D&D (2024) Martial vs Caster: Removing the "Magical Dependencies" of high level.

[Yaarel]

Sure but in Chainmail, magic-users were supposed to be far more powerful units than fighting-men, basically siege engines on legs. Do we really believe that Wizards* are supposed to be far more powerful than Fighters in an RPG?

*shorthand for full caster.

That was the way it was, and seems to take almost generations to grow out of it. We still havent quite.

 

[Emberashh]

5e is a game with no instructions, tutorial, and tool tips in the level editor.

For most, Morrowind was also such a game. But once you got into it, it likely stuck with you for 20+ years.

that fun is not just dependent on a "balanced" system.

Indeed. This is why I feel it was really fortunate I spent my honeymoon period with my game focusing on making something that felt fun to play even without any content to speak of.

Navigating a blank hex crawl and fighting blank statblocks feel fun, by my assessment, because the mechanics involved in the gameplay loops are simply addictive in of themselves. The fast pace and streamlined mechanics make engaging with these loops very satisfying, and I even went as far as just rolling tons of different pairs of dice just to see which ones felt the best; after like, 3 hours of click clacks, 2d10 won out and 2d20 a close second. So they became the two basic rolls in my game.

 

[Emberashh]

Psionics is magic.

A billion psionics fans just cried out into the darkness.

 

[Yaarel]

A billion psionics fans just cried out into the darkness.

A 10 billion psionic fans sighed in relief.

 

[theCourier]

Big tent game gets pulled in every direction and doesn't fix fundamental problems due to fear of backlash, more news at 11.

 

[Minigiant]

For most, Morrowind was also such a game. But once you got into it, it likely stuck with you for 20+ years.

But the TES series is more ore less bailed out by free mods from modders.

Is D&D supposed to be supported by Youtubers doing GMing guides?

 

[bert1001 fka bert1000]

And adding another martial class? Sure, go ahead. Odds are, it won't mean anything to the high school students or to the tables I play on. But insisting that it takes it to a wider audience says you are not thinking of the players lost in the process. Like character creation itself, there is a give and take. Keep giving, and that takes away from someone else's fun.

You had me until here. Why would adding a mythic martial class and keeping all the existing classes lose any players?
.
If someone is cool playing the champion, they can play the champion. If someone is not having fun with the existing martial, now they have a new option. Remember this option is no more versatile and powerful than the existing wizard.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Admittedly, most of what I know about this comes from William Morris's "The Defense of Guenevere," but I was under the impression that Maleagant was one of those conniving, cowardly villains who were extremely weak when confronted directly.

His whole shtick was that he kidnapped Guenevere, relying on his magic castle to keep him safe, and when Lancelot persevered, it was only Guenevere's intervention that saw Maleagant being spared. Later, when he tried to spill the beans about Lancelot and Guenevere having an affair, Lancelot challenged him to a duel, and he only agreed under the stipulation that Lancelot would fight with no helmet, the left half of his torso unarmored, and his left hand tied behind his back (i.e. unable to use a shield). That Maleagant still lost struck me as a testament to his own weakness as much as Lancelot's strength.

I might have gotten him mixed up with another. There were a lot of unfamiliar names in the list I was reading.

 

[Emberashh]

But the TES series is more ore less bailed out by free mods from modders.

Is D&D supposed to be supported by Youtubers doing GMing guides?

Skyrim is bailed out by Modders. Morrowind and Oblivion are still very enjoyable run completely vanilla, if you can deal with old graphics. Skyrim has such a critical lack of actual content you need mods just to have something to do.

Meanwhile in 20 years I actually haven't done everything there is to do in Morrowind. (And Daggerfall stans have a continent the size of the UK to play with)

Is D&D supposed to be supported by Youtubers doing GMing guides

It already is. If core books aren't sufficient for someone to run the game with they're going to turn to the internet, as it is with all games ever made.

 

[Chaosmancer]

This. This all day!

You know what? No. Not that.

I get really sick of so many complaints about the system getting hidden behind "Well, don't you trust your DM? If you trusted your DM this wouldn't be a problem. You need to stop being a problem and just trust your DM."

You know what? Sometimes I'm the DM. And sometimes I don't trust myself. Sometimes I make mistakes, sometimes I get things wrong, sometimes I have good intentions and mess up and make a bad situation for my players that I need to fix. Sometimes I don't even realize that until my players speak up. Does this make me a naughty word-tier DM? No, I don't think so. More often than not my players enjoy what I do and have a blast. But we need to stop acting like the solutions to problems are to put on blindfolds, gags, and handcuffs and throw ourselves upon the ever merciful, ever competent, perfect DM, who if we just TRUST will make sure everything works out for the best.

I'm a DM. I don't like the situation the game puts me in. I don't like how it makes my player's lives harder. I want it fixed. Trusting me doesn't fix it. Fixing it, fixes it.