Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8911010" data-attributes="member: 6790260">That's not the question I asked.The question I asked was, why do you need the letters "C L E R I C" at the top of your sheet in order to play what you want to play? Why does having that string of letters make such a difference, when literally everything else is up for you to decide?You shouldn't! There should be a class designed for that function. That's what I'm saying. There should be a class that does what you are asking for right out of the box. Having things like Eldritch Knights and Bladesinger Wizards and Hexblades and the like is nice, as they allow dabbling, "drifting" one concept into another. But "someone who genuinely melds magic and melee into a single, cohesive whole, which lets them wade into danger and shrug it off" is in itself a worthy concept. That's why it got an actual class in previous editions: because it was thematically and mechanically interesting enough to be its own distinct thing, worthy of getting mechanics to make that specific choice entertaining and engaging in and of itself, not as a byproduct of some other thing.Again, I do not understand how this is even remotely relevant to the question. The letters "F I G H T E R" and "C L E R I C" have nothing whatsoever to do with your agency. They don't change the mechanics, which are set by the game (unless agreed to be changed.) They don't change the thematics, which you have always been free to describe as you like. They don't change the dynamics, because those are set by the nature of D&D being a TTRPG: rolling dice, adding and subtracting numbers, style-specific stuff like "solving logistical challenges" or "improvisational acting (possibly with funny voices)," etc. They don't change the aesthetics of play (per the MDA model), because you can abnegate or be competitive or whatever else regardless of what letters are written across the top of your sheet.Why are the letters "C L E R I C" so important to your agency when they seem to have nothing to do with it?No one is saying you shouldn't. I'm asking why that character ABSOLUTELY MUST have the letters "C L E R I C" written on it, and not something else which is actually designed to serve the interests you have well and fully, rather than being an ultra-generic grab-bag (being "everything to everyone" as I said above.)So, just to get this completely clear:Having something you're merely good at is FORCING you to do it. Is that what you are saying?Why not? Why does having the letters "C L E R I C" mean so goddamned much? Why do those letters take away your agency, when abandoning your attachment to them would enhance your ability to choose a class actually designed to do what you want to do?It sure as hell seems like it. Fighters have to be able to perform LITERALLY ANYTHING combat: strength or dexterity or charisma (because it's allegedly the Warlord now) or even further afield, and for the very slightly more liberally minded they need to have some magic too so they don't fall behind. Wizards (and other casters) must be able to do literally actually everything (except maybe healing, that's the one thing Wizards generally don't get to touch)--because you want them to be tanks and Suraya wants them to be infiltrators and Jorge wants them to be charismatic manipulators and Pat wants them to be investigators and you'd better gorram believe that every single one of them DEMANDS that they get the letters "W I Z A R D" at the top of their character sheet or it's destroyed their agency.Everyone has to be able to do everything always because if you--God forbid!--actually design a class to be genuinely good at something, well, now you've FORBIDDEN players from ever considering anything else, even though the way to consider doing something else is to play a class that's designed to do that or, if you want to do both, build up to doing more than what you started with.</blockquote>

Verification