Official DnD, D20, and OGL - who are you?

[3catcircus]

Now waitaminnit. We aren't talking about "stupid joystick tricks" here. We are talking about a supplement that adds more detail to combat that just saying "you hit/roll damage" ad naseum. The latter sounds much more to me like "less thinking." Providing maneuvers that are advantageous in certain situations, and having the player strive to expoit them is, if anything, more thinking, not to mention, another way you can differentiate your character from being just another fighter.

It strikes me that you are obviously attacking this book sight unseen, which in my book is "not cool."

Do you subscribe to the Dragon? Did you read the article about Dragon Templates in Dragon #313? That article is by the same author. Read it and tell me that you think that article is coming from some shallow powergamer.



Not the same thing. That's giving you a different familiar (except the spell, with is sort of limited). Some players prefer something a little more subtle than having a fire elemental or psuedodragon familiar.



As the saying goes, don't try to eat the whole cow... just take the cuts you need.

Perhaps I didn't quite explain things - I likened the idea of Combination Moves to Tekken or other fighting games in that - you hit a certain sequence of buttons to get a desired effect, without much thought to the whether or not it might apply to a given combat situation - likewise, combination moves in D&D seems similar - I (not having the book -I admit it-) think it sounds a lot like Complete Warrior's Tactical Feats. I don't particularly care for those either, if it means putting the blinders on, such as: "Player 1: 'You need to take out that guy with a bow before he gets close to melee on us - you are the only one with a bow.' Player 2: 'But my guy has this cool tactical feat that I gotta set up and I can't waste time spending 4 rounds getting off shots on him before he gets close to hit any of us.' Player 3: 'Arrgghhh!!' - Rinse, Repeat." I never attempted to imply that power-gaming is shallow, per se, but that added complexity and "power" with no added benefit to the roleplaying experience seems like to much.

All that stuff having been said, I do believe in 3rd-party add-ons; however, I prefer to use them for adventure modules that I can then plunder for ideas. Necromancer Games has been producing some mighty fine adventures. I also like Green Ronin for some of their stuff. I, on the other hand, dislike the "Quintessential [Insert Class Name Here]" type of product because it seems almost gratuitous. That and the "Big Book of Feats" type of product also is too much. I mean, really, do we *need* a feat in order to walk and chew gum at the same time? Additionally, I'm not one to shy away from complexity (just ask my players - for out FR campaign, I've fully integrated the old 2ed Speaking in Tongues language article for my languages, and have taken all canon information, as well as Northern Journey information for coinage/economy.) I just, in summary, think that none of us really has the time to spend hours in the FLGS and thumb through every new release to decide what to purchase and I've had the best luck with the WOTC stuff and Necromancer Games stuff (another great product from them is Tome of Horrors - you either love it or hate it and I happen to love it.)