Nytmare
David Jose
Yeah it should be like real life. Like when there's a train wreck or something and everyone on the train is either dead or everyone on the train is knocked unconscious.
Survivor: it's more than just a TV show.
D&D 4E Worst House Rules You've Encountered in 4E
- Thread starter cmbarona
- Start date
Yeah it should be like real life. Like when there's a train wreck or something and everyone on the train is either dead or everyone on the train is knocked unconscious.
Survivor: it's more than just a TV show.
Dr_Ruminahui
First Post
Well, to be fair, with a train wreck, it isn't the guy wrecking the train who decides who specifically lives and dies.
Its akin to throwing a grenade into a room and having the thrower be able to declare "Okay, the grenade will kill all the terrorists but only knock the hostages unconscious" - it leads to some dissonance with one's expectations.
Not that such aren't overcomeable by good DMing, but its still a potential issue.
Its akin to throwing a grenade into a room and having the thrower be able to declare "Okay, the grenade will kill all the terrorists but only knock the hostages unconscious" - it leads to some dissonance with one's expectations.
Not that such aren't overcomeable by good DMing, but its still a potential issue.
Dayspire
Explorer
This is *exactly* my problem with it. If a wizard wanted a fireball that knocked out everyone, well ok. Perhaps instead of fire, it draws out all the oxygen in the room. But being able to knock out a specific individual while killing the rest? Silly.
Nytmare
David Jose
The person doesn't have to be "knocked out" though. It's just as easy to pretend that they're beat to hell and barely alive instead of an unconscious yet unsinged angel laying pristinely amidst a pile of charcoal briquetted companions.
Unless it's that you're complaining that the mage is, in effect, playing god and deciding which targets managed to survive by random chance. To which I'd argue that it's not supposed to be a case of "my character fireballs them and decides who survived" but rather "I as a player make my contribution to the story by deciding that one of them is still alive enough to be questioned."
As for the terrorist scenario, whether or not the terrorists survive might be the choice of the player, but the state of the hostages is decidedly at the discretion of the DM.
"You open the door and are met with the smell of charred flesh and the sound of men in pain. Most of the brigands are dead, and those who are not are quickly slipping away."
Dayspire
Explorer
I'm not sure you're understanding my point, Nytmare.
Imagine this scenario. There's a group of goblins in a room, and there's one that the players notice has... oh say a tattoo that they're interested in. The mage tosses in a fireball, powerful enough to kill the entire group. A player saying that he wants to kill them all except the tattoo'ed goblin - *that* is silly.
A mage saying he wants to toss a fireball in, and question a crispy but not dead survivor who is no different than the others? I have no problem with that.
Imagine this scenario. There's a group of goblins in a room, and there's one that the players notice has... oh say a tattoo that they're interested in. The mage tosses in a fireball, powerful enough to kill the entire group. A player saying that he wants to kill them all except the tattoo'ed goblin - *that* is silly.
A mage saying he wants to toss a fireball in, and question a crispy but not dead survivor who is no different than the others? I have no problem with that.
Nytmare
David Jose
What about "I fireball them. The tattoed goblin is the only one that's still alive."
Do you have a problem when the DM says that?
Dayspire
Explorer
The DM? Of course not. But we're talking about the player saying that.
cmbarona
First Post
As fascinating as this conversation is, can we please fork it to another thread and get back to complaining about silly house rules?
@JoeNotCharles: Why didn't the standing rule work? I can think of a few ways off the top of my head, but I'm curious what your play experience was like.
@JoeNotCharles: Why didn't the standing rule work? I can think of a few ways off the top of my head, but I'm curious what your play experience was like.
JoeNotCharles
First Post
First off, it mostly devalued knocking people prone, because it was far more common than I expected for the prone person to end up with no adjacent enemies. Secondly, I started noticing powers getting published that let you stand with a minor action, that became useless with this houserule. Third, it was just more complicated in combat to think of which type of action you were taking to stand instead of knowing that standing is always a move action.
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