Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Legend and Lore is up! Magic Systems as DM Modules
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6025983" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>The connection between flavour and mechanics in 4e is mediated by keywords - both literal power keywords, but other keywords too.</p><p></p><p>You can't reskin a red dragon as a rabbit, not even a vicious one: it is too big (Large or bigger), and it does a range of attacks, including area attacks, with [fire] damage.</p><p></p><p>You can't reskin Icy Terrain as an explosion of little marbles: little marble might knock people prone and create difficult terrain, but they wouldn't do [cold] damage.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, the fact that multiple fictional overlays can be placed on top of a given mechanical structure does not entail that the fiction that is overlayed, on any given occasion of play, cannot be leveraged for the purposes of action resolution (which is my understanding of the "wrought iron fence made of tigers").</p><p></p><p>In 4e, you can't have a Fireball freeze things unless you change the keyword from [fire] to [cold]. You can't have a Fireball not set things on fire unless you change the keyword from [fire] to untyped damage (or, perhaps, change the target from "creatures" to "enemies" in burst - though that might depend whether or not your enemy is standing on a bookshelf or an oil-soaked pyre at the time).</p><p></p><p>Which seems to imply that, in 4e, the fence is gone (or, perhaps, never was there at in the first place).</p><p></p><p>This may be true of your own play of 4e. I don't see any basis for generalising it. When I look at posts on this board from 4e players and GMs, I certainly don't see any general view that action resolution in 4e cannot leverage the shared fiction. I mean, the whole of skill challenge resolution, and page 42, presupposes the exact opposite of that!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6025983, member: 42582"] The connection between flavour and mechanics in 4e is mediated by keywords - both literal power keywords, but other keywords too. You can't reskin a red dragon as a rabbit, not even a vicious one: it is too big (Large or bigger), and it does a range of attacks, including area attacks, with [fire] damage. You can't reskin Icy Terrain as an explosion of little marbles: little marble might knock people prone and create difficult terrain, but they wouldn't do [cold] damage. Furthermore, the fact that multiple fictional overlays can be placed on top of a given mechanical structure does not entail that the fiction that is overlayed, on any given occasion of play, cannot be leveraged for the purposes of action resolution (which is my understanding of the "wrought iron fence made of tigers"). In 4e, you can't have a Fireball freeze things unless you change the keyword from [fire] to [cold]. You can't have a Fireball not set things on fire unless you change the keyword from [fire] to untyped damage (or, perhaps, change the target from "creatures" to "enemies" in burst - though that might depend whether or not your enemy is standing on a bookshelf or an oil-soaked pyre at the time). Which seems to imply that, in 4e, the fence is gone (or, perhaps, never was there at in the first place). This may be true of your own play of 4e. I don't see any basis for generalising it. When I look at posts on this board from 4e players and GMs, I certainly don't see any general view that action resolution in 4e cannot leverage the shared fiction. I mean, the whole of skill challenge resolution, and page 42, presupposes the exact opposite of that! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Legend and Lore is up! Magic Systems as DM Modules
Top