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<blockquote data-quote="Korgoth" data-source="post: 4250545" data-attributes="member: 49613"><p>When it comes to rules vs. role playing, I want the game to give me solid, simple and fun rules for combat, magic and exploring. And that's basically all I want from the rules. That is an old school approach and it seems present in 4E as well.</p><p></p><p>One of the big mistakes of 3E was to try to handle incidental skills the same way as it handled other skills. So if your bildungs-boy was a farm yokel destined to rise to greatness as a master thief... to justify your background you might feel the impetus to put points into the Farm Yokel skill. Which means you're not putting those points into skills like Whup@ss and Clobberin' Time. And since combat is where your character lives or dies (as opposed to farming montage scenes)... you're penalized for having a backstory. There are times when a failed Search roll, a failed Move Silently roll, a failed Disable Device roll, a failed Tumbling roll, etc. could <em>kill</em> you. So scratch that "farm yokel" background. My character's parents were killed by bad stuff while he was really young (like, 4) and his whole life since then has been a single-minded quest to be the toughest hombre possible so that he can... do whatever he does with ruthless efficiency. Just like the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p>Whereas, if we say that all non-combat skills are officially handwaved, I don't have to feel like having a back story means shooting myself in the foot. I just write "Former Farm Yokel" in the notes section and I'm good to go. If there is ever a part of the adventure that involves evaluating a wagonload of turnips, we can safely assume that my Farm Yokel powers kick in at that point and I make a good call on the turnips. Likewise, "The Vagabond", wandering Half-Elf sellsword and magical dabbler, doesn't need to sink his precious skill points into Play Lute. You wanna play the lute, pal? Knock yerself out. Can he sing us up some free lodging from time to time? Sure, why not? Just because it makes a difference in the game doesn't mean that it should be dissected and balanced within the rules framework.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Korgoth, post: 4250545, member: 49613"] When it comes to rules vs. role playing, I want the game to give me solid, simple and fun rules for combat, magic and exploring. And that's basically all I want from the rules. That is an old school approach and it seems present in 4E as well. One of the big mistakes of 3E was to try to handle incidental skills the same way as it handled other skills. So if your bildungs-boy was a farm yokel destined to rise to greatness as a master thief... to justify your background you might feel the impetus to put points into the Farm Yokel skill. Which means you're not putting those points into skills like Whup@ss and Clobberin' Time. And since combat is where your character lives or dies (as opposed to farming montage scenes)... you're penalized for having a backstory. There are times when a failed Search roll, a failed Move Silently roll, a failed Disable Device roll, a failed Tumbling roll, etc. could [i]kill[/i] you. So scratch that "farm yokel" background. My character's parents were killed by bad stuff while he was really young (like, 4) and his whole life since then has been a single-minded quest to be the toughest hombre possible so that he can... do whatever he does with ruthless efficiency. Just like the rest of the party. Whereas, if we say that all non-combat skills are officially handwaved, I don't have to feel like having a back story means shooting myself in the foot. I just write "Former Farm Yokel" in the notes section and I'm good to go. If there is ever a part of the adventure that involves evaluating a wagonload of turnips, we can safely assume that my Farm Yokel powers kick in at that point and I make a good call on the turnips. Likewise, "The Vagabond", wandering Half-Elf sellsword and magical dabbler, doesn't need to sink his precious skill points into Play Lute. You wanna play the lute, pal? Knock yerself out. Can he sing us up some free lodging from time to time? Sure, why not? Just because it makes a difference in the game doesn't mean that it should be dissected and balanced within the rules framework. [/QUOTE]
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