Desdichado
Hero
I'm not talking about tone and theme. And I'm not talking about classes, races and sourcebooks. I agree with you 100% on that.Nah. You are seeing thing backwards imo.
The DM proposes a campaign tone and theme and then the players should adjust and build characters that would fit into that campaign.
Also, I strongly believe that every DM should make a list of which classes, races and sourcebooks are allowed at any given campaign.
Guess our views on that matter are diametrically opposite.
I'm talking very specifically on the idea that if the players don't build a "balanced party" then their chances of failure increase, because the game the GM has in mind was not built with the actual PCs in mind. Ultimately, that's the deeper root cause of my extreme position on this one very specific issue. Good GMing is GMing with the PCs in mind, not "generic campaign that any group of players could play". Otherwise, the game is unlikely to rise above mediocre to OK.