D&D 5E (2024) Circle Casting is gonna break a lot of games

[Horwath]

once again I will say; D&D should be exclusively playtested by powergamers/optimizers/munckins.

 

[Libertad]

I will say one thing; these exploits serve as a great in-universe explanation for how Thay became a superpower in the Realms!

 

[Sulicius]

once again I will say; D&D should be exclusively playtested by powergamers/optimizers/munckins.

I really wish they will never do that. Why would that be better? Those kinds of players tend to engage more with numbers than with usability or flavor.

 

[Horwath]

I really wish they will never do that. Why would that be better? Those kinds of players tend to engage more with numbers than with usability or flavor.

writers write the flavor and possibly design cool features, powergamers stress test those features so we do not get broken combos in finished game.
game must be broken 1st, before it can be repaired for release.

playtest in not writing critics.
playtest should be 100% about the numbers, we need numbers to work.

 

[dave2008]

I do have a slight issue with the title to this thread: "Circle Casting is gonna break a lot of games"

The circle casting rules shouldn't break a single game. If you don't like the rules - don't use them! Simple, easy, and no games broken!

 

[Sulicius]

writers write the flavor and possibly design cool features, powergamers stress test those features so we do not get broken combos in finished game.
game must be broken 1st, before it can be repaired for release.

playtest in not writing critics.
playtest should be 100% about the numbers, we need numbers to work.

The numbers matter, of course, but not that much.

Powergamers will only ask for more until they make Pathfinder 2+

Then the game becomes unplayable for people who don't take the game that seriously.

Playtests are about usability. Does this work the way we imagined it? Is it understandable?

 

[dave2008]

writers write the flavor and possibly design cool features, powergamers stress test those features so we do not get broken combos in finished game.
game must be broken 1st, before it can be repaired for release.

playtest in not writing critics.
playtest should be 100% about the numbers, we need numbers to work.

what is wrong with "breaking" the game though? I mean what would we talk about otherwise!

 

[Horwath]

The numbers matter, of course, but not that much.

Powergamers will only ask for more until they make Pathfinder 2+

Then the game becomes unplayable for people who don't take the game that seriously.

Playtests are about usability. Does this work the way we imagined it? Is it understandable?

usability is in the end designers job.

testers stress test the game, and more system mastery someone has, the better the tester.

then the testers can go back to designers after they broke any combo that they could find(there can always be more, you cannot have infinite testers. well you can, but then we are those and then you take the risk with "patching" the game and releasing "new" PHB every few months of once per year with updated features).

testers report back: this works 10/10, the strongets features or combos.
this works 1/10 this is weakest features.

is the goal 10/10 power level or 7/10 power level?


P.S. also fire the one that decided that ranger needs to be focused around 1st level spell for all 20 levels. And not that good of a spell to begin with.

 

[BenjaminPey]

I would hate it if the game was exclusivly tested by power gamers and I think 5E great popularity precisely came from the fact it was not.

 

[Sulicius]

usability is in the end designers job.

testers stress test the game, and more system mastery someone has, the better the tester.

then the testers can go back to designers after they broke any combo that they could find(there can always be more, you cannot have infinite testers. well you can, but then we are those and then you take the risk with "patching" the game and releasing "new" PHB every few months of once per year with updated features).

testers report back: this works 10/10, the strongets features or combos.
this works 1/10 this is weakest features.

is the goal 10/10 power level or 7/10 power level?


P.S. also fire the one that decided that ranger needs to be focused around 1st level spell for all 20 levels. And not that good of a spell to begin with.

Sure, that would work if D&D was a competitive video game, but it is not.

Usability > Balance/Power when it comes to D&D 5e

Not everyone agrees with that, but it is what gets people playing. And once people get playing, they can play the game the way they like and change the numbers if they want.