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<blockquote data-quote="Philotomy Jurament" data-source="post: 4842379" data-attributes="member: 20854">On the &quot;rules reference&quot; thing…I think the 1e DMG is a rules reference, but it's also an &quot;information dump&quot; from Gary on how to think like and be a DM.&nbsp; That means sometimes the DMG is laying out rules, but other times, it's Gary providing advice, example, and guidelines on how to rule on certain situations.&nbsp; Sometimes the lines between those areas aren't clearly demarcated, and Gary's authoritative tone can cloud it even further.In the case of the poison saving throws and monsters, I see the DMG as saying: the rule is that poison attacks require a saving throw vs. poison.&nbsp; And then Gary saying &quot;...however, keep in mind that the specifics of the situation might create an exception.&quot;&nbsp; He's saying that the DM should consider the source of the poison and the target of the poison and make a judgment.&nbsp; The main purpose isn't to provide a rule on whether specific creatures are immune to poison attacks; it's about providing advice to the DM on how to rule on the situation.&nbsp; Even more formal rules are often presented in this light (i.e. this is the general rule and these are ways to handle exceptions and corner cases).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Philotomy Jurament, post: 4842379, member: 20854"] On the "rules reference" thing… I think the 1e DMG is a rules reference, but it's also an "information dump" from Gary on how to think like and be a DM. That means sometimes the DMG is laying out rules, but other times, it's Gary providing advice, example, and guidelines on how to rule on certain situations. Sometimes the lines between those areas aren't clearly demarcated, and Gary's authoritative tone can cloud it even further. In the case of the poison saving throws and monsters, I see the DMG as saying: the rule is that poison attacks require a saving throw vs. poison. And then Gary saying "...however, keep in mind that the specifics of the situation might create an exception." He's saying that the DM should consider the source of the poison and the target of the poison and make a judgment. The main purpose isn't to provide a rule on whether specific creatures are immune to poison attacks; it's about providing advice to the DM on how to rule on the situation. Even more formal rules are often presented in this light (i.e. this is the general rule and these are ways to handle exceptions and corner cases). [/QUOTE]

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