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The Real problem with 3e D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Michael Morris" data-source="post: 3375956" data-attributes="member: 87"><p>In a word - recombinance.</p><p></p><p>And it's not an easy problem to solve because it is the greatest strength of 3e.</p><p></p><p>Let me define the term. Recombinance is how well or poorly the rules of a game recombine to allow for options in play. Games don't have to have a lot of rules to have a high recombinance factor - chess has only a handful of rules, but thousands of opening lines. Magic the Gathering 's cards can combine and recombine in a myriad of ways.</p><p></p><p>The problem with 3e is that the game has finally moved to a state where you can combine and recombine things - in theory. You can advance monster hit dice, add templates and classes to them, and even determine their ability stats randomly like a PC. Unfortunately each layer of detail you add to a base monster creates a fair amount of calculations. 3e has been accused of having a lot more calculation to do, and it's true. 3e has a lot of recombinance, but it handles it poorly. This becomes even more painfully obvious when spells and abilities refactor - a barbarian's rage has enough effect on a character that you might as well use a 'raging' sheet (in fact my barb player does use a 'raging' character sheet <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> )</p><p></p><p>I'm not sure there's an easy solution. AD&D's answer to this problem was simply to ignore it and not provide rules for it (which isn't much of a solution to be honest). The best solution I can think of is to come up with effective computer campaign management software. I know there's a few packages out there, and I've tried a few - but none of them strike me as particularly effective.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Michael Morris, post: 3375956, member: 87"] In a word - recombinance. And it's not an easy problem to solve because it is the greatest strength of 3e. Let me define the term. Recombinance is how well or poorly the rules of a game recombine to allow for options in play. Games don't have to have a lot of rules to have a high recombinance factor - chess has only a handful of rules, but thousands of opening lines. Magic the Gathering 's cards can combine and recombine in a myriad of ways. The problem with 3e is that the game has finally moved to a state where you can combine and recombine things - in theory. You can advance monster hit dice, add templates and classes to them, and even determine their ability stats randomly like a PC. Unfortunately each layer of detail you add to a base monster creates a fair amount of calculations. 3e has been accused of having a lot more calculation to do, and it's true. 3e has a lot of recombinance, but it handles it poorly. This becomes even more painfully obvious when spells and abilities refactor - a barbarian's rage has enough effect on a character that you might as well use a 'raging' sheet (in fact my barb player does use a 'raging' character sheet ;) ) I'm not sure there's an easy solution. AD&D's answer to this problem was simply to ignore it and not provide rules for it (which isn't much of a solution to be honest). The best solution I can think of is to come up with effective computer campaign management software. I know there's a few packages out there, and I've tried a few - but none of them strike me as particularly effective. [/QUOTE]
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