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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4155052" data-attributes="member: 5143">Before I begin, I'd like to say that I HAVE seen the rules, which may color my opinion slightly.  Although I can't really talk about the rules, I have a little bit of insight into the idea of "the rules are not the physics of the world."The point of this idea is the meta-game acknowledgment that some things are more fun when playing a game than others.  It's no fun to sit in a corner for 2 hours waiting to be brought back after failing a save against poison the first round of combat.  It's no fun to realize that nothing you do on your turn matters at all because it is ineffective.  There are many other things in the list, but this gives you an good example.However, when faced with a choice between two options, you need to make a choice one way or another.  For example, you are faced with:1. Some poisons generally kill people within seconds2. It is no fun to write pages of background for a character, show up to a game week after week getting attached to your character only to die with (nearly) no chance to stop it.  It's also no fun to have the BBEG drop dead immediately for the same reason.Some DMs would be in favor of number 1 being the dominating factor and telling players to suck it up since they aren't going to break realism in order to make a player feel better about themselves.Other DMs would simply make all poisons slow acting and make it impossible for the king to die in a round after eating some poisoned food.  That way when it is used against PCs, it won't immediately kill them.The 4e philosophy is simply: Understand that both can be true.  The rules are used to describe PC and monster actions 95% of the time.  In terms of practicality, only 5% of the time do you use them for generic NPC #1.  So, simply write the rules so they only apply to the PCs.The idea is then that PCs don't die to poisons in one round.  Neither do monsters.  The king does, however.  The PCs are simply hardier, blessed with a destiny, being watched over by the gods, and...well, are more fun to play that way.</blockquote>

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