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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9617490" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Yes, of course a GM can make good faith decisions for NPCs. I've said a few times that I'm not really worried about bad faith GMing. My point is that I like for there to be limits on this decision making. That there is a time and place for it, and then a time and place for mechanics. Absent any mechanics, the more that a given situation of play relies on multiple points of GM fiat... like the Alarm spell from the OP, but also many other instances... the more concern I have as a player and a GM. For example, I think things like the Alarm spell work best when they interact with Random Encounter rolls and the like. Yes, of course. I've not been describing any kind of play as problematic in and of itself. Some people love railroads! I don't think that's a bad style of play... it's just not one I enjoy. Some people love old school dungeon delving. Again, a perfectly fine way to play, but not one I tend to enjoy a whole lot. I'll start this response by saying we're getting deep into the fisking and you're pushing into insulting territory, and I don't want to go down that road. So I'll respond to the above bit, and then a few other points below. The above... the GM has a good idea of what the party can do. They have levels, for crying out loud... a rough measurement of their capability. The game uses challenge ratings and encounter difficulty and the like. What are they? To make the game fun? To portray a believable world? Seriously... I'd love to hear what your actual guiding principles are about 5e and where they came from than this back and forth situation we're in. Again, I find this hard to accept. Do you routinely sic a lone kobold on your 15th level party? Do you send multiple dragons after your first level party? Of course not. Because I'm playing a game and how the game works matters to me? As a player, I like to understand how we arrive at some new situation. As a GM I want my players to understand how we arrive at some new situation. Their knowledge of the game and how it works is more important to me than the "mystique" of the setting. Because the less players understand about this stuff, the less agency they have. According to this logic the Hickman written Dragonlance modules... widely considered a paradigmatic shift in the focus of RPGs that still holds sway to this day... are not railroads. I think you need to rethink this statement.</blockquote>

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