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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Izerath" data-source="post: 1931278" data-attributes="member: 6743">A few tidbits.....I agree with the first part of your statement, and the second, while redundant, is a well made point regardless. Put an apple with a worm in it next to a rotten apple and most will take the one with the worm.Ironically, if you take a good hard look at many of the SPFs (Spells, Prestige classes and Feats) that are getting pumped out in WotC products, they are seriously broken, and while perhaps play-tested, in reality WotC has as little time as the next publisher to test all this stuff. Sure, maybe they have bigger volunteer bases for playtesting, but does that make it better? Do they really test the impact each feat will have on the core rules? I doubt it. They do their best, but I would wager that it's hardly as thorough as most believe.As an example, IMO, much of the "Complete" series crunch destroys the game balance that the core books bring to the table. Tacit example: The SUDDEN metamagic feats in Complete Arcane. Your BBEG is gonna take a big hit on the chin when that 5th level Wizard casts a SUDDEN MAXIMIZED fireball, which quick-boosts wizard's effective caster level by 4 by doling out the average damage for a 9th level fireball. Not to mention that the wizard should normally be 11th level to even try this under normal circumstances. Is once a day enough? Sure - just enough that you better think about raising the CR of your BBEG if you want the encounter challenging enoug to be the crescendo of the adventure and not a big ol' flop.SPFs have become an excuse for "breaking" the rules (more the P&Fs). Now, I mean this not in the sense that using them is wrong - do what is fun for your group - but in the sense that it definitely can make the game mechanically unfair if overly abused. And we all know that min-maxing is SO rare.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> As for your comments on why WotC gets the lionshare of "acceptance?"Mindshare, marketshare and market presence. They aren't owned by Hasbro without complying with those basic marketing principles. There are too many Hasbro suits lingering around the accounting books for that type of business ignorance to fester.Until another publisher can break ground in the mindshare category for solid mechanics, the other pieces won't get maximized.For FUN:Think about the RPG market in medieval terms. WotC is King.WotC holds a tournament (OGL) where lords (3rd party Pubs) joust for rulership of a vassal of the King's lands (the RPG market)While the Lords squabble for the vassal, the king gets fat and happy with noone to contest his rule over the rest of the kingdom.Eventually, the Lords kill each other off until there are only a few strong ones left.Then, the King starts the tournament over by releasing 4th edition.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /></blockquote>

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