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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xyanthon" data-source="post: 3256530" data-attributes="member: 9181">I don’t think that there was anything “wrong” with class and level limits.  They were implemented at the time to retain balance so that humans would be predominant in terms of what the players would choose.  At the time, this was done through the lens of what was expected in fantasy.  Most stories revolved around human protagonists that the readers could identify with (I know, LotR and the companions).  If I recall correctly, part of the reason for the racial limits was put forth not just to balance humans against the other races, but because the other races were viewed as being apart from the happenings of the world.  For instance, halflings and their low level limits reflected the view that the vast majority of halflings would like nothing more than creature comfort and the ways of adventurers was beyond them.  Similarly, elves and dwarves wanted to retreat from the world as it was the age of man.  Fantasy of the time tended to view elves and dwarves as mysterious "others" that had little interaction with humans (again, I know there are exceptions).  There were few tales where the heroes were not human and this is reflected in the game ("Sure you can be a halfling.  However, as they rarely care for adventure you'll only be able to progress to a certain point before the longings of hearth and home will pull you away from a life of adventure").Yeah, at the time I'll admit that I did away with the class and level limits.  They seemed to stifle the fun.  Afterall, since elves and dwarves WERE mysterious others; why wouldn't I want to play one?  And since my pals that played humans had unlimited progression, why couldn't my elf who has a lifespan far longer than any human level up as far as they did?  Now, I prefer human centered campaigns.  I can justify why certain races would only be certain classes and why they would only progress to a certain point.  I'd encourage my players to be humans and try to bring the elves and dwarves and the rest back to their former status as "mysterious others".  It is just my prefered playstyle.  I am to the point that I don't like having 50 sentient races running about.  It just doesn't make any sense to me.  And from my past experience, many people don't play demihumans (or even more alien character concepts) any different than humans with different statistical adjustments.  I mean, why would elves want to associate with shorter lived humans?  I'm sure dwarves have a much different outlook on the world than humans do.  Why would they want to go off and fight dragons and the like?  For me, the vast majority of them would want to stick to their mountain halls and mine their ores and live their lives in ways that humans may not comprehend.  So there wouldn't be much choice for most dwarves (be a pala-what?  Nah, I'll stick to being a miner like my honored father and his father before him...).Whew, sorry for the long post and I could go on... However, I think I've gotten out most of what I wanted to communicate.  I have no problem with later editions of the game letting people play whatever crazy concept that their heart desires.  However, I don't think it is fair to look at older editions of the game through a lens of today's fantasy concepts and say that it was just "badwrongfun".  That's not really fair.  Afterall, I'm sure in another thirty years, players will look back at 3.x and say "what the heck were those guys thinking?"  So I'll go back and recreate the fantasy I like with my older edition of the game.  And when I want something different, I'll get a game of 3.x on.</blockquote>

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