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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What do you Consider to be a "Unique" Mechanic?
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7881533" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>I was having a discussion the other day about D&D and I mentioned, (as I've mentioned on these boards before) that I thought that 4e and 5e share a lot of mechanics. My conversation partner disagreed and I brought up the notion of short and long rest. The whole two step recovery system, while slightly different in the in-game time requirements) work exactly the same way. They're the same mechanic, just with a minor variation. The other person totally disagreed with me and stated that the change in time requirements made the two systems completely different.</p><p></p><p>I've run into this sort of thing elsewhere too. Talking about classes and how the classes don't really have any new mechanics - it's all X abilities/Y time period. The effects might be different, but, the mechanics are the same. Being immune to X or Y isn't two mechanics, it's just one mechanic (immunity to ) with a different effect. </p><p></p><p>Do you consider each spell to be a unique mechanic? Or, are the underlying mechanics (level, casting time, etc) pretty much the same for all spells, which only differ by effect.</p><p></p><p>I guess my basic question is, is effect enough to make for a completely new mechanic? In my mind, it doesn't. A sword and a dagger deal different damage, but, the mechanics of both are identical. 3e skills and 5e skills work exactly the same - roll a d20 plus a modifier vs a DC. There are differences of course, the DC's in 5e are capped by bounded accuracy, but, the mechanic is the same.</p><p></p><p>Or, am I stuck on too narrow a definition?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7881533, member: 22779"] I was having a discussion the other day about D&D and I mentioned, (as I've mentioned on these boards before) that I thought that 4e and 5e share a lot of mechanics. My conversation partner disagreed and I brought up the notion of short and long rest. The whole two step recovery system, while slightly different in the in-game time requirements) work exactly the same way. They're the same mechanic, just with a minor variation. The other person totally disagreed with me and stated that the change in time requirements made the two systems completely different. I've run into this sort of thing elsewhere too. Talking about classes and how the classes don't really have any new mechanics - it's all X abilities/Y time period. The effects might be different, but, the mechanics are the same. Being immune to X or Y isn't two mechanics, it's just one mechanic (immunity to ) with a different effect. Do you consider each spell to be a unique mechanic? Or, are the underlying mechanics (level, casting time, etc) pretty much the same for all spells, which only differ by effect. I guess my basic question is, is effect enough to make for a completely new mechanic? In my mind, it doesn't. A sword and a dagger deal different damage, but, the mechanics of both are identical. 3e skills and 5e skills work exactly the same - roll a d20 plus a modifier vs a DC. There are differences of course, the DC's in 5e are capped by bounded accuracy, but, the mechanic is the same. Or, am I stuck on too narrow a definition? [/QUOTE]
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