D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

[TwoSix]

I figured build choices/character design would have an impact. What I was asking about decisions is something along the lines of if prior resolutions and decisions of honesty have shown the PC to be very honest, will future tests of honesty be skewed towards success?

Interesting question. My approach as a player and a DM would be to allow previous actions to enforce concepts for future actions. If your character has proved themselves willing to accept the consequences for honesty before, then yes, future tests of a similar veins should be easier or automatically successful, although that (of course) could be impacted by the stakes.

I don't know how many games build that into the resolution mechanics themselves. I can think of a few games where your skill at something, even mental resistances, gets built up by testing those skills. But it isn't that common, I think.

 

[Remathilis]

Just to clear up semantics, when I say "play to find out", I mean specifically I want the dice and the game's resolution engine to tell me the answer, based on my character design and decisions.

If "play to find out" for you means you leave your character concept relatively ambiguous until the situation comes up in play, and then make the decision about the character, that's perfectly understandable. I just want to be clear that wasn't how I was using the term. I don't think either usage is right or wrong, just want to provide clarity as to my position.

This reminds me of the time Gary Gygax was in Futurama. He appears to the other characters and says "I'm Gary Gygax and I'm..." :: rolls dice:: "... pleased to meet you!" We laugh at that because we know it's mocking the idea of reaction rolls. There is no reason at that moment for Gary to really have any reaction but the polite indifference of meeting a new person. But we can imagine the world where Gary rolls a hostile or violent reaction instead!

When I see "dice and resolution mechanics" to determine your character, I see the same joke played straight. The dice determines what you think or feel, and all you can do is interpret and express what the dice say your character believes. You walk into the bar and roll to see if you like the bartender. The result is filtered though your alignment and then you play out the reaction. Don't like the bartender? You're reaction can be anytime from silently sneering to leaving to burning the bar down (depending on if your LG, CN, or CE). That too me doesn't feel like I'm playing the character, only piloting it.

And hey, if you like it, do it. Some people love randomly determining every aspect of their character from ability scores onwards. I don't. If I'm a player, I don't control a lot of things in the world, but I do control this one character and I want the ability to think and act with them as I see fit (within the limitations of the game rules).

 

[TwoSix]

When I see "dice and resolution mechanics" to determine your character, I see the same joke played straight. The dice determines what you think or feel, and all you can do is interpret and express what the dice say your character believes. You walk into the bar and roll to see if you like the bartender. The result is filtered though your alignment and then you play out the reaction. Don't like the bartender? You're reaction can be anytime from silently sneering to leaving to burning the bar down (depending on if your LG, CN, or CE). That too me doesn't feel like I'm playing the character, only piloting it.

Sure. I'm definitely more in the "I enjoy piloting" camp, I like seeing the results of a character's actions more than I like "being" a character. Expressing those results is where a lot of the fun and gameplay is, for me.

Granted, I don't want to results to be truly "random", like rolling my actions on the confusion table or something. I just like it to be game engine driven if my character is able to be truly honest, or recognize someone else's deception, etc.

The only time I don't gravitate towards that is OSR games, where the focus of the gameplay is on driving the character to overcome a specific set of challenges while exploring a hazardous site. There, maintaining decision-making agency is more important to focus the gameplay on player decision-making skill.

And hey, if you like it, do it. Some people love randomly determining every aspect of their character from ability scores onwards. I don't. If I'm a player, I don't control a lot of things in the world, but I do control this one character and I want the ability to think and act with them as I see fit (within the limitations of the game rules).

I enjoy games with a fair amount of randomness in character building, but I also enjoy some more detailed character building as well. What they have in common is once my character is in the game, I like to keep a loose hand and just let things happen.

In 3.5 terms, I would want to have my Prestige class be something I uncover in play, not something I'm targeting from the start of the game.