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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 4129088" data-attributes="member: 150">one more thought, after finally skimming the whole way through your referenced thread . . . I don't believe for a minute that the new system will not be without balance problems and a few clear mistakes.  As far as I can tell, they've pushed through the playtesting process a lot faster than the 3.0 version did, and that one had it's own intractable problems that had to be fixed with 3.5.  The game evolves and (hopefully) improves. That said, I am totally on board with the idea of starting practically from scratch and being willing to change some of the core ideas of the game -- including the idea that casters get more and more powerful as the characters level.*  They've clearly made a concerted effort to design a game where every class is fun to play all the way from 1 to 30.  That means making wizards more flexible and effective at low levels, and probably less effective at higher levels.  It also means making the healing efforts of paladins and clerics minor actions so that they can still take standard actions that are "fun" -- so they won't be relegated to support only roles.  Another choice they've made is to move away from direct simulation of a lot of mechanics in the interest of brevity and simplicity. Mirror image is an example of that effort.  What they've decided to do is eliminate the time spent, every time a target with mirror image is attacked, going through "all right, Bonzo has 6 images and himself, so I'll roll an 8 sided and the attack will hit Bonzo on a 1, an image on a 2-7, and I'll just reroll if I get an 8". Grognards will say "I like that!  I'm not afraid to do that sort calculation and making that sort of roll! You didn't need to change that!"But the Gorgnards need to accept that WOTC is not designing the game for them.  The game is being designed for players who did not grow up with 1st and 2nd editions, with a completely new mechanic for everything the game tries to simulate.  It's being designed for a broader audience, one that will wander away from mechanics like the 3.5 mirror image mechanic (or lack of real mechanic). Maybe they're taking the effort to simplify the rules too far; I don't know. What I do know is that I find the philosophical underpinnings of the decisions they're making in the new edition to be powerful, revolutionary, and for me, right on target. When those philosophical ideas hit some of the concepts from previous editions, there is the clear potential for problems and some dissatisfaction among the faithful.  But I think most of the faithful will come around, once they've had a chance to play.*this is an idea that is debated in the thread you cite, but I'd argue that for a combat class to rock the house at high levels, it requires a very carefully constructed character, a very experienced player, and a very focused build.  A caster at high level doesn't need those things to rock the house, they are pretty much rock and roll right out of the box.</blockquote>

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