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<blockquote data-quote="Storm Raven" data-source="post: 2959080" data-attributes="member: 307">The difference is that the player knows ahead of time that he can draw his sword, and knows the rules for the charge action. He doesn't know the rules for the &quot;swing from a chandelier&quot; action, and doesn't even know that the DM might ot might not allow it. To charge the bad guy, the player is reasonably sure that he just needs to say &quot;I draw my sword and charge&quot;, to swing from the chandelier or other similar actions, he needs to come up with the magic password that the DM thinks is needed to do that, if he will allow it at all.Every time you make an action dependent purely upon DM fiat, you make the system more opaque, and less accessible to the player. You push the player away from a situation in which he believes that he has some control over his destiny, you make him feel as though he has no (or fewer) choices except the &quot;right&quot; one the DM has in his head. In a role-playing game that is a bad situation to be in. Playing various iterations of &quot;mother may I&quot; is just thinly disguised railroading.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Storm Raven, post: 2959080, member: 307"] The difference is that the player knows ahead of time that he can draw his sword, and knows the rules for the charge action. He doesn't know the rules for the "swing from a chandelier" action, and doesn't even know that the DM might ot might not allow it. To charge the bad guy, the player is reasonably sure that he just needs to say "I draw my sword and charge", to swing from the chandelier or other similar actions, he needs to come up with the magic password that the DM thinks is needed to do that, if he will allow it at all. Every time you make an action dependent purely upon DM fiat, you make the system more opaque, and less accessible to the player. You push the player away from a situation in which he believes that he has some control over his destiny, you make him feel as though he has no (or fewer) choices except the "right" one the DM has in his head. In a role-playing [i]game[/i] that is a bad situation to be in. Playing various iterations of "mother may I" is just thinly disguised railroading. [/QUOTE]

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