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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Erechel" data-source="post: 7396065" data-attributes="member: 6784868">The way I see it, it is a big and fundamental approach to gaming. THE big turnover for me in 3.X / 4thE era was the "Hard Rules" approach to gaming: you couldn't attempt anything if you don't have a specific rule that grants you such thing. That is, if you want to throw sand in the eyes of an enemy, you need a feature that grants you such attack as an encounter power, or is nearly useless/ you just can't. It is a very video-gamey approach (no judgement involved, i LIKE videogames), in the way that you need a specific piece of code to attempt something. I'm more a "Soft Rules" player: specific powers do a thing better than average, but you can still do them as its most basic level, with skill checks. That is how it worked (somewhat) in AD&D, and later in the OSR movement: you can always try something, and it is up to the 5th Edition takes this approach to its heart; even the stunned condition is depicted as an ogre hit by what appears to be a halfling with a hammer. Most spells or special abilities grant bonuses in addition to the "average" result, take for example the Battlemaster maneuvers: they are common attacks with increased damage (superiority dice) and an effect, such as Frighten, knock an enemy or Disarm it. The same happens with the Open Handed monk.There are some of these conditions with their own rules (like Disarm, in the DMG), but they are left to the DM to asign the actions and effects. The PHB advises to use skills creatively. If the game should need a rule for every minor interaction, the game will suffer of an extreme rules' bloat. That's why I, as a DM, take the approach of cost-opportunity for improvisations, applying common sense wherever it needs to have a limit. Even the game says so in the PHB. 5th Ed is a fantastic system, because it can resolve many things without too much effort, always following the guidelines, and not a collection of seemingly unrelated rules (a la AD&D, which was my game of preference before 5th ED, but it was clunky). You always have the Skill Check, Attack and Saving Throw mechanics to resolve things. Specific beats general, and it is often better than a simple skill check (EG, the Shield Master feat allows to perform a shove as a bonus action, instead of spending an attack).</blockquote>

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