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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 9384870" data-attributes="member: 7635">Rule of cool, as far as I've ever seen it, is about doing cool things (not impossible things) which otherwise your character is not capable of doing due to rules and or physics. The classic example I can think of is a PC opting to jump on a table during a fight and kick some food info the enemies face as part of an attack. It's not going to grant the PC any greater advantage than higher ground, but it's cinematic and cool. A by the rules DM would demand a jump/athletic check (with all the normal penalties of moving/standing jumps) to get on the table and an attack roll to kick the food. If the PCs fails the jump roll, he misses and may even fall prone and if he misses the kick roll, nothing happens. The net effect though is that if either roll misses, the PC looks foolish and might end up in a worse position (prone) so it isn't worth the effort to look cool. Stand in your 5 ft square and trade attack rolls. But the rule of cool DM probably just lets it happen with either a ridiculously low roll or none at all. The PC gets to look/feel cool even if the rules state a standing jump is DC= height x2 (with a penalty for not moving 20ft before the jump). Rule of cool is likewise built into certain class features. Action surge? Cool. Evasion? Cool. They don't make sense logically but martial abilities often rely on cool (if magic or supernatural abilities aren't directly referenced) to function. You can strip out the rule of cool and have a game that functions on rules as physics, but that means either you rely heavier on magic to make up the cool OR you nerf everything back quite a bit. I used martials since they are easier to explain, but casters suffer from rule of cool too, it's just called "creative spellcasting". If your wizard ever rode a Tenser's Floating Disc like a hoverboard, congrats, you just found the wizard's rule of cool.</blockquote>

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