So I just read Monte Cook’s last Legend & Lore article. Despite being interesting, I can’t say I agree with the design philosophy insight we got from it. Don’t get me wrong: I agree with the importance ordering, only not what they represent mechanically, as he explained them in the article.
Yes, the choice of class should have the greatest impact on the options you get to create your character, but I don’t think it should impact too much on the way a character is played (role). Creating a character is a very personal thing and classes should indeed serve as Archetype to propose a set of abilities relevant to that character, and provide references in pop culture. There can (and must) be Wizards that can deal damage as well as tank; only the methods should differ from the same role seen with a Fighter. For instance, the fighter might use his shield and melee crowd control to protect his party, while the wizard might use a colossal golem to draw the attacks or use protection spells to shield allies from harm.
Also, I was very surprised to see Race so high in this ordering, since Race traditionally had a very small impact (mechanically) on characters in previous versions of D&D or in other games out there. Being an elf usually only slightly affects scores and customization elements (bonus to a skill, bonus feat) and changes very little of how that character plays out. This highlights the fact that it has always been weird that Race comes first in character creation processes, while most considered it a ‘tweaking’ step. I agree, however, that the impact of Race has often been deceivingly small and that it should certainly be fixed.
Another way of ordering Class, Race, Scores and Elements
I would find it more logical to approach the ordering of these character properties with some sort of hierarchical chain. It doesn’t represent a property’s importance/impact on a character, it only indicates which property impact on which.
- Has an impact on different ability scores
- Has an impact on a character’s choice of class, or mechanics of individual classes.
- Has an impact on available customization elements and their strength.
2 Ability Scores
- Has an impact on a character’s choice of class, or mechanics of individual classes.
- Has an impact on available customization elements and their strength.
3 Class
- Has an impact on a character’s available customization elements
4 Customization Elements: Impact on the ROLE you have in the game.
