Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 9259486" data-attributes="member: 42040">When there are any Knowledge skills on a character sheet, that is how you solve the problem. If you don't use the skills on the sheet, then you might as well not have them. And you completely erase the need to take them in the future. Either the rules are important or they're not. Except there are very few of those spells in the game, fewer available at low level, and fewer still that are actually prepared. More than likely you don't have access to anything that can have an effect. Maybe you have Grease, Web, or Fog Cloud - but in those cases you're also messing over the party too. And they're probably going to fail anyway.But can you hit the AC? Can you get past the DR with a non-magical weapon? Can you do anything? In my case of playing Numenera, no you couldn't. The DRs were so high that unless you were a warrior, you had no hope to do anything.Being told to sit down and shut up at the local pub. The preliminary activities you mentioned would likely ruin the entire operation and blow all the cover. The barbarian would get discovered and it would be all for not. Yeah. You can go that way. So then you can completely shut out the rogue. Or the paladin. Take your pick - it's a solo game at that point.The example I gave was actually inspired from a medic I played in Traveler. If you aren't maxxed out in social skills, you had better let the maxxed out social guy do it, or the mission will fail. It's better to just shut up. The moment you bust out the dice for roleplaying, it becomes a win/lose game. The second you put skill points into "persuade" it becomes a quantifiable metric the same as an attack bonus is.We either use the rules, or we don't. And if you're suggesting we don't use the rules, then you are with me in admitting that there are serious flaws with how these games are designed.There's "star of the scene" and "my character is completely pointless for a big chunk of the game." The most popular RPGs on the market are designed so as to make characters pointless for hours each session. I think it's a bad return on investment. I think games can be made better, especially when we look at how the mainline RPGs haven't really changed their core design since the 1970s/80s. And - yeah - some people are saying "obviously people love D&D - it's so popular." That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve the game experience for our players.</blockquote>

Verification