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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 3765754" data-attributes="member: 18">This is a good post, and right on the money - many of the 3E changes to avoid "exploits" frankly damn silly, and changed the game for the less thoughtful and more simply mechanical. The silence example is a good one - I'm pretty sure there are issues of Dragon where that's demonstrated as a valid tactic, but 3E chose to "nerf" it because why? Who knows...I felt it was very very stupid at the time, and I hope 4E doesn't continue the trend, but rather reverses it and gives more spells more valid uses.Doug McCrae - That sounds like shennanigans to me, Doug. No sane DM ever allowed destroy water to kill people, but plenty of sane GMs explained invisibility in the way you describe, only stating that the pupils were not covered, which I always thought was a slightly cute concept. Comparing the two is pretty damn silly and lusting for "balance" in a TT RPG is not a good thing. Players getting equal amounts of fun out of their characters and encounters going as expected is good, but "balance" is a mythical beast that you can chase into some very unfortunate places. The only genuinely "balanced" RPG would be one where everyone had exactly identical abilities, as I'm sure you're aware. Once rules have gotten past the "we made it up on the spot" place, and into well-considered and tested rules, then balance is just a matter of how much you're willing to sacrifice differentiation, really.WayneLigon - That's just lazy talk though. I'm not asking for "realism" based on accurate physics. I'm asking for, if we must have all the utility spell effects possible and codified, then I want rules on how much and what Fireball sets on fire, rules on exactly how much water Cone of Cold freezes, and rules on what sort of amount of sound and general destruction Lightning Bolt causes. Just as utility spells can be used in combat, combat spells should be usable as utility, no?</blockquote>

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