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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5730087" data-attributes="member: 177">What part of &quot;seems to be&quot; fails to be different from &quot;is&quot;?&nbsp; Ah.&nbsp; In terms of game design philosophy, I don't feel there is such a thing as &quot;just about the math&quot; in an RPG.&nbsp; The math is a tool to support play, not the other way around.&nbsp; Some maths will work out for a given style, others won't.Then in essence I'm playing point-buy.&nbsp; Maybe with the serial numbers filed off, and some structure given to what I can pick up, but not exactly a new concept.However, not all the benefits/perks of the level-system are mechanical bits the character gets.&nbsp; There are two things of note that are due to the fact that character abilities are packaged:1) The GM has a better handle on the power level of the characters at a given time.&nbsp; This can be partially handled by structuring the point-buy, but the attempts I've seen at that get cumbersome really quickly.&nbsp; 2) The player gets... a package!&nbsp; I kid you not - psychologically getting a package of goodies is not the same as buying tidbits when you will.&nbsp; Some players will care about this, others won't, of course, but the effect is there.&nbsp; If the package is too small, you lose the effect.&nbsp; If the package is too big, you can't give out as many over the course of the life of the character.&nbsp; So, there's a balancing act here.&nbsp; I don't see how one can claim that there is objectively no reason for more than 10 packages over the course of the life of the character.&nbsp; As for what &quot;truths&quot; there are to the system once you've free-floated the abilities.&nbsp; Some folks will tell you that the d20 mechanic has some upper limits, beyond which it &quot;fails&quot;.&nbsp; I say, if folks are having fun at those levels, then the system hasn't failed.&nbsp; Maybe you don't like it, but others do - that is a style thing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5730087, member: 177"] What part of "seems to be" fails to be different from "is"? Ah. In terms of game design philosophy, I don't feel there is such a thing as "just about the math" in an RPG. The math is a tool to support play, not the other way around. Some maths will work out for a given style, others won't. Then in essence I'm playing point-buy. Maybe with the serial numbers filed off, and some structure given to what I can pick up, but not exactly a new concept. However, not all the benefits/perks of the level-system are mechanical bits the character gets. There are two things of note that are due to the fact that character abilities are packaged: 1) The GM has a better handle on the power level of the characters at a given time. This can be partially handled by structuring the point-buy, but the attempts I've seen at that get cumbersome really quickly. 2) The player gets... a package! I kid you not - psychologically getting a package of goodies is not the same as buying tidbits when you will. Some players will care about this, others won't, of course, but the effect is there. If the package is too small, you lose the effect. If the package is too big, you can't give out as many over the course of the life of the character. So, there's a balancing act here. I don't see how one can claim that there is objectively no reason for more than 10 packages over the course of the life of the character. As for what "truths" there are to the system once you've free-floated the abilities. Some folks will tell you that the d20 mechanic has some upper limits, beyond which it "fails". I say, if folks are having fun at those levels, then the system hasn't failed. Maybe you don't like it, but others do - that is a style thing. [/QUOTE]

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