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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 4435353" data-attributes="member: 2011">That's one of the problems of "Magic The Gathering"-type abilities in DND.If X, then Y.It's computer programming for a game system that is not run on a computer. Hence, when these types of things come up, it forces DMs who have never in the past had to handle these special types of rules to come up with solutions.Personally as a DM, I do not want my players to know exactly what my total on the attack roll is. And, I am not forced to (via rules), hence, I do not. I also do not want my players to know the exact defenses of their opponents. If they total a 21 and it hits, they know that particular defense is 21 or less. But, they do not know exactly what it is unless a 20 misses (and even then, they might not know if there were other modifiers that they were unaware of).I also do not want my players to know exactly how large an area of effect is, just so that they can "auto-escape" an attack. In such a situation, the player will usually (90%+) succeed. But, I don't want to be handcuffed as a DM to say that the player is ENTITLED to know exactly every single safe square on the grid. That turns the game into a computer game. I'm not playing DND to play a computer game.It's totally NOT about screwing players. It's about limiting players to information that they acquire via in game experience as opposed to auto-handing out information BECAUSE we are playing a game.In fact when I DM, I roll all D20 attack rolls in front of my players. If they see a 12 on the die, it may or may not hit (situation depending). If it hits, they have a good idea that Shield will stop it. When a 17 is rolled, they have a good idea that Shield will not stop it. But, it is not guaranteed. In fact, my DM rolled a 17 where Shield would have stopped it because my Wizard has a high AC and the foe was a real mook when it came to an OA, but I let it slide because he rolled so high. My DM did not try to screw me here. He didn't chuckle gleefully because I could have stopped the attack. The argument that DMs are trying to screw players because the DM is not allowing a certain interpretation of the rules is invalid. It could happen, but typically, DMs are more mature than that.Level is relevant to game balance. You brought up a case of "information flow" of type one at level x and "information flow" of type two at level y and I merely pointed out that since the levels are different and the information flow type is different and the utility of the two powers is similar, it's possible for a DM to balance the level difference of the two powers out by balancing one information flow type against the other.I'm not trying to justify that a DM has to do this, I just said that he could. If he doesn't do this, it does not mean that he is trying to screw the player with the higher level ability.</blockquote>

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