Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8428309" data-attributes="member: 86653">Maybe we're just using "control" differently. To me, control is the ability to actively manipulate and change the world. The DM can declare some NPC a noble or a commoner, the players cannot. The DM can create NPCs and monsters, the players cannot. The DM can declare a certain commoner to not care about the PC's noble status, the player cannot declare that as a commoner that NPC must be deferential. I mean, the player can say the words, but those words have zero effect on the fiction of the game world. Outside of stated actions and spells, the world is out of the players' control. It's entirely under the DM's control. Backgrounds give players input into the world, absolutely. This thing is true...within reason. My character is a noble, therefore. It's only things like spells that break that "within reason" part, and that's at a cost. Like summoning food in exchange for a spell slot. But that's not what outlander does, it doesn't summon food and water ex nihilo regardless of the local conditions, it only skips having to roll, but the DM is still in control of whether it's available or not. The outlander's player cannot declare that the local conditions are satisfactory for the character to find food and water.</blockquote>