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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robertliguori" data-source="post: 4157905" data-attributes="member: 47776">Yes, this is a failure to communicate here.  Physics describe something (generally something physical) that happens in the world.  If the nature of the game world is that some characters are PCs, and have their ability to jump gaps resolved by a d20 roll plus a modifier, and some characters are NPCs, and make or fail jumps regardless of what their modifier would have been were they PCs, then the physics of the world say that there are two classes of being with regards to jumping (PC and NPC), and that they jump differently.Likewise, once a ruling is made that some eladrins teleport in a particular way and that others don't, physics are being established.  "The world works like X for these situations and Y for these other situations." is certainly within the bounds of physics, as is "X in this case is, as far as we can tell, totally non-deterministic, at least with regards to what determines Y."Physics support the idea of a world where there are special classes of beings who interact with reality in a totally different manner.  If that is the way events are resolved at the table, then those are the physics of the gameworld.Well, yes.  A character that knows that in ordinary conditions, they can jump between 5 and 25 feet with a running start should expect that he could succeed or fail. A plate-clad halfling low-Str halfling (or, conversely, a thri-kreen) should not experience a moment of drama.  Possibly dying is an expected result of failing a DC 20 jump check with a +5 modifier.  However, the tenth time a character has been forced to make a jump check under pressure and 'just made it' or so, the character should have noticed that the world seems to work differently under certain conditions.And observing the world and drawing conclusions about it is the exact opposite of metagaming.  Metagaming is using knowledge your character shouldn't have.  Your character should notice if he can't do something, then suddenly can, then can't again, and he should wonder why.Well, no.  The physics of the real world say that humans don't come in a category of 'tough enough to shrug off a 100' fall casually'.  The physics of the real world also say that humanoid-shaped creatures don't come in sizes above about eight feet without massive health problems, that dragon-shaped, -strength, and -weighted creatures can't fly, and that you can't wave a magic wand and conjure up bunnies.Obviously, the physics of the real world do not describe the world of D&D.It is assumed that when the assumptions of reality and the written rules clash, the rules win.  Reality assumes no magic and extremely limited heroism; D&D assumes copious amounts of both.  Problems happen when one side or the other decides to stop assuming a set of rules that form a basic set of assumptions about how the world works.  F'rex, I assume that if the rules say that a character can survive a level of trauma that is unrealistic, that I am playing a character not meant to stand within the bounds of what is physically possible here on Earth and move on.  Some characters can invoke magic; others can punch through steel with their bare hands; some can avoid area attacks effortlessly even though there appeared nowhere for them to go, and some can get thrown off cliffs and bounce.  If this is what happens, then this is the physics of the world.</blockquote>

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