GoodKingJayIII said:
I'm a little confused by this, the bolded part in particular. I'm only singling you out Mogg because you stated it overtly. But I get the impression that other people feel this way about the game as well.
May I ask why you want or need "stat quirks" to roleplay your character? I agree that stats can be a solid guide, but I've never felt the need to adhere slavishly to them. In 3rd edition I had a Sorcerer character I played in a few one-shots. His Charisma was 19, and he was a complete ass to everyone outside the adventuring group (even those inside too). I never felt like I had to play a dashing, charming spellcaster. I wanted to play a prick, but I also wanted to play a sorcerer. So I did.
I guess I don't feel that being mechanically effective and playing an interesting character are mutually exclusive.
Well for one thing, you are talking to a DM who actually came up with situations where it would have been useful to have certain professional skills on a regular basis, as a result, my players grew to pick professions as a part of their normal character creation process. Also, there are some things that on the page may not look like much, for instance, from 3e, Innuendo or Alchemy or in 3.5 ( I kid you not) forgery.
Sure many people were happy when those skills were folded into others, but while they were on the sheet, they inspired whole character concepts. Whether it is coincidence or not, I have not had a player have the urge to play an alchemist since alchemy, as a skill on its own, was taken off of the sheet. I know that easier character creation was a stated goal of the system, but what it also led to was a lesser attachment to the character. Its probably a necessary side-effect of the system,but it did leave me wanting. i also house-ruled that all characters got a "trait"( You know persuasive, athletic,etc.) feat for free after awhile to further encourage this kind of character development.
As for others who accuse me of being set on 3e from the get go, this is possibly true, i am awfully invested in it. But we gave it a shot. And we will be giving it a shot again as a side project once the guy who wants to DM it( I dont really want to.) feels he has a better handle on the system. And a year from now 4berron comes out we will definitely try again,if only because we are eberron nuts and any new fluff on eberron is manna from heaven( exaggerated.. perhaps a tad). And to be perfectly fair,taking a second shot at it is more justice than we ever did VtM or M&M. So at the very least the D&D name has had that effect, we are willing to try again.