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I Am For The Darkmaster, Actually
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8960486" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>Okay.</p><p></p><p>We appear to be discussing the same thing insofar that "either you have a number of rages or you don't", or "either you can spend d8's on bardic inspirations or you can't", or "either you can climb at full speed or you can't".</p><p></p><p>What I dislike isn't "either you're a warrior and you can do warrior-y things, or you're not and then you can't".</p><p></p><p>What I dislike is when the rules does not allow for DM intervention, except the always underhanded "per rule zero you can always ignore all rules".</p><p></p><p>I don't want to be forced into appearing arbitrary by overriding or shutting down certain rules but not others. I want game creators to always take the needs of the DM and the story and the excitement into account, and never design any feature that takes away that control from the DM. Except perhaps a level 20 capstone ability, since at that level everybody throws up their hands in the air, and simply accepts that now its all gonzo for a mercifully brief time until the next campaign starts...</p><p></p><p>I can absolutely see how you end up designing a feat that says "you can't be surprised" in the sense that all the other implementations became complicated or unwieldy, and you realized that there just isn't any numeric or balance-related benefit by making it more complicated than it has to be.</p><p></p><p>But then you absolutely must write DM fiat into the feat:</p><p></p><p>You cannot be surprised <strong>under normal circumstances.</strong> (Allowing a DM to declare exceptional circumstances)</p><p></p><p>Whenever <strong>asked to make a roll</strong> to determine whether you succeed in not being surprised, you always succeed (Allowing the DM to determine you don't get a roll since the ambush was extraordinarily sneaky)</p><p></p><p>You gain<strong> a +20 bonus</strong> to Perception rolls to avoid being surprised. (Allowing the DM to set the DC so high the remains some risk of failure).</p><p></p><p>All these three alternatives are MUCH MUCH BETTER than the PHB language, which inexplicably and very shortsightedly takes the right to remove DM agency and omnipotence, potentially ruining lots of very cool situations.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 8960486, member: 12731"] Okay. We appear to be discussing the same thing insofar that "either you have a number of rages or you don't", or "either you can spend d8's on bardic inspirations or you can't", or "either you can climb at full speed or you can't". What I dislike isn't "either you're a warrior and you can do warrior-y things, or you're not and then you can't". What I dislike is when the rules does not allow for DM intervention, except the always underhanded "per rule zero you can always ignore all rules". I don't want to be forced into appearing arbitrary by overriding or shutting down certain rules but not others. I want game creators to always take the needs of the DM and the story and the excitement into account, and never design any feature that takes away that control from the DM. Except perhaps a level 20 capstone ability, since at that level everybody throws up their hands in the air, and simply accepts that now its all gonzo for a mercifully brief time until the next campaign starts... I can absolutely see how you end up designing a feat that says "you can't be surprised" in the sense that all the other implementations became complicated or unwieldy, and you realized that there just isn't any numeric or balance-related benefit by making it more complicated than it has to be. But then you absolutely must write DM fiat into the feat: You cannot be surprised [B]under normal circumstances.[/B] (Allowing a DM to declare exceptional circumstances) Whenever [B]asked to make a roll[/B] to determine whether you succeed in not being surprised, you always succeed (Allowing the DM to determine you don't get a roll since the ambush was extraordinarily sneaky) You gain[B] a +20 bonus[/B] to Perception rolls to avoid being surprised. (Allowing the DM to set the DC so high the remains some risk of failure). All these three alternatives are MUCH MUCH BETTER than the PHB language, which inexplicably and very shortsightedly takes the right to remove DM agency and omnipotence, potentially ruining lots of very cool situations. [/QUOTE]
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