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I'm *GASP* Actually Going to Be Playing 5e in a Few Weeks -- What are the Character Creation Pitfalls to Avoid?
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<blockquote data-quote="The_Furious_Puffin" data-source="post: 6885609" data-attributes="member: 11831"><p>Wasn't automatically gaining spells on leveling up an optional rule in the AD&D DMG for specialist wizards? I could be wrong though, it's literally been a decade and a half(?). </p><p></p><p>If it's optional, that reinforces my point about the pendulum swinging towards player empowerment for spellcasters. Googling suggests it was, but I no-longer own the the books so I cannot check. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Edit: Someone has posted the rule in forums</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Letting the player pick it is one option, and if they pick it, they might not get it! They need to roll to larn the spell!</p><p>The difference between this and 5E is very stark. The empowerment balance is much more toward the DM in 2nd. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yeah, but the GM has explicitly fairly total control over what you can buy, especially as ye olde magical shoppe was not part of the setting. So you don't have that same menu effect as 3.5. There is no expectation that he allows players to buy stuff or pick anything so spell access is 100% with the DM. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>These two are interesting, and worth further discussion. I think that the relaxing of spell-casting restrictions has helped those classes a lot. </p><p></p><p>Druid wild shape has swung towards player empower - the options of shapeshift are more constrained than the options for wildshape - mostly because of the hit dice limit. Additionally, the cast time has been removed in the transition to wildshape. This has expanded the menu of options and the utility of those for druids at a given level. Additionally, druids had that exciting level cap which impacts high level play - the point in play in which the disparities between empowerment levels because much more significant. I don't remember shapeshift being as relevant as it is in 5e. </p><p></p><p>Clerics are also interesting. I remember there was an issue with cleric spell selection in AD&D that boxed you into being a heal bot. Moving that was a stated design goal of 3.5, but 5e doesn't but the cleric 'back in the box.' As you point out, the spellcasting regime is much more liberalised, and attempts have been made to give people more 'self sustain.' To me this suggests a swing towards player empowerment from 2nd, as we've tried to remove the soft constraints on the Cleric's spell suggestion. </p><p></p><p>Bottom line, I think we can see overall that the pendulum empowers players of spellcasters much more than players of non-spellcasting classes. </p><p></p><p>I'm not saying the pendulum has not swung, just that players of spell casting classes are significantly more empowered than players of non spellcasting classes in 5E. I also think this is really bad.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The_Furious_Puffin, post: 6885609, member: 11831"] Wasn't automatically gaining spells on leveling up an optional rule in the AD&D DMG for specialist wizards? I could be wrong though, it's literally been a decade and a half(?). If it's optional, that reinforces my point about the pendulum swinging towards player empowerment for spellcasters. Googling suggests it was, but I no-longer own the the books so I cannot check. Edit: Someone has posted the rule in forums Letting the player pick it is one option, and if they pick it, they might not get it! They need to roll to larn the spell! The difference between this and 5E is very stark. The empowerment balance is much more toward the DM in 2nd. Yeah, but the GM has explicitly fairly total control over what you can buy, especially as ye olde magical shoppe was not part of the setting. So you don't have that same menu effect as 3.5. There is no expectation that he allows players to buy stuff or pick anything so spell access is 100% with the DM. These two are interesting, and worth further discussion. I think that the relaxing of spell-casting restrictions has helped those classes a lot. Druid wild shape has swung towards player empower - the options of shapeshift are more constrained than the options for wildshape - mostly because of the hit dice limit. Additionally, the cast time has been removed in the transition to wildshape. This has expanded the menu of options and the utility of those for druids at a given level. Additionally, druids had that exciting level cap which impacts high level play - the point in play in which the disparities between empowerment levels because much more significant. I don't remember shapeshift being as relevant as it is in 5e. Clerics are also interesting. I remember there was an issue with cleric spell selection in AD&D that boxed you into being a heal bot. Moving that was a stated design goal of 3.5, but 5e doesn't but the cleric 'back in the box.' As you point out, the spellcasting regime is much more liberalised, and attempts have been made to give people more 'self sustain.' To me this suggests a swing towards player empowerment from 2nd, as we've tried to remove the soft constraints on the Cleric's spell suggestion. Bottom line, I think we can see overall that the pendulum empowers players of spellcasters much more than players of non-spellcasting classes. I'm not saying the pendulum has not swung, just that players of spell casting classes are significantly more empowered than players of non spellcasting classes in 5E. I also think this is really bad. [/QUOTE]
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I'm *GASP* Actually Going to Be Playing 5e in a Few Weeks -- What are the Character Creation Pitfalls to Avoid?
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