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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6067509" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I have an unusual answer with a bit of a story behind it.</p><p></p><p> Short version: narrative - mechanics disconnect.</p><p></p><p>Long version: A barbarian PC in my campaign has the Nocturnal paragon path which les her phase when she charges. She later asked if she could phase thru a castle wall while sneaking and I had to explain "no, because (a) not charging and (b) no line of sight."</p><p>Another time she and another player objected to an enemy making an opportunity attack against her as she charged past because she was "phasing" (which they interpreted to mean "in a ghostly mostly impervious to damage form"). In the heat of the game, I had no good explanation and just made a ruling "no, you are not invisible, that's not how the ability works." This epitomizes my main problem with 4e - the mechanics often have insufficient or discordant narrative tied to them. </p><p></p><p>Of course, changing it is possible, but not always spur of the moment, and the hand waving required can feel lacking. Usually I'm a "yes" DM and my players usually aren't trying to milk every advantage by bending/breaking rules. The problem is the poor narrative - mechanics bond, which leads to situations of "well, in *my* imagined headspace this is how it happens..." It's this sort of stuff that leads to pages upon pages of errata.</p><p></p><p>What I'd rather see, in this case, is a discussion in the core rules about *what exactly* phasing means / looks like in a narrative sense. Even listing a couple possibilities would be better than nothing. Instead 4e seems to start with mechanics and rely on that to craft narrative.</p><p></p><p>That can work, but when it fails it fails spectacularly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 6067509, member: 20323"] I have an unusual answer with a bit of a story behind it. Short version: narrative - mechanics disconnect. Long version: A barbarian PC in my campaign has the Nocturnal paragon path which les her phase when she charges. She later asked if she could phase thru a castle wall while sneaking and I had to explain "no, because (a) not charging and (b) no line of sight." Another time she and another player objected to an enemy making an opportunity attack against her as she charged past because she was "phasing" (which they interpreted to mean "in a ghostly mostly impervious to damage form"). In the heat of the game, I had no good explanation and just made a ruling "no, you are not invisible, that's not how the ability works." This epitomizes my main problem with 4e - the mechanics often have insufficient or discordant narrative tied to them. Of course, changing it is possible, but not always spur of the moment, and the hand waving required can feel lacking. Usually I'm a "yes" DM and my players usually aren't trying to milk every advantage by bending/breaking rules. The problem is the poor narrative - mechanics bond, which leads to situations of "well, in *my* imagined headspace this is how it happens..." It's this sort of stuff that leads to pages upon pages of errata. What I'd rather see, in this case, is a discussion in the core rules about *what exactly* phasing means / looks like in a narrative sense. Even listing a couple possibilities would be better than nothing. Instead 4e seems to start with mechanics and rely on that to craft narrative. That can work, but when it fails it fails spectacularly. [/QUOTE]
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