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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thunderfoot" data-source="post: 3791134" data-attributes="member: 34175">I can see one area that "power" has been taken away from DMs or at least lessens the cerebral play of yesteryear by way of the following example:DM: You enter a 20' by 30' room from the south, a table and three chairs are in the center, a fireplace stands against the north wall, a picture hangs above the fireplace.  A door leads to the west.  What are your actions?  DMs Notes: If the players look behind the painting they will find a wall safe, if they search the backwall of the fireplace specifically they will find a loose brick with a +1 dagger behind it.) AD&D 1e Players1 (Fighter): I check the table for any papers that the wizard may need to decipher.2 (Thief): I listen at the door using my ear cone in case there are any enemies waiting in the hall.3 (Cleric): I cast Detect Magic concentrating my search on the table and chairs, if nothing is there I move to the fireplace and do the same.4 (Wizard): Describe the painting, please?D&D 3.5 Players:1 - 4: Spot check does anything look out of place?  1: 20 2: 35 3: 7 4: 412: I Search the fireplace and roll a 19 on my check with my modifiers that a 36.While it may not seem like a big difference, the biggest difference is that the DM has less control over situations.  A Search or Spot check roll (which is player rules knowledge) can pretty much mean that they can find any hidden object without a real clue where to look by just rolling a few dice.  Obviously this is example is poor, because there are many more variables and I didn't want to write a novel for a post, but it isn't so much a "cheating" thing as the DM is roped into 'giving' things to the PCs just because they roll a few dice instead of using problem-solving skills.  It has, in essence, "dumbed-down" the game a bit.  It really isn't a big issue, more of a flavor thing than anything else, but to some oldster (myself included) it does bring the quality of the game down a bit.  Does it mean I had more fun or that I am somehow cheated out of something, in a way, yes, but only if you can remember playing another way.  I think the biggest DM rules fiasco came with PrCs.  Great idea, poorly executed.  In the DMG, it states that a PrC should be "Campaign Specific", and describes them as optional, but then WotC and every third party company wrote PrCs and published them in PLAYER LITERATURE.  Nearly every player I have ever met balks when you say that all published PrCs are unavailable, "because its in the rules", when originally the concept was to make those campaign specific organizations into PrCs for flavor.  When a DM says that a rule in a published book is not going to be used (whether or not its optional) often the new breed of rules lawyer shouts foul, and can now back up the argument with "written proof".  Often it has nothing to do with having "power" over the party (although I admit it has happened and I do not deny the proof of it) but more powerlessness in the face of the party gets what the party wants and damn the DMs notion of what the game world is supposed to be.  In my Opinion, its a flavor killer more than a real power over the party issue.</blockquote>

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