Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5493730" data-attributes="member: 2067">Functionally, Batman can do all those things, as well as what Superman can do. Let's take flight. Batman can't just leap into the air and soar...but he can leap into the air an extraordinary height because of his martial arts training, and he can open his cape to function like a glider, with which he can catch thermals because of his brilliant intellect and practice, and combine it with the grappling hook to rope him to higher vertical ground. He might need the right &quot;planning&quot; or &quot;equipment&quot; or &quot;tool,&quot; but this is just Batmanspeak for the right &quot;magic item&quot; or &quot;god's blessing&quot; or &quot;supernatural skill.&quot;A D&amp;D warrior needs to depend on the generosity of a DM dropping the right item or providing the right mount or giving the right set-up and permitting them to make the right skill checks to maybe do any of that.For a D&amp;D warrior to work like Batman (without having to be as intelligent themselves), we could have the player just say &quot;I use my Soaring Wings ability to take to the sky!&quot; And Soaring Wings would say something like &quot;The user flies 25 feet.&quot;This would represent some combination of athletics, tools, skill, training, knowledge, and natural ability, without the player needing to actually line everything up like that. His &quot;career path&quot; is &quot;fantasy hero,&quot; which isn't a career path available to any Real People, including Michael Jordan and Stephen Hawking. It's a career path arguably available to any burger-flipper with a dark secret and a drive in the fictional universe of the funny pages, but for Actual Human Beings, it's not an option.That's key because the moment we start working within the fantasy milieu, we don't have to justify what any character can do based on what actual, real-life human beings are actually capable of in real life. What Batman can do is not based on what actual real, flesh and blood, Michael Jordan mortal human beings can do. It's based on what fantasy heroes can do. And D&amp;D fighters, then, don't have to rival Michael Jordan anymore. They get to rival Batman (who rivals Superman and all sorts of other clearly not normal people characters).Spot on. The fiction that Batman exists in bears no resemblance to reality.The fiction that D&amp;D warriors exist in bear no resemblance to reality.Reality is not a useful measure to calibrate what these characters are capable of.Myths, legends, epics, idealized power fantasies -- that is what these characters are capable of.&quot;Normal in the context of the fiction&quot; or not, they are not normal in the context of REALITY.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5493730, member: 2067"] Functionally, Batman can do all those things, as well as what Superman can do. Let's take flight. Batman can't just leap into the air and soar...but he can leap into the air an extraordinary height because of his martial arts training, and he can open his cape to function like a glider, with which he can catch thermals because of his brilliant intellect and practice, and combine it with the grappling hook to rope him to higher vertical ground. He might need the right "planning" or "equipment" or "tool," but this is just Batmanspeak for the right "magic item" or "god's blessing" or "supernatural skill." A D&D warrior needs to depend on the generosity of a DM dropping the right item or providing the right mount or giving the right set-up and permitting them to make the right skill checks to [I]maybe[/I] do any of that. For a D&D warrior to work like Batman (without having to be as intelligent themselves), we could have the player just say "I use my [I]Soaring Wings[/I] ability to take to the sky!" And Soaring Wings would say something like "The user flies 25 feet." This would represent some combination of athletics, tools, skill, training, knowledge, and natural ability, without the player needing to actually line everything up like that. His "career path" is "fantasy hero," which isn't a career path available to any Real People, including Michael Jordan and Stephen Hawking. It's a career path arguably available to any burger-flipper with a dark secret and a drive in the fictional universe of the funny pages, but for Actual Human Beings, it's not an option. That's key because the moment we start working within the fantasy milieu, we don't have to justify what any character can do based on what actual, real-life human beings are actually capable of in real life. What Batman can do is not based on what actual real, flesh and blood, Michael Jordan mortal human beings can do. It's based on what fantasy heroes can do. And D&D fighters, then, don't have to rival Michael Jordan anymore. They get to rival Batman (who rivals Superman and all sorts of other clearly not normal people characters). Spot on. The fiction that Batman exists in bears no resemblance to reality. The fiction that D&D warriors exist in bear no resemblance to reality. Reality is not a useful measure to calibrate what these characters are capable of. Myths, legends, epics, idealized power fantasies -- that is what these characters are capable of. "Normal in the context of the fiction" or not, they are not normal in the context of REALITY. [/QUOTE]

Verification