D&D General Just Eat the Dang Fruit

[Micah Sweet]

You're aware that people don't always have identical perspectives, decision-making methodologies, propensities toward trust or mistrust, riiiight? As exemplified by the aphorism: "Would you jump off a cliff if your friends did?"

And everyone else felt differently from the one who ate the fruit, in a way that had nothing to do with the saving throw they just saw the player make? I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's not fear. It's a preference.

A preference to… not be playing a game…?

 

[Charlaquin]

Not when one of their party just ate the fruit with no ill effects, no.

That only follows if everyone in the party assumes anything that may be wrong with the fruit would have immediately visible effects. Very dangerous assumption for them all to be making.

 

[Irlo]

A preference to… not be playing a game…?

It’s a preference to avoid metagaming.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

And everyone else felt differently from the one who ate the fruit, in a way that had nothing to do with the saving throw they just saw the player make? I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it.

Not when one of their party just ate the fruit with no ill effects, no.

You seem pretty confident in your ability to predict how characters you know absolutely nothing about should be reacting. As well as as their ability to diagnose or discern potential poisoning in someone who JUST ate something.

 

[Charlaquin]

It’s a preference to avoid metagaming.

It isn’t actually possible not to metagame while playing a game. Our decisions are constantly being influenced by a wide variety of factors, including meta-game information such as our knowledge of the game rules. And even if one is to consciously endeavor to make decisions contrary to what their meta-game knowledge indicates is optimal from a gameplay perspective, that is itself a metagame decision.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You seem pretty confident in your ability to predict how characters you know absolutely nothing about should be reacting. As well as as their ability to diagnose or discern potential poisoning in someone who JUST ate something.

In this case, yeah. I've played with a lot of people, and nearly all of them would have taken a saving throw with no in-game appearance into consideration.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It isn’t actually possible not to metagame while playing a game. Our decisions are constantly being influenced by a wide variety of factors, including meta-game information such as our knowledge of the game rules. And even if one is to consciously endeavor to make decisions contrary to what their meta-game knowledge indicates is optimal from a gameplay perspective, that is itself a metagame decision.

But one that makes sense in-universe.

 

[Vaalingrade]

It’s a preference to avoid metagaming.

Like iserith did by blatantly having their character eat the fruit just because they have a trait that says they eat any fruit they see, that monster?

 

[Charlaquin]

But one that makes sense in-universe.

Implying that the decision that is mechanically optimal wouldn’t make sense in-universe, which I contend is not the case.