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<blockquote data-quote="Ahrimon" data-source="post: 6582125" data-attributes="member: 12630"><p>Truthfully flavor doesn't have to come at the cost of effectiveness, but part of the weapons flavor is it's mechanical difference.</p><p></p><p>The bolded part is the crux of the issue to me. It's a player issue and not a character issue. For a character the longsword may be the most effective, but mechanically a greatsword is better. Or perhaps they're from a culture that uses scimitars primarily, why would they be running around with a longsword? Perhaps they're from a more hunter based society where spears were very common. Why would that character be running around with a longsword? What if their background is peasant so mace is thematically correct? If a player insists on always having their character be mechanically at the tip of the spear then, as far as I'm concerned, they don't have a leg to stand on that there aren't enough options for them.</p><p></p><p>Weapons don't have to be mechanically similar. In many ways that takes away from the game for me, so I like having various mechanical options to reflect the choices I make. It goes along with having multiple class options.</p><p></p><p>Where do we draw the line? If every weapon should be mechanically indistinguishable from the others then why should every subclass be indistinguishable from another? Why do we need multiple fighter/paladin/etc subclasses when you can just use flavor? In my opinion it's because mechanics add flavor for the player and I'm ok with some being slightly more powerful than others because I like having options.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ahrimon, post: 6582125, member: 12630"] Truthfully flavor doesn't have to come at the cost of effectiveness, but part of the weapons flavor is it's mechanical difference. The bolded part is the crux of the issue to me. It's a player issue and not a character issue. For a character the longsword may be the most effective, but mechanically a greatsword is better. Or perhaps they're from a culture that uses scimitars primarily, why would they be running around with a longsword? Perhaps they're from a more hunter based society where spears were very common. Why would that character be running around with a longsword? What if their background is peasant so mace is thematically correct? If a player insists on always having their character be mechanically at the tip of the spear then, as far as I'm concerned, they don't have a leg to stand on that there aren't enough options for them. Weapons don't have to be mechanically similar. In many ways that takes away from the game for me, so I like having various mechanical options to reflect the choices I make. It goes along with having multiple class options. Where do we draw the line? If every weapon should be mechanically indistinguishable from the others then why should every subclass be indistinguishable from another? Why do we need multiple fighter/paladin/etc subclasses when you can just use flavor? In my opinion it's because mechanics add flavor for the player and I'm ok with some being slightly more powerful than others because I like having options. [/QUOTE]
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