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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4121353" data-attributes="member: 1054">If your memory for what you did last time is better than mine, this is true. If you have trouble remembering the name of an NPC from one meeting to the next, you're less likely to remember the situational ruling. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Here's a 3x example -- the PCs were fighting a Kuo Toa harpooner, and one wanted to use his whip to disarm him of his shield. The whip in question had serrated edges, so I ruled it could (for dramatic purposes) arguably cut the straps, performing a disarm. The player then wanted to know if this was a 'held object' for various rules purposes, and while technically it was, the rules clearly applied to objects held only with a hand grip, not anything more firmly attached, so he didn't get any of the applicable bonuses, nor could he manage to end up holding it. I basically made several quick rulings on how disarm-with-a-serrated-whip could work on a shield, establishing a precedent the players will rightfully expect me to stick to. I estimate this took 2-3 minutes of fumbling through rulebooks and comparing literal rules to 'what the rules are trying to model' interpretations. Fortunately, I rarely have this happen in 3x -- the rules do cover most situations which crop up. Based on designer comments about "putting the DM back in the equation" (as if he were ever gone), I expect to be doing a lot more such ruling if I run 4e...and that's not fun for me.</blockquote>

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