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General Tabletop Discussion
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Mearls On D&D's Design Premises/Goals
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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7760350" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p>The perpetual struggle to claim one's own version is not a house rule, and some other guy's version is. I think it comes from a fear that a house rule is a lesser creature than an interpretation. FWIW I think a ruling means judging that based on the text and situation, a rule means X. So a ruling is RAI. Whereas a house rule is in place where the text needs to be added to or outright altered to reasonably have the natural language meaning desired.</p><p></p><p>To the case at hand, the precise mechanical outcome of a tie in Contests is expressly defined. The rules literally read "<em>If the contest results in a tie, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest.</em>" Crossing the finish line, even tied, is not the situation remaining the same as before the contest. No one is saying a DM can't run it that way. I'm suggesting that it is a poor reading of "<em>remains the same</em>" to have things not remain the same: this is a claim about a precise mechanical outcome, not what we picture the scene to look like.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I can't honestly see why it isn't easier to have everyone make one standard ability check, and have them finish the race in descending order - high to low. To the point however, I'm also suggesting that the generality of "<em>the DM... decides the difficulty of the task</em>" gives scope for ruling this way without the degree of stretch required to use Contests.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 7760350, member: 71699"] The perpetual struggle to claim one's own version is not a house rule, and some other guy's version is. I think it comes from a fear that a house rule is a lesser creature than an interpretation. FWIW I think a ruling means judging that based on the text and situation, a rule means X. So a ruling is RAI. Whereas a house rule is in place where the text needs to be added to or outright altered to reasonably have the natural language meaning desired. To the case at hand, the precise mechanical outcome of a tie in Contests is expressly defined. The rules literally read "[I]If the contest results in a tie, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest.[/I]" Crossing the finish line, even tied, is not the situation remaining the same as before the contest. No one is saying a DM can't run it that way. I'm suggesting that it is a poor reading of "[I]remains the same[/I]" to have things not remain the same: this is a claim about a precise mechanical outcome, not what we picture the scene to look like. I can't honestly see why it isn't easier to have everyone make one standard ability check, and have them finish the race in descending order - high to low. To the point however, I'm also suggesting that the generality of "[I]the DM... decides the difficulty of the task[/I]" gives scope for ruling this way without the degree of stretch required to use Contests. [/QUOTE]
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