The Tyranny of Choice

[Fenes]

In my campaigns, we have the default "core only" rule, with anything added by consent of the group. That covers balance. If a player finds a fitting feat, spell or PrC, it's up to him/her to present it to the group, and until the group agrees the thing is ok it isn't in the game, no matter if it's from WotC or not.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I like options. I still have the rule in the game that I GM that only the core 3 books are automatically accepted. Anything outside these 3 books must be approved by me beforehand. And beforehand doesn't mean handing the book to me in the middle of a session to approve. I need to be given time to look at what you want and make sure that it fits into the campaign from both a power and flavour perspective.

I seem to have the opposite problem to a lot of people though, my players seem to just stick to the core for the most part. I had to encourage them to get them to use spells from the Spell Compendium! Some people like to stick with what they know I guess.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Aus_Snow]

I'm of the opposite opinion. Choices have to remain flavorful and fit the overall feel of the campaign and group of PCs, but the most choices I have, the happier a gamer I am.

Likewise.

I love that all these choices exist, especially with so many of them being *excellent* (many from Green Ronin, Malhavoc, WotC, Atlas, Mongoose, RPGObjects, XRP, Adamant, Ronin Arts. . . and quite a few others).

It's simply a matter of researching, reading, asking questions, deciding, saying yes or no as appropriate (being open-minded yet firm), and using sources wisely.

 

[Faraer]

The thing is, they're not real choices. They don't give you any options about who your character is that you wouldn't have without them. Most of the meaningful things you could decide about your character and what they can do can be handled with the core rules. For the relative few that can't, if you don't want to make new rules up, the existence of this stuff is helpful because a forum like this one can probably lead you to what you need. And occasionally this material can provoke an idea you wouldn't have had otherwise. But a character 'built' by someone with 100 d20 books is not, on average, any more interesting or varied -- except in terms of gimmicks and different rules manifestations of the same basic concept -- than someone without, and likely less so than someone with 100 books of inspiring non-rules content.

This is consumerist 'choice' of the order of what brand of sneakers you wear, and it exists to sell books.

 

[an_idol_mind]

I've run a core-only game since starting my campaign in the 3rd edition, and it's run fine. I don't mean to disparage all the supplemental material out there, but I don't really see how it is really necessary to produce most character concepts. If I want a knight, I can just as easily create a mounted fighter or a paladin rather than going for the knight class. Similarly, I can choose a ranger/rogue over a scout and get pretty much the same character concept. In general, I find that most concepts can be covered by the core rules. The supplements available are nice, but I don't think anyone should feel obligated to include them in a game.

 

[Ry]

I ditched classes, race-rules, and made the casting work by spending feats to gain Warlock-like abilities. Lots of feats are available, many of which carefully dole out class features in feat-sized pieces. I find choice isn't overwhelming when it's all along one axis, or with one "currency".

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Yes, I agree the umpteem bajillion sourcebooks can definitely be a problem. Mainly because I do not own them, and have no access to them either.

So I tend to go by WOTC stuff, no eberron, no FR.

And it really works pretty well. There is so much stuff out there, (with some obvious gaps) that it is pretty easy to make a multitude of different characters with just those options.

I don't think you will ever catch me saying 'whatever goes'. But I do try to leave things as open as possible, though.

 

[Nyaricus]

I'm a DM. I have Dm'd since last February. With the 2 groups I've had before my new one, I had problems getting them out of the PHB! I want my players to have options and to get the type of character they want, but the last two groups just... didn't get it, I guess.

Luckily, my new group, ironically enough, is again composed of relative newbies to the hobby, and have branched out already, just by making their 3rd level characters.

I have a Gold Dwarf Knight, an Air Genasi Ranger, a Wild Elven Druid, a Lightfoot Halfing Beguiler, and a Human Favoured Soul in my groups party. Between them, they are using some regional feats from Player Guide to Faerun, some ComDiv feats, some PHBII feats, some Forgotten Realms races and the alternate druid ability Animal Shape from the PHBII.

This makes me the happiest DM in the world, FYI.

Now, as a player I could see how this could overwhealm you - the dwarves' player even remarked that at the character creation session (about there being so many options) - but for myself, I have read all the books I own, at one point or another, and know my stuff. I can pretty much recall anything from any of those books, and even have an idea of which page it's on. I helped all my players make their characters, and it went fine.

I could also see how some could be overwhealed by the options, but since I'm the type of person that I am, I keep a pretty level head, unless I'm angry

But, I'm the happiest DM in the world right now

 

[IceFractal]

If the number of choices is overwhelming you, you could try iterative character generation. This works best if you're making the character a ways in advance, but it definitely helps to make the decisions easier.

To start with, after deciding on the basic character concept, you build that concept using just core stuff, as best you can. Then, as much or as little as you want to, you look through your books, find replacements that fit better, and substitute those in. Since you're only comparing two things at once (for instance, does Dread Necromancer or Cleric fit this BBEG better?) the choices are easier. And you can adjust the process to the extent that you want to - you could look through every book you can find, you can stick to the initial core version, or you can do anything in between.

 

[Nightfall]

I'm for the Tyranny of Choice versus Tyranny of One.