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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8119440" data-attributes="member: 29398">Engagement level, for one thing.That, and (unlike many these days, it seems) I'm more than willing to accept that there's going to be times in the game where certain characters simply have nothing really useful they can do.  Maybe it's a combat where only two out of five characters can get at or even see the opponent due to confined space e.g. fighting through a small window or a nearly-closed door.  Maybe it's a stealth-and-scout sortie where the tanks and casters just have to wait with the horses.  Maybe it's a null-magic zone that shuts down the casters.As long as those times more or less even out in the long run, I'm fine with it.That only appears in hindsight, by which time it doesn't matter any more.The other night my wife's Fighter, who needed something like a natural 5 to hit her opponent, ran off a 3 and four 1s in five consecutive rolls while the rest of the party took the foe down. It's luck, and it happens.The only bright side was that none of those 1s confirmed into a fumble.I remember a con game I played where the only reason I survived (which only I and one other did, of a party of eight-ish) was that I didn't (or couldn't) get into a room fast enough; everyone in the room was annihilated when a module element* interacted in very unforeseen ways with something we did.  (details in spoiler)  So sometimes there's benefits to 'not contributing'. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />[spoiler]The module had it that anything contacting or touching any wall in this particular room would summon a pissed-off Giant out of that wall.  Cool idea, right?Problem was, the module writer didn't quite think through the what-ifs; and sure enough someone in there threw a Scatterspray-like spell that resulted in something like 300 near-simultaneous contacts with the walls...which meant 300-ish Giants all tried to appear at once in a 40x40' room.What a mess.....My guy and one other character, still up the stairs a bit, saw this floor-to-ceiling wall of gore, blood, broken furniture, and armour bits come pouring out of the room; on which we turned around, went back up the stairs, and kinda called it a day at that point... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />It was quite some time before we all stopped laughing at the sheer absurdity of it![/spoiler]Again, that's hindsight.  If you're in melee you always have the potential to contribute even though the dice might not let that potential become real.  If you're stuck out of the combat it's on you to find other ways to (try to) contribute, again with no guarantee that what you try will amount to anything.</blockquote>

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