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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Primal" data-source="post: 4108318" data-attributes="member: 30678">Maybe not, but neither do I think that this sort of weird mechanical subsystem which throws some unique "traits" into the mix is any more successful or easier to run than 3E. And "that gamist mentality" is and will probably always be at the heart of D&D, because it *is* a very gamist system that encourages and emphasizes metagaming. I'm not saying that a PC could learn a Bodak's Death Gaze or Dragon Breath as these are explicitly supernatural abilities -- not to mention that these abilities are inherently shares by all Bodaks and Dragons. And this is actually important, because mostly these special abilities in 3E are clearly defined in MM -- I know exactly how 'Ability Drain' or 'Incorporeality' works in the game. In 4E, however, it seems that each different "subtype" of each creature has only one or two common racial abilities and the rest are pretty much role-related *unique* abilities that might not be possessed any other monster or NPC in the game. Which is actually what I meant, at least if we're talking about magical abilities, spells or rituals that might be realistically learned via training or instantly imitated. A good example of the latter might be the Bugbear Strangler's 'Meat Shield'-ability -- since many class attack powers seem include 'shifting' and 'sliding' of both allies and enemies, it'd reasonable to assume that a PC could try it without "20 years of training". Essentially, you just grab your enemy and swing him into the way of an attack, right?On your first point I'd say that if your adventures constantly feature NPCs or monsters that can do "unique" stunts, it may occasionally irritate your players if they don't have access to those same abilities. For example, I played in a campaign in which the DM allowed the PCs to pick prestige classes, spells and feats from PHB *only*, while almost every NPC and monster had access to all the 'splat books' -- sure, they had cool stuff that took the other players always by surprise, but it felt maddeningly irritating that our characters didn't have access to those same resources (all of which *could* have been learned by our PCs, too).   As I noted above, it's fine that some monsters have supernatural abilities that the PCs cannot learn (such as Gaze Attacks), but the PCs should be able to imitate some of the "tricks" and talents even without "years of training" (e.g. that previously mentioned 'Meat Shield' ability). If I can't do it, I'd want to know *why* my PC can't imitate it. Just because monsters are not mechanically treated the same way as PCs and vice versa?</blockquote>

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