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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6784268" data-attributes="member: 82106">Right, and my answer is that ALL OF THE RULES are just conveniences, conventions that exist so that we can get on with the story. They are 'real' to the extent that they model the in-game reality and they are not 'laws of nature' in any edition of the game. If the Duke fell of his horse and died, its just because its quite possible for a character to die that way. The DM would NOT end a PC that way (arbitrarily at any rate) by decreeing that he fell off a horse and died, but he'd certainly be in his rights to do so for an NPC. The Characters might question the story of the fall, reasoning that such an expert rider was unlikely to fall off a horse, and look for some nefarious reason for it. They might find one, or not. The reasoning is consistent with the rules, but not stemming from or based on them. I would call the sort of chain of reason you outline as meta-gaming and to be frowned on, though I think all players do it to some degree. And I believe that Gygax, to the extent that we want to analyze his style and intent in writing the game, would agree with me. There are various places where he calls out meta-gaming and various times when he invokes realism and plot over rules. He certainly never intended a rule to get in the way of the fun. So, maybe the answer is &quot;the Duke is very athletic, but he's not 16th level, he's a 5HD stat block with some special sword fighting techniques as a special ability&quot; If he fell and broke his head, that's maybe statistically unusual, but not impossible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 6784268, member: 82106"] Right, and my answer is that ALL OF THE RULES are just conveniences, conventions that exist so that we can get on with the story. They are 'real' to the extent that they model the in-game reality and they are not 'laws of nature' in any edition of the game. If the Duke fell of his horse and died, its just because its quite possible for a character to die that way. The DM would NOT end a PC that way (arbitrarily at any rate) by decreeing that he fell off a horse and died, but he'd certainly be in his rights to do so for an NPC. The Characters might question the story of the fall, reasoning that such an expert rider was unlikely to fall off a horse, and look for some nefarious reason for it. They might find one, or not. The reasoning is consistent with the rules, but not stemming from or based on them. I would call the sort of chain of reason you outline as meta-gaming and to be frowned on, though I think all players do it to some degree. And I believe that Gygax, to the extent that we want to analyze his style and intent in writing the game, would agree with me. There are various places where he calls out meta-gaming and various times when he invokes realism and plot over rules. He certainly never intended a rule to get in the way of the fun. So, maybe the answer is "the Duke is very athletic, but he's not 16th level, he's a 5HD stat block with some special sword fighting techniques as a special ability" If he fell and broke his head, that's maybe statistically unusual, but not impossible. [/QUOTE]

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