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<blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5775848" data-attributes="member: 54877">3E has built in pacing tendencies, too. They are just different ones, and somewhat of an accident instead of deliberate, if I remember designer comments at the time correctly (not a sure thing <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&nbsp; &nbsp; :p"&nbsp; data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />). For that matter, original D&amp;D had purposeful pacing, but it was so ad hoc, and then so pulled different ways by various AD&amp;D options and playstyles, that it wasn't readily apparent, and could easily go off the rails at any time.&nbsp;In any case, I think its pretty tough to modify that pacing with options while sort of hiding it by sprinkling it through the system. Pretty much the only way I see is to have spots in the core where you plug in pacing options, swapping them out as you want. That is, you can't have healing surges just sitting there and some people ignore them. You have a place where people specify how combat healing is driven, and depending on what option you pick, you use surges or cleric magic or time or just suffer. Those all have pacing effects, of course. &nbsp;I do think that the amount of hit points has to be seriously cut down, and the base system changed to accommodate it, because modular options can work around pacing by adding or removing pieces, but it can't deal with one game having tough monsters with 40 hit points getting hit with swords for 1d8+3, and another option having the same monster with 300 hit points and getting hit for 3d10+6. The hit points and weapon damages themselves are too basic to easily scale like that. Pick a relatively modest middle ground for the base stuff, surround it with a mathematically sound base system, and then options at least become possible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crazy Jerome, post: 5775848, member: 54877"] 3E has built in pacing tendencies, too. They are just different ones, and somewhat of an accident instead of deliberate, if I remember designer comments at the time correctly (not a sure thing :p). For that matter, original D&D had purposeful pacing, but it was so ad hoc, and then so pulled different ways by various AD&D options and playstyles, that it wasn't readily apparent, and could easily go off the rails at any time. In any case, I think its pretty tough to modify that pacing with options while sort of hiding it by sprinkling it through the system. Pretty much the only way I see is to have spots in the core where you plug in pacing options, swapping them out as you want. That is, you can't have healing surges just sitting there and some people ignore them. You have a place where people specify how combat healing is driven, and depending on what option you pick, you use surges or cleric magic or time or just suffer. Those all have pacing effects, of course. I do think that the amount of hit points has to be seriously cut down, and the base system changed to accommodate it, because modular options can work around pacing by adding or removing pieces, but it can't deal with one game having tough monsters with 40 hit points getting hit with swords for 1d8+3, and another option having the same monster with 300 hit points and getting hit for 3d10+6. The hit points and weapon damages themselves are too basic to easily scale like that. Pick a relatively modest middle ground for the base stuff, surround it with a mathematically sound base system, and then options at least become possible. [/QUOTE]

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