NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rob626" data-source="post: 4178201" data-attributes="member: 58916">3.x set up the expectation- rightly or wrongly- that what was in the Book was gospel and to deviate at all was some form of cheating.  Horse pucky.   The more rules there are the more restricted actions/responses become for player and dm alike.quite possibly my biggest beef with 3.x ...and the single largest reason why I look forward to 4ed was having to tell players "yeah, I don't care that you memorized the MM.  THIS creature is special!"Having to explain that for every stinking npc to walk down the road is just annoying.  When everyone is "special" then noone is.  And my rules-junkie players would kvetch and whine whenever their vaunted player knowledge worked against them.  "But that's not possible!  It says right here on page 89 what the powers are!"I understand why the players were upset.  Their expectations were not being met.  Their anticipation was that what was printed was the complete rule set and unchangeable.I have become very disenchanted with having to jump through hoops to justify plotlines.  I guess the succubus has 7 levels of rogue so her skill points can be high enough to bluff the royal mage.  And then create a magic item that allows X to happen. Yes, dm's modify creatures and say "This one's different".   But how is that different from the 4ed approach of skipping past the 1st layer of rules to a philosophy of use something suitable?  If the only succubus my players meet is a one-off from the basic creature does it matter what the original statblock said?  And more importantly, isn't the fact that the players approaching said one-off succubus have fewer expectations about the encounter and thus have more options available more entertaining?The rigidity of the 3.x system was stifling and the nattering of rules-obsessed (as opposed to story-obsessed) players is something I greatly look forward to chucking into the nearest bonfire.  And oh! how I will dance.As long as I am consistent behind the scenes with rough numbers and plot reasoning the rules on how that consistency came about are irrelevant and in my way.  And having the players sit down with a script of possible outcomes based on those rules is counter to what I find enjoyable in a role playing game.</blockquote>

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