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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 4017713" data-attributes="member: 704">The gamist rules you cite would only have an impact on the narrative element of the game where those rules are in conflict with preconceived notions you bring into the game.I have not seen anything that suggests that Warlords use magic.  They do not cast spells, and they do not appear to have supernatural based abilities (as in abilities that would not function in an anti-magic field).  I am going to assume you are talking about the healing surge abilities.Trying to map a HP based system where each HP represents a given scratch or wound just does not work.  No DM is going to be able have a mid level or higher D&D character feel endangered or threatened by a dagger, when using the rules as written.  The game system as a whole is full of such examples, but the most egregious have to do with the HP system.Suspension of disbelief is important.  But having an entertaining game system is yet more important.  As a result, there are some things that may make sense from a narrative standpoint that simply are not a good idea.  Relegating the cleric to the position of combat medic is a bad idea, since he does not get to do much that can be considered cool  Having a wizard be inhumanly powerful is great for creating a sense of awe with respect to magic, but it does not do so well for the guy who prefers to kill things with his sword.  The presence of magic item shops in a D&D game does not help narrative suspension of disbelief, but neither does having every item you need show up in the inventory of the bad guys you kill.  Having no restrictions on magic item use may be convenient for narrative purposes, but as 3rd edition proved, it just does not work out in practice.Ultimately, skewing towards gamist type rules may hurt narrative.  But skewing towards roleplay rules that may suit story creates worse problems.  Classes that are unbalanced at the back end because 'a guy with a sword should be like an elite athlete while a magic user should be a mortal godling' are one result.  Rules that allow a DM to force a railroad on the players just because it is convenient are another.  Nothing I can think of can make a player angrier than immortal NPC's that they ought to be able to kill but cannot because the DM does not want them to.Now, perhaps many of the problems I have noted are not problems for you in particular, because you are a good DM.  Ok, I have no problem with that reasoning, as long as you also keep in mind that half of all Dm's are going to be below average.Within any pen and paper role playing game, the story or narrative is only as good as the DM, but the game is only as good as the rules.  I will take a good game with a crappy DM over a bad game with a good DM any day.Narrative is easier to fix than unbalanced or impractical rules.END COMMUNICATION</blockquote>

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