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"Buy the numbers" ... for races?
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<blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 1809495" data-attributes="member: 945"><p>Primarily the fact that it doesn't lend itself very easy to low magic/low fantasy. Without altering the way the game works, you get wizards flying around casting fireball spells as early as 5th level. Which, that's not to say that that's a bad thing, it's just inherent in the system, and is unavoidable.</p><p></p><p>I don't like that I can't make a cleric of a god of deception who has Bluff and Intimidate as class skills. Or, why druids can't purge undead, even though they are unnatural creatures. The classes are defined to be what they are, and it's fine, but its restrictive, and the balance is upset if you try to modify it too much. For example, I allowed everyone to choose pick 10 skills as class skills, and it got kind of out of hand. Which skills are available to which classes are fundamental towards balance. If you allow Sorcerers to have Diplomacy as a class skill, there's pretty much zero reason to have a bard class.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't make sense to me that a half-orc wizard has d4 HD, but a halfling barbarian has d12.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't make sense to me that every gnome in the world, even ones that grow up in the fantasy equivalent of New York City all can speak to burrowing rabbits, even if they've never met one.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't make sense to me that a wizard can use a spellcraft roll to see what spell a sorcerer just cast, even though the sorcerer's magic isn't learned, and is very much a personal thing for him.</p><p></p><p>The fire and forget spellcasting system makes no sense to me.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't make sense that a Bard, who is supposed to be a learned traveler, who picks up things here and there, has a charisma-based casting system, and can't learn any spells from anyone - as they are borne inately into him.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't make sense that all halflings should favor the rogue class or that all elves should favor being a wizard more than anything else. If anything, elves should favor ranger or sorcerer, not wizard.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I mean, I could *fix* these things, but that's kind of my point. I could spend a lot of time altering the system, and purchasing things like "Buy the Numbers" or "Elements of Magic" to allow players more customization. I can use "Artificer's Handbook" to fix all the bizarre problems and inconsistencies in the magic item creation system. Or, I can just switch to something like Harp, which I'm very heavily leaning towards. Even HARP may not be perfect, but lately with regards to the direction I want to take my next campaign in, I just find myself butting heads with d20 more and more.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="der_kluge, post: 1809495, member: 945"] Primarily the fact that it doesn't lend itself very easy to low magic/low fantasy. Without altering the way the game works, you get wizards flying around casting fireball spells as early as 5th level. Which, that's not to say that that's a bad thing, it's just inherent in the system, and is unavoidable. I don't like that I can't make a cleric of a god of deception who has Bluff and Intimidate as class skills. Or, why druids can't purge undead, even though they are unnatural creatures. The classes are defined to be what they are, and it's fine, but its restrictive, and the balance is upset if you try to modify it too much. For example, I allowed everyone to choose pick 10 skills as class skills, and it got kind of out of hand. Which skills are available to which classes are fundamental towards balance. If you allow Sorcerers to have Diplomacy as a class skill, there's pretty much zero reason to have a bard class. It doesn't make sense to me that a half-orc wizard has d4 HD, but a halfling barbarian has d12. It doesn't make sense to me that every gnome in the world, even ones that grow up in the fantasy equivalent of New York City all can speak to burrowing rabbits, even if they've never met one. It doesn't make sense to me that a wizard can use a spellcraft roll to see what spell a sorcerer just cast, even though the sorcerer's magic isn't learned, and is very much a personal thing for him. The fire and forget spellcasting system makes no sense to me. It doesn't make sense that a Bard, who is supposed to be a learned traveler, who picks up things here and there, has a charisma-based casting system, and can't learn any spells from anyone - as they are borne inately into him. It doesn't make sense that all halflings should favor the rogue class or that all elves should favor being a wizard more than anything else. If anything, elves should favor ranger or sorcerer, not wizard. I mean, I could *fix* these things, but that's kind of my point. I could spend a lot of time altering the system, and purchasing things like "Buy the Numbers" or "Elements of Magic" to allow players more customization. I can use "Artificer's Handbook" to fix all the bizarre problems and inconsistencies in the magic item creation system. Or, I can just switch to something like Harp, which I'm very heavily leaning towards. Even HARP may not be perfect, but lately with regards to the direction I want to take my next campaign in, I just find myself butting heads with d20 more and more. [/QUOTE]
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