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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bramadan" data-source="post: 4182649" data-attributes="member: 1064">I agree that one can take whatever one wants from the RPG but when discussing objective truths it is as safe bet as any to go by the words and actions of the designer(s).Here is a quote from 3.0 DMG on styles of play:He then goes on to say how normal DnD is usually a mixture of the two and should be treated appropriately. 3rd ed DMG is pretty much explicitly making my point for me here: Rules of DnD are for primarily combat related, less emphasis there is on combat (under the DnD ruleset) more adjudication is required by the DM. Similar caveats are given in both 1st and 2nd edition DMGs and I will be very surprised if we do not find something like it in the 4th. I am not talking about weird special cases here. Even such action-fantasy tropes as chases are virtually absent from the RAW DnD and require heavy DM adjudication to run under any  edition up to this day. There was always some degree of non-combat rules but they were neither very deep nor very complete. We tried very much to run a feudal baron/mercenary company game using the stronghold/henchmen rules from 1ed ADnD. To say that considerable houseruling and DM adjudication was needed would be an understatement. Wandering monster tables on the other hand were integral part of the game from the beginning and they were/are all about combat. If anything they are the perfect example of the basic kick-in-the-door style Monte speaks about above that is combat/rules heavy.  I am not sure what other sort of cause/effect relationship could there be between preponderance of combat rules over rules for everything else, and designer intent to make a combat-based game. if you need further insight into how designers imagined DnD will be played take a look at any given published adventure from ODnD to the present day. Ratio of expected time spent in and out of combat in pretty much any one of those will illustrate it.Surprise rules existed in ADnD2 and I am fairly confident they existed in ADnD1 as well.Climbing rules did as well - they were just fairly simple rules (as they limited smooth surface climbing to one class only and assumed everyone can climb ropes).Reason for this is exactly that climbing does not have great overlap with combat. DnD3 climbing rules are better but still infinitely simpler then DnD combat rules though I would argue that the actual process of rock/wall climbing is not much less complex then fencing or archery. In the second half of your statement you are mixing up outcome and the process. Fact that non-combat and combat encounter can both kill you does not make them a same thing. If king sentences my character to death I can plead for mercy or I can fight the palace guard. One will (under DnD) involve a diplomacy skill check roll and/or free form DM adjudication and will take 2 minutes. Other will involve lots of rules (initiative, armor, damage, BAB, etc etc...) and can take up to an hour. Not the same thing at all.I grant you that DnD is over-all very abstract RPG. Yet for all its abstraction, DnD combat system is by far the least abstract part of the game. If DnD combat were as abstract as its skill system it would be resolved by one opposed d20 roll, modified by BAB with the high roller winning and killing the opponent. There would possibly be a table with modifiers DM can apply based on some common circumstances. I am not arguing that it is impossible to create the game that provides same level of abstraction in other things PCs may do that would be on par with DnD combat. I am just claiming that DnD is not  has never been, and has no demonstrated intention to become that game. If the 3ed DMG guide is not enough I will provide more designer quotes as to the point that DnD rules are to be used primarily for combat situations and are to be heavily supplemented by DM fiat outside the combat situations. It is not speculation, it is stated intent of the makers of the game. Complaining about it is about as futile as complaining about the offroading performance of the Vespa.</blockquote>

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