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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't care about numbers...
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<blockquote data-quote="Aribar" data-source="post: 6348357" data-attributes="member: 6777974"><p>Talking about the numbers is important because that's pretty much what we're buying; we're paying for rule books. You don't need a book to tell you how to pretend to be an elf and have a collaborative story-making experience with friends.</p><p></p><p>Rule systems help determine how the DM can set up adventures and encounters and players use their resolution mechanics to determine the outcome of their actions. If numbers are poorly computed, this can make things harder for everyone to play the game and enjoy it.</p><p></p><p>DMs are supposed to use difficulty numbers, Challenge Ratings, and encounter creation rules to make crunchy challenges for players. If things like CR in 3E and seemingly 5E are wonky and actually don't accurately tell you how strong monsters are, then the chances of the DM accidentally making an encounter too hard (to the point of TPK) or too easy (to the point of being a bore) is increased. Personally, I had a much easier time making encounters for my players in 4E than I ever did in 3E because the math is so concrete.</p><p></p><p>Mechanics and numbers can make it hard for a player to actually play the character she wants. In the current 3E campaign I'm in, I'm annoyed at my unarmed brawler. She's your typical wise monk that's a great martial artist. Only in combat I barely make a difference compared to the super damage-dealing knife thrower or have the battlefield control of the wizard. Because the game kinda conspires against martial fighters and monks are an especially badly designed class, I'm not having as much fun as I could have.</p><p></p><p>People talk about the numbers because they want to play the half-orc wizard or the lawn gnome-wielding fighter or whatever other "unoptimized" neat idea... They just don't want to be punished for it by badly formulated rules.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aribar, post: 6348357, member: 6777974"] Talking about the numbers is important because that's pretty much what we're buying; we're paying for rule books. You don't need a book to tell you how to pretend to be an elf and have a collaborative story-making experience with friends. Rule systems help determine how the DM can set up adventures and encounters and players use their resolution mechanics to determine the outcome of their actions. If numbers are poorly computed, this can make things harder for everyone to play the game and enjoy it. DMs are supposed to use difficulty numbers, Challenge Ratings, and encounter creation rules to make crunchy challenges for players. If things like CR in 3E and seemingly 5E are wonky and actually don't accurately tell you how strong monsters are, then the chances of the DM accidentally making an encounter too hard (to the point of TPK) or too easy (to the point of being a bore) is increased. Personally, I had a much easier time making encounters for my players in 4E than I ever did in 3E because the math is so concrete. Mechanics and numbers can make it hard for a player to actually play the character she wants. In the current 3E campaign I'm in, I'm annoyed at my unarmed brawler. She's your typical wise monk that's a great martial artist. Only in combat I barely make a difference compared to the super damage-dealing knife thrower or have the battlefield control of the wizard. Because the game kinda conspires against martial fighters and monks are an especially badly designed class, I'm not having as much fun as I could have. People talk about the numbers because they want to play the half-orc wizard or the lawn gnome-wielding fighter or whatever other "unoptimized" neat idea... They just don't want to be punished for it by badly formulated rules. [/QUOTE]
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Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't care about numbers...
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