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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5435624" data-attributes="member: 42582">It's a book. It "delivers" by containing sentences. I quoted some sentences, including a (elided) paragraph (the actual paragraph, without ellision, is about half-a-column). If you look to see where those sentences are contained, they're under pretty important headings, like "Powers" and "Encounters". They're not hidden in sidebars, under misleading or irrelevant headings, or under rocks.And now you're saying the book fails to deliver. Maybe some players failed to read it? I don't know.The only mix I see is that the rulebook explains that my PC has a mix of powers useful in combat and outside, and may encounter a mix of both combat and non-combat encounters. Ie I'm playing a typical fantasy RPG.Why would anyone forget to read up on and choose their "cool" powers? I don't see why targets are objectionable. Spells in AD&D have targets or areas of effect.Upthread I listed a whole lot of non-combat spells (Warlock and Wizard utility powers) from the PHB. Most have either no target (because they're Personal) or a target of "you or one ally". I don't see how this encourages players to forget what they can be used for.It doesn't say this. It says that utility powers can be used in and out of combat. I think this is intended as a distributed rather than a collective predication ie some can be used in combat, some out of combat, and some both.The paragraph occurs under a heading "non-combat encounters". It descibes non-combat encounters in this way:Such encounters include dealing with traps and hazards, solving puzzles, and a broad category of situations called skill challenges. A skill challenge occurs when exploration (page 260) or social interaction becomes an encounter, with serious consequences for success or failure.How does this discourage players from thinking about a broad range of non-combat uses for powers?This bears no connection to the actual rules for skill challenges in the PHB and DMG:PHB pp 179, 259 Your DM sets the stage for a skill challenge by describing the obstacle you face and giving you some idea of the options you have in the encounter. Then you describe your actions and make checks until you either successfully complete the challenge or fail… Whatever the details of a skill challenge, the basic structure of a skill challenge is straightforward. Your goal is to accumulate a specific number of victories (usually in the form of successful skill checks) before you get too many defeats (failed checks). It’s up to you to think of ways you can use your skills to meet the challenges you face. DMG pp 72–75 More so than perhaps any other kind of encounter, a skill challenge is defined by its context in an adventure… Begin by describing the situation and defining the challenge. . . You describe the environment, listen to the players’ responses, let them make their skill checks, and narrate the results... When a player’s turn comes up in a skill challenge, let that player’s character use any skill the player wants. As long as the player or you can come up with a way to let this secondary skill play a part in the challenge, go for it… In skill challenges, players will come up with uses for skills that you didn’t expect to play a role. Try not to say no. . . This encourages players to think about the challenge in more depth… However, it’s particularly important to make sure these checks are grounded in actions that make sense in the adventure and the situation. If a player asks, “Can I use Diplomacy?” you should ask what exactly the character might be doing … Don’t say no too often, but don’t say yes if it doesn’t make sense in the context of the challenge.How does any of this discourage players from thinking about how they can use their PC's powers and other abilities to engage the fiction?This is from page 10 of the PHB, explaining what "exploration" involves when playing the game:While exploring a dungeon or other adventure location, you might try to do any of the following actions: * Move down a hallway, follow a passage, cross a room * Listen by a door to determine if you hear anything on the other side * Try a door to see if it’s locked * Break down a locked door * Search a room for treasure * Pull levers, push statues or furnishings around * Pick the lock of a treasure chest * Jury-rig a trapI don't see this as keeping it secret that, in the game, PCs can affect the environment, just like people do in the real world.Here is the flavour text for fireball (PHB p 161): "A globe of orange flame coalesces in your hand. You hurl it at your enemies, and it explodes on impact."It's true that fireball lists as targets "each creature in burst" - but the rules on reading a power make it clear that the main function of this text is not to limit the effect to creatures (in contrast to objects) but to broaden the effect to creatures (in contrast to enemies only).Would the PHB have been improved by including the rules from the DMG on attacking objects, mounted combat, aquatic combat, exhaustion etc (heavens! players who read the PHB, including the rules on using Athletics to swim, might think that they can't fight in water! or that they can't fight while riding horses!)? Yes.Does the PHB give the impression that PCs can't do anything useful or interesting out of combat, or that PCs can't use their powers, including attack powers, out of combat? No - I've quoted the text where it expressly says the exact opposite.</blockquote>

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