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General Tabletop Discussion
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Older Editions and "Balance" when compared to 3.5
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<blockquote data-quote="Beginning of the End" data-source="post: 5323609" data-attributes="member: 55271"><p>I'm trying to figure out where this idea that Gygax didn't write it into the rulebooks came from. Gygax's rulebooks are filled with procedural methods for content generation which will result in providing a very specific and detailed baseline for play.</p><p></p><p>OD&D, for example, told you:</p><p></p><p>(1) Exactly what the average encounter density in the dungeon should be.</p><p>(2) Exactly what monsters should be encountered on each level of the dungeon.</p><p>(3) Exactly how much treasure should be located on each level of the dungeon.</p><p>(4) The general pace of monster encounters versus other content (by means of the wandering monster system and monster reaction tables).</p><p></p><p>Wandering monster encounters also serve as a control mechanism on the "nova" technique. Blowing all your resources in one or two encounters and then pulling back to rest for the day doesn't actually work all that well if you're playing OD&D by the RAW: There's no such thing as "clearing" a section of the dungeon. You might be able to lower your risks by rooting out some of the set encounters (although the DM is explicitly told to periodically refresh those), but if you retreat from the 3rd level of the dungeon you're going to have to work to get back down there before you can push further. (And your rewards for doing so will be lessened because you'll have already cleared out the treasure from those sections.)</p><p></p><p>All of this content is, in fact, "spelling out" the baseline of the game.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Tangentially: I have a party in which there's a rogue and a <em>knock</em>. The rogue loves having that resource to fall back on when her lockpicking skills can't beat a tough lock. While it's true that if the wizard went around whapping every locked door with his wand the rogue would get annoyed, everyone else at the table would also get annoyed: Wands cost money. The wizard should stop wasting it.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at there. The questionable CR due to the ill-bethought Constrict ability? Are you claiming that the class system is broken if somebody designs a class that gets 5 <em>wish</em> spells per day at 1st level?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Beginning of the End, post: 5323609, member: 55271"] I'm trying to figure out where this idea that Gygax didn't write it into the rulebooks came from. Gygax's rulebooks are filled with procedural methods for content generation which will result in providing a very specific and detailed baseline for play. OD&D, for example, told you: (1) Exactly what the average encounter density in the dungeon should be. (2) Exactly what monsters should be encountered on each level of the dungeon. (3) Exactly how much treasure should be located on each level of the dungeon. (4) The general pace of monster encounters versus other content (by means of the wandering monster system and monster reaction tables). Wandering monster encounters also serve as a control mechanism on the "nova" technique. Blowing all your resources in one or two encounters and then pulling back to rest for the day doesn't actually work all that well if you're playing OD&D by the RAW: There's no such thing as "clearing" a section of the dungeon. You might be able to lower your risks by rooting out some of the set encounters (although the DM is explicitly told to periodically refresh those), but if you retreat from the 3rd level of the dungeon you're going to have to work to get back down there before you can push further. (And your rewards for doing so will be lessened because you'll have already cleared out the treasure from those sections.) All of this content is, in fact, "spelling out" the baseline of the game. Tangentially: I have a party in which there's a rogue and a [i]knock[/i]. The rogue loves having that resource to fall back on when her lockpicking skills can't beat a tough lock. While it's true that if the wizard went around whapping every locked door with his wand the rogue would get annoyed, everyone else at the table would also get annoyed: Wands cost money. The wizard should stop wasting it. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at there. The questionable CR due to the ill-bethought Constrict ability? Are you claiming that the class system is broken if somebody designs a class that gets 5 [i]wish[/i] spells per day at 1st level? [/QUOTE]
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