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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4476119" data-attributes="member: 2067">The best RP mechanics reward in-character behavior.A good example of this, IMO, is the 4e Paladin. All 4e Paladins are encouraged to be brave melee machines, courageously confronting the powerful enemy and taking the lead for their team. This happens because of mechanics: the Challenge mandates that the paladin get in there and mix it up with an enemy, and encourages that enemy to be the biggest damage-dealer around (because the Paladin can take it a bit better than most other classes while preventing it from going to other characters). This is the ideal of flavor-entwined-mechanics. A lousy example of this, IMO, is the 4e rogue. All 4e rogues are encouraged to be leaping, bounding ninjae of sneaky doom. This happens because of mechanics: the rogue gets the highest benefit from a Dex, Str, and Cha-based build. Unfortunately, this  means that one of D&D's (and general fantasy's) most time-honored archetypes, the "Clever Thief," is entirely neglected. There is no incentive to build a rogue with a high Int as a primary or secondary motive, and making off with gold and goods takes a tremendous back seat to jumping around and stabbing things. This is where mechanics actively gets in the way of the kind of flavor that a player is likely to want.Sure, I can play a "brave knight" without the Paladin feature, but the Paladin feature actively encourages it. Sure, I can play a "Clever Thief" without any abilities related to it, but the lack of support actively discourages it. As a potential fix for the latter's problem, an ability set that rewarded Int as a secondary score instead of Str, and rewarded it with abilities that revolve around taking things that belong to others (disarming, Warlord-style tactical abilities, gaining bonuses related to items, treasure, and the like) would be a pretty keen addition.</blockquote>

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