Do caster out of combat options matter?

[Dr.Samurai]

So you may as well ban it? Is that what you're saying?

Seriously? Not even close.

I'll post a more in-depth response when I have time.

And is this usual for your games? In D&D, with its default of Great Wheel cosmology? A character, and player, can, at level 1, know there are other planes outside the Prime Material and start planning whether they want to visit them or not.



You are falling prey to the presumption of predestination. Placing an element in a game as a place that can be visited, does not mean it will be visited - that choice can be left to the players. With the addition that there can be a window of opportunity for when they can make that choice - miss that window, and that place is off limits.

These two comments seem at odds to me. On the one hand, the mere existence of other planes of existence means that characters should consider going to the other planes when generating their characters. On the other hand, the mere existence of other planes of existence should not lead anyone to assume that they will travel there during the game.

Seems Stoutstein is closer than you're giving him credit for.

It's neither a waste of design space nor a waste of time - a move space bigger than what a single play-through can cover is necessary for there to be choice at all and doesn't take more time to achieve than a fragile linear script. Again, consider the simple example of four encounters, played strictly in order versus played in any order.

If casting Plane Shift is the only way forward, then you are arguing for the exact type of fragile linear script you're arguing against here.