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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9434536" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I think you're the one who should cool off a bit.  But hey, if I'm going to be accused of being hyperbolic ranting, here's some hyperbolic ranting for you!I don't have resentment against realists- I often make posts where I fairly point out that if it's fun for you and your group, play how you wish.I'm not part of some secret cabal of gamists who want to take all realism out of the game, lol, but often, I see these arguments for realism that go out of their way to penalize players for no good reason other than "it makes sense".Chalking it up to "a few bad DM's" seems more disingenuous to me.  Often, I see people cry out "realism" while also decrying the idea of making the game "easier" for PC's at the same time.  Case in point, <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/huge-equipment-lists-good-bad-or-ugly.706073/page-6#post-9433417" target="_blank">this post from Micah Sweet</a>, where they state that they'd much prefer to side with what makes logical sense to them, than something that would favor the PC's.Realism is something that is used to justify a lot of rulings.  Many perfectly cromulent game rules are discarded simply because the DM doesn't feel that they are believable.  Which is fine, if we're talking about destroying the narrative.  But you also see these statements from people who don't really know what they are talking about.Like plate armor being slow and cumbersome, when you can find videos on youtube of people performing a great many physical feats wearing plate armor.  So yeah, these things happen.What bothers me, however, is that in this fantasy game, there are those individuals who demand strict realism in every facet of the game that doesn't jump up and scream "I'm magical!", no matter how much handwavium you point out the game and it's settings are made of.Worse, is how curiously myopic some of these things are, where certain things have to be realistic, but other things they shrug off.  But what really bothers me about all of this is that the characters who most suffer from this are the ones who aren't magical or supernatural.The Fighter and the Rogue being classic examples.  Other classes can perform amazing feats with no other explanation than "because magic", but a guy wearing a suit of plate armor should suffer incredible penalties because "that's realistic" whether it is or isn't.And when you bring these points up, the usual response is "well, then, nerf magic", lol.  We can accept that non-magical humans in the game can survive being bit by a dragon the size of a barn, cause meaningful damage to creatures many times larger and denser than we are, often with scales or natural armor as sturdy as steel, run a marathon when reduced to 1 hit point without penalty, will themselves to get better without spending even hit dice (Second Wind), bend time and space (Action Surge), will themselves to succeed when they should fail (Stroke of Luck), dodge explosions that can fill a room without any sort of cover (Evasion)- but jumping 20' into the air, being stabilized (not revived mind you, just stabilized) with a Medicine check, and daring to be ready for an attack even while sleeping- these things are beyond the pale unless you have the magic feather/coupon!Hyperbole aside, obviously, I'm not saying to dispense with all reality like D&D is Toon, but so much of the game is based upon acknowledging that D&D isn't a simulation, and part of the game's central premise has people doing unbelievable things, that planting a flag on a hill and saying "this thing in particular cannot be allowed, while I accept all these other things" is more than a bit confusing.And it's not like I don't get it, as I said, I've had moments where I cannot believe things are happening, but really, as long as it's not detrimental to the game being fun or not, why does it matter so much?  Does strict adherence to the things we believe stretch the boundaries of logic make for a better experience when i'm fighting next to a guy who gets so mad that he takes half damage from being dunked in molten lava?Or should we just rule that Bear Totem Rage has a huge list of things it doesn't provide resistance to, because it's not realistic or "nobody could survive that", regardless of what the rules say?</blockquote>

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