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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6798824" data-attributes="member: 996">If you don't happen to imagine anything cool, it makes a vast difference.&nbsp; If you happen to imagine something cool, it doesn't.&nbsp; That description could be used for an attack whether that attack was one of many clearly-defined granular options, an improvised action, or a lone abstract option requiring extensive DM adjudication.Another thing to consider is that descriptions can get tired.&nbsp; I mean, your friend could run around bouncing off vertical surface and jumping on monsters every round of every combat that has a vertical surface and monster available.&nbsp; It wouldn't be memorable anymore, it'd get old.&nbsp; Everyone else in the party could do the same thing.&nbsp; It wouldn't be memorable anymore, it'd be silly.&nbsp; As a DM, you'd stop that, you'd set higher DCs, say 'no you can't do that,' and just give the players a lecture about displaying a little creativity, you might get some resentment, but it's all in a day's work for the classic DM. Now, if you a player has a number of defined options, some of them unique to his character, and using limited resources, and one of them could enable a certain really cool description, then he can use that description infrequently, and others can't.&nbsp; It won't get silly, and won't likely get old.&nbsp; And, it will be mechanically meaningful as well as dramatically so.&nbsp; I have a lot of fun running 5e for a similar reason.&nbsp; It's easy because it is so similar to the D&amp;D I ran for decades, but even more so because it does leave so much of the basic flow of play in the DM's court.&nbsp; It really is 'Empowerment' with all that implies.&nbsp; It's definitely not simple, but I can shield my players from some of the complexity.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6798824, member: 996"] If you don't happen to imagine anything cool, it makes a vast difference. If you happen to imagine something cool, it doesn't. That description could be used for an attack whether that attack was one of many clearly-defined granular options, an improvised action, or a lone abstract option requiring extensive DM adjudication. Another thing to consider is that descriptions can get tired. I mean, your friend could run around bouncing off vertical surface and jumping on monsters every round of every combat that has a vertical surface and monster available. It wouldn't be memorable anymore, it'd get old. Everyone else in the party could do the same thing. It wouldn't be memorable anymore, it'd be silly. As a DM, you'd stop that, you'd set higher DCs, say 'no you can't do that,' and just give the players a lecture about displaying a little creativity, you might get some resentment, but it's all in a day's work for the classic DM. Now, if you a player has a number of defined options, some of them unique to his character, and using limited resources, and one of them could enable a certain really cool description, then he can use that description infrequently, and others can't. It won't get silly, and won't likely get old. And, it will be mechanically meaningful as well as dramatically so. I have a lot of fun running 5e for a similar reason. It's easy because it is so similar to the D&D I ran for decades, but even more so because it does leave so much of the basic flow of play in the DM's court. It really is 'Empowerment' with all that implies. It's definitely not simple, but I can shield my players from some of the complexity. [/QUOTE]

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