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I considered it settled when I raised the question originally in response to the complaint that 'size category affects grapple'. Of course it does. An enormous dragon is going to have an enormous bonus to grapple, much like a medium sized PC is going to have an enormous advantage over a Fine...

So, no real changes to either, then. Meaning that NPCs sometimes play by the same rules as PCs, but sometimes not. Which means, internal consistency is rather compromised. But, it still describes the philosophy. PCs only. Unless the DM says otherwise. Which is not a change at all...

How is that different, mechanically, than 4e? I was referring to the difference. In 3.x, any character can be raised unless the DM decides otherwise, and you are saying that in 4e, any character that the DM decides can be raised. I am pretty sure that 'as long as they want to come back' is...

It looks like the third heart of the problem is your willful misinterpretation.

In what way?

Neither edition of the 3.x PHB says anything about the 'Raven Queen'.

You are stringing two different points together as though they are related, then claiming confusion. I would say that is disingenuous. The first point is, why is healing different than raise dead for NPCs? Can I apply successive healing spells to an NPC to bring them back up to full hit...

Which is exactly no different than previous editions.

I am going to address these bullets here: - Poison doing ability damage causes poisons to be much more dangerous than they need to be. As opposed to poisons that arent' very dangerous at all? I mean, of the poisonous substances in the world, a good many of them are simply lethal. No saving...

Well, that isn't precisely the point. The rules need to be consistent, where they exist and are applied. You can swap out 'raise dead' for 'heal', and the problem remains. In fact, the problem becomes worse, as you can heal your NPCs all day, but once they are dead, that is the end of their...

No, that is the exact heart of the problem. If I can't consistently heal my retainers/henchmen/followers, they become equipment, to be disposed of when they are broken. Additionally, if there is an important NPC that needs to be brought back up to healthy (don't we all love escort missions...

Sort of having narrative control, but more like the Exalted or Nobilis level of power. I think the original Deities and Demigods was often mistaken for the Super Monster Manual, and players could often advance to a level where they could feasibly threaten a deity, but those were intended for...

Begging the question. How are they being 'cleaned up'? Not to raise the spectre of Raise Dead again (pun intended), but I hardly see that as 'cleaned up', since it hasn't really changed. 'Everyone can be raised if the DM says so' and 'No one can be raised unless the DM says so' are no...

Exactly so. I really do see this trend away from concrete rules as an intrusion of Exalted style play, and that as an extension of the general Storyteller expectations. In a sense, it has a bit of Nobilis in there also. All of which are great games, to be sure (my personal bias places Nobilis...

Not entirely. The very point of stating "You can do X!" is to imply that you couldn't before. The positive assertion is implying the negation of a previous condition. This strays perilously close to the No True Scotsman argument. If they are saying "You can do this now!" they are implying...

But you don't really need strict rules for that. Certainly not 400+ pages of rules in three books. Co-operative story-telling is no better or worse than any other style, but if that is the goal of D&D, it will fail miserably. Head over to the Forge and check out the co-operative style games...

No, I think we won't be talking about it much at all. I was moving towards a point, with a few premises that are still open for debate. For example, History seems to broad for the uses to which it has been demonstrated. It doesn't really matter who has narrative authority in that case. If it...

Your conclusion is not supported by any premises.

How is that different than what is done now?

Of course they are. The whole experience is one big puzzle. The DM sets ten Orcs in front of you. Using your resources and the game rules, how do you 'solve' it? You are standing at the entrance to the dungeon. How do you 'solve' it? All of role-playing is a contest of puzzles and...