Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8676195" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>But how is it a simulation? My character plays baseball for 5 years and suddenly he's a world class swimmer, it isn't any kind of simulation of anything in the real world at all. It isn't even a terribly accurate DEPICTION. Why does being 'proficient' in Athletics in 5e grant a certain bonus? Why not some other bonus? Why is it a FIXED bonus? Its simply a completely gamist concept that exists to encourage players to have their characters consistently address problems in specific ways. Beyond that, you don't know the particulars of any particular instance of use! I come to a wall, and I say &quot;well, I'm going to climb this wall.&quot; Nobody evaluates the condition of the wall (nobody even KNOWS it, it could be wet, slippery and moss-covered so that even world-class climbers have no chance at all to scale it). Instead I get some DC, which may be 'easy', 'moderate', or 'hard' mostly depending on the GM's evaluation of how likely it is that climbing or not climbing will advance the plot in keeping with his needs or convenience. Perhaps now and then a GM RANDOMLY GENERATES how slippery it is. But having seen enough stone walls, its pretty clear to me that whether or not one is mossy is going to depend on a range of factors, most of which are not actually even known (season, climate, type of stone, degree of maintenance, other factors related to moss growth of which I am too ignorant to even list let alone factor into a game).</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8676195, member: 82106"] But how is it a simulation? My character plays baseball for 5 years and suddenly he's a world class swimmer, it isn't any kind of simulation of anything in the real world at all. It isn't even a terribly accurate DEPICTION. Why does being 'proficient' in Athletics in 5e grant a certain bonus? Why not some other bonus? Why is it a FIXED bonus? Its simply a completely gamist concept that exists to encourage players to have their characters consistently address problems in specific ways. Beyond that, you don't know the particulars of any particular instance of use! I come to a wall, and I say "well, I'm going to climb this wall." Nobody evaluates the condition of the wall (nobody even KNOWS it, it could be wet, slippery and moss-covered so that even world-class climbers have no chance at all to scale it). Instead I get some DC, which may be 'easy', 'moderate', or 'hard' mostly depending on the GM's evaluation of how likely it is that climbing or not climbing will advance the plot in keeping with his needs or convenience. Perhaps now and then a GM RANDOMLY GENERATES how slippery it is. But having seen enough stone walls, its pretty clear to me that whether or not one is mossy is going to depend on a range of factors, most of which are not actually even known (season, climate, type of stone, degree of maintenance, other factors related to moss growth of which I am too ignorant to even list let alone factor into a game). [/QUOTE]

Verification