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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 4287440" data-attributes="member: 32164">That's an interesting point. It's almost like the designers made a deliberate attempt to turn character building into a cooperative exercise, so that it could be done as part of the game.For example, in earlier editions, character building was mostly something that was done away from the table and (beyond making sure all the bases are covered) independently of the other people in the group. As a DM, I often had people just make characters and bring them to the first game.With 4th Edition, it looks like we're into a game where building a party can be a group activity involving all the players. They meet, talk about what they want to play, and then pick their feats, powers and skills to complement one another. In other words, they've turned even character building into an activity that the whole group can enjoy and do together.Now, that does mean that they've, to an extent, surrendered the &quot;solo activity&quot; that 3e made available to the character-optimization types. In 4th Edition, it seems that the &quot;away from the table&quot; hobby for a solo actor is intended to be more the sorts of things that DMs do, like world-building, monster design, and so forth.They've often said that the way to grow the hobby is to encourage more people to take up the reins of the Dungeon Master. Could this all be part of some nefarious scheme to encourage more people to DM by making &quot;DMing activities&quot; the predominant source of &quot;away from the table fun&quot; in the game? I wouldn't be surprised if WotC was that clever. Mearls, for one, is certainly that evil.It also has the side effect of letting character building become &quot;at the table&quot; fun. Which would be one more good reason for putting magic items in the Player's Handbook.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 4287440, member: 32164"] That's an interesting point. It's almost like the designers made a deliberate attempt to turn character building into a cooperative exercise, [i]so that it could be done as part of the game.[/i] For example, in earlier editions, character building was mostly something that was done away from the table and (beyond making sure all the bases are covered) independently of the other people in the group. As a DM, I often had people just make characters and bring them to the first game. With 4th Edition, it looks like we're into a game where building a party can be a group activity involving all the players. They meet, talk about what they want to play, and then pick their feats, powers and skills to complement one another. In other words, they've turned even character building into an activity that the whole group can enjoy and do [i]together[/i]. Now, that does mean that they've, to an extent, surrendered the "solo activity" that 3e made available to the character-optimization types. In 4th Edition, it seems that the "away from the table" hobby for a solo actor is intended to be more the sorts of things that DMs do, like world-building, monster design, and so forth. They've often said that the way to grow the hobby is to encourage more people to take up the reins of the Dungeon Master. Could this all be part of some nefarious scheme to encourage more people to DM by making "DMing activities" the predominant source of "away from the table fun" in the game? I wouldn't be surprised if WotC was that clever. Mearls, for one, is certainly that evil. It also has the side effect of letting character building become "at the table" fun. Which would be one more good reason for putting magic items in the [i]Player's Handbook.[/i] [/QUOTE]

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