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Hot Take: Uncertainty Makes D&D Better
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<blockquote data-quote="DMZ2112" data-source="post: 8922256" data-attributes="member: 78752"><p>To put a little more perspective on this beyond "old vs. young," character survivability has leapt upward in every edition since OD&D, and the curve has gone off the charts since 2000.</p><p></p><p>When it's unlikely that your character will survive 3rd level, a more experimental attitude toward playing a concept you may not be in love with is more palatable. Players in D&D5 build characters with the <em>expectation</em> that they will see at least 11th level. That's a long time to be stuck playing the barbarian you didn't intend to roll.</p><p></p><p>But to be fair, we were already doing this back in the '80s. My very first character was a magic-user with a 9 INT because I was bound and determined to play a wizard, ability scores be damned. I still play him when I get the chance! By the time AD&D2 came out in 1989, "throw out your scores if they won't let you be the race and class you want" was SOP. By D&D3, the books had removed all reference to rolling stats before you'd chosen your race and class.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Preaching to the choir, here. One of the recent playtest packets for oneD&D had an ability that scaled on ability score rather than bonus, and while my initial reaction was, "Hey, cool!" the feedback I actually gave was, "Did you crazy bastards playtest this yet? Because this isn't how the game works anymore, nor has it worked this way in a quarter century."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DMZ2112, post: 8922256, member: 78752"] To put a little more perspective on this beyond "old vs. young," character survivability has leapt upward in every edition since OD&D, and the curve has gone off the charts since 2000. When it's unlikely that your character will survive 3rd level, a more experimental attitude toward playing a concept you may not be in love with is more palatable. Players in D&D5 build characters with the [I]expectation[/I] that they will see at least 11th level. That's a long time to be stuck playing the barbarian you didn't intend to roll. But to be fair, we were already doing this back in the '80s. My very first character was a magic-user with a 9 INT because I was bound and determined to play a wizard, ability scores be damned. I still play him when I get the chance! By the time AD&D2 came out in 1989, "throw out your scores if they won't let you be the race and class you want" was SOP. By D&D3, the books had removed all reference to rolling stats before you'd chosen your race and class. Preaching to the choir, here. One of the recent playtest packets for oneD&D had an ability that scaled on ability score rather than bonus, and while my initial reaction was, "Hey, cool!" the feedback I actually gave was, "Did you crazy bastards playtest this yet? Because this isn't how the game works anymore, nor has it worked this way in a quarter century." [/QUOTE]
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