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<blockquote data-quote="Scott Christian" data-source="post: 8113054" data-attributes="member: 6901101">I would reiterate what I said earlier, simply because the magic item to me is null and void, but the against type argument is valid.Patterns are built based on character optimization. Some are great optimizations. Some are good. And some are poor. So when a player chooses to not follow the pattern, and take the poor route, they feel (and rightfully so) that their character is unique. That feeling, I believe, is what is being referred to. But the other thing it does is allow for a player to explore a class's non-standard abilities and see how they go together. I gave the example of my wood elf barbarian. Terrible damage compared to any good or great barbarian. Rage was almost ineffectual, except for half damage. My HP weren't as good either. But, my speed. That was great. At sixth or seventh level I could move 120' per round and still use a standard action. Was the trade off worth it? For me, yes. But if everyone gets to pick and choose whatever they want, then all it does is let me play that same character without the negatives. So now the pattern is eliminated, and my character which was unique (at least I had never seen a wood elf barbarian like that), is no longer unique.This ability to live with the negatives in order to explore potential positives is the summation. I get both sides, and to discount one side seems willfully ignorant. We all have seen patterns. We all know the right combos. We all, if we teach new players, will &quot;lend a hand&quot; to help them make a character that isn't &quot;worthless&quot; compared to other players with experience. So to discount players that like exploring those negatives, and dismissing their fears that uniqueness will vanish seems the same as dismissing their playstyle. At least in my eyes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scott Christian, post: 8113054, member: 6901101"] I would reiterate what I said earlier, simply because the magic item to me is null and void, but the against type argument is valid. Patterns are built based on character optimization. Some are great optimizations. Some are good. And some are poor. So when a player chooses to not follow the pattern, and take the poor route, they feel (and rightfully so) that their character is unique. That feeling, I believe, is what is being referred to. But the other thing it does is allow for a player to explore a class's non-standard abilities and see how they go together. I gave the example of my wood elf barbarian. Terrible damage compared to any good or great barbarian. Rage was almost ineffectual, except for half damage. My HP weren't as good either. But, my speed. That was great. At sixth or seventh level I could move 120' per round and still use a standard action. Was the trade off worth it? For me, yes. But if everyone gets to pick and choose whatever they want, then all it does is let me play that same character without the negatives. So now the pattern is eliminated, and my character which was unique (at least I had never seen a wood elf barbarian like that), is no longer unique. This ability to live with the negatives in order to explore potential positives is the summation. I get both sides, and to discount one side seems willfully ignorant. We all have seen patterns. We all know the right combos. We all, if we teach new players, will "lend a hand" to help them make a character that isn't "worthless" compared to other players with experience. So to discount players that like exploring those negatives, and dismissing their fears that uniqueness will vanish seems the same as dismissing their playstyle. At least in my eyes. [/QUOTE]

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