@mikemearls Detect thoughts needing a copper (“penny for your thoughts”), see invisibility requiring powder (thrown on the invisible target so that it becomes visible), and fireball requiring guano and sulphur (primitive gunpowder) doesn’t make me laugh, it ruins my immersion.
@mikemearls I understand spell foci in certain circumstances. An ultra-strong spell like shapechange needing some (rare and expensive) physical item to help channel the magic is useful for balancing. What I don’t like and have never liked is the spell components that are gags.
@mikemearls And even deeper, there’s still the issue that the rule text hasn’t been updated to dispel manor fallacies that lead to frustration. Eg. Explicitly saying damage is abstract would get people off the idea that high-level characters are gods, which the mechanics don’t support.
For example, there’s that popular one that’s a customizable Swiss Army knife of effects that normally require attunement individually. I don’t care why it lets someone float over difficult terrain, double their movement, and sneak attack with greatsword damage, it’s broken.
I respect the point, but:
(1) With the suggested prices for spellcasting services, the vast majority of people couldn’t afford to fix every minor scar. They would, however, splurge if it meant being able to walk; and
If you want to give a character a magic wheelchair that lets them navigate environments exactly like their able-bodied companions, fine. The problem arises when the wheelchair has game-breaking bells and whistles, which always seems to happen when people design a battle chair.
@MerricB 99% of the changes were not asked for, and those that showed promise after the first or second iteration were rubber stamped and not touched again, even when major changes happened to the rest of the game. There’s so much backsliding into 4e design that I’m actually uninterested.
@MerricB All of these things have been strongly advocated for by anyone I’ve played with for the last ten years. None of them were done. Even (2), which was supposedly the initial plan, was abandoned. Instead, we get a dumb weapon mastery system that is complicated in all the wrong ways.
@d20play The level of complaining I have seen about this change is astonishing. Paladins are Charisma half-casters with the best defensive feature, best healing feature, second-best Hit Die, and access to the new Fighting Styles and Weapon Mastery features. Losing a nova turn is fine.
@ThinkingDM They also need to finally cut the strings between ability and skill. It’s stupid to have something like Intimidate under Charisma when it’s meant to be something you can also do using Strength. Yet, they insist on treating that as a variant, and reinforcing it in the sheets.
@davidgaider I thought it was a DA-themed MOBA expansion at first. That would have been bad enough. How are we supposed to take the dark fantasy milieu seriously if our characters look like they’re about to break out into Fortnite dances? And what, our MC gets picked at random in a bar?