NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hong" data-source="post: 486705" data-attributes="member: 537">Are they? Point me to where it says in black and white that every character MUST be combat-effective. You are confusing common D&D practice with what's actually written in the rules.Non sequitur.Who cares how many players use 3d6 (or, equivalently, use 15-point buy)? You're not playing in my game, and I'm not playing in yours. The only thing that matters to you is what YOU use.Perhaps then you should rethink your policy of scrapping them. If you don't scrap them, then what the heck are you talking about?Eh. Play any game for long enough and you'll get an eye of what constitutes "effectiveness" within that system (which may or may not involve combat). It's not exactly hard to figure out that a GURPS character with DX 9, IQ 15 and 20 points in Diplomacy is going to be less combat-effective than someone with DX 14 and 20 points in Broadsword. On the other hand, the former character is probably going to be much MORE effective when it comes to courtly intrigue. Which of these has greater relevance for a given campaign (basically, who gets bored first) is dependent entirely on what direction that campaign takes.3E is a combat-oriented ruleset, but that on its own does not mandate combat-oriented play.But may focus on other things instead, which leaves the underlying problem intact, only shifting the labels around.Who gives a frick about "spirit"?So?Then make up an atypical D&D party.Since when has d20 CoC been equivalent to D&D?Any given campaign is going to feature heavier emphasis on some aspects of gaming than others, whether it's combat, diplomacy, or growing magic mushrooms in the dark. A character that isn't particularly good at the chosen focus of the campaign is by definition ineffective, and one that's very good is overpowered. A brutish barbarian in an intrigue-heavy campaign is just as out of place as a foppish courtier in a dungeon crawl. The issue is how much rope the rules give players to hang themselves with, by creating such out-of-place characters.</blockquote>

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