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Adjudicating Melee
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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 6549682" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>It is an officially presented rules option, right there in the DMG, but the way it is presented is at odds with how the rest of the game is presented. Right or wrong, many players go into combat expecting that they know how it should work - a hit is a hit, and a miss is a miss, and everything is clearly well defined. Players base their decisions on the knowledge that they know how it should work.</p><p></p><p>That section in the DMG, which the players might not even know about, says everything that the players <em>think</em> they know <em>might</em> be wrong. As with any option that could radically change the nature of the game, it's probably best to consult with your players before implementing it, so you don't catch anyone off-guard.</p><p></p><p>The rules for social action have never been terribly well defined. Players don't have any concrete expectations for what <em>should</em> happen, how often checks <em>should</em> be called for or what the difficulty of those checks should be (if any), or what the potential outcomes are. What does "success" or "failure" mean in context of asking the King for help again an evil necromancer? It's all so open-ended that the players <em>expect</em> DM arbitration on the matter.</p><p></p><p>A lot of that comes from the lack of specificity in the PHB. Since rules for combat are well-defined, players think they know them. Since rules for exploration and social interaction <em>aren't</em> so well-defined, players <em>don't</em> think they know them.</p><p></p><p>Edit: Also the stakes. Exploration and social interaction are relatively less-likely to kill you instantly (or put you into an un-recoverable situation from which death is nigh-guaranteed) on a single failed check.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 6549682, member: 6775031"] It is an officially presented rules option, right there in the DMG, but the way it is presented is at odds with how the rest of the game is presented. Right or wrong, many players go into combat expecting that they know how it should work - a hit is a hit, and a miss is a miss, and everything is clearly well defined. Players base their decisions on the knowledge that they know how it should work. That section in the DMG, which the players might not even know about, says everything that the players [I]think[/I] they know [I]might[/I] be wrong. As with any option that could radically change the nature of the game, it's probably best to consult with your players before implementing it, so you don't catch anyone off-guard. The rules for social action have never been terribly well defined. Players don't have any concrete expectations for what [I]should[/I] happen, how often checks [I]should[/I] be called for or what the difficulty of those checks should be (if any), or what the potential outcomes are. What does "success" or "failure" mean in context of asking the King for help again an evil necromancer? It's all so open-ended that the players [I]expect[/I] DM arbitration on the matter. A lot of that comes from the lack of specificity in the PHB. Since rules for combat are well-defined, players think they know them. Since rules for exploration and social interaction [I]aren't[/I] so well-defined, players [I]don't[/I] think they know them. Edit: Also the stakes. Exploration and social interaction are relatively less-likely to kill you instantly (or put you into an un-recoverable situation from which death is nigh-guaranteed) on a single failed check. [/QUOTE]
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