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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 5893508" data-attributes="member: 51942"> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A focus making rules that make sense in-game.  Rules should be designed to simplify adjudication of a complex fantasy, not to implement balanced competition that happens to bear some resemblence to the fantasy.  In short; rules as approximations of fantasy, not rules as axioms.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Share "powers" (in 3e: spells) across classes to keep them recognizable and distinctive.  3e wasn't too brilliant at this, but 4e's a step in the wrong direction in this matter:  Way too many powers, and nobody recognizes each others powers (everything is just a minor variation along extremely standized lines).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monsters (in particular NPCs) & PC's conceptually work by the same rules.  Simplification of monsters by default is good (e.g. 4e); but the differences should be limited to those necessary to keep it simple enough for the DM, not to result in a completely different mechanics (e.g. healing surges, hit point totals, etc)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Varied class design: don't standardize things like power recovery; let each class feel as mechanically distinctive at the table as the PC's it represents are in the fantasy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The choice of strategy matters more than raw power.  It's good for encounters to be overpowering to some strategies yet walk-overs for others.  Balance is actively harmful to fun when it undermines the fantasy.  A fat ogre should be easy to hit yet hard to hurt.  It should have a high fortitude yet low reflex.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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