Search results

1) I agree. My game asks the DM to make a lot of judgement calls in explicit places. Like I said, I don't use damage dice, I use the description of the attack to determine how much damage has been done (and then I consult a table because I find HP a useful game element). What puzzles me is...

I get the same feeling when I hear about "rulings, not rules". I always understood that to mean that the rules said: DM, now is the time to make a ruling. Instead what I'm getting from all the 5E posts is that the DM can override whatever's written for whatever meta-game considerations they...

My point of view is that, if the system is delivering results that bore you out of your mind, the easiest thing to do is to change the system. With your example about the two natural 20s in a row, what if the DM said, "Ugh, this guy has something that will block that damage, but that's lame...

Cool, I think can see it now. I'd sum up the decision point as "how do you want this story to go?" (Is that fair?) If I decided to pray to Melora with my high Religion check, instead of using my okay-but-not-good Nature check, at that point I'm putting my PC's relationship with Melora into...

I use morale checks. Failure on a morale check simply means that the NPCs must change their tactics and/or goals. It's a nice way to keep things fresh.

I'd like to focus on point c. In what way does the player face a decision point? Is the decision point to let the children go (and if so, what benefit is gained by that) or is it simply a matter of choosing the PC's best skill and trying to make that matter? Or something else that I'm missing?

No, the answer I am looking for is the answer to the question I posed. edit: There are obviously many reasons why you'd want to do this (play a system that generates results that bore you out of your mind), but I'm curious. I would like to know what your reasons are.

Why are you playing a game that generates results that bore you out of your mind?

I probably would if I felt that the monster/NPC in question was poorly designed (by whoever created it, probably me) and then stick to those numbers as long as my initial decision to change them didn't prove to be a poor one. I believe that it has to do with player agency. As a player you...

I don't want this to sound argumentative; I run a game that's probably closer to yours than pemerton's. If you as DM state certain features of the world's physical or magical laws, and a player proves to you that they are contradictory, how would you respond? In my case I'd change the setting...

I often do - when the monster gets hit and takes damage. ;) I'm surprised - do you feel that changing a monster's HP mid-encounter doesn't achieve the goals for play?

Drugs.

I'd probably give the target a saving throw (in the round after a successful grapple check, assuming the target doesn't escape) to avoid the broken bone. I wonder if that sort of thing would throw a wrench into the system - if you should go through HP like Staffan suggests. My gut feeling is...

I think Gary is still an underrated game designer. The fact that the video game industry has largely followed his lead (reminds me of good old Wizardry: The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord) is, I think, testament to his ability.

I always felt that 4E made it easy to adjudicate non-standard actions.

That sounds nicely complex. It seems as though the players would have a lot of agonizing choices to make!

How do you think 5E accomplishes this? D&D combat has always been abstract, and has generally gone with combat sub-systems to resolve these sorts of manoeuvres. Is there something in 5E that allows PCs to, let's say, break an opponent's arm if you put them in an arm lock?

My campaign storyline is your basic western: Bad-ass dudes show up, deal with problems the locals can't, and change the setting according to their own purposes. The genre is post-apocalyptic science-fantasy. It's set in Hyboria, Hyrkannia to be specific.

The AD&D DMG says: Armor of +3 bonus is of special meteorite iron steel, +4 is mithral alloyed steel, +5 is adamantite alloyed steel.

I think that it's possible to design a game where playing optimally means achieving the goals of play. In that case you can avoid the tension and play the game to the best of your ability. One of the questions about "Success at a Cost" then, is "does this mechanic help players achieve the...