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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 2417453" data-attributes="member: 7240">Thanks mythusmage. This is what I say all the time. Rules=physics. Vuirtually every controversial thing I say about D&D proceeds from this premise. The rules function as the physics (ie. rules of physical cause and effect) for the characters; that's what they do. There can be no argument about that. When people try to run a system of physics not embodied in the rules in parallel to the rules, chaos ensues, or rather, irrational double standards in which the physical laws governing events near the characters are different from the physical laws governing events not near the characters.Often people make the mistake, when they encounter an event the rules don't cover, of assuming the event is governed by the laws that govern it in this world without regard to whether this is compatible with the physical principles delineated in the rules. This leads to inconsistency and, ultimately, a lack of believability. For instance, many people assume that even though there are only 4 elements in the rules, that there are 108+ in any situation not covered by the rules. In D&D games I run, there is no way to deplete the air in oxygen because there is no such thing as oxygen. If there were, air elementals wouldn't make any sense.</blockquote>