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Convincing 4th Edition players to consider 5th Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5964114" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>In the case of PCs, the player chooses. In the case of NPCs/monsters, there used to be morale checks for some of this, I think precisely to take it out of the realm of GM fiat.</p><p></p><p>But generally in D&D NPC monster tactical decisions <em>are</em> a matter of GM fiat. Apart from anything else, this has been one traditional way for the GM to modulate the difficulty of a combat encounter - by pushing the NPCs/monsters harder or softer.</p><p></p><p>Your sympathy example seems to be expressed from the point of view of a player playing his/her PC. In D&D, that can be resolved however the player likes (unless a group plays with extremely prescriptive alignment rules). In other games, it might be dictated by a personality mechanic of the sort that Nagol mentioned a few posts upthread.</p><p></p><p>Suppose one player chooses <em>not</em> to have his/her PC heal another player's fallen PC. The two players can argue it out, not just at the PC-to-PC level but at the metagame level ("Don't be such a bastard!"). But generally the players aren't entitled to use the same sort of metagame-level arguments against the GM, at least in part because the GM's job <em>is</em>, at some level, to be a bastard - to provide adversity.</p><p></p><p>So I don't find the comparison between player/PC-to-player/PC dynamics, and player/PC-to-GM/NPC dynamics, that helpful.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5964114, member: 42582"] In the case of PCs, the player chooses. In the case of NPCs/monsters, there used to be morale checks for some of this, I think precisely to take it out of the realm of GM fiat. But generally in D&D NPC monster tactical decisions [I]are[/I] a matter of GM fiat. Apart from anything else, this has been one traditional way for the GM to modulate the difficulty of a combat encounter - by pushing the NPCs/monsters harder or softer. Your sympathy example seems to be expressed from the point of view of a player playing his/her PC. In D&D, that can be resolved however the player likes (unless a group plays with extremely prescriptive alignment rules). In other games, it might be dictated by a personality mechanic of the sort that Nagol mentioned a few posts upthread. Suppose one player chooses [I]not[/I] to have his/her PC heal another player's fallen PC. The two players can argue it out, not just at the PC-to-PC level but at the metagame level ("Don't be such a bastard!"). But generally the players aren't entitled to use the same sort of metagame-level arguments against the GM, at least in part because the GM's job [I]is[/I], at some level, to be a bastard - to provide adversity. So I don't find the comparison between player/PC-to-player/PC dynamics, and player/PC-to-GM/NPC dynamics, that helpful. [/QUOTE]
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