NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7189328" data-attributes="member: 71699">Yet if he is human, his base speed will usually be 30'.In these last few pages I keep observing what I will dub a "blindness" to the rules. Every monster in the MM is part of the implicit world-building rules. Are there dragons? Do they use stat-blocks from or based upon those in the MM, at or around the given CRs? Do their hit points work the same as other creature's hit points? Then their part of the world was built using the rules.This takes a concept that deals with one part of the game, and liberally misapplies it to other parts of the game. The Shield spell works as it does whether or not any player ever declares an action using it. A settlement can (and usually must) be generated using the tables prior to a player declaring any action in relation to that settlement.This is neat and glib, but facile. As Tolkien said, if you don't work out your world in advance you end up in a terrible mess later on. The list of consistent world elements provided by the rules is extensive. It's disingenuous to pretend that everything is on the fly. From the basics - hit points, AC, saving throws and abilities, rounds, turns and actions - all the way up to the trimmings - Gruumsh's Fury - consistency (and validation FTM) is supplied by the rules. Let's consider the counter-case: your world strictly ignores the D&D rules? It is completely unhooked from them. Players walk into a settlement... they're unable to use their Persuasion etc skills on the locals because the mechanics don't connect. When a local frazzles them with a fizzer, they don't enter combat so can't take actions.To some extent I believe the argument is misstating what world building means in D&D. It functions via a series of lenses, each providing more detail than the last. Consistency is maintained through the rules telling us what to expect when we hit the level of detail that players work at. That level of magnification only applies in a few places at a time.Sometimes overruling and always disregarding are different things. Almost always, a random human will turn out to have a speed of 30', and to manage 6 miles a day at an average pace in the Underdark. Rules like that create a consistent world.</blockquote>

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