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Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 8518024" data-attributes="member: 19270">The thread isn't about other classes.Getting off topic [spoiler] I do make my game more challenging for martial types because my monsters have old-school AD&D resistances. Some can only be harmed by silver, or cold iron, or adamantine, or weapons made of celestial steel, and even a +1 weapon may not overcome these resistances. It makes monsters more a puzzle to be solved than a big bag of hit points, and if you don't have the right material and knowledge, you'll need to come up with something more constructive than the usual "we all whack it till it's dead."For example, the AD&D Iron Golem was immune to pretty much all magic and only the most powerful magic weapons. One such encounter many years ago, a wizard player used a Pit spell (digs a pit) under it, buying the party time to flee. In another game (not mine), a wizard used an illusion of a bridge with a fly spell to lure such a golem to chase him (and fall off a cliff). I'm waaaaaay off topic, but stylistically, most D&D monsters are set up not to be solved but rather to be beaten to a pulp.To use a Gygax 1975 letter quote: Frankly, the reason I enjoy playing in Dave Arneson's campaign is that I do not know his treatments of monsters and suchlike, so I must keep thinking and reasoning in order to "survive".[/spoiler]Ok, now we're getting into silly-talk. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />Other than my hatred of guidance spam, I'm okay with the idea of cantrips. They've been around since 1982, albeit frivolous like making someone belch. I worry the thread has gotten off-topic into yet another "I run my game right and you run your game wrong" discussion. However, I am cautioned by a Gygax interview (Dragonsfoot forum 2005):[spoiler]Q: A good heuristic for a DM is: Before breaking a rule, try to understand the reasons why that rule was made in the first place. If you understand the “why” of the rule, you can break it in an informed, knowledgeable way. <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=";)" />Gary: Heh… As if that usually were the case. for every able GM running a game there are probably 99 others who are less than that, and gaining a real understanding of the overall workings of an RPG isn’t an easy thing unless one has sat down and designed one…or made a hash of a revision.The number of crashed RPG groups from ill-advised “improvements” to the game system is likely staggering....[/spoiler]And reference to my previous spoiler's 1975 letter in which he's saucily addressing criticisms on the rules he's proposed:[spoiler]My answer is, and has always been, if you don't like the way I do it, change the bloody rules to suit yourself and your players. DandD enthusiasts are far too individualistic and imaginative a bunch to be in agreement, and I certainly refuse to play god for them -- except as a referee in my own campaign where they jolly well better toe the mark. Let us consider the magic-user question.Wherein he explained why magic users only get 1 spell per day in OD&D. It was the simplest solution because spells were too powerful to be unlimited, and a point system was too clunky.[/spoiler]That's a threshold question for any particular setting. Dr. Strange weaves magical portals all day everywhere he goes whereas Dragonlance's Raistlin gets exhausted and begins to spit up blood after casting a handful of spells (but his love of magic is so strong he considers his health a small price to pay).That's where I'm headed: a setting where magic isn't something that can be spammed all day and night. I am exploring a fair game mechanic from those who have tried it, and I'll also consider simply working with my gamers for a role-play, not a mechanical, solution.</blockquote>

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