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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7751248" data-attributes="member: 42582">Well, two things:(1) 5e uses damage keywords just as 4e did. It just buries them in the text of spell descriptions.(2) When I started a thread to check whether or not 5e players/GMs thought that fire-type spells could set things alight, many answered no - that only if the spell description said so could it happen.Contrast 4e, which - in the DMG - points out that the function of keywords is to clearly convey what is going on in the fiction (so eg a gauze curtain or stack of books might take more damage from fire effects).I find it quite the opposite. The 4e description of the Fireball spell is very close to the Moldvay Basic one. Whereas the AD&amp;D description, and 3E description, are full of stuff (about blast pressure; about volume; about setting things alight and melting gold; etc) which are obviously rulings from various TSR GM's games, which are now being served up to the play community as rules. It's karaoke.Whereas 4e leaves it up to each table to decide eg how hard is it for a spell that deals cold damage to freeze a puddle? Or for another spell that does fire damage to melt it again.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7751248, member: 42582"] Well, two things: (1) 5e uses damage keywords just as 4e did. It just buries them in the text of spell descriptions. (2) When I started a thread to check whether or not 5e players/GMs thought that fire-type spells could set things alight, many answered no - that only if the spell description said so could it happen. Contrast 4e, which - in the DMG - points out that the function of keywords is to clearly convey what is going on in the fiction (so eg a gauze curtain or stack of books might take more damage from [I]fire[/I] effects). I find it quite the opposite. The 4e description of the Fireball spell is very close to the Moldvay Basic one. Whereas the AD&D description, and 3E description, are full of stuff (about blast pressure; about volume; about setting things alight and melting gold; etc) which are obviously rulings from various TSR GM's games, which are now being served up to the play community as rules. It's karaoke. Whereas 4e leaves it up to each table to decide eg how hard is it for a spell that deals cold damage to freeze a puddle? Or for another spell that does fire damage to melt it again. [/QUOTE]

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