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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Runestar" data-source="post: 4414895" data-attributes="member: 72317">By now, it should come as no small surprise that there are quite a variety of situations in 4e which clearly offend our established standards of "common sense". For example, some DMs have been known to balk at the idea of a small-sized halfling rogue forcibly shifting a gargantuan foe such as the tarrasque via the use of powers, and proceed to rule that such a feat is not possible, citing "common sense" as their rationale. The issue I am trying to discuss here is not so much of whether they can, but whether they should. If the way a power would work seems contrary to "common sense", which should come first? Should we alter the power to keep it in line with what we feel make sense, or should said "common sense" take a step back and allow for the power in question to work the way it is written? Take the aforementioned example for instance. When the designers conceptualized said ability, the clear lack of any size limitations (unlike 3e mechanics like grapple or trip) suggests that they may well have designed it with the assumption that size is irrelevant here - the ability should work equally well regardless of who/what the rogue is facing, which ensures that he would be equally effective no matter what the DM pits him against, rather than him suddenly feeling screwed when he faces enemies his powers cannot work effectively against. Instead of ruling that a small-sized PC cannot shift a tarrasque, might it be better to think up an alternate explanation of how it might be shifted? Perhaps the rogue resorted to feinting and chincanery to provoke the tarrasque and trick it into voluntarily moving into that designated spot (but it would still work the same mechanicswise). Of course, this is but one example. Many others yet exist, and may not be able to get resolved as cleanly. For instance, slide/push mechanics seem like another headache. As written, you avoid immobilizing conditions and difficult terrain, so in theory, you can use a push power to help a grabbed PC escape being immobilized and move away to safety (since forced movement does not provoke AoOs). Would you see this as a blatant abuse of the rules, or would you allow it (and reword the ability's flavour to help make it seem more believable?)What are your experiences? Where would you draw the line? <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=":)" /></blockquote>

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