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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kennew142" data-source="post: 4159216" data-attributes="member: 18490">To each his own, but I've never understood the argument. I don't see it as metagaming if a player acts according to the rules. IMO the rules are designed to allow us to tell an interactive story. They don't equate to the physics of the world. They allow us, as near-omniscient outside observers, to model how the characters interact with the world in a simplistic (compared to actual physics) model, involving turns, encounters, numerical ratings of hit points, defenses, skills, etc....Attempting to model a world's physics by the game rules leads to ridiculous situations like you've described. This has been true for every edition of D&D. If the game rules require a PC to kill X number of enemies in order to advance to a level where they can raise the dead, does that mean that every NPC cleric has a lengthy combat resume? What about pacifist clerics of healing gods, can they never advance as healers just because they don't slaughter orcs for a living? To cite an even more laughable example, what about a baker? If he want to be able to produce elaborate baked goods, he can only learn it by killing kobolds?If the experience system doesn't have to model the natural laws by which butchers, bakers and candlestick makers learn their trades, why do the game rules we use to model powers and timekeeping have to reflect natural laws instead of simple gaming conventions?The following isn't necessarily directed at Lizard, but at a generic you that includes me on occasion, when I don't like a rule.It seems that this argument falls on its face whenever it's applied across the board. It works much better when you're trying to make illogical arguments in order to invalidate game rules you don't like. Any game rule can be made to seem ridiculous if it's overanalyzed. No game system is complex enough to model the actual laws of nature/physics. They simplify reality in order to model it just enough to make an enjoyable game.</blockquote>

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