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<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 5786370" data-attributes="member: 6669384">I'd like to apologize for my bad mood, and the amount of snark it inspired in my last post.&nbsp; I'm sure there are a lot of good, intelligent gamers who have played Arcana Evolved and enjoyed it.&nbsp; I don't happen to like it, but this wasn't the time or place to take cheap shots at it, or the players who like it.Back on topic (and probably right back off again), the bell curve dice topic in many ways resembles the &quot;roll for stats&quot; v &quot;point buy&quot; debate.Each has it's advocates, and their arguments are similar:&nbsp; &quot;Making random factors too big a part of the game belittles skill&quot;, v &quot;Timely but unlikely events are the stuff that high fantasy is made of&quot;.I know that, at higher levels and higher skill/ability levels, it irks some players that their min/maxed PC demigod is still going to miss 5% of the time, no matter what, and that a mob of unskilled commoners is going to hit their Epic AC 5% of the time, regardless of how &quot;epic&quot; it is.I've seen the counter argument played to the humorous extreme as well.&nbsp; One player in our game had his character use a dagger and nothing but a dagger, all the time.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; The average damage is only 2 points less than a longsword, and at a certain point in the game the bonus damage so far outstrips the random portion that 2 points difference just doesn't matter.&nbsp; But he can use the dagger when grappled, swallowed whole or entangled in a net or webbing, so in his mind the advantage went to the dagger.&nbsp; And it's hard to disagree with him.&nbsp; Lacking in heroic imagery as it might be, mathematically it makes sense.&nbsp; Until, that is, someone mentiones Power Attack.&nbsp; (You can't Power Attack with a light weapon.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 5786370, member: 6669384"] I'd like to apologize for my bad mood, and the amount of snark it inspired in my last post. I'm sure there are a lot of good, intelligent gamers who have played Arcana Evolved and enjoyed it. I don't happen to like it, but this wasn't the time or place to take cheap shots at it, or the players who like it. Back on topic (and probably right back off again), the bell curve dice topic in many ways resembles the "roll for stats" v "point buy" debate. Each has it's advocates, and their arguments are similar: "Making random factors too big a part of the game belittles skill", v "Timely but unlikely events are the stuff that high fantasy is made of". I know that, at higher levels and higher skill/ability levels, it irks some players that their min/maxed PC demigod is still going to miss 5% of the time, no matter what, and that a mob of unskilled commoners is going to hit their Epic AC 5% of the time, regardless of how "epic" it is. I've seen the counter argument played to the humorous extreme as well. One player in our game had his character use a dagger and nothing but a dagger, all the time. Why? The average damage is only 2 points less than a longsword, and at a certain point in the game the bonus damage so far outstrips the random portion that 2 points difference just doesn't matter. But he can use the dagger when grappled, swallowed whole or entangled in a net or webbing, so in his mind the advantage went to the dagger. And it's hard to disagree with him. Lacking in heroic imagery as it might be, mathematically it makes sense. Until, that is, someone mentiones Power Attack. (You can't Power Attack with a light weapon.) [/QUOTE]

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