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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9005542" data-attributes="member: 7006">I know you were being facetious with your response, but one thing we do all need to bear in mind is that there are also two different times we have complexity-- complexity between sessions, and complexity during a session.&nbsp; And there being too many spells is usually a &quot;between sessions&quot; thing.If you have an entire week to look through the PHB because you feel like you need a different couple of spells, having a rather large chapter of them is not really that much of an issue.&nbsp; You'll put in as much time and effort as you feel like you are going to need.&nbsp; So that &quot;complexity&quot; of a large chapter to read is one that should be manageable.&nbsp; And if (general) you feel it's not... then just keep your spell load-out week after week and never worry about it (or play a Sorcerer or Bard whose spell load-out never changes anyway.)Complexity during a session is where more substantive problems come in... because the game slows down as players try to understand what they are doing and what they have available.&nbsp; And a player who doesn't have the Beautiful Mind-set that can look at a character sheet and find anything and everything at the drop of a hat... will be the one for whom less complexity is a godsend.&nbsp; If the game can make the moment-to-moment game circle snap into place nice and easy, it will make the overall experience probably better for everyone at the table.&nbsp; And that's where the design comes in.That all being said... I also know that there's a lot of complexity during a session that can be reduced if the DM puts in a little elbow grease on behalf of their players.&nbsp; Whether it's recommending better class options during character creation, or manually writing up character sheets and/or spell sheets for them that remove all the extraneous crap and put the important stuff front and center... a DM can go a long way to make a player's experience better and faster.&nbsp; They just have to put in a little extra work.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9005542, member: 7006"] I know you were being facetious with your response, but one thing we do all need to bear in mind is that there are also two different times we have complexity-- complexity between sessions, and complexity during a session. And there being too many spells is usually a "between sessions" thing. If you have an entire week to look through the PHB because you feel like you need a different couple of spells, having a rather large chapter of them is not really that much of an issue. You'll put in as much time and effort as you feel like you are going to need. So that "complexity" of a large chapter to read is one that should be manageable. And if (general) you feel it's not... then just keep your spell load-out week after week and never worry about it (or play a Sorcerer or Bard whose spell load-out never changes anyway.) Complexity during a session is where more substantive problems come in... because the game slows down as players try to understand what they are doing and what they have available. And a player who doesn't have the Beautiful Mind-set that can look at a character sheet and find anything and everything at the drop of a hat... will be the one for whom less complexity is a godsend. If the game can make the moment-to-moment game circle snap into place nice and easy, it will make the overall experience probably better for everyone at the table. And that's where the design comes in. That all being said... I also know that there's a lot of complexity during a session that can be reduced if the DM puts in a little elbow grease on behalf of their players. Whether it's recommending better class options during character creation, or manually writing up character sheets and/or spell sheets for them that remove all the extraneous crap and put the important stuff front and center... a DM can go a long way to make a player's experience better and faster. They just have to put in a little extra work. [/QUOTE]

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