Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (A Different Way to Slice the Pie)
Still discussing levels of complexity.
Still discussing levels of complexity.
Yeah I'm on the same wavelength as you.This is the first time I've seen the "complexity dial" explained in a better context.
That said, I don't see how this is different from now. A first level character doesn't need to know about damage reduction and stunning even right now. We could probably move teleport and some conditions a little higher up, but what else could be completely removed from low level play?
I love lower level play, but I love options, too. I really don't want to have to play highly "Heroic" characters just in order to grab someone. This line of thought gives me much more pause as to the future of 5e (for me, at least) than anything else mentioned yet.Monte Cook said:If we recognize that the game gets more complex the higher level you go, we can use that to our advantage... This way, someone who just wants a simple, faster-moving game can stick to low level, and someone who wants a broader, more complex game can play at higher levels.
I know he's not nailing anything down, but when these things are denied, I want an in-game explanation as to why that is. Why can't I grapple* at level 1? Building things so that monsters don't use them until level 8 is kinda meh to me, but it's more acceptable. Stopping the players from doing something that makes sense in-game (like grappling) because it's too complex? No thank you, and not ever. My preferences, though. As always, play what you likeMonte Cook said:Both the new player and the experienced player who just doesn't want to deal with a lot of rules can sit down, play a 1st-level character, and never even know that damage resistance (or teleportation, or scrying, or mind control, or grappling, or whatever concept you want to label as being unnecessary or overly cumbersome for low-level play) exists.
Monte said:In the end, with rules packed properly, we can allow game groups to decide how complex they want their game to be, rather than allowing some game designer to do it for them. I don't want to tell anyone how to play the game. I would prefer to provide ways—perhaps multiple ways—for you to tailor your game to be what you want.