Elder-Basilisk
First Post
My own take on this is that I dislike flaws in general for several reasons.
The first is that I don't want to see parties that are full of disfunctional or maimed characters just so they can get bonusses ("I'm a one-legged, deaf, mute ranger who can only communicate in sign language but I have all the archery feats at first level"). After a while (actually, it doesn't take a while), parties full of chain smoking, drug-addicted, nearsighted, absentminded psychopaths get old.
My second reason for dislike is probably part of what Psion is talking about. In the d20 system, a lot of skill checks fall into the category of "Unless it's a maxed out class skill enhanced by magical items, you'll fail every time" by mid level. For example, at first level, even an 8 wis fighter could hear the rogue sneaking up on the party if he rolled well and the rogue rolled poorly. By eighth level, only a character with maxed spot and listen skills has a chance of detecting the rogue sneaking up on the party no matter how poorly the rogue rolls. Consequently, unless you are trying to max out spot and listen, the -1 penalty on spot and listen checks is meaningless past level four or so since you'll fail those checks with or without the penalty.
Similarly, a lot of non-melee oriented characters simply have to live with the fact that, by eighth level, unless they're facing someone who's not a threat to begin with, their foes will reliably hit them on anything but a roll of 1. So the -1 penalty to armor class is meaningless for such characters. -2 to dexterity based skills is similarly negatable.
-6 to initiative and -3 to will saves are in a different category since I can't think of any character who wouldn't actually suffer from them but, even there, -6 to initiative might not be a big deal to some characters for whom it would make the difference between occasionally going in the middle of the initiative order and always going at the end (such as a lot of clerics and paladins).
The first is that I don't want to see parties that are full of disfunctional or maimed characters just so they can get bonusses ("I'm a one-legged, deaf, mute ranger who can only communicate in sign language but I have all the archery feats at first level"). After a while (actually, it doesn't take a while), parties full of chain smoking, drug-addicted, nearsighted, absentminded psychopaths get old.
My second reason for dislike is probably part of what Psion is talking about. In the d20 system, a lot of skill checks fall into the category of "Unless it's a maxed out class skill enhanced by magical items, you'll fail every time" by mid level. For example, at first level, even an 8 wis fighter could hear the rogue sneaking up on the party if he rolled well and the rogue rolled poorly. By eighth level, only a character with maxed spot and listen skills has a chance of detecting the rogue sneaking up on the party no matter how poorly the rogue rolls. Consequently, unless you are trying to max out spot and listen, the -1 penalty on spot and listen checks is meaningless past level four or so since you'll fail those checks with or without the penalty.
Similarly, a lot of non-melee oriented characters simply have to live with the fact that, by eighth level, unless they're facing someone who's not a threat to begin with, their foes will reliably hit them on anything but a roll of 1. So the -1 penalty to armor class is meaningless for such characters. -2 to dexterity based skills is similarly negatable.
-6 to initiative and -3 to will saves are in a different category since I can't think of any character who wouldn't actually suffer from them but, even there, -6 to initiative might not be a big deal to some characters for whom it would make the difference between occasionally going in the middle of the initiative order and always going at the end (such as a lot of clerics and paladins).
nikolai said:
Since only Psion and I are "naysayers" relative to this book in this thread, and I'd hardly call either of us "the usual naysayers" I'm not sure what you mean. Unless this is more generic, and you're just commenting that every new product has naysayers?
