Quote:
Originally Posted by Illuminated One
@Omniziron
I'd drop the thing with the harmonic mean and instead us a linear or custom formula.
With the harmonic mean chance is that a character focusing on a certain weapon will do worse in combat than a character just leveling up all attributes evenly - even with the weapon that he's specialized in.
To make personalizing the character rewarding specialization has to pay off, I'd even say to the point that you get a big boost in the field where you are expert. The drawback would be that a specialized character has a hard time of dealing with situations outside of this field.
|
this isn't true. it simply means that this character can't dump all points into using THAT ONE WEAPON while allowing the character to remain dumb as a box of rocks, oblivious as an Alzheimer's patient, and clumsy as a cow on rollerskates and still expect to use that weapon with any efficiency. It really blunts min-maxing that simpler systems cannot stop. Also, and this isn't explicitly in the system yet, but it will allow for the reality that knowing how to use weapons other than that of your specialty will actually improve your skill with your specialized weapon due to a cognitive process called synthesis. I actually read a lot about this while I was tooling through martial arts boards (people talking about improving their kendo or some other skill by learning to use a naginata or something).
also, specialization's downside being lack of diversity is a crock of **** in any system that doesn't penalize lack of diversity:
"yes, I do +23 damage, have +12 attack, and get 9 attacks per round with my longswords. but that's ALL I can do, and just think of all the stuff I'm missing out on doing... like... like... singing opera... and cooking... and writing poetry... Don't you see how my character suffers due to its extreme specialization. It's pure torture. But the world needs me, so I trudge on."