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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yesway Jose" data-source="post: 5650408" data-attributes="member: 6679265"><p>Sure, but I use NPCs and the game world as a reference point to understand how the PC behaves in that context. If a medieval village is landlocked, with only a well and shallow stream for water, and no magical swimming pool, then why presume by default that the villagers can swim? Better yet, if a PC background is described as having always been a desert nomad that never left the desert, why presume by default he can swim? What does heroism have to do with swimming ability vs having the wits to tread water? I understand that the 4E philosophy is to separate mechanics from the fiction as much as possible, but if Mearls is speculating about 5E (and who knows if he is?) then IMO he continues to fail to ruminate on what is the foundation of the rules -- what are the rules supposed to be simulating or how are they simulation-free? And is there a toggle box or suggestion sidebar somewhere to, for example, presume that a) NPCs and/or heroes are automatic/instinctive swimmers regardless of the fiction, or b) NPCs and/or heroes may or may not swim by default depending on the fictional context. This may seem trivial, and it probably is, but IMO not when these questions are expanded throughout the entire scope of the game, like an identity crisis.</p></blockquote><p></p>