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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 4157437" data-attributes="member: 32164">Well, I was reading through this thread, and I think I have some new light to shed on this "the rules aren't physics" debate.I believe myself to be firmly in the camp that believes "the rules of the game do not reflect the physics of the gameworld." However, I would state it more accurately as: the probabilities laid out for actions occurring in game according to the rules do not accurately reflect all of the available probabilities for events in the game world.In other words, things that might happen frequently to the PCs do not necessarily ever happen to an NPC. Similarly, actions that might happen to any given NPC are not necessarily common enough that there's a reasonable chance of them happening to a PC.This is based on the fundamental conceit that the PCs are touched by luck, destiny, divine providence, or some other thing that makes their lives different from those of the people around them.When a PC gets "hit" by a sword blow and survives a cut that would kill a shopkeeper, it's not that the physics are different. In reality, the shopkeeper could take a mighty blow and survive (in the same way that a convenience store clerk today can be shot in the head and survive). The difference is that the PC, through luck and skill (and whatever supernatural forces come into play), is not likely to die when this happens, whereas, most of the time, an ordinary person would. The PCs operate under different rules than the rest of the world, but most people in the game world would only notice that the PCs (and some NPCs) seem to be especially skilled, lucky, blessed, or whatever.This is done for two reasons:1) Most people would rather play the guy who's touched by luck or destiny than the random shopkeeper.2) From a game perspective, most players don't want their characters to die easily.When I (and others) say that PCs are "heroes" or "the protagonists of the story," what we're really talking about is skewing the rules of the game (specifically, the conflict resolution probabilities) to facilitate ongoing action adventure stories. Yes, there's still a risk of death in what the characters do, but for the PCs, it's reduced by all the things that make them different.Most NPCs don't enjoy that kind of protection because, from the standpoint of the fun of those playing, they're disposable. If someone guts the shopkeeper with a sword, or if he gets knifed in a bar fight, he's likely to die. Sure, that shopkeeper should have a wife, children, hopes, dreams, and maybe a nice lawn gnome collection, but isn't his personality more important to the game being played than properly statting him out as a 4th-level commoner?Personally, I'd argue that an NPC with a well-developed personality and no stats is a more "real" part of the game world than a fully-statted one with no personality. But that's just how I play.And in the case of 4E, we're actually talking about "minimal stats" as opposed to "none."</blockquote>

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