]

On the other hand, when you're in the middle of a group of people who have infinitely more experience than you and they're all telling you that your assumption based on zero experience is wrong, it's generally a sign that your lack of experience has not supplied you with the wealth of knowledge you think it has.

So what are you over-relying on, then?

You know, when I read a small number of anonymous online posts that make no sense to me, and lack internal consistency, cogency, or even civility, the first think I always think to my self is: "What am I doing wrong?".

Can I rely on religious faith and conjecture?

Hey, it's a make-believe game. You don't even need that much.

That was my conclusion during AD&D days and one of the many reasons I quit D&D.

Fair enough.