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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 3750922" data-attributes="member: 42582">I actually don't think that D&D - even with more manoeuvres and hit points - models these things all that well. "Unaccountable luck" and an "inordinate ability to pick things up" are, in the context of a novel, authorial fiat - the author confers benefits on the character that the characters own skill would not normally garner in the ordinary course of events.To model this, an RPG needs a mechanic which allows PCs to garner benefits beyond what their skills - as modelled by their attributes, skill bonuses etc - would allow them in the ordinary course of events. The most obvious such mechanic is that of metagame Fate Points, which allow the [/i]player[/i] to intervene on behalf of his or her character and change the results of a roll.In the past, D&D designers have always seemed hesitant to introduce pure metagame mechanics. Even XP have always fudged between the more plausible metagame explanation, and an attempt to link it to such in-game processes as training (even the name, "experience points", demonstrates this fudge - "advancement points" would be more accurate).There is some evidence that the 4e designers are more willing to treat mechanics in a purely metagame way, such as the different build rules for monsters/NPCs and PCs (which therefore have to be interpreted in a purely metagame fashion, because they clearly no longer are intended to model the in-game process of character learning and development). I don't know whether they will introduce a core Fate Point mechanic that is purely metagame. If they did, this would fit within D&D's resource management paradigm, while also allowing PCs to be the "chosen ones" of the gameworld without vitiating in-game reality.</blockquote>

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