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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6044382" data-attributes="member: 17106">Player: I want Craft (Alchemy) +15. I want to make firebombs or something.DM: You're first level. Take your skill ranks. You'll be there in a few levels.Player: I want it now.DM: You can't have it now.Player: Well, how did that NPC get it then?DM: Years of hard work and dedication.Player: But what level is that NPC?DM: ...Player: If that NPC has Craft +15, I want it.DM: No. (Or yes. Or something else. Equally problematic regardless, albeit for different reasons).***Player: I sneak past the guard. 28 Hide, 32 Move Silently.DM: The guard draws his weapon and raises the alarm.Player: What, he can't be more than a 2nd level character.DM: Yeah, but his whole job is spotting so he's really good at it.Player: I call BS.***Player: I Bluff the priest with a 35. Np, I definitely did not loot that grave. It was that halfling over there! I saw him do it!DM: He sees right through it and claps you in irons.Player: Wait, what? My lie was totally convincing.DM: Yeah, but I just arbitrarily gave him +50 Sense Motive because I hate when my important NPCs get duped.DM: Wait, did I just say that out loud?***The game is better because having every character built the same way balances the game, and prevents these and numerous other nonsensical and potentially disruptive scenarios.If you don't build all characters the same way, any notion of balancing them against each other is pretty much out the window. Have you gained some realism in the example above? Yes. But the cost to the game element of an rpg is pretty substantial.Well, here's the issue. You're right that NPCs don't need that. But PCs don't either. Those relationships simplify the character creation process for beginners, but I don't see why they're necessary for those of us on these boards.So the counter question: how does forcing a PC into 3e's leveling scheme make the game better?</blockquote>

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