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Is it houseruling to let a torch set fire to things?
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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 6875938" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>No.</p><p></p><p>[Edited because I realized I was missing some key points.]</p><p></p><p>By design, the rules cover certain areas of the game and leave others to the discretion of the DM. A house rule is something that affects the design space that is covered by the rules. If it's in the area that is left to DM discretion, then it's just a ruling, not a house rule.</p><p></p><p>The most obvious type of house rule is one that changes something in the rulebook. The rules say that you automatically regain all your hit points after a long rest. If I say that in my campaign, you <em>don't</em> automatically regain hit points after a long rest--you have to spend hit dice to heal--that's a house rule.</p><p></p><p>A house rule doesn't have to explicitly change the text of the rules, though. Let's say I made a rule that every time you roll a critical hit, you gain 50 XP. That is not changing the written rules, per se. Nowhere in the rulebooks does it say that you <em>don't</em> get 50 XP for a critical hit. But it's still pretty clearly a house rule. XP awards are in the "covered by the rules" design space.</p><p></p><p>However, what happens when you touch a lighted torch to an unlighted one is the sort of specific detail that the rules leave to the DM. Thus, it's a DM ruling, not a house rule.</p><p></p><p>This is not a bright-line distinction, and there is room for disagreement on whether any given thing falls in the "explicit rules" or "DM discretion" space (e.g., shoving daggers into the eyes of helpless foes). But I'd say the torch issue is firmly in the "DM discretion" area.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The bolded part is flat wrong. House rules are not cheating. They're house rules, and<em> at your table</em> they are every bit as valid as anything in the rulebooks.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">The only way to cheat in D&D is to deceive the rest of the table (e.g., saying you rolled a 20 when you got a 4).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 6875938, member: 58197"] No. [Edited because I realized I was missing some key points.] By design, the rules cover certain areas of the game and leave others to the discretion of the DM. A house rule is something that affects the design space that is covered by the rules. If it's in the area that is left to DM discretion, then it's just a ruling, not a house rule. The most obvious type of house rule is one that changes something in the rulebook. The rules say that you automatically regain all your hit points after a long rest. If I say that in my campaign, you [I]don't[/I] automatically regain hit points after a long rest--you have to spend hit dice to heal--that's a house rule. A house rule doesn't have to explicitly change the text of the rules, though. Let's say I made a rule that every time you roll a critical hit, you gain 50 XP. That is not changing the written rules, per se. Nowhere in the rulebooks does it say that you [I]don't[/I] get 50 XP for a critical hit. But it's still pretty clearly a house rule. XP awards are in the "covered by the rules" design space. However, what happens when you touch a lighted torch to an unlighted one is the sort of specific detail that the rules leave to the DM. Thus, it's a DM ruling, not a house rule. This is not a bright-line distinction, and there is room for disagreement on whether any given thing falls in the "explicit rules" or "DM discretion" space (e.g., shoving daggers into the eyes of helpless foes). But I'd say the torch issue is firmly in the "DM discretion" area. [FONT=Verdana] The bolded part is flat wrong. House rules are not cheating. They're house rules, and[I] at your table[/I] they are every bit as valid as anything in the rulebooks. The only way to cheat in D&D is to deceive the rest of the table (e.g., saying you rolled a 20 when you got a 4). [/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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Is it houseruling to let a torch set fire to things?
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