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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6293466" data-attributes="member: 17106">I don't know. I've used the bard in the past of an example of something that tends to be considered as inherently laughable (and indeed, the PF incarnation is not up to snuff, it's fair to say).But that being said, if you're trying to imply that whole dynamic where the spellcasters are just better, or they're just better past a certain level, I think that's pretty clearly not the case, at least, not in the minds of Paizo and their playtesters and subsequent customers.That just doesn't sound realistic to me. Again, too many variables. I don't think I've ever seen a plan that players couldn't completely blow up. The idea that advance prep can work on that level to me is unfeasible and not particularly desirable. To get it would require a lot of restrictions above and beyond normal rules (which is probably why organized play tends to have many such restrictions).I want to be able to prepare material for level X characters and not know what is going to happen when I throw it at them. That's the fun part.Kind of hard to avoid with the level of complexity inherent to D&D. Again, I don't think it's achievable.Nor is it desirable. I wouldn't want to replace football with a game where anyone can just walk onto the field, start playing quarterback, and take a defense apart. You have to learn the playbook, learn how to read defenses in real time, practice in order to execute the plays properly, train athletically, communicate, take coaching, etc. D&D requires less effort than that, but it does require a buy-in. System mastery is not a bad thing in and of itself.Moreover, I don't get the motivation to punish skill. If player 1 knows the game better than player 2, and doesn't get a better outcome, he's got to wonder why. If the players want to play to each other's level or the DM wants to force them into something, okay, but the game isn't responsible for doing that. I can't think of a lot of games where someone who doesn't know the rules doesn't feel useless.What comes second nature to me is divesting myself from the outcome of the game. I don't expect anything on paper to dictate to me how it should go, and I'd rather improvise than have stuff on paper anyway. To me, DMing is about being neutral, not worrying about this kind of stuff at all. Whatever happens, happens. To me, that's what it means to just play.</blockquote>

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