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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5500052" data-attributes="member: 42582">Of course it can be done in 3E. That's why I said way upthread that I'm sure I could run 3E in a vanilla narrativist style.My point is that 4e does it better, because the dynamic pacing of 4e combat creates a situation where the stakes are high and these choices must be made. To make it a bit more concrete: In a scry-teleport-ambush scenario, my choice to be a polearm master or an archer doesn't really make any difference other than colour. If the dynamic of combat is hold off the monsters while the wizard casts save-or-suck, choices about sacrifice, who to heal and so on are less likely to come into play.4e, by changing the dynamics of combat from games like 3E and Rolemaster, creates more space where these sorts of choices have to be made, and start to matter as more than just colour.Think of them as HeroQuest 2nd ed extended contests, except (i) instead of 5 points, its somewhere between 4 and 12 points required, and (ii) instead of the opposing force getting to make rolls and accumulate points, the opposing force wins if it gets 3 points, where it gets points by the PCs failing. (So it's a little bit like extended-challenge-meets-players-roll-all-the-dice.) And players would narrate their attempts, and the GM the consequences of those attempts, in a similar sort of way.Yes. The original rules are mildly incoherent in this respect. Essentials mostly resolves this in favour of level-appropriateness.The relevance to narrativism is as I've explained - it's the analogue, in 4e, of HQ's pass-fail cycle.As to the discrepancy - it comes up mostly in the contrast between tactical/combat resolution, and skill challenge resolution. And as I said upfront, this interface is the weakest part of 4e action resolution. The problem isn't that DCs change - I can narrate around that, just as in HQ the GM might have to explain why the same chasm has a different DC (if the pass/fail cycle has moved). It's more about working out how to integrate the two different ways of determining successes/consequences. I've given a few examples upthread of how I've handled this in my game.</blockquote>

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