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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 6633077" data-attributes="member: 71699">IMO broadly all these cases are ones of damage with an effect riding on them, that wherever scalable states it clearly. For instance, some use the language "up to" and that by tradition includes zero. So if you can "push up to 15'" you can push 0'. Othertimes the language states an effect that isn't scalable. If the text did say "push 15'" instead of "up to 15'" then you must push 15' and cannot choose 0' unless the wording "may" was also used - which would make it binary. As in "you may push 15'" means you can go with 15' or you can disapply the effect. Note that disapplication is different from choosing 0': the target isn't pushed 0' if you choose not to push, they're not pushed at all. That nuance can matter occasionally. Note of course the combined case "you may push up to 15'" meaning you can push any number from 0' to 15' inclusive and you can not push at all if you don't want to.FWIW, you can't choose not to do the damage unless the wording states that in a similar way e.g. "you may do d6 damage" or whatever. My PHB is at home but IIRC the manoeuvers don't make it optional. That doesn't mean dealing damage is required to trigger the effect (unless stated). If something did have resistance against manoeuvers or something that could reduce damage to 0 or prevent it at all, that thing shouldn't be assumed to stop the effect unless expressly stated.Caveat - it's your game: do what you want! I'm just commenting on what I believe the rules mean. But then, the reason we have rules is to create limits that make the game interesting because players have to figure out ways to work within them. Alleviating the limits diminishes interest, typically. If in your game the limits don't seem to make things more interesting then that can be a motive for tweaking the rules. I tend to think one should do some consciously with an ends in mind. Often it is better to introduce such tweaks via a medium that can be ended if need be, like a potion effect, spell or item. That's because often the playtest resources of the designers are greater than what we have around our own tables and so their conclusions can be the right ones and we just don't have all the cases in front of us to understand the reasons that is so. Contemporary game designers are always thinking about the experience of play and they have more opportunity to test permutations than one group is likely to ever enjoy.</blockquote>

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