http://tabletopsblog.com/?p=83 RPGs, board games, card games, and hilarious nonsense. Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:53:03 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://tabletopsblog.com/?p=83&cpage=1#comment-72 Roger Alix-Gaudreau Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:05:04 +0000 http://tabletopsblog.com/?p=83#comment-72 This advice is spot on, and I would suggest that you could even take it a step further. Not only should the DM avoid negating the character's new ability except in certain special encounters, but he should sometimes actually *showcase* it. Make the character's new ability important to the adventure in some meaningful way, and the player will be that much more psyched and have more fun. If the party would have a very difficult time or could not succeed without that new ability -- for example, maybe they can't get into a complete sealed chamber without the wizard's new teleportation magic -- then the player is likely to cherish his choice and remember/talk about the adventure where it was so important. (Like so many other pieces of advice, you can't do this all the time, lest things become hard to believe.) In short, don't shut down the characters' new abilities -- make them vital tools! This advice is spot on, and I would suggest that you could even take it a step further. Not only should the DM avoid negating the character’s new ability except in certain special encounters, but he should sometimes actually *showcase* it. Make the character’s new ability important to the adventure in some meaningful way, and the player will be that much more psyched and have more fun. If the party would have a very difficult time or could not succeed without that new ability — for example, maybe they can’t get into a complete sealed chamber without the wizard’s new teleportation magic — then the player is likely to cherish his choice and remember/talk about the adventure where it was so important. (Like so many other pieces of advice, you can’t do this all the time, lest things become hard to believe.) In short, don’t shut down the characters’ new abilities — make them vital tools!

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