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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The double standard for magical and mundane abilities
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<blockquote data-quote="Rod Staffwand" data-source="post: 6351888" data-attributes="member: 6776279"><p>I hate to reference 3E in a positive light, but I liked their terminology of mundane/exceptional/supernatural abilities. In my opinion, most adventurer abilities should be classified as either exceptional or supernatural. In other words--things that you and your friends can't do at home, no matter how hard you try or lucky you get.</p><p></p><p>This should be reinforced in the skill DC table and the description of skill uses. They need to be explicit about the difference between "mundane hiding" and "exceptional hiding" just like they are explicit about the effects of magic abilities (spell descriptions).</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, most of the 5E text I've seen so far places the priority on magic. This has long been a problem in D&D. The 1e thief had a chance to "climb <em>sheer </em>surfaces" which, without additional context, people took to mean "climb stuff that can be reasonably climbed" rather than "climb anything".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rod Staffwand, post: 6351888, member: 6776279"] I hate to reference 3E in a positive light, but I liked their terminology of mundane/exceptional/supernatural abilities. In my opinion, most adventurer abilities should be classified as either exceptional or supernatural. In other words--things that you and your friends can't do at home, no matter how hard you try or lucky you get. This should be reinforced in the skill DC table and the description of skill uses. They need to be explicit about the difference between "mundane hiding" and "exceptional hiding" just like they are explicit about the effects of magic abilities (spell descriptions). Unfortunately, most of the 5E text I've seen so far places the priority on magic. This has long been a problem in D&D. The 1e thief had a chance to "climb [I]sheer [/I]surfaces" which, without additional context, people took to mean "climb stuff that can be reasonably climbed" rather than "climb anything". [/QUOTE]
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The double standard for magical and mundane abilities
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