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The Decrease in Desire for Magic in D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8776426" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>It isn't even erring on the side of actual reality though, where things like Legolas-style archery are actually within the bounds of human ability. It's erring on the side of "what a typical North American moderately-affluent nerd <em>thinks</em> reality is." Fighters aren't even designed to be as capable as real-world Olympic athletes, let alone awesome characters out of fantasy, <em>regardless of level</em>.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, as noted in my previous post, some of the antipathy here is completely justifiable. No one wants to have to jump through 17 annoying hoops to get to do The Cool Thing. The problem is, tradition has forced the power level of magic to remain extremely high or even to push it higher, while having constant pressure to remove the annoying, tedious, or frustrating mechanics that get in the way of using magic.</p><p></p><p>It's pretty reasonable to ask, "Why should I be the only person in the party who can fail a roll and, as a result, simply be <em>unable</em> to use my class abilities?" The problem is, the answer <em>should be</em>, "Because your class abilities were designed to be too powerful to be easily-accessed," but no one has the gonad gumption to actually <em>say</em> that anymore, because that would be admitting stuff that pro-spellcasting partisans have been denying for decades. So the answer often <em>has been</em>, "Huh, I guess there really isn't much reason for that, is there? Let's get rid of that dumb annoyance then!"</p><p></p><p>Spellcasters can no longer have their cake and eat it too. But taking their cake away is verboten, they'll howl bloody murder until they get it back <em>and</em> an apology for having the audacity to take it away in the first place. The second option was to give non-spellcasters nice things. That had most of the same folks howling bloody murder again, claiming everyone had been turned into casters and a whole bunch of other complaints, so evidently that option is verboten as well. The only remaining option, then, is to spread around the love.</p><p></p><p>Which is why I said that our current state of affairs has, perfectly naturally, arisen from the old one. "Spellcasting is <em>technically</em> optional but <em>practically</em> necessary" has, by degrees, morphed into, "spellcasting is <em>technically</em> avoidable but <em>practically</em> everywhere." Because that's the only solution to the "spellcasting is too stronk" problem that won't make the pro-spellcasting partisans cry havoc and let slip the dogs of (flame)war.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8776426, member: 6790260"] It isn't even erring on the side of actual reality though, where things like Legolas-style archery are actually within the bounds of human ability. It's erring on the side of "what a typical North American moderately-affluent nerd [I]thinks[/I] reality is." Fighters aren't even designed to be as capable as real-world Olympic athletes, let alone awesome characters out of fantasy, [I]regardless of level[/I]. Well, as noted in my previous post, some of the antipathy here is completely justifiable. No one wants to have to jump through 17 annoying hoops to get to do The Cool Thing. The problem is, tradition has forced the power level of magic to remain extremely high or even to push it higher, while having constant pressure to remove the annoying, tedious, or frustrating mechanics that get in the way of using magic. It's pretty reasonable to ask, "Why should I be the only person in the party who can fail a roll and, as a result, simply be [I]unable[/I] to use my class abilities?" The problem is, the answer [I]should be[/I], "Because your class abilities were designed to be too powerful to be easily-accessed," but no one has the gonad gumption to actually [I]say[/I] that anymore, because that would be admitting stuff that pro-spellcasting partisans have been denying for decades. So the answer often [I]has been[/I], "Huh, I guess there really isn't much reason for that, is there? Let's get rid of that dumb annoyance then!" Spellcasters can no longer have their cake and eat it too. But taking their cake away is verboten, they'll howl bloody murder until they get it back [I]and[/I] an apology for having the audacity to take it away in the first place. The second option was to give non-spellcasters nice things. That had most of the same folks howling bloody murder again, claiming everyone had been turned into casters and a whole bunch of other complaints, so evidently that option is verboten as well. The only remaining option, then, is to spread around the love. Which is why I said that our current state of affairs has, perfectly naturally, arisen from the old one. "Spellcasting is [I]technically[/I] optional but [I]practically[/I] necessary" has, by degrees, morphed into, "spellcasting is [I]technically[/I] avoidable but [I]practically[/I] everywhere." Because that's the only solution to the "spellcasting is too stronk" problem that won't make the pro-spellcasting partisans cry havoc and let slip the dogs of (flame)war. [/QUOTE]
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