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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9447554" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Occasionally. I find most IRL traditions actually do have real weight and value behind them, and are often much better-understood than the &quot;traditions&quot; of D&amp;D.It was originally a pagan ritual (hence tinsel and candles/lights), with the tree having various symbolic meanings. Immortality/life beyond death (because it is evergreen, despite the winter), sacred pillar, possible links to the World Tree, to Odin sacrificing himself to himself by hanging himself from said World Tree, etc.Other than the Cleric, those aren't the sorts of things I'm talking about. I'm talking about fireball being overpowered for its level because it's always been overpowered for its level because it was, originally, a literal grenade recast as a spell. I'm talking about Wizards being the most powerful class because of course if you're tapping the fundamental secrets of existence you're just flat better than everyone else. I'm talking, as noted above, Fighters getting shortchanged on skills because that was a thing 3e did and somehow it instantly became a tradition everyone (even folks critical of following tradition!) would just...follow along with.The community at large.You say there are plenty of other games. I literally cannot find people to play them.There is a difference between &quot;having an identity&quot; and &quot;no, we can't ever reconsider whether the Cleric should really be a Priest.&quot; There is a difference between &quot;having an identity&quot; and &quot;Dexterity is, was, and always will be the God Stat.&quot; Etc. These are &quot;traditions&quot; that genuinely hold back the game from delivering better on its stated design goals AND on the &quot;feel&quot; that people are so eager to chase. They genuinely prevent us from recapturing the special-ness, the &quot;making magic feel magical again,&quot; &quot;making magic items special,&quot; etc. Because somehow we have to make everything feel magical and yet not change anything.And, perhaps most importantly of all, there is a vast difference between &quot;having an identity&quot; and &quot;99.999% of settings are cookie-cutter copies of one another, especially the setting that WILL be enforced on everyone.&quot; Which, for now, remains Forgotten Realms, even with the pivot to Greyhawk (which I still don't know how Greyhawk actually differs from FR, thematically, other than being rather more blatantly grimdark.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9447554, member: 6790260"] Occasionally. I find most IRL traditions actually do have real weight and value behind them, and are often much better-understood than the "traditions" of D&D. It was originally a pagan ritual (hence tinsel and candles/lights), with the tree having various symbolic meanings. Immortality/life beyond death (because it is evergreen, despite the winter), sacred pillar, possible links to the World Tree, to Odin sacrificing himself to himself by hanging himself from said World Tree, etc. Other than the Cleric, those aren't the sorts of things I'm talking about. I'm talking about [I]fireball[/I] being overpowered for its level because it's always been overpowered for its level because it was, originally, [I]a literal grenade[/I] recast as a spell. I'm talking about Wizards being the most powerful class because of course if you're tapping the fundamental secrets of existence you're just flat better than everyone else. I'm talking, as noted above, Fighters getting shortchanged on skills because that was a thing 3e did and somehow it instantly became a tradition everyone (even folks critical of following tradition!) would just...follow along with. The community at large. You say there are plenty of other games. [I]I literally cannot find people to play them[/I]. There is a difference between "having an identity" and "no, we can't ever reconsider whether the Cleric should really be a Priest." There is a difference between "having an identity" and "Dexterity is, was, and always will be the God Stat." Etc. These are "traditions" that genuinely hold back the game from delivering better on its stated design goals AND on the "feel" that people are so eager to chase. They genuinely prevent us from recapturing the special-ness, the "making magic feel magical again," "making magic items special," etc. Because somehow we have to make everything feel magical and yet not change anything. And, perhaps most importantly of all, there is a [I]vast[/I] difference between "having an identity" and "99.999% of settings are cookie-cutter copies of one another, [I]especially[/I] the setting that WILL be enforced on everyone." Which, for now, remains Forgotten Realms, even with the pivot to Greyhawk (which I still don't know how Greyhawk [I]actually[/I] differs from FR, thematically, other than being rather more blatantly grimdark.) [/QUOTE]

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