Dumberest D&D tropes and combinations (any edition)

[Lord Mhoram]

The Lazy Warlord.

A dude whose only purpose in the party is to hit things with his sword and yell really loudly.

And that somehow makes the rogue hit harder, the fighter harder to kill, the mage more accurate with her magic and the Ranger able to fire arrows faster. =)

This makes me think of Captain America.

Fights things, shout out battle orders, and inspires.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't know about "dumberest." With the exception of flail snails and flumphs and a handful of other really bizarre elements, most of the things I think are dumb about D&D are exactly what makes it work for someone else.

That said, here's a handful of my least favorite D&Disms:

• Alignment. It makes no objective sense that I can see, and has been the cause of more interpretive arguments than possibly anything else in the game. It kinda works as a "team jersey" if that's how it's used (not that it usually is) but for the most part, the game would be significantly improved for me without it. Also note: while I don't necessarily think the Great Wheel is one of the "dumberest" ideas of D&D, it's so intimately tied to alignment, that it's extremely difficult if not impossible to justify it without alignment.
  
  
• Dungeons. I also can't wrap my head around the concept of the "dungeon." It's so clearly a gamist element that can't really be described in-game in a way that makes any sense. Not only that, I really dislike the paradigm of dungeoncrawling being the main activity that character engage in. How boring! How many fantasy novels (unless they're based on the D&D game itself) are there where dungeoncrawling is a main focus? Not many. There's a good reason for that. It's one of the "dumberest" ideas inherent in D&D.
  
  
• Adventurers. History is full of characters who defied social expectations and went out and made their mark on the world. But the idea of an entire adventuring "caste" of people who team up in small strike teams and handle all kinds of local and global threats, while being tolerated--much less accepted--by the populace at large makes no sense whatsoever.
  
  
• Divine vs. arcane magic. Completely a D&Dism, which has no relation to any other fantasy setting (that isn't directly influenced by D&D, that is) that I'm aware of. Plus, it's just silly. Perhaps I should just expand this to D&D magic as a whole, which very rarely has made any sense, or born any relationship to any other magic familiar from the source fiction that supposedly inspired the game.
  
  
• Color-coded dragons. Just... dumb.
  
  
• Leveling. In older editions of the game, leveling was something that was extremely slow, and tended to taper off if not essentially cap at a more reasonable place. It was a bandaid over one of the "dumberest" notions of D&D that was unfortunately inelegenatly ripped off in 3e and remained so from that point on. How in the world does the entire genre change as characters go up in level? This begs all kinds of questions about worldbuilding that are best not looked at too closely, because they don't make any sense without alot of really bad special pleading. If it's so easy to level up, relatively speaking, then there's no explanation for why there are any low-level threats still out there menacing the countryside.
  
  Unfortunately tied to this, especially as game balance and the CR system were introduced, is the idea that characters tend to find challenges appropriate for their level--regardless of their level. That's way too convenient to make any logical sense whatsoever.

Looking at that list, filled as it is with concepts that are core to D&D in many respects, begs the question: do I even like D&D at all? The answer is more complicatd than just yes or no, though. I love--and always have--the concept of D&D. I've never been happy with the execution of any version of it, all the way from the AD&D and BD&D books I first discovered in the early 80s until now. And once I had the confidence and clarity about my tastes to realize that I could change a lot of the basic assumptions of D&D, I've houseruled it so extensively that it's probably fair to call my games "not really D&D anymore."

That said, I've never really had a lot of interest in running other fantasy RPGs. I think starting on a D&D chassis and making custom modifications, like tuning a Honda Civic into a hot-rodding race machine is more my style than going to Fantasy Hero or Runequest or Warhammer FRPG or Savage Worlds or... or, well any other FRPG option.

 

[Yora]

Looking at that list, filled as it is with concepts that are core to D&D in many respects, begs the question: do I even like D&D at all?

It's like Star Wars:

Real Star Wars fans hate Star Wars!

There is so many wrong about it, but at its core, it's a damn good idea.

 

[khantroll]

Yora: What, like a red dragon dragon disciple...?

 

[Mallus]

But there is a certain charm to that sort of ridiculosity, Mallus, like modrons or flumpfs or ioun stones.

Oh, absolutely. I've been running AD&D lately and find I'm charmed by much of it. But dumb and charming aren't mutually-exclusive!

Like, one can hope, shardmind battleminds.

My problem with "shardmind battleminds" is one of nomenclature. Rename it a Psionic (or better, yet, Deep) Crystallax and it can proudly join with the Cifal, Tween, and Flumph in the Fiend Folio (or are some of them in the AD&D MMII?)

 

[Mallus]

Worldbuilding and backstory or GTFO.

Then a lot of D&D would have to GTFO, I'm afraid.

 

[steeldragons]

I can't believe noone mentioned yet: the Drizz't clone.

We actually did fight a "pink dragon" once in a "fairyland" demi-plane (this was years and years before anyone ever heard of a "Feywild"). Breath weapon ensnared and slowed you in a quickly solidifying cloud of cotton candy.

Not a trope, certainly, nor even (at the time) did we think it hokey. Didn't enjoy the d4 round to "eat your way out" of it and even less so the debilitating minuses to our "to-hits" from the "feeling sick to your stomach from eating so much cotton candy" for a few rounds after that.

Neither here nor there, just a memory that surfaced when I read about the "pink dragon" upthread. </off topic>

Back on topic...other tropes that grate my nerves:
1) The 'Part-Everythings"...you only have 2 (count 'em, TWO) halves to make a hole. "Quarters" shouldn't figure into the equation anywhere. Forget about your paternal grandfather's aunt's triste with a vampire...ugh.

"I'm half-demon/quarter-dragon/quarter grey elf...and I get all of the special abilities there of"...Just...my skin's crawling just typing it. brrr.

2) Vampire PCs...Werewolf PCs...Drow PCs..."Monster" PCs, in general (not just the Drizzt-clones). But I'm "good"...or have a soul...or have complete control over my dark cursed animal impulses....ugh.

3) As someone mentioned, the "We're all unique" party...or even half-the party. "I'm the only one of my kind who has done X [has a good alignment or came to the surface world or doesn't hate dwarves or even exists -See "part-everythings" above.]

It's totally normal that this dragonborn and this halfling and this half-ogre and this high elf and this orc with a half-giant girlfriend and her goblin valet are all just traipsing into the human farming village together. Why's everyone running? What do these guards want? Why won't the bartender serve me?!

Grates my aforementioned nerves.

By the same token, flip side, I enjoy a goodly round or limited run of "classic trope party"....You know the one I'm talking about..."Long-bearded wizard, elf with a bow, dwarf with an axe, halfling rogue and loner humanish rangeresque guy" sometimes throw in the "lovely healer cleric" in tow and/or "shining knight".

It's fun/nice to get back to the fantasy "roots" every once in a while, it's true.

But sometimes or if that's the only kind of character a particular player makes - "I'm an elf archer with sick shield-boarding skillz...just like Legolas. BUT...(wait for it)...I have black hair!" Yesssss, that's toooootally different.

"I'm a female fighter in a chainmail bikini completely scar free and beautiful...but it's +3 chainmail!"...magnetically draws the weapons to the three, distinct, armored parts, I suppose.

"Your druid has a wolf that follows her around and does everything she says without question? Really. You don't say?!"

It just gets tired after a while....As, I suppose, any trope does. That is one of the contributing factors of becoming a "trope", isn't it?

I don't want to poo-poo anyone's fun! Far from it! But TRY to be creative...at least a little.

You don't have to be totally 'gonzo' to not be a trope.
Please...for me. <bats puppy-dog eyes lovingly>

[EDIT] OO! Just remembered another one...
4) Non-human (or, at least, half-orc) Barbarians!

Sticks in my craw like nobody's business!

Yes, it's completely reasonable that your city-dwelling halfling should be/have access to barbarian-like abilities and skills. OH! He's from the outskirts of society, you say? Raised by a pride of saber-toothed cats, was he? Well then, makes total sense.

Grrr.[/EDIT]

--Steel -give me "Conans" or give me fighters- Dragons