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Message: <blockquote data-quote="[OMENRPG]Ben" data-source="post: 5636897" data-attributes="member: 6677983">[MENTION=54877]Crazy Jerome[/MENTION] that sounds nice, but that is a hack job solution (or needs to be incorporated and enforceable in the system) which is already tacked on to 4e and other d20 systems. It is more like a DM tool than a system design which naturally creates fast combat that still applies the complexity some player's want. For example, in the design of OMEN RPG, the majority of combat takes place with relatively lethal attacks, and there are numerous bonuses that anyone can gain from various tactical decisions (such as flanking, number of people attacking the same target, cover, so forth) which all naturally flow as part of moving and attacking. That doesn't mean the sniper who sits in the back, skulking behind cover, waiting for two rounds to unleash a single, well-placed, killing blow has to become involved in the tactics of the up close and personal guys. But, if he wants to, he doesn't have to build himself to be efficient that way. I think to achieve the result that the OP is looking for, that is, more focus on the elements of play that each individual player finds enjoyable, the system must be flexible and dynamic with varied character creation. In OMEN, it is possible to make a character who is skilled at movement (athletics, acrobatics, tactical), and who is good at ranged combat, melee combat, and influencing others' opinion. This allows characters to optimize if they want, while still offering enough options for them to "opt in" to various components of play. The issue in D&D is that there really is only two or three major activity groups, but two out of the three can be solved with a few rolls or pure role-playing (DM and player's choice) and the most prominent mechanical component, combat, is what the majority of players build their character's to excel at. This engenders the majority of gameplay to focus on what most of the players are forced to do by the class structure. A system that would use the opt-in/opt-out feature would be very difficult to balance without some of the characters feeling left out or underpowered. I still like the idea, and I think some systems sort of do this without spelling it out, but I think it will break immersion, break the amount of involvement for characters, and overall add circumstances that leave egos wounded.</blockquote>

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