D&D General [rant]The conservatism of D&D fans is exhausting.

[Thomas Shey]

That said, if people are getting real value from this, who am I to rain on the parade? And looking at the massive number of comments, that must be the case.

Though, I have to say as someone who's only dipping in every few pages, the ratio of comments to participants is clearly very high.

 

[Hussar]

So if I've got a character who never drinks, in a system with binding social mechanics someone's not even allowed to try to persuade me to drink? Or, if you like, flip it around: it's an NPC who never drinks and a PC doing the persuading.

You could try all you want but it will always fail.

 

[Thomas Shey]

You could try all you want but it will always fail.

This gets back to the thing I've brought up where the fact a social influence mechanic, just because it can work and is binding seems to be assumed to live in a situation where no trait of the character can modify it. Just because a persuade attempt is assumed to sometimes be able to do things you might prefer your character not do does not mean it can automatically work well, or at all, against established traits of the character, and might work better against some other established traits.

Yes, that's not simple minded and requires some implementation. So do most mechanics that are not brain-dead simple.

 

[Hussar]

(And as I pointed out, despite what you said, Vex (the weapon mastery effect) merely says what the effects are; they don't tell you how the opponent will react. Because it's a nonmagical effect with a mundane origin.)

Well no. They don’t tell you anything because DnD is in no ways a sim game.

And longsword isn’t vex. Vex grants you advantage. Long words grant disadvantage to the opponent’s next attack but I forget what that’s called. But in any case, it’s a non-magical effect that has narrative implications.

 

[Hussar]

Though, I have to say as someone who's only dipping in every few pages, the ratio of comments to participants is clearly very high.

Sorry. I’m doing the same typically and dipping in every several pages. I really have to stop replying to stuff as I read it. Sorry.

 

[Maxperson]

But I thought "ask the DM every time" was the correct and intended thing for D&D 5e? Like that was literally all people could talk about back when 5e launched. Every single thread asking for advice, without fail, had one of the first 10 (sometimes the first five) responses be some variation of "always ask your DM, we cannot answer this question, you just have to ask your DM every time".

Those situations are not the same as social play where a single couple minute conversation can have several rolls. Stopping play to ask each participant about each roll would be a large disruption to the game.

 

[Maxperson]

Is it "not supposed to happen" in D&D? That implies there are things that are and aren't "supposed to happen" in D&D. Where do you derive this certainty from? I presume it would need to be something even more inarguable than the rules, since I know your stance is that the GM is the absolute authority in their game.

The rules, which are entirely about PCs using social skills on NPCs and the designers who backed that up and said the rules social skills aren't supposed to be used on PCs.

 

[Maxperson]

Well at least the argument became more clear. This is what I was suggesting all the way along. Which kinda explains my confusion over your opposition.

Communication can be rough over text.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Sorry. I’m doing the same typically and dipping in every several pages. I really have to stop replying to stuff as I read it. Sorry.

Not like I don't do the same thing. I just have the advantage I'm even bothering to read the posts of about half the participants in this thread on either side even when I do dip in.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, House MD isn't Sherlock. By being a different character, even if he is inspired by the (crappy) interpretations of Sherlock Holmes, it's quite a bit easier to swallow that he would behave as he does. House is a semi-pro cynic with various emotional traumas and severe physical pain pretty much 24/7, and the show delves into how and why he became such a bitter, jaded, angry person.

Plus Sherlock didn't diagnose you with lupus and almost kill you three times before miraculously coming up with the answer.