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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6162309" data-attributes="member: 42582">I agree that there is (at least) a certain delicacy in reconciling 4e's p 42 and its powers. But that is (in my view, at least) mostly a consequence of 4e being very specific with its powers. Games like HeroWars/Quest, or Marvel Heroic, show how you can have systems which are at one-and-the same time exhaustive while leaving plenty of room for out-of-the-box situations. The GM doesn't have to make up new mechanics for those situations, but just has to adjudicate the fiction. So while I agree that some have the belief you state, I think they are mistaken.The examples of this that I mentioned upthread are Iron Man powering up his suit by hooking into the power grid, or by standing outside in a thunderstorm. The mechanics are clear: Distinctions - something like Fate's Aspects - establish the fictional parameters, and on a success Iron Man's player establishes an Asset (a buff) or Restores (ie reactivates) a shut-down power, while on a failure the GM imposes a complication (eg Blacked-out New York) or stress (eg physical stress from being struck by lighting). In this system there is no problem of crowding out powers, because powers are defined using the same vocabulary - eg Spider Man just has a buff to attempts to establish grappling complications, because of his webs. But the actual process is the same as anyone else wanting to establish a grapple.The closest that 4e comes to this is the skill challenge, where the GM doesn't have to invent a new mechanic, but just adjudicate the fiction of succeeding or failing at a skill check - and a player who uses a power, an action point etc just gets a buff.It's a bit of a tangent, but I think the problem with this is that the GM isn't doing his/her job. S/he isn't introducing complications, or developing the situation, in a way to which the players can respond. If the GM has nothing interesting to do with his/her NPC on a failed Diplomacy check, s/he shouldn't be running a skill challenge! (Robin Laws emphasises this point in HeroQuest revised, and that bit of the rulebook was cut-and-pasted into DMG2.)</blockquote>

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