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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9032453" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>(Until we get a flying thread, I guess I'll keep posting here). I'm reminded of how Pathfinder decided to implement the Flying skill as a way to keep players from doing whatever they wanted to in the air. Unfortunately, a lot of actual flying animals can't invest skill points in the skill, and since most realistic fliers don't have super amazing mobility in the air, a lot of things that are great fliers in the real world turned out to be pretty bad at it in Pathfinder, lol.</p><p></p><p>Then they muddled the mixture further by not letting players invest in Fly until they could actually fly, at which point your 5th level Wizard would also be bad, but hey, no problem, we'll have the spell give a bonus to your Fly check, forgetting that it also grants a bonus for being B class and...why is this a skill again? LOL.</p><p></p><p>Anyways, sure, you could redesign flying monsters so that all the hassles of flying don't exist for them, just for players, but I think there's already enough of that nonsense in the game already, where players have to obey all the rules, but monsters get free passes because monsters.</p><p></p><p>Between oddball choices in monster design and DM's perfectly willing to ignore rules when they get in their way, it seems odd to hear someone complain about the rules being used as a shield against the DM.</p><p></p><p>I mean, as a community, how often have you seen:</p><p></p><p>Monsters armed with shields and melee weapons (like say, Goblins) instantly switch to using bows or vice versa as needed in combat?</p><p></p><p>Monsters running out of ammunition?</p><p></p><p>Spellcasters not bothering with having a focus or material components? </p><p></p><p>Spellcasters having to make ability checks to place area spells exactly where they want them? (Ok, I know this isn't really a thing, but I couldn't resist, since there are DM's who will demand such of their players, but don't seem to think this applies to their NPC's, lol).</p><p></p><p>Spellcasters who have actually used up some of their spell slots before encountering the players? (It does happen from time to time, but more often than not, while you're expected to use up all your spells during an adventuring day, enemies usually have their full compliment of resources when you run into them!)</p><p></p><p>Shield-using spellcasters not having to juggle a weapon out of their hand to cast spells?</p><p></p><p>Kobolds who have no actual ability to create or even disable traps (no seriously, check their stat block!) living in trap-infested caves?</p><p></p><p>A lot of rules are just cumbersome and slow down play to begin with, and making the game more fiddly doesn't seem like a great idea. That having been said, I fully support a game that has less "uh, make it up, I guess" in it's rules, not so I can protect myself from the evil DM, but so a DM doesn't have to try and figure out how to patch some inconsistency or corner case on the fly with a ruling that won't be particularly enjoyable.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9032453, member: 6877472"] (Until we get a flying thread, I guess I'll keep posting here). I'm reminded of how Pathfinder decided to implement the Flying skill as a way to keep players from doing whatever they wanted to in the air. Unfortunately, a lot of actual flying animals can't invest skill points in the skill, and since most realistic fliers don't have super amazing mobility in the air, a lot of things that are great fliers in the real world turned out to be pretty bad at it in Pathfinder, lol. Then they muddled the mixture further by not letting players invest in Fly until they could actually fly, at which point your 5th level Wizard would also be bad, but hey, no problem, we'll have the spell give a bonus to your Fly check, forgetting that it also grants a bonus for being B class and...why is this a skill again? LOL. Anyways, sure, you could redesign flying monsters so that all the hassles of flying don't exist for them, just for players, but I think there's already enough of that nonsense in the game already, where players have to obey all the rules, but monsters get free passes because monsters. Between oddball choices in monster design and DM's perfectly willing to ignore rules when they get in their way, it seems odd to hear someone complain about the rules being used as a shield against the DM. I mean, as a community, how often have you seen: Monsters armed with shields and melee weapons (like say, Goblins) instantly switch to using bows or vice versa as needed in combat? Monsters running out of ammunition? Spellcasters not bothering with having a focus or material components? Spellcasters having to make ability checks to place area spells exactly where they want them? (Ok, I know this isn't really a thing, but I couldn't resist, since there are DM's who will demand such of their players, but don't seem to think this applies to their NPC's, lol). Spellcasters who have actually used up some of their spell slots before encountering the players? (It does happen from time to time, but more often than not, while you're expected to use up all your spells during an adventuring day, enemies usually have their full compliment of resources when you run into them!) Shield-using spellcasters not having to juggle a weapon out of their hand to cast spells? Kobolds who have no actual ability to create or even disable traps (no seriously, check their stat block!) living in trap-infested caves? A lot of rules are just cumbersome and slow down play to begin with, and making the game more fiddly doesn't seem like a great idea. That having been said, I fully support a game that has less "uh, make it up, I guess" in it's rules, not so I can protect myself from the evil DM, but so a DM doesn't have to try and figure out how to patch some inconsistency or corner case on the fly with a ruling that won't be particularly enjoyable. [/QUOTE]
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