Mechanics vs. Flavor text

[ceratitis]

i feel writing any text thats all crunch with no fluff encourages you to play the machanics of the game essencially the old role vs roll dispute with modern names of fluff vs crunch. is there anything in the rules that stops you from creating your own? i've been colecting spells i liked from house rules and already have more custom spells them the core books not to mention the hundreds of feats, stories, tactics ,humour, riddles plots ect...
everytime i look at stuff here its like the OP is rolling a skill and everyone who posts is aiding him/her giving some threads bonuses in the hundreds.
Z

 

[WayneLigon]

there's a Predator form, an Aerial form, etc. The flavor is up to the player in question (as to whether he wants his Predator form to look like a wolf, or a panther, or even a dinosaur or whatnot).

I voted 'some', because to me that description is 'some' and I find it works for me.
A pure mechanical approach would be just too confusing. If all it said was:

Shapeshifting: Choose one of the following
1) +1 STR +2 DEX -10ft movement DMG: 1d4
1) +4 DEX +10ft movement DMG: 1d8+3

and so on, I'd be scratching my head. That's just shorthand.

Now, just me, I have no problem with an animal that synergizes too well or is clearly superior to others because there /are/ animals forms for combat that are 'more equal than others'

 

[Umbran]

What are people's thoughts on this?

My thought is that perhaps there's soime bias in the question - why use the term "forcefed"? Why don't you view it as "suggestion"?

So long as the flavor text can be easily separated from the mechanics, I'm fine with it. An example or two help fuel my own inspiration. Give me some flavor, and I can compare and contrast my own ideas with that - I find the process constructive.

 

[Hussar]

THe problem with fluff is it leads to far too many stupid arguements.

I know that I've seen the whole "Can I shoot a moving fireball with a crossbow?" arguement far too many times. After all, it just says that a pea sized bit shoots out. It doesn't say how fast, other than a descriptive word like streaks or some such. If you give fluff, you have to assume that people reading that are going to take it as RAW. That means that the more fluff there is, the more chance that something sneaks through that is exploitable. Artistic license is one thing, but, when I see a picture of a mage riding a horse shooting a ray from his hand in the DMG, is it unreasonable to think that my own wizard should be able to do the same thing?

A little fluff goes a long way.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I'd like to see feats, spells and class ability described in game terms with maybe the occasional example (and examples should be given in mutually exclusive pairs to demonstrate flexibilty and make sure neither is confised with a requirement). The new format in the spell compendium where they give you even the dramatic coments to make before casting annoys the heck outa me and I see as just taking up space. Find some other way to pad your word count.

Similarly, the "flavor" of the power attack feat has been used to generally pervert a perfectly good and flexible mechanic to favor one fighting style and not work with another because "Its raw POWER!" ugh. Its trading to hit for to damage, let me apply it to my characer and describe it as I see fit.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

THe problem with fluff is it leads to far too many stupid arguements.

I know that I've seen the whole "Can I shoot a moving fireball with a crossbow?" arguement far too many times. After all, it just says that a pea sized bit shoots out. It doesn't say how fast, other than a descriptive word like streaks or some such. If you give fluff, you have to assume that people reading that are going to take it as RAW.

while I agree with you in principal, I disagree completely with this example. "the pea" is not flavor text, there are specific mechanical rules associated with it in the spell, including what happens if it (unexpectedly) encounters a material body prior to its planned destination. Imposing a material body is a natural and logical idea based on that mechanical information, not a perversion of flavor. (Speed is simply irrelevant since movement has no (positive) effect on AC.)

 

[Thaniel]

I just wanted to give this thread a shameless bump as being the longest thread I've ever started.

 

[Lorehead]

I just wanted to give this thread a shameless bump as being the longest thread I've ever started.

Before or after the bump?

 

[ThirdWizard]

Before or after the bump?

After you fell into his cunning trap!

 

[Hussar]

Ok, the pea example is just one. Then again, it is an example of fluff, particularly in earlier editions, that caused lots of stupid arguements.

How about this one? The inclusion of the word "chivalry" in paladins without defining chivalry and how it applies to a fantasy setting has caused the paladin more headaches than any other fluff in the game.