D&D General Things That Bug You

[overgeeked]

Having the option to always use a quarterstaff one handed. I get that in real life certain strikes use one hand to get reach, but you can do the same with a two-handed sword. It's situational and you still return to two-handed after the strike. In any case, I blame the LOTR and Gandalf waving his staff around to distract the enemy for this.

Staves and spears should have reach.

 

[TwoSix]

I think it's mostly to explain how you can summon a wolf in a dungeon, in a tower, on an airship, etc without it breaking what little sense of "realism" or verisimilitude there is in D&D. If it weren't for that spirit rule, you'd see endless arguments about how long it would take the nearest wolf to respond to a summon spell outside their natural habitat.

Yep. Plus summoning a natural creature from a long way away makes a summon spell into a combination powerful divination (finding the creatures) powerful teleportation (gating it hundreds of miles away) and powerful enchantment (the creature is essentially dominated), without being able to break it apart into its constituent abilities.

Turning a non-statted spirit that exists only in the narrative into a temporary material creature is a lot cleaner and easier in terms of understanding the narrative of the spell.

 

[Reynard]

I think it's mostly to explain how you can summon a wolf in a dungeon, in a tower, on an airship, etc without it breaking what little sense of "realism" or verisimilitude there is in D&D. If it weren't for that spirit rule, you'd see endless arguments about how long it would take the nearest wolf to respond to a summon spell outside their natural habitat.

I am still talking about magically making the thing appear -- just that it should actually be the thing, not some spirit in disguise.

 

[Reynard]

Yep. Plus summoning a natural creature from a long way away makes a summon spell into a combination powerful divination (finding the creatures) powerful teleportation (gating it hundreds of miles away) and powerful enchantment (the creature is essentially dominated), without being able to break it apart into its constituent abilities.

Turning a non-statted spirit that exists only in the narrative into a temporary material creature is a lot cleaner and easier in terms of understanding the narrative of the spell.

That doesn't really track. In D&D spells only do what they actually do. There's no "effects based casting" where you can use your Dimension Door spell to knock down a castle wall because the door splits reality or whatever random explanation you want to have. Summoning a creature only does exactly what it says it does. It does NOT involve scrying, teleportation and domination. It makes a creature appear that follows your orders. Maybe it's because there are time travelling courier imps in the transitive planes that get your request and go through a months long process of training the right creature for you then sending it to your location through a temporal rift. It could be anything.

I just think it is more interesting and improves my sense of verisimilitude if it is a real thing.

 

[embee]

How do people know how long it takes to get from Neverwinter to Waterdeep then?

Why would you walk or ride a horse from Neverwinter to Waterdeep? Ships exist in D&D and are faster.

 

[CleverNickName]

"Magic Items for Sale" has always bugged me. The thought of walking down to the nearest market and grabbing a 12-pack of healing potions and a flaming sword off the rack will always stick in my craw. That's something I've come to expect from video games and kid-lit like Harry Potter, but I never liked it in my TTRPGs.

 

[iserith]

Yep. Plus summoning a natural creature from a long way away makes a summon spell into a combination powerful divination (finding the creatures) powerful teleportation (gating it hundreds of miles away) and powerful enchantment (the creature is essentially dominated), without being able to break it apart into its constituent abilities.

Turning a non-statted spirit that exists only in the narrative into a temporary material creature is a lot cleaner and easier in terms of understanding the narrative of the spell.

Didn't it used to be a thing in 2e that this magical hook would appear and grab the summoned creature wherever they were and then bring them to the summoner?

 

[el-remmen]

Yep. Plus summoning a natural creature from a long way away makes a summon spell into a combination powerful divination (finding the creatures) powerful teleportation (gating it hundreds of miles away) and powerful enchantment (the creature is essentially dominated), without being able to break it apart into its constituent abilities.

Turning a non-statted spirit that exists only in the narrative into a temporary material creature is a lot cleaner and easier in terms of understanding the narrative of the spell.

When I ran 3E, I ruled that all such animals were counterparts from "The Beastlands" in the outer planes who had agreed to serve various Powers to be summoned in this way. Thus when you got Celestial or Fiendish versions they came from a similar deal in appropriate planes.

 

[overgeeked]

"Magic Items for Sale" has always bugged me. The thought of walking down to the nearest market and grabbing a 12-pack of healing potions and a flaming sword off the rack will always stick in my craw. That's something I've come to expect from video games and kid-lit like Harry Potter, but I never liked it in my TTRPGs.

What's weird is most video games got that from old school D&D.

 

[Oofta]

Yuck.

Boy, some people just can't take a joke!

In my home campaign, it's 20 miles per day in most cases.