NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6815364" data-attributes="member: 4937">I don't feel exception based has a definable concrete meaning.  Pretty much anything that appears beneath the stat block would fit the definition of exception based, which means that pretty much all monsters with any unique mechanical abilities are exception based.  About the only thing that might not qualify for that is if all of a monster's unique abilities map to a common list of spells and powers - for example, if dragons in your system have an ability like: 'Fiery Breath: Casts fireball at its level 3/day'. On the other hand, I feel absolutes in a system are always bad.  Everything in a system should be quantified in some way.  For example, even a fire elemental shouldn't be 'immune to fire damage'.   They should have Fire Resistance 100.  One big problem with immunity is the problem Saelorn calls out with Achilles - just because ordinary weapons could only harm his heel, doesn't mean that he could resist Zeus tossing a lightning bolt at him.   Whenever you put an absolute in the game, whether you make an explicit exception to that absolute or not ('this object can't be seen without true seeing', 'mind blank renders you immune to all mind effecting spells') you are making assumptions that leave no room for the endless creativity and possibilities that will arise elsewhere.   Those assumptions ultimately require you to reference each individual ability and remember everything that is out there in order to make an coherent world.   But quantifying everything means it just works without having to remember what else is out there or plan for it.</blockquote>

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