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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kwalish Kid" data-source="post: 4114240" data-attributes="member: 446">Actually, it does because it eliminates certain game-threatening mechanics from play. It's not enough to look at powers at a character-by-character level, one must look at them at the level of how that power influences the game. (I played a trip & grapple monster that rocked, making the game more difficult for some other players, until about 12th level, when the PC started sucking.)But here you're back to the big myth about this game: that you can't trip whenever you'd like. You can trip, you just can't expect the benefit of the trip power whenever you'd like.There is no difference in that both "rules say that characters influence encounters based on what actions they are capable of taking". It is impossible to say otherwise. It is simply that we know, ahead of time, that certain actions will be limited in their effectiveness in order to have a story that will allow us to avoid certain gross disparities of power in a game where these should be absent.Again, the myth.Without the myth, you can't really make the point that there is some huge difference in the games. That is:This does not change. It's just that the extent to which the player can control the story more than other players is less dependent on the mechanics of character creation. Or rather, it is just as dependent and the character creation mechanisms work to prevent undue control of the story.I'm just trying to understand your position. To me, it seems that you want players to only control the story through the action of their characters. That's not a horrible approach to gaming, but it is obviously going to limit the impact of certain players in the game. In such an approach, there has to be explicit management of the game in order to avoid problems of player control and impact. In 4E, much of this management is up-front. This management may end up promoting certain means of conflict resolution, but that may be what some players are looking for.And I'm sorry for being jerky earlier.</blockquote>

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