Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6747247" data-attributes="member: 4937">In the vast majority of fantasy, superstitions are real and superstitions are all about managing luck in some form.  The exact origin of that luck is different between settings, chiefly in whether or not the luck is caused by sentient forces, but luck exists in everything from Grimm's fairy tales, to Diana Wynne Jones, to the work's of Tolkien, to Robert Jordan.  Indeed, in The Hobbit, the beginning of the story revolves around the need of 13 Dwarves to select a 14th member of their party because 13 would bring terrible bad luck.  As it turns out, without making that choice, the quest would have failed.  In the vast majority of fantasy worlds, luck is real - even tangible. In the vast majority of fantasy world's it's explicitly not the external author of the story intervening that is the source of luck, but some internal agent existing within the story.  Indeed, since in the vast majority of fantasy stories superstitution is real and has a basis in fact, you could have Knowledge (Luck) in a setting and as long as you were willing to go through the work of layering that aspect of reality on to your fantasy world, then it would be in and of itself quite powerful.   What you really mean is that in the vast majority of D&D worlds, luck doesn't exist.  That, I agree with.JRR Tolkien served on the front lines in WWI.  His son fought in the RAF in WWII.  What exactly is your basis of judging the story realistic?  How are you qualified?I think you are the one missing the point here, on multiple levels.  The concept of the class is not to be just as good in a fight as a Fighter, or just as good at stealth as a Rogue.  The concept is to be a viable Jack of All Trades, because luck - as an expendable resource - makes up somewhat for the deficiency in native skill.  The point is not that Ron Stoppable is in any way as competent as Kim Possible.  The point is Kim needs Ron on the team, because he adds resources to the party that Kim doesn't have.  And this strange and unexpected but observable fact is something that D&D doesn't handle well.   If you can balance a martial class with a spellcaster, you can certainly balance a martial class with lucky guy.</blockquote>

Verification