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<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4203090" data-attributes="member: 5143">This was done on purpose.Compare the situations:DM: The dragon runs towards you and swipes at the fighter, taking him to -8 with the hit.Player 1: Oh no!&nbsp; We are in bad shape.&nbsp; We are all low on hitpoints from that last breath weapon, but I think the dragon is almost dead.&nbsp; We need to kill it NOW.Player 2: I'm a bard who is a diplomat.&nbsp; I have an 8 strength and don't have a magic weapon because I don't fight normally.&nbsp; I could try to hit it, but I'd need a natural 20 to do so.&nbsp; I hide instead and hope it doesn't eat me.DM: Well, the dragon uses his breath weapon again and kills you all.&nbsp; Roll up new characters.Player 1: Come on, it was down to 10 hitpoints, all you had to do was hit it once.Player 2: I'm sorry, I didn't want to play a combat character!vs.Player 2: Alright, I smite it with my daily since it gives me +3 to hit and I want to make sure this works.&nbsp; I do 45 damage to it.DM: The dragon drops as his last breath escapes his throat.Player 1: Woo hoo.&nbsp; We did it.&nbsp; It was really close, but we all worked together and survived.&nbsp; It was really fun, though.And that's the point.&nbsp; D&amp;D IS a combat game and combat is more fun the more tense it is for most people.&nbsp; In order to create tension, you need to walk a fine line between winning and losing.&nbsp; In order to make a system that enforces that tension it requires a good method of predicting the power of the PCs.&nbsp; So, because of that, 4e gives every character at least a baseline amount of combat ability.So, yes, being a character without any combat abilities is not allowed in the system, since it only really has one effect: getting the entire party killed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 4203090, member: 5143"] This was done on purpose. Compare the situations: DM: The dragon runs towards you and swipes at the fighter, taking him to -8 with the hit. Player 1: Oh no! We are in bad shape. We are all low on hitpoints from that last breath weapon, but I think the dragon is almost dead. We need to kill it NOW. Player 2: I'm a bard who is a diplomat. I have an 8 strength and don't have a magic weapon because I don't fight normally. I could try to hit it, but I'd need a natural 20 to do so. I hide instead and hope it doesn't eat me. DM: Well, the dragon uses his breath weapon again and kills you all. Roll up new characters. Player 1: Come on, it was down to 10 hitpoints, all you had to do was hit it once. Player 2: I'm sorry, I didn't want to play a combat character! vs. Player 2: Alright, I smite it with my daily since it gives me +3 to hit and I want to make sure this works. I do 45 damage to it. DM: The dragon drops as his last breath escapes his throat. Player 1: Woo hoo. We did it. It was really close, but we all worked together and survived. It was really fun, though. And that's the point. D&D IS a combat game and combat is more fun the more tense it is for most people. In order to create tension, you need to walk a fine line between winning and losing. In order to make a system that enforces that tension it requires a good method of predicting the power of the PCs. So, because of that, 4e gives every character at least a baseline amount of combat ability. So, yes, being a character without any combat abilities is not allowed in the system, since it only really has one effect: getting the entire party killed. [/QUOTE]

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