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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RyvenCedrylle" data-source="post: 4375621" data-attributes="member: 66726">The same question over and overOnce again, we on the 4th edition boards find ourselves debating the same old question - now under the guise of "can the Paladin actually stop things from hitting squishies?"  The question, of course, is this: What is good rules design?  Is it a  standard formula you crank through to get an intended result (I play a paladin - things can't get behind me because I'm a defender) or a toolkit aiding the players and GM in telling the story they wish to tell? (I play a paladin - I like to wade out into the middle of the foes and slow them down) It's a subtle but significant difference.  Chess is superb rules design by the first definition; not so much by the second. As for me, I line up in the second camp.  If the encounter, in context of the greater narrative arc, feels like it should be a PC slaughterfest, the "bad guys" choose to avoid the penalties and slug it out with the defenders.  If the encounter is intended to frustrate or create dramatic tension, then the heck with the penalties - that wizard/rogue/whatever is about to get mobbed.</blockquote>