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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 6837627" data-attributes="member: 6702445">So I think I've had a minor breakthrough on this, but I'm not quite sure I can put it in words.  Let me see if I can work through it in a post. [MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION] asked about a hypothetical situation where I had this awesome roleplay between my character and the rogue, and our newfound breakthrough was reflected by our characters working together better as a team in combat.  And I started thinking, that sounds like something that would happen in Fate:  I'd create an Aspect of "Newfound Respect for the Rogue" or something, and use that in combat.  So it's not that I dislike that way of handling it in and of itself; it just doesn't sit right with me to do it in D&D.  It clashes in some way with what I want to do and get from this type of game.  Exactly how and where it conflicts are things I can't quite put my finger on yet, but I think this is related to what I was trying to say earlier about the relationship between mechanics and roleplay and why I don't really like the "decline the buff" solution.So maybe "player agency" is a red herring after all, or at least, not the entire explanation.  Maybe what I'm getting at is narrative mechanics.  I'm not usually a hardcore "System Matters" type of person--in fact, I usually argue fairly passionately against the idea that the system limits the type of story you can tell in a meaningful way.  And it drives me up the wall when people say D&D is only good for "killing things and taking their stuff."  So you'd think I'd like to have more social mechanics, but I find that social mechanics can be constraining as often as they are liberating.I should also soften and qualify something I said earlier to [mention=42582]pemerton:[/mention]  When I said that having someone in the group be designated as the gallant leader bugged me, I should say that is a worst-case scenario.  I actually can imagine sitting down with my group of friends and agreeing that one of us is the inspiring one.  But when I imagine that, I by default picture us playing something that isn't D&D--something with a more narrative focus.</blockquote>

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