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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4953398" data-attributes="member: 5143">That's pretty much it.  This is the way I play it and seemed pretty obvious to me.  It works a lot like Magic The Gathering does.  If you are using an attack, you must have a valid target to even begin casting a spell.  Even if the spell has an effect in addition to the effect it has on the target, you cannot use it if you don't have a target.Attack powers are meant to attack people.  Despite the EXACT wording on the "bag of rats" section of the DMG, the intent behind it is clear: Don't let players abuse their powers by using them in situations they were not intended to be used in.  The example given essentially says "If there is special effect tied to an attack, it is tied to that attack because it is meant to be used in a real, actual battle.  Don't let players use it in what amounts to a rules lawyery attempt to get around this restriction."  The exact example just happens to be an on hit power and the example given was a bag of rats.  This applies equally to attempts to attack your friends in order to get the benefit, to attack empty spaces in order to get the benefit and so on.Because people from R&D answered a question saying "You don't have to take secondary attacks from a power", simultaneously allowing people to stop taking their secondary attacks and implying that primary ones are different in that they must be taken.Because I don't let people use the power at all unless they have a valid target for it.  Valid being an appropriate challenge for them.  I won't even let them cross it off their character sheet as used.  If the power targets specifically a square, I'll let people use it out of combat, but if it requires a primary target of a creature, there must actually be a valid creature to use it against in order to activate the power.  Or they must have at least a reasonable assumption that there IS such a creature around(which means they have to have made a perception check to hear the enemy or have an ally who has made such a check tell them).It's the same in game reason I use why powers don't work on a bag of rats.  It SHOULD work on a bag of rats, but since that removes all the drama and narration out of the game, it doesn't work, so don't bother trying.  It's the same reason in books there will be characters who clearly have the ability to do something but never seem to do it unless it is dramatically appropriate.  Your character may have the ability to suddenly appear over there in a large firey explosion, but he only uses it in the middle of battle when there are targets over there to hit with said explosion.  There can be a hundred narrativistic reasons for it.  But no in game reason.That is the same in game reason why you can only use your encounter powers every 5 minutes.  The same reason you can only use your daily powers once a day.  You know the motions to activate the power and can do them over and over again...you just choose not to, because the game rules tell you that you choose not to.This shouldn't encourage any sort of rules lawyer gameplay.  In fact, it is the exact opposite.  Rules lawyering is precisely what you are arguing: "It doesn't say precisely that targeting empty squares is ONLY for targeting invisible creatures.  It talks a lot about invisible creatures in the same paragraph, but if it doesn't say precisely "You may only use this when targeting an invisible creature" then it can be used whenever I want to.Whereas people who aren't rules lawyering instead look at the paragraph and say "Why was this section put into the book?  What reason do the designers of the game have for putting in a rule that says you can target empty squares instead of an actual creature?  When does this come up in the game?  Why is there talk about invisible creatures in the same paragraph as the rule?" and then conclude that the reason the rule is there is for targeting invisible creatures.  Then they don't try to use it in other situations because they aren't trying to rules lawyer.I'd reply individually to the rest, but it all amounts to the same thing.  4e is a heavily narrativistic game.  There doesn't need to be in game reasons for any rule.  You can only activate your immediate interrupts when they are triggered because of game balance reasons and because they are dramatically appropriate at the precise moment they are designed to be used at.  You can only use your encounter powers once an encounter for game balance reason and because it creates a better narrative flow if you don't use the same powers over and over again.  There are utility powers that let you teleport out of combat for game balance reasons.  To keep your out of combat powers separate from your combat powers.</blockquote>

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