Forum Overview :: Rants :: I fear not gay defenses of D&D

[quote name="Damocles"][quote name="FABIO"][quote name="Arbit"][quote name="FABIO"] The whole D&D memorizing spells thing is gay because it makes no god damn sense. [/quote] You realize that this game has fairies, dragons, and people shooting lightning bolts out of their bodies, right? But anyway, I think the official story (in the rulebook, which I do not have handy) is that when your character is "memorizing" spells, he is actually casting most of the spell- the somatic and/or verbal components are just the finishing touches that fires off the spell. -Arbit[/quote] It'll still lead to situations were your 25th level wizard is all "out of" 1st level spells yet can still cast wish or whatever the uber-powerful thing is these days. What the hell's wrong with spell/endurance points? Makes more sense and more importantly, less paperwork.[/quote] Nothing's wrong with either... D&D emphasizes that you can't just toss off magic, and that low-level spells can be important. Magic takes a while, and anything where it seems like you're not tossing off fifty fireballs a day helps keep magic as "magic", as opposed to artillery with neat F/X. On the other hand, "endurance" systems emphasize that it's physically draining. One works better if magic is some sort of arcane art (like in D&D), the other if it's a physical and innate skill. If magic isn't supposed to be physically draining, though, MP are pointless. Also, D&D 3rd Ed. has a kind of "point" system in that "Sorcerers" don't need to memorize- they can toss off "X" number of spells a day, and can burn extra daily "spells" in order to cast lower-level spells at a higher level (or vice versa, within limits), neatly dealing with that 25th level thing. Personally, I think MP are a lame copout though. Best "endurance" system is Shadowrun's, where powerful spells can be draining enough to KILL you and all the associated magical crap (like focii and gestures and limited usage and the like) are largely attempts to keep magic users alive by having the spell draw on other sources of energy. That, I like. [/quote]