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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6125529" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>The meaning depends on the table. Design is local. Maybe IMC there's a group of enslaved sea elves who are forced into gladiatorial combat against their kith and kin, made to fight magical battles for the amusement of the spectators above, and given the very weapons used against the wildlife of their world to beat each other to death with when their magic runs out. </p><p></p><p>Maybe at my table, there's just one guy who wants to play an elf wizard who used to be a gladiator, but won his freedom. </p><p></p><p>The game and the designers don't need to dictate the way my table plays, and by making the pieces modular, I can add what's right for me without having to add everything that's wrong. Gladiators in my world are enslaved sea-elf wizards who fight with fishing implements. Do I need to redesign a whole class, or can I just get a specialty I can add onto them?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Why force the false choice? What's the up-side? You typically gain very little from one-true-wayism in a game as broad as D&D, and elegance is only a tool, not an end in and of itself. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Being a marksman and being a slayer aren't mutually exclusive, though. "I'm a warrior who kills monsters with my arrows!" Similarly reaper and sharpshooter: "My strength is such that I can pull this heavy bowstring and launch arrows the size of small ballisatae bolts!"</p><p></p><p>I buy that the specialties need a better grounding in the fiction to make this distinction more clear and meaningful, and it sounds a bit like the super-feats we're getting might cover that. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>All lemonade is local. Each of these questions will be answered by the individuals who have cause to ask them as they create their characters. The game doesn't need to lay down the law about it.</p><p></p><p>For the vampire specifically, I understood it as "My people are vampires" (Vryloka), "I'm a bit vampiric" (feats) and "I've decided to focus on my vampire abilities" (class), but the flexibility of these things is a great asset.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is just getting hung up on terminology, here. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> You define these things at your own table. Maybe my games have a different meaning for the word "Gladiator" (Entraped magical sea-elf!) than, say, Dark Sun, which is going to have a different meaning for the word than a game based on ancient Rome. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Whenever you describe someone in the fluff at your table as a gladiator, it should mean something in the story of the game, and the mechanics of the character should line up with that story. </p><p></p><p>If, on his character sheet, it says "Ranger," and he was an enslaved ranger who fights in an arena, and maybe has a "Gladiator Training" background...what's the problem?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 6125529, member: 2067"] The meaning depends on the table. Design is local. Maybe IMC there's a group of enslaved sea elves who are forced into gladiatorial combat against their kith and kin, made to fight magical battles for the amusement of the spectators above, and given the very weapons used against the wildlife of their world to beat each other to death with when their magic runs out. Maybe at my table, there's just one guy who wants to play an elf wizard who used to be a gladiator, but won his freedom. The game and the designers don't need to dictate the way my table plays, and by making the pieces modular, I can add what's right for me without having to add everything that's wrong. Gladiators in my world are enslaved sea-elf wizards who fight with fishing implements. Do I need to redesign a whole class, or can I just get a specialty I can add onto them? Why force the false choice? What's the up-side? You typically gain very little from one-true-wayism in a game as broad as D&D, and elegance is only a tool, not an end in and of itself. Being a marksman and being a slayer aren't mutually exclusive, though. "I'm a warrior who kills monsters with my arrows!" Similarly reaper and sharpshooter: "My strength is such that I can pull this heavy bowstring and launch arrows the size of small ballisatae bolts!" I buy that the specialties need a better grounding in the fiction to make this distinction more clear and meaningful, and it sounds a bit like the super-feats we're getting might cover that. All lemonade is local. Each of these questions will be answered by the individuals who have cause to ask them as they create their characters. The game doesn't need to lay down the law about it. For the vampire specifically, I understood it as "My people are vampires" (Vryloka), "I'm a bit vampiric" (feats) and "I've decided to focus on my vampire abilities" (class), but the flexibility of these things is a great asset. This is just getting hung up on terminology, here. ;) You define these things at your own table. Maybe my games have a different meaning for the word "Gladiator" (Entraped magical sea-elf!) than, say, Dark Sun, which is going to have a different meaning for the word than a game based on ancient Rome. Whenever you describe someone in the fluff at your table as a gladiator, it should mean something in the story of the game, and the mechanics of the character should line up with that story. If, on his character sheet, it says "Ranger," and he was an enslaved ranger who fights in an arena, and maybe has a "Gladiator Training" background...what's the problem? [/QUOTE]
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