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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 4800450" data-attributes="member: 3649">I must be in a very cynical mood tonight. A lot of the appeal of many things mentioned in the thread come down to the idea that lots of gamers like the idea of the 'I Win' button: that One Thing you do, or are, that instantly sways the campaign in your (or at least the player 'sides') favor.Vampires are a good example of this. Above and beyond the perfectly valid reasons other people gave, in D&D the vampire is almost unique in it's ability to provide a devestating power-up to a character with virtually no effort on the PC's part and, let's face it, very little downside (especially if you're not in a role-play-heavy campaign) where many PC's are concerned.Guns are probably the most obvious I Win button, because they provided that in the real world. Once you had reliable firearms, all the armor and skill at swordplay means squat. I saw innumerable home-brew gun rules in the early days of playing D&D and it almost always meant that effectively you were carrying a no-save deathray.Drizzt is, to me, a good character. I've read a few of the books and while they're not the best fantasy I've ever read, Salvatore knows how to tell a well-done tale; I certainly have liked what I've read so far. Drizzt also has the I Win appeal: he's techically a legitimate D&D character yet at what I'd argue was the height of his popularity he spit in the face of the most restrictive D&D rules. He could use two swords equally well, which was a Holy Grail for any character the instant his player first read about Florentine fencing. Two effective attacks a round in early D&D was a definate I Win. He had Cool Powers because all Drow had Cool Powers because they were an enemy race and all enemy races had Cool Powers No One Else Was Allowed To Ever Have, EVER in early D&D. A second I Win. He was a race/class combo not allowed in standard rules. A third I Win. Why is anyone surprised there are practically idols built to the guy?I've always liked the Xorn as well. I think the major reason is that they had an interesting design. I don't think there's anything else like them in the 1E MM due to their radial symetry, which makes them unusual and memorable.</blockquote>

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