Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 2294161" data-attributes="member: 4937">Well, duh.  Isn't that what internet discussions are all about? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />  Are you really claiming that you won't try and haven't tried to spin my words in the worst light possible?I don't think I asserted that at all.  I think I asserted that people like having ready made ideas for characters.  I simply stated that if that was all that was at stake, it would not be necessary to have PrC's.  We could lay out say a progression for a 10th level ranger/10th level rogue and call it 'Scout', 'Hunter', 'Bandit' (or whatever).  Of course, that's not quite as prestigious as a 'Prestige Class'.   It doesn't give you something to look forward to because you've been a 'Scout', 'Hunter', 'Bandit' or whatever since the beginning.  Plus, you're 'just' a ranger/rogue and are no better than a ranger/rogue and people don't want to be 'merely' something.  All these other emotional needs also encourage people to take PrC's, and not just the need to put together a character without 'footwork'.  PrC's are popular because they satisfy several emotional needs.  I'm sure that there are alot of players out there that think that Prestige Classes are the coolest sort of crunch that you can provide, otherwise it wouldn't sell so well.  I likewise think that the people who think PrC's are really cool probably spend more time thinking about the crunch of thier character than anyone, so I actually doubt that the ammount of 'footwork' saved by a PrC is a major attraction.  To be completely frank, if you want to sell alot of PrC's you probably could do well creating a product want to forgo issues like balance and creativity completely and just give the consumers of PrC's what they want - PrC's that let them be Wolverine or 'Movie Legolas' or Jedi Knights or (showing my age) Storm Shadow or whatever it is that people think is cool.  Certainly it worked for Rifts.  To a certain extent, there is nothing wrong with that.   I mean, it's a game and games are primarily about enjoying yourself, and some people enjoy themselves not just by succeeding but by succeeding with ease.  Whether they are confusing ease with panache or whether succeeding easily is panache is an entirely different discussion.But I'm just snobbish enough to think that giving people what they think they want isn't always whats best for them.  I don't think that Weapon Specialization as it existed in 1st edition was actually good for the game, even though it was highly popular and everyone (including me) used it extensively.  It's only afterwards looking back that I have the perspective to see that one of the nagging reasons I didn't enjoy the game as much as I could have was Weapon Specialization.  I would have never thought of it at the time, because weapon specialization was 'cool'.   Likewise, I don't think the PrC's as they exist in 3rd edition are actually good for the game.   I think for the most part, they give people a bellyache and alot of players become disenchanted with concept after abit of exposure to it.But I never for once imagined that they weren't popular.</blockquote>

Verification