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Why Has D&D, and 5e in Particular, Gone Down the Road of Ubiquitous Magic?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6829788" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think your claim that most players don't want what they have is doubtful. I've also never found magic to be impressive because of its rarity - in my experience it was not actually all that rare in AD&D play. Whether magic is cast every round, or every encounter, or most encounters, isn't a very significant difference in rarity when the typical unit of play and of recollection is <em>the session</em>. To the extent that magic has been impressive in D&D, its because of the effects that it enables. And I don't feel that those have changed all that radically over the editions, although some of the details of implementation have.</p><p></p><p>(I'm also doubtful about your analysis of 4e healing - in my experience minor action heals are very effective, unlocking healing surges without destroying action economy; and the daily surge-restorers can also be very helpful.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>What Fanaelialae says seems right to me. A deliberate effect of the asymmetric balance in 5e is that spell-casters have more, and more reliable, access to "spike" effects (damage, disintegrating walls, charming monsters, etc) than to other PCs.</p><p></p><p>Even in 4e, which is far more symmetrical than 5e, there are elements of this, because spell-casters have access to a better range of conditions, and of AoE condition infliction, than do fighters and other non-casters.</p><p></p><p>These are the stand-out effects that make magic seem impressive, and hence desirable to players.</p><p></p><p>*************************************</p><p></p><p>In my current BW campaign money is precious because the PCs are all broke and getting broker. In that respect, money can be made like hit points - a precious resource that is not as easily restored as it is lost. But D&D magic tends not to have this flavour except at low levels in the classic editions.</p><p></p><p>It's a bit of a tangent, but I think there are ways to motivate the players to engage the game via their PC other than via the promise of wealth. If wealth is nevertheless necessary for doing the stuff the PCs (and their players) want to do, then even small gains of money can be quite exciting to the players (and their PCs).</p><p></p><p>But I don't think this provides a very good model for D&D magic, which is not an especially precious resource most of the time. (A contrast here might be RQ, where spells are in one sense more ubiquitous, but also harder to acquire - requiring ingame steps to be taken to acquire them, and in some cases a permanent stat sacrifice.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6829788, member: 42582"] I think your claim that most players don't want what they have is doubtful. I've also never found magic to be impressive because of its rarity - in my experience it was not actually all that rare in AD&D play. Whether magic is cast every round, or every encounter, or most encounters, isn't a very significant difference in rarity when the typical unit of play and of recollection is [I]the session[/I]. To the extent that magic has been impressive in D&D, its because of the effects that it enables. And I don't feel that those have changed all that radically over the editions, although some of the details of implementation have. (I'm also doubtful about your analysis of 4e healing - in my experience minor action heals are very effective, unlocking healing surges without destroying action economy; and the daily surge-restorers can also be very helpful.) What Fanaelialae says seems right to me. A deliberate effect of the asymmetric balance in 5e is that spell-casters have more, and more reliable, access to "spike" effects (damage, disintegrating walls, charming monsters, etc) than to other PCs. Even in 4e, which is far more symmetrical than 5e, there are elements of this, because spell-casters have access to a better range of conditions, and of AoE condition infliction, than do fighters and other non-casters. These are the stand-out effects that make magic seem impressive, and hence desirable to players. ************************************* In my current BW campaign money is precious because the PCs are all broke and getting broker. In that respect, money can be made like hit points - a precious resource that is not as easily restored as it is lost. But D&D magic tends not to have this flavour except at low levels in the classic editions. It's a bit of a tangent, but I think there are ways to motivate the players to engage the game via their PC other than via the promise of wealth. If wealth is nevertheless necessary for doing the stuff the PCs (and their players) want to do, then even small gains of money can be quite exciting to the players (and their PCs). But I don't think this provides a very good model for D&D magic, which is not an especially precious resource most of the time. (A contrast here might be RQ, where spells are in one sense more ubiquitous, but also harder to acquire - requiring ingame steps to be taken to acquire them, and in some cases a permanent stat sacrifice.) [/QUOTE]
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Why Has D&D, and 5e in Particular, Gone Down the Road of Ubiquitous Magic?
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