Revinor said:
And because of that we can argue that 3e has spaceships, too much sex, detailed rules for pie cooking and green oozes spawning little lantern archons.
Look up "System does matter" on Forge. Every system has something like Rule 0, but system still does matter. And RAW means Rules as Written, not Rules as Written and Modified by Applying Meta Rules.
I understand that system does matter. That's not really what I'm talking about.
My comment about Rule 0 was meant to illustrate two things:
1) that Rule 0 is (at least in 3.x) a written rule, therefore it is RAW.
Like all rules, it is open to interpretation (the
most open), but it is still a rule in the rule book. I'd quote it, but I don't have my PHB or DMG in front of me.
2) Rule 0 supercedes all other rules.
If you do not want Fighters in your campaign, they're out. If you don't like the way Grapple works, rework it. And if you don't want anyone other than Fire Mountain dwarves making
flaming and
flaming burst weapons, then that's the way it is. My point being, (as some others have said) one should not conflate system rules with campaign settings.
Everyone is going to have different interpretations of certain rules. To use the example form this thread:
1. Some looked at the Wealth by Level table in the DMG and (correctly so) said "This is how much
wealth a PC should have at this level."
2. Others looked at the Wealth by Level table in the DMG and (correctly so) said "This is how much
power a PC should have at this level."
3. Some looked at Magic Item prices and said (correctly so) "This is a percentage of wealth dependent on the PC's level."
4. Others looked at Magic Item prices and said (correctly so) "This is percentage of power dependent on the PC's level."
Depending on your interpretation, one might be led to a certain logic about the campaign world. In 1 and 3, one might interpret that to say "magic items are a commodity which can be bought and sold in shops etc. 2 and 4 might not come to that conclusion.
There are some references to buying/selling magic items in the DMG, but I never felt required to play that way, nor did I feel the system would break down if I did not play that way.