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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doctor Proctor" data-source="post: 5736378" data-attributes="member: 78547">So fine, we add to Magic Missile "Using Magic Missile while adjacent to an enemy gives him a free attack against you." What about Thunderwave? Well, that doesn't need it I guess, so we don't include it. But Scorching Burst? That provokes, so we have to add to that one "Using Thunderwave while adjacent to an enemy him a free attack against you". Could of Daggers? Same thing. You will have to replicate this rule dozens, perhaps hundreds of times for each class.  True, you may not be playing a mage, but you'll be going up against enemy artillery. So now the DM needs this printed on every monster stat block where its appropriate as well. That's another few hundred iterations of the same basic rule. A big problem though is that I just noticed a mistake in the text! I said "provokes a free attack", which might imply that it's a free action. However, it's an opportunity action, so now I need to issue some errata. I now have to track every single individual instance of that rule in every bit of published material. This includes, but is not limited to: PHB's, Power Source books, Dragon, Monster Manuals, DMG, Adventurer's Vault (some items grant ranged attacks that would provoke OA's, and possibly modify or negate them), MME, Camgaign Guides, etc... If any one of them is missed, it could create confusion because there is no general rule saying "And Opporunity Attack uses an Opportunity Action" that would prevent the interpretation that the designers meant this instance should be a free action, since they never errata'd it. Having a singular rule under the heading of "Attacks of Opportunity" negates this issue though, since you only have to issue a single update for each time it's explained. I would guess that would be, maybe 4 or 5 times in the game currently? (PHB1, maybe a reprint in PHB2, HotFL, HotFK, and perhaps in the DMG?)   If that's what you want though, then why not find a system that offers that, instead of complicating the D&D system by creating these complexity tiers through repeated instances of the same rules cropping up explicity, rather than being defined in a rules section? Or better yet, just create soemthing like the Level 0 Character Creation optional rules and slap it into the DMG as a starter adventure. This would be it's own little sandbox with special rules that don't apply elsewhere. Then, when you're done and you've hit Level 1, you read the rules in the PHB and start playing the game with all the components in place. The only other thing I could see working would be to segregate the books by tier, and then have additional complexity show up in the other tiers. We already have the skeleton of such a system with the ideas of Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies, as well as Paragon and Epic feats. You would need a Heroic, Paragon and Epic PHB (or at least different sections with complete rulesets bound in a single book), as well Heroic, Paragon and Epic versions of the DMG and Monster Manuals (this would help alleviate the issue I mentioned in the OP about the Level 3 monsters vs Level 2 characters that should technicaly have access to rules that the PC's don't). In effect, you're creating three separate games that all sit on top of each other, but each one would have a complete and codified rules set like we have now. The only problem with that solution is that it risks fracturing the system.  You might never play Paragon because your DM only has the Heroic DMG and Heroic MM.  At least now the PHB and DMG each include a complete set of rules and serve as a sort of minimum barrier to entry that ensures that both sides of the table are on equal footing.</blockquote>

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