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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chris_Nightwing" data-source="post: 6049748" data-attributes="member: 882">I'll try to get around the dripping sarcasm and reply to this. Yes, D&D combat is not an accurate representation of real world combat due to the abstract nature of things such as hit points and a single attack roll per round. However, it is a false dichotomy to say that we must either abstract everything or simulate everything precisely. There is a sliding scale of detail, and it can be the case that to simulate one process more accurately requires a level of complexity that isn't worth the trade-off.I have in the past worked in creating stochastic models of biological systems. It is absurd to think that you have to model every detail of a living cell in order to get something meaningful out of a model of a specific system within that cell. It is also the case that ignoring certain details will give you results that are meaningless. There is a balance to be found in determining which processes you model in detail. I understand that you prefer your game to be more like an action or super-hero movie, but some of us place value on process simulation, and being able to make a decision in-character that does obey the rules of physics and common-sense. I would argue that D&D has always tried to obey those rules for physical combat, with 4th edition taking a step back to framing those rules in the metagame.The original fiction for wizardly spellcasting was that they literally had to memorize the spell in order to then cast it later in the day. This got modified into preparing the spell in order to cast it later in the day, and then became unclear. The rules of magic, as I said, might have been based on the idea that you can only memorize so much at once. If you think of it like preparing for an exam, you have some limited capacity to keep all the information in your head, and after the exam is over, more often than not, you actively relax and feel mentally drained. There are only so many exams you can prepare for in a single day.Now I'm not saying that magic has to follow this, just that this is where that particular point of view was probably coming from. Magic is magic and can follow any rules you choose. I will repeat though, that for those of us that like more sandbox games, more process simulation, it really helps if the ability to use magic is limited in some way in order to construct a coherent world.So, for some of us, there is good reason to model physical combat and magic differently, and thus to limit their use differently.</blockquote>

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