Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="dok" data-source="post: 1033774" data-attributes="member: 12780">Alignment. Not that they had it, but that they have it as a game mechanic, with interactions of spells, magic items & artifacts, yet when it comes time to define what makes a character good or evil, they chicken out with the "Alignment is not a straight-jacket" excuse. If alignment is all a matter of perspective, and morality is relative, that's OK, just don't blast the poor Rogue for daring to look in the Book of Vile Darkness just because he's got Neutral Good on his character sheet. If alignment really is representational of cosmic forces that actually shape entire planes in the outer realms, support that notion with some game mechanics beyond "casting Animate Dead is an evil act". I don't care which way it goes, I just wish they'd take a stand.Vancian magic. Fire & Forget. Very gamey. Fine when the fantasy market was small. Now there are dozens of great fantasy writers who have shown many differing views of magic, and none of them have amnesiac wizards.Clerics all using the same spell list. 2nd edition very nearly fixed this with Specality priests, but unfortunately left the mechanics of designing specality priests too wide open, which in turn led to some terrible abuse. It's annoying that a Cleric of Neptune can drop a Flame Strike.</blockquote>