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[Very Long] Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War: a Key Difference in D&D Play Styles...
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<blockquote data-quote="Thulcondar" data-source="post: 5807842" data-attributes="member: 43770"><p>I disagree. </p><p></p><p>On the one hand, the combat-as-war approach does allow spell-casters, especially at lower levels, to actively participate in combat situations beyond what they might otherwise be expected to. For instance, a first level magic-user might cast <em>grease</em> to impede the movement of the goblins down a corridor and let the DM sort it out. He's not dealing out loads of damage, but it allows him to use those "useless" spells by applying a little imagination. Rules that encourage the combat-as-sport approach tend to gravitate to spells that just dole out damage.</p><p></p><p>But more broadly, combat-as-war allows the player characters to employ strategies that the rules do not anticipate, and thus requires the full referee skills of the DM. This is something that earlier editions somewhat paradoxically encouraged by not having rules for every circumstance, forcing the DM to make on-the-fly decisions. Once there's a rule for dropping a cloth tarp on top of a load of bullywugs to confuse them and obscure their vision, it edges more towards the combat-as-sport view that then needs to give the bullywugs something to balance against that possibility. It's all about coming up with crazy ideas that the DM buys, that can give some sort of advantage. Rolling burning logs down a hill, torching the forest to smoke out the bees, digging pits and camouflaging them, etc.</p><p></p><p>Heck, if anything, I'd say that the combat-as-war approach is biased towards fire, not spell-casters. ;-)</p><p></p><p>Joe</p><p><a href="http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Greyhawk Grognard</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Thulcondar, post: 5807842, member: 43770"] I disagree. On the one hand, the combat-as-war approach does allow spell-casters, especially at lower levels, to actively participate in combat situations beyond what they might otherwise be expected to. For instance, a first level magic-user might cast [I]grease[/I] to impede the movement of the goblins down a corridor and let the DM sort it out. He's not dealing out loads of damage, but it allows him to use those "useless" spells by applying a little imagination. Rules that encourage the combat-as-sport approach tend to gravitate to spells that just dole out damage. But more broadly, combat-as-war allows the player characters to employ strategies that the rules do not anticipate, and thus requires the full referee skills of the DM. This is something that earlier editions somewhat paradoxically encouraged by not having rules for every circumstance, forcing the DM to make on-the-fly decisions. Once there's a rule for dropping a cloth tarp on top of a load of bullywugs to confuse them and obscure their vision, it edges more towards the combat-as-sport view that then needs to give the bullywugs something to balance against that possibility. It's all about coming up with crazy ideas that the DM buys, that can give some sort of advantage. Rolling burning logs down a hill, torching the forest to smoke out the bees, digging pits and camouflaging them, etc. Heck, if anything, I'd say that the combat-as-war approach is biased towards fire, not spell-casters. ;-) Joe [URL="http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com"]Greyhawk Grognard[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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