From: brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com (Brian Brunner)
Subject: Re: ADND2: Help with Dual-Class
Keywords:  game differs because we do.
Reply-To: brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com (Brian Brunner)
Organization: Space Systems/Loral
Distribution: fb20
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 11:39:55 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.110634.29780@cs.tu-berlin.de>,
vocilka@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de (Frank Vocilka) writes:
|> wildcard@nevada.edu ( WildCard !!) writes:
|> 
|> >My problem:
|> >	There is a character who wishes to be dual-classed.

|> This, like most of the AD&D rules, is not because of logical reasons
but for the
|> sake of the game balance

Bite your tongue, sir.
If you are playing a *game* (roll-playing) game balance is a useful
thing and game balance rules are possibly logical. Your statement is a
flat "if it is for game balance it is not logical". What is the logical
premise
for AD&D? Varies with the user. Competetive games like convention
runs that are judged on points require some balancing so there is
no best, worst, or most advantaged or most crippled character.
If the house game (sum of AD&D rules & house rules & players
& DM(s) & interests) is a competetive sport (some  extremists would
be tempted to call this a board game without a fixed board, bite
your collective tongues, sirs) then indeed level limits and class
limits
and all kinds of limits have an appropriate niche. If you are
role-playing,
writing a book without a publishing author (and some with a publishing
author) then the rules and limits are the servants of the game, not
its' definition, and a completly different discernment of what is
logical
comes into focus.

I spot, amongst many of us, a tendency to interpret ALL RPG activity
through the eyes of "why am *I* playing this" as if that were the only,
or at least the best, way to do it. AD&D is the most prone to this
me-centeredness I have seen of the games, but the, who plays serious
toon anyway? We play toon seriously, but do we play serious toon?
Book material? Character depth and attachment? Do these  things
happen in other games? WHFRP? Paranoia? Shadowrun?
Different answers for each game, no? and different answers depending
on the player.

So.. like, man, what is the intelligent reason behind the dual-class
intellectual origami, you ask me?

When you change class (fighter->mage) you are starting out a new
character (theoretically) with other new characters, and growing
up with them. Having advantages from your old class makes you the
overpowering chacter. Hight hit points (from your old class) just
barely
allows you to not throw away all the work you put into the character in
the first place. So, if we're playing a boardless-boardgame (remember
EGG) we need to put those old abilities away while we grow up in a new
class. All very logical. If you are role-playing (developing Raistlin
the Cleric of Fillintheblank) you gotta concentrate on the abilities
you
are developing now, just like you concentrated on being a mage before.
HOWEVER... what "concentrate" means will vary with character, party,
player, DM, and Context. What *IS* logical now? Varies. Lots.

Please excuse me, it is time to go home and chew my own tongue.
I'm sounding to damn pontificatious (look THAT word up!) for my own
liking.

Have a day.

--
HELP!! Somebody slapped a "stop payment" on my sanity check!!
brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com; Space Systems/Loral; Palo Alto, Calif.
Black Holes... the /dev/null of the Universe; the opinion of 65534.