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So, your laws are only 1/17,000th valid?

Dead on. This system assumes that every DM is well above average, as a minimum, and every player/GM interaction is devoted to moving the story forward. Rather than, for example, the players trying to get every benefit or loophole they can, or the DM trying to mess with the players at every...

Only if you ignore StormBringer's First Law.

Describe every parameter that leads to "pretty obvious to become inconsistent and illogical", please. You see the crux of the issue here? People seem to think this system is the godsend for bad DMs to suddenly turn into Orson Wells of the tabletop. The fact is, no set of rules will make a bad...

You don't have to buy it. The point is, the trap won't go off until the four failures are rolled. If the DM determines certain actions automatically fail the skill challenge, we are back to 'pixel-bitching', which is what this system is designed to avoid.

Thank you.

Exactly. There is an indeterminate cloud of possible steps. Any six of which will solve the challenge, in any order. There isn't a specified order of steps that must be taken to solve the encounter. Hence, the actions are irrelevant. So, you are suggesting that the DM arbitrarily negate a...

In other words, your character's fate is indeterminate until the outcome of the recovery roll. In this example: "The Axe hits you directly in the chest, but the armor is absorbing the worst, but the impact is strong enough to press all air out of your lungs, and you drop to the ground." If...

And these show how events were determined on the fly, and not after recovery dice were rolled, or skill challenges completed?

Because the skill checks themselves don't produce a tangible result, other than a tick in the win/loss column. In the given example, the first Athletics check could have been the only success. In which case, the only thing they would have known is that the corpse was sewn up. The next four...

Such as?

How many rounds is it acceptable to wait until you retcon the results of dropping to -19hit points? Similarly, since each individual roll in a skill challenge doesn't actually advance the challenge, how many times will you be able to retcon the results until it becomes incoherent? I am seeing...

That would be inappropriate. Choosing the 'right' skill shouldn't increase your odds of succeeding at that skill, otherwise it is one step removed from pixel-hunting the 'more correct' skills the DM has decided ahead of time. This is only different is that encounters have a smaller chance of...

Then you probably want a more skill based system where you can set the number of points to generate a character. Not just D&D, but any class and level system is geared to fragile low level characters. There are ways around that, but there are certain conventions inherent to the genre. 7 hit...

Which is a bad comparison. John McClane will never get anything but 'flesh wounds'. He is the protagonist. He simply can't die. That is the purpose of a movie. You don't interact with it. It isn't a game. There is nothing inherent to first level that makes survivability more difficult...

It was a question. I am asking if you think those are first level characters.

The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry. Here is where the arguments tend to fall down. D&D is not a movie, a novel, a television show, or a stage play. D&D is a game. A role playing game. While some comparisons are useful for designing a particular adventure or campaign, the...

Isn't this where you usually reference one of your ridiculous 'laws' that have no standing outside of your gaming table?

Yes. Whenever the example of John McClane comes up, the underlying assumption seems to be that he is fresh out of the police academy. What is important to remember about a class and level system is the 'level' part. The simulation is of a raw beginner progressing to great power. D&D has...

So, you would consider these characters 1st level or so?