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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1340739" data-attributes="member: 5171">Hey Tom,Well, I thought I was agreeing with you for part of my above post.  Ah,well.I find the d20 system to be complex mainly in terms of creation-time, rather than ruling time.  If, as a DM, I have time to prepare for a scenario, I can give the villain NPC all kinds of skills and feats and really make him great at what he does.But if the players pick a plot path I didn't see coming and I have to wing it, I pretty much have to use something out of the book, mentally change two feats, and bluff his skills as best I can.  I imagine that my players know the difference by now.I would guess that this is partially explained by designers thinking that most DMs would just use a Monster Manual monster if they had to wing it.  d20 Modern tries to address the issue by having ready-made (non-heroic) NPCs of low, medium, and high-level right in the book for you to use.  And many supplements exist to give you something to use while winging it.  My completely off-the-cuff guess is that just about any setting different enough to make it impossible to use generic NPCs has released a book full of NPCs -- even M&M has Crooks...So yes, I agree with you that as a DM, I have a harder time winging the nitty-gritty bits.  I can wing the flavor of an aristocratic courtier with a rapier that creates shadow-substance henchmen to do his dirty work, but I'd be hard pressed to make him on the fly with the rules.  There'd be a bit of "Okay, I'm going to just assume he's a bard, and that he's got around a +10 on any skill check he makes, but instead of singing, he'll summon these henchmen... yeah... that oughta work..."  It wouldn't be perfect, but it'd get me through that night, and then I'd have until next session to stat him up if it looked like he'd be a recurring character.So I agree with you that coming up with full rules for complex things (altered monsters, skill-intensive environments like the cliff-and-tightrope-centric lair of evil monk/shadowdancers, or NPCs that are defined by skills or spellcasting ability) is a pain to do on the fly in the d20 system.  I'd argue, though, that your players should a) Not know enough about everything they meet to be sure that you're winging it and b) Cut you some freakin' slack if you are winging it.</blockquote>

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