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(Bold emphasis added.) Quick note: the rules do say that being unseen gives you advantage and others disadvantage. It's in the "Unseen Attackers and Targets" section of the PHB. And yes, that makes the second bullet point of the Invisibile condition redundant--I thus think the best reading of...

Personally speaking, it's because I have more fun when I'm less consciously focused on the game mechanics than I am focused on trying to imagine the fiction from my character's perspective. The more the mechanics feel like an abstraction of a self-consistent game world, the easier I find it to...

My very first DM told me to roll 3d6 six times, and that, no matter what, he wouldn't let me reroll. I proceeded to roll all six stats under 10. He watched the rolls, looked at me in horror, and told me to reroll.

Also, the more NPC casters deviate from the PC spellcasting systen, the harder it is to make effective use of standard anti-spellcaster tactics, like attacking them when they're low on slots. An NPC that can effectively cast an uncounterable Fireball at-will (and many of their other spells...

To clarify: the purpose of my response to @hawkeyefan was to communicate why I'm personally fine with mechanics that determine if your character knows a particular bit of lore, while simultaneously not liking mechanics that tell you how your character feels or reacts. So to answer your...

Before I respond to the rest of your well-written post, if it's ok with you I'd like to take a moment to double-check that we're discussing the same thing. :) The way I see the current line of discussion, you've successfully explained to me why the distinction doesn't exist from your...

Because my point that you bolded is specific to my approach to defining a character as a person, I don't think it makes sense to apply it to the wider discourse. Everyone is going to have their own opinion on what defines a character as a person. From my perspective, having the quality of being...

Then I apologize for not being clear: I was not intending to make a general assertion about "what defines character" for everyone. I was trying to assert what I feel defines a character as a person for me. I entirely agree that my idiosyncratic perspective on what defines a character is "not...

That's cool. There's a huge diversity of perspectives on what defines individual identity. It would not surprise me at all if differing philosophical approaches to the concept of self underlie our differing preferences for RPG mechanics. As far as where we differ, I agree that knowledge is a...

Your reply seems to suggest that you interpreted my post as making a statement of fact with which you disagree. However, when quoting me you omitted the part of my post where I explicitly said that I was providing my opinion.... Did you misunderstand my post as making a broad claim regarding how...

Jumping back in here because I think the answer to this question was discussed earlier in this thread but has since gotten lost. Put succinctly, in my opinion, how a character feels or reacts to outside stimuli defines who that character is as a (fictional) person. By contrast, whether or not a...

(Bold emphasis added.) The bolded assertion appeats to be incorrect. By my reading, casting a bonus action cantrip triggers all the same restrictions as casting a bonus action leveled spell. I suggest replacing this bullet point with: Order does not matter. If a character casts a leveled spell...

My preference is to leave combat difficulty up to the PCs. As long as the GM is accurately telegraphing how powerful various opponents are, the players can make informed choices for their PCs based on how much risk they're comfortable taking. That's true regardless of the party's level of...

Hmm, with a second person bowing out, I think that's a good sign the conversation has run its course, so I'm going to do the same. I'll happily read any responses to my most recent post, but I'm going to refrain from posting again. Thanks for the discussion! I've learned a lot about different...

I agree--that's basically what I was trying to say. Fear invoked by dragons (or magically, via the Fear spell) is different enough from ordinary fear that it doesn't impinge on my preference for reactions to ordinary fear to be left up to the player to decide for their character. Reframed in...

I'm not sure I understand where the tension you see is coming from. From my standpoint it seems clear that the better one knows who a character is and what they've been through, the more nuance one will be able to provide when determining how/when/why that character will react to natural stress...

I can't speak for @Bill Zebub, but I definitely agree that it's realistic for the character to not be in full and rational control. Personally, however, absent magic or magic-like abilities, I have a preference for how/when/why the character is not in full and rational control to be up to the...

Sure a DM could grant ad-hoc advantage on the saving throw (although I think ad-hoc adv/disadv is more common for ability checks than saving throws), but I don't see why the chance of success is pertinent? Even if there was a 95% chance to successfully save, when it does take effect the dragon...

Because (at least in 5e) the fear produced by Dragons is strong enough to override any motivation to approach the dragon. A Frightened parent literally can't approach the dragon to save their own child. That level of terror is well beyond anything that can typically be achieved via mundane...

Regularly. Maybe every other session for the campaign where I first instituted the rule, and a bit less since then. The usual context is a potential combat where one PC (not always the same one!) decides to attack while the other PCs are still pursuing a non-violent course. The houserule ensured...