Dragon Editorial: Fearless

[Voss]

No, he says "but now I don't have to metagame and shirk away from certain tasks that I knew carried far more risk in previous editions." It's pretty obviously true that being bold all the time is less metagamey than being bold, except for a few times where your knowledge of the rules tells you it's too dangerous.

Actually, its not, really. Its rather metagamey to blithely set off traps, knowing they can't actually kill you, when you know that no human being without severe mental problems or suicidal tendencies would actually do that. But when injury is just a matter of hit points, which can just be replenished, it isn't an issue.

Its the old 'we know a 50' fall will just do 5d6 damage and therefor can't possibly hurt us. Lets jump'.

I disliked save or die too, but this sounds like too much danger has been snipped out. If you have 41 hit points, and the trap does 10d6 damage (it could drop you, but can't kill you outright) and the trap unleashes the mummy on the rest of your party, then it matters. But if it just zaps you for trivial outside of an encounter (or even during), then the threat is meaningless, and you can feel free to take advantage of that fact.

 

[Kraydak]

Funnily enough, my reading of that was one of not-the-math. The different courses of action chosen at the rail-gap suggest that the players judged the check DC to be *very* different. Chris Youngs isn't getting the advantage of a system designed for over-the-top action, he is getting the advantage of a DM who wants over-the-top action and is willing to set DCs accordingly (if untrained checks at lvl 4 are enough let you ride a mine cart at 30mph without disaster, much less make a jump, well, I'm pretty sure that, were I DMing, the DCs would be about 10 points higher...). Not to mention, swatting *30lb* Darkmantles like bugs with a shield, moving at a mere 30mph?! Cool is good and all, but it kind of loses its value if its given out for free.

 

[I'm A Banana]

And it turned out, going on was the best course of action. Whiny scaredy cats shouldn't call themselves "adventurers." My character was more than happy to point that out to them. Adventure to adventure.

IMO, the shift away from paranoid dungeon survival towards reckless insanity is one of the best things D&D has encouraged.

If the new edition fits that mold like my 3rd edition games do, there's some point in it's favor.

 

[Voss]

. Not to mention, swatting *30lb* Darkmantles like bugs with a shield, moving at a mere 30mph?! Cool is good and all, but it kind of loses its value if its given out for free.

I did wonder about this. You might take a tentacle off, but splatter? :\

 

[Dragonblade]

Yes! Bring on the action movie cinematic play style!

 

[Cadfan]

Not to mention, swatting *30lb* Darkmantles like bugs with a shield, moving at a mere 30mph?! Cool is good and all, but it kind of loses its value if its given out for free.

I'll bet you an imaginary cookie that this was a rule the DM made up on the fly.

But don't let that stop you from raging, of course.

 

[Kraydak]

I'll bet you an imaginary cookie that this was a rule the DM made up on the fly.

But don't let that stop you from raging, of course.

Actually, that was kind of my point. If you want action like that described, you can get it in any system. In 3e, its a simple matter of saying that all athletic DCs will be within reach, no pit will be deep enough to severely hurt those who fall in, no trap will be dangerous enough to severely hurt those who spring it. Oh, and no encounter will be at CR=PL+3 or more.

If a player tries to play gung-ho with a DM who doesn't cooperate, he will come to grief. If the DM cooperates, he will do well. The problems come when the players and DM aren't on the same page, as with the player of the dragonborn, who apparently figured on different (off-the-cuff) skill DCs.

4e may make DMing such campaigns easier, but if so its pretty much only by removing save-or-die effects (which a DM could do in 3e by being selective in monster picking) and maybe by making the default athletic skills easier. The other aspects of over-the-top involve extremely low skill DCs and easy opposition. Ramp up danger and difficulty, and the players will ramp up caution. Easy equation.

 

[fnwc]

4e may make DMing such campaigns easier, but if so its pretty much only by removing save-or-die effects (which a DM could do in 3e by being selective in monster picking) and maybe by making the default athletic skills easier.

The number of monsters in 3.5 that have save vs. lose effects increases as you go up the CR tree.

 

[Rechan]

IMO, the shift away from paranoid dungeon survival towards reckless insanity is one of the best things D&D has encouraged.

Tell me about it!

I ran a game for a group and they acted like SWAT team mixed with scientists, testing every hole and door and suspicious looking barrel like it was a doorway to the dimension of fangydoom. It got real tiring, real fast.

 

[Incenjucar]

I'm hoping the hyper-paranoia goes the way of smashing every fricking crate for tiny amounts of treasure in video games.