D&D General Styles of D&D Play

[Maxperson]

Never said they are need.

I just said

1. Rollplay is a valid playstyle
2. WOTC states Rollplay is a valid playstyle in the DMG

This is true.

1. Many D&D fans state Rollplay is not a valid playstyle
2. Many D&D fans state Rollplay is an inherently bad playstyle

Some fans state that, but are wrong.

1. WOTC supported Rollplay very poorly with poorly balanced throwaway mechanics.

They do no do it poorly. It may not be great, but depending on what you are using it for it is decent to good.

1. Likely some D&D designers might be 3 & 4.

WotC knows that they need to keep all styles supported at least a bit so that they can appeal to the broader audience. Even if some do believe that, it won't be allowed to come out into the game rules and guidelines.

1. WOTC put a lot of glut mechanics and explanations in the DMG, setting books, and option books that are rarely used or tertiary in desire but did not support many of playstyles they claim to be in 5e with full effort design.

That's why they are guidelines for DMs to use or not. Nothing in the DMG is mandatory or even a rule. The rules needed to run the game are entirely in the PHB.

1. After ceding playstyle variant rules and modules to 3rd party publishers, WOTC saw how much money they left on the table and are finally attempting to serious support more playstyles.

Perhaps this is true. Perhaps they are just now finding room to do what they were always going to do. I have no idea.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Skill system can be used to cover wide variety of situations. It might not be as much support as you wish, but it is there, so there is no reason to make obviously absurd chess comparisons.

And personally for many things I prefer the rules light approach, so it is about as much support than I need. YMMV.

People seem to be conflating "having support" with "having more support than I want". The first, once terms have been defined and agreed to, can be objective. The second cannot.

 

[Minigiant]

They do no do it poorly. It may not be great, but depending on what you are using it for it is decent to good

Nah.

A lot of the variant rules in the DMG are straight not good and rely on the DM to fix them..

Heck the optional rules in the PHB, Feats and Multiclassing, suck.They are unbalanced as heck. That's why WOTC is redoing it.

The DMG was a rush job. WOTC admitted it. They spent all their playtest time on the PHB and had little time for the MM and almost none for the DMG.

 

[Micah Sweet]

To be a bit snarky, it is a "role playing game", not an immersive sim where you can unlock extra dialogue options by having a higher charisma point value. I think that an optional rule could be nice but it just seems sort of unnecessary for most tables. How likely are you to bribe a guard? I guess it comes down to DM fiat on what the guard's motivations are or else a persuasion check.

Again, the question isn't whether or not a particular person, or a particular table, wants these rules. It's whether or not those rules exist, because that's what support is in regards to a system.

 

[Micah Sweet]

"the only way to win is to ruthlessly crush your opponent" is absolutely a political statement.

Ok, so what? Is that a problem?

 

[Oofta]

Again, the question isn't whether or not a particular person, or a particular table, wants these rules. It's whether or not those rules exist, because that's what support is in regards to a system.

Just because you don't like how the rules work or think they are not sufficient does not mean they do not exist.

 

[Minigiant]

Again, the question isn't whether or not a particular person, or a particular table, wants these rules. It's whether or not those rules exist, because that's what support is in regards to a system.

Exist and are Quality,

Like 5e has flanking rules for a Tactical playstyle. But it hands out advantage to attack rolls for flanking. That's way too strong.

So yes Tactical play is supported. However the rule support for it is crap.

Or Big Epic Play. Now look at the Epic Boons. Unbalanced trash. So the support exists but again is unusable.

 

[Maxperson]

Nah.

A lot of the variant rules in the DMG are straight not good and rely on the DM to fix them..

I enjoyed using many of them as is. Your mileage varies.

Heck the optional rules in the PHB, Feats and Multiclassing, suck.They are unbalanced as heck. That's why WOTC is redoing it.

They were pretty good. A ton of fun gets sacrificed on the altar of balance.

 

[Minigiant]

I enjoyed using many of them as is. Your mileage varies.

They were pretty good. A ton of fun gets sacrificed on the altar of balance.

Didn't say none of them were fun. Just that many of the variant rules were unbalanced to the point where they ended up created a gentlemen's agreement or DM adjustment for anyone who planned to use them for a playstyle which wanted the WOTC's designers favorite. Many of them only needed an adjustment, more examples, small redesign, a small addition, or clarity.

And WOTC knew they were messed up but stayed silent to milk more core book sales.

Now that WOTC has a new set of core books to sell this year, they mysteriously found a long list of rules to fix, playstyles to support with better rules, and and new layout to organize it all.

mysterious

 

[Oofta]

Didn't say none of them were fun. Just that many of the variant rules were unbalanced to the point where they ended up created a gentlemen's agreement or DM adjustment for anyone who planned to use them for a playstyle which wanted the WOTC's designers favorite. Many of them only needed an adjustment, more examples, small redesign, a small addition, or clarity.

And WOTC knew they were messed up but stayed silent to milk more core book sales.

Now that WOTC has a new set of core books to sell this year, they mysteriously found a long list of rules to fix, playstyles to support with better rules, and and new layout to organize it all.

mysterious

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