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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kalani" data-source="post: 6742582" data-attributes="member: 88085">That is not strictly true. We have a dedicated team of volunteers which have collectively released a number of articles specifically intended to help players and DMs apply the rules at their tables. Examples from the website include (but are not limited to):<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Handling the Xenophobia of Hillsfar at your Table</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What does it take to be a balanced DM</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How to prepare for your adventure</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Being the Dungeonmaster in a Shared Universe</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Master, Dungeon Master (Series, with 12+ articles to date)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Arcane Edict in Mulmaster</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">DMing and DM Empowerment</li> </ul>On the player side, I recently released a post on this forum alone designed to help players navigate their Starting Equipment choices, with the goal being to help them gain the best possible options in each instance.To understand the Story Origin mechanic, you need to understand the history of Organized Play. The SO mechanic was designed to prevent major issues that have occurred in previous OP campaigns due to the unintended interaction between rules from disparate sources. This was particularly an issue in the LFR campaign, resulting in frequent errata and ban-list updates and a large amount of player frustration and anger as a result. It also created an arms race between optimizers and module designers, hedging out more casual players, and also fostering an environment of hostility toward casual players by the optimizers (Optimize or Go Home mentality). Pathfinder Societies also faces a similar issue, with their answer to the problem being to introduce the "Core Only" campaign.When the Story Origin mechanic was conceived, nobody had any idea of what WotCs release schedule or product map would look like. It was a pre-emptive future-proof rule which would allow players to use content, without risk of unintended rules-interactions by combining options released several years apart which were never playtested together. The fact that the product release schedule has not yet released content which could be problematic (to date), does not mean that it won't in future. Yes, it appears to be a silly mechanic on the surface - but consider how such a rule might have helped in the 3.5 or 4E era, if players were limited to a small number of sourcebooks per character.In fact, I used a similar house rule in my 3.5 and 4E gamesIn my late-era 3.5 and 4E home games, Players were allowed to use the Player's Handbook, and 2 other rulebooks of their choice when creating their characters in an effort to cut back on the silliness, and prevent rules abuse.</blockquote>

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