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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 6230194" data-attributes="member: 12037">The answer is, of course, something interesting within the context of what is going on in the game.The entire point of building vague mechanics is that events can be adapted to whatever is interesting in the current situation. Perhaps the "hazardous" definition doesn't work well in D&D, I can see that. After all, D&D has very well defined definitions of magic items and spells. However, that doesn't mean that vague rules are bad in all contexts.For example, in Dungeon World a monster stat block looks something like this:[HR][/HR]Devourer Solitary, Large, Intelligent, HoarderSmash (d10+3 damage) 16 HP 1 ArmorClose, Reach, ForcefulMost folk know that the undead feed on flesh. The warmth, blood and living tissue continue their unholy existence. This is true for most of the mindless dead, animated by black sorcery. Not so the devourer. When a particularly wicked person (often a manipulator of men, an apostate priest or the like) dies in a gruesome way, the dark powers of Dungeon World might bring them back to a kind of life. The devourer, however, does not feed on the flesh of men or elves. The devourer eats souls. It kills with a pleasure only the sentient can enjoy and in the moments of its victims’ expiry, draws breath like a drowning man and swallows a soul. What does it mean to have your soul eaten by such a creature? None dare ask for fear of finding out. Instinct: To feast on souls• Devour or trap dying soul• Bargain for a soul’s return[HR][/HR]What does "Devour or trap dying soul" mean? Whatever the GM needs it to mean. How do you bargain for a soul's return? Does it mean the person is alive, or does that mean the soul merely goes to the afterlife? How do you bargain with an undead monster, anyway? The monster description even notes that nobody knows what happens when the monster eats your soul.These are all design decisions. The design is to keep the mystery alive for the players. That sense of wonder everyone always wishes they had back. The vagueness of the design allows the DM to craft their game in a way that is internally consistent, exciting, and mysterious.</blockquote>

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