I don't have a problem with PCs using all their cool toys to best effect. I have no problem with players building their characters to squeeze out as much juice as possible from the system. I have no problem with players having powerful characters (or I wouldn't ever grant experience points).
I do, however, have a problem with players "forgetting" the limits of their powers, or "remembering" what spells they've used between sessions.
The examples that follow come from the current game, although not necessarily yesterday's session:
If you fire a crossbow (or other missile weapon), you have to cross off a bolt. Likewise, charges of wands, your limited lay on hands ability, and so on. Immediately. Don't "remember" it until the end of the combat, and certainly don't "remember" it until the next session.
If you cast a spell, you have to note that on your character sheet as well. Again, it should be done immediately.
If you take damage, this should also normally be noted. However, in this case the hit points are all being tracked centrally, so it doesn't really matter.
If you cast a spell, you need to know exactly what it does. Ideally, you should always look up every spell you cast, just to be sure. You might think some spells are so well-known that this is unnecessary, but if that's the case, here are three questions: What is the range of a fireball? How far apart can the targets of a magic missile be? What is the duration of a shield spell?
There are two reasons for this:
1) The character sheets are being replaced every few weeks. There shouldn't be any risk of them wearing out in the meantime (and even if they do, I can just print new ones).
2) People make mistakes when they're remembering things. This is a fact. Oddly enough, when players are "remembering" that they've fired a certain number of shots, or that they've cast some spells, or that their spell allows them to use wands for three rounds without expending charges, and make a mistake, somehow they always, always make the mistake in their own favour.
When running a game, I don't want to be the guy who constantly has to check up on what players are doing. I don't want to have to constantly remind people to cross off every bloody crossbow bolt they fire, or that their favourite spell works on one wand, not on any wand they use during the duration of the spell.
The other thing is this - creating a powerful character legally within the rules is power-gaming, but basically okay. Forgetting the limits of your characters powers, or combining powers in a way that isn't okay within the rules is munchkinism, is cheating, and screws up the game. And that really pisses me off.
Okay, I'm going to stop ranting now.
Archived comment by Andrew:
ReplyDeleteOne thing that was pissing me off from the last game was Craig's moaning about losing Strength and thus having a "crap fighter".
As for marking off arrows/bolts I've been doing that when I've used a ranged weapon, which seems to be less and less. This is obviously more important if you have magic arrows (I think Vibius has them?) since they are rare items. One more thing, any chance we can have some sort of time limit on how long magic users have on deciding what to do? For example, 10-30 seconds to decide spell to cast and/or where to place the effect? Maybe it's only just frustration because Vibius wanted to hit NPC's lots and nick their stuff?
Archived comment by me:
ReplyDeleteStrength Drain
I would have understood Craig's complaints if either (a) he'd moaned for a little while and then shut the hell up, thus making it amusing, or (b) we were using the encumberance rules, such that he really wouldn't have been able to wear his armour, and so would have been pretty crappy.
(To be fair, the permanent Strength drain is rather more harsh. However, that's only a single point, and actually makes not a single bit of difference to his character's performance.)
As it is, the constant moaning was just a pain, and seems to reflect something inherent in d20 games: the cult of high stats. Somehow, it has become established as fact that you need an 18 in your prime spellcasting stat, or you'll have a crap character. And you absolutely must have at least 16 in Strength to be a fighter, 16 Dex to be a rogue, and so forth.
I blame second edition (well, and first actually), where you not only needed minimum scores to even qualify for a class, but also got extra experience for having higher stats. Thus effectively indoctrinating players into the notion that they needed high stats to have a good character.
Besides it wasn't as though the penalty was applied arbitrarily - the character was hit in combat, and then failed two Fortitude saves. Presumably, he expected that your enemies would only fight with nice, clean non-poisoned weapons. (And heaven help us when you start fighting undead, with their level draining ability.)
Ammunition
To be fair, people have been marking off their ammunition diligently, ever since I called Roger on it a few weeks ago. However, I did note that a couple of people in the last three weeks or so haven't been tracking spells as they should, often from week to week, which is the same issue.
You're right about magic arrows being more important than mundane ones. However, it was Tekkis who had them, so they're gone now.
Time limits on actions
I've commented on this here before. To be fair, spell-casters have a bit more to worry about than melee characters, so will inevitably need more time.
That said, I do maintain that players in general should have a fairly solid idea of what they're going to do before their turn rolls around. That way, all they need to do is place the spell effect, and they're done. I noticed that Andreas called Roger on this on Saturday; we'll see if further words are necessary.