Hybrid Characters: 272 Combinations?

[gribble]

I'm not sure why it matters.

Well, I was originally posting because I thought I may have been wrong, and knew that a bunch of guys on here are really good at stats. I was curious why my number was different.

But it appears my answer was correct and WotC just suck at Maths. Might explain why the math in 4e is a bit wonky. Maybe WotC should hire a stats master to crunch the numbers instead of just releasing products, followed by errata (stealth or otherwise)?

 

[Nikosandros]

I'm not sure why it matters. Obviously they're thinking 17 x 16 = 272; even though that's not accurate, why on earth should anyone care? Is 272 possible combinations somehow exciting where 136 is not?

Are you kidding? 272 possible combinations would provide a somewhat adequate breadth of choice, but with only 136 I just don't why they even bothered with the idea in the first place...

 

[Scribble]

math threads make scribble brain hurt.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

Are you kidding? 272 possible combinations would provide a somewhat adequate breadth of choice, but with only 136 I just don't why they even bothered with the idea in the first place...

Exactly, d00d. And, and, and...getting the right answer to a math question would be soooo uncool.

Yeesh.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

My point, Flatus, is not that "getting maths right doesn't matter", but that "getting this figure exactly right doesn't matter". It's what they used to call "puff" in the advertising business - a claim which looks good but does not actually represent anything substantive. It's harmless - certainly no-one's game will be damaged by the fact that there are half as many options as Wizards claimed, given that 136 is itself a ludicrously large number for the sort of thing we're talking about.

You might as well quibble and say "well no there aren't really 136 options either because no-one will play some of them". It doesn't matter - the number isn't supposed to be an informative datum, it's intended to point out that there are "lots and lots of options here".