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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ConcreteBuddha" data-source="post: 157261" data-attributes="member: 3139">Okay, first off:Sorry if my last post was not-user friendly. It was late and I was getting lazy. I will from now on attempt to state my opinion instead of criticizing other's points exclusively. With that in mind, let me explain my point of view: 1) This is the DnD Rules Forum. I am assuming that everyone advocating a rules change wants to make that rule a permanent addition to DnD. If this is not the case, then those are house rules and belong in that forum. 1a) Those wishing to alter the rules permanently have the burden of proof to show that the rules are "broken" for most games, not just their campaign(s). 1b) Defenders of the rules do not have the burden of proof. They do not have to show that the rules are "fixed" in all instances, just the instances that they are aware of. 1c) I like House Rules. I have lots of HRs for my campaign. In fact, I discarded cross-class skills in my campaign. But I do not consider cross-class skills "broken". They are good if you have the assumptions the game designers had. I also attempted to see the possible balance changes that could occur and fix them beforehand. 2) I disagree that a Paladin has to have more "ability score requirements" to be an effective member of a party. 2a) A Paladin gains more from having multiple "average" stats than a few spectatular stats.Example with 32 point buy: Paladin: 14 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 12 Int, 14 Wis, 14 ChrFighter: 18 Str, 12 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 8 Chr 3) The abilities of ANY class are only useful if the DM says so. 3a) A Paladin's abilities are useful in my campaigns. 4) I do not agree that Intellegence is less effective than Strength. Every low ability score should be penalized to the degree with which it is abnormal. 5) I do not agree with increasing the # of skill points a class receives. Why? Three reasons: 5a) In DnD, Versatility always comes at the price of Specialization.Example: If a DM were to give 1st level Cleric spells to every class and give a Cleric 2 extra 1st level spells, both would benefit, but the Fighter would benefit more than the Cleric because the fighter gained more Versatility than the Cleric. 5b) Just because DnD has class lists, does not mean that every skill should be maxed to capacity. Meaning: A Rogue has 31 class skills. If the designers had intended all 31 class skills to be maxed, they would have given the Rogue 31 skill points per level. At 1st level, if the Rogue puts 1 point into all 31 skills, the Rogue is going to be less effective at each individual skill than a specialist. Why?Versatility comes at the price of Specialization. 5c) Lord Pendragon said it better than I could: The paladin as written can do all these things. They're untrained skills, which means that any PC can do them. Do I think a paladin can climb as well as a monk? No. Or swim as well as a barbarian? No. Or spot like a ranger? No. Or for god's sake Sense Motive like a rogue? No. These skills are part of the training and way of life of other classes. That's why those classes are better at them than the average joe (represented by skill ranks above and beyond an untrained check.) The paladin doesn't receive training to climb better, swim stronger, spot more keenly, or sense someone's hidden motives any more than his innate wisdom allows him. -Lord Pendragon 6) Versatility is a virtue in DnD. Example: If we have the Fighter-Mage-Thief-Cleric party, and the Cleric drops, then the party cannot function, because the party cannot heal. If we have a Paladin-Mage-Thief-Cleric party, the Versatility the Paladin provides balances out the lack of a Specialized Fighter-Tank. 7) I do not think the Cleric is balanced. I believe the Cleric is the most powerful class in DnD. If one disregards the Cleric and looks at all of the other classes, all 10 of them are more or less balanced with each other. The only thing the Cleric cannot do is Disable Device, which is why a powergaming group needs a token Rogue. That is why I disregard "why don't you just play a F/C?" attacks against the Paladin.    8) I have played a Paladin. It is my favorite class......That's it for now, this post was getting too long and people are lazy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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