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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6568697" data-attributes="member: 996">No offense but it sounds like straight-up, &quot;kids these days&quot; grognard elitism.&nbsp; My guess is it's what Mr. Mearls thinks (probably with very good reason) that his target demographic wants to thear.&nbsp;&nbsp; Not that I mean to paint your observations with the same brush, though...&nbsp;In the 90s there was a Role not Roll debate going the presaged the intensity of the edition war.&nbsp; It's not any more valid now than it was then, and, as you observe, you can absolutely do both.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can roll the dice and still RP.&nbsp; You can optimize, mechanically, to fit a character concept, or even just be to 'efficient' without sabotaging the game for everyone else.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can apply system mastery without spoiling anyone's fun.&nbsp; It mostly just requires a little consideration for your fellow players.&nbsp; &nbsp;Relatively few combos are equally good in all situations, and RPGs, by their nature, are very open to variety.&nbsp; Players and DMs - groups - can get stuck in ruts or hemmed in by 'group think,' but they can also break free of it. The more the system empowers players to make meaningful decisions, the more it needs to keep those decisions balanced to avoid 'obvious best' ruts.&nbsp; The more latitude the game gives you, as the DM, to vary situations without needing to change the system, the easier it should be to experiment and shake them out of those ruts.In 3.5 you can use a targeted dispel magic to break up a lot of combos, for instance.&nbsp; In 4e, you can't repeat a problematic encounter power every round or a daily every combat - they're not like problematic spells that you can keep casting until you run out of slots or charges in your wand or whatever.In 5e, you can shake things up just by ruling against the combo the second time (or whenever you notice it getting tired).&nbsp; Fighting system mastery with system modification.&nbsp; That may not be what you're looking for - I think you're more looking to shift the culture of your group - but it's an option in DM-empowering 5e.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6568697, member: 996"] No offense but it sounds like straight-up, "kids these days" grognard elitism. My guess is it's what Mr. Mearls thinks (probably with very good reason) that his target demographic wants to thear. Not that I mean to paint your observations with the same brush, though... In the 90s there was a Role not Roll debate going the presaged the intensity of the edition war. It's not any more valid now than it was then, and, as you observe, you can absolutely do both. You can roll the dice and still RP. You can optimize, mechanically, to fit a character concept, or even just be to 'efficient' without sabotaging the game for everyone else. You can apply system mastery without spoiling anyone's fun. It mostly just requires a little consideration for your fellow players. Relatively few combos are equally good in all situations, and RPGs, by their nature, are very open to variety. Players and DMs - groups - can get stuck in ruts or hemmed in by 'group think,' but they can also break free of it. The more the system empowers players to make meaningful decisions, the more it needs to keep those decisions balanced to avoid 'obvious best' ruts. The more latitude the game gives you, as the DM, to vary situations without needing to change the system, the easier it should be to experiment and shake them out of those ruts. In 3.5 you can use a targeted dispel magic to break up a lot of combos, for instance. In 4e, you can't repeat a problematic encounter power every round or a daily every combat - they're not like problematic spells that you can keep casting until you run out of slots or charges in your wand or whatever. In 5e, you can shake things up just by ruling against the combo the second time (or whenever you notice it getting tired). Fighting system mastery with system modification. That may not be what you're looking for - I think you're more looking to shift the culture of your group - but it's an option in DM-empowering 5e. [/QUOTE]

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