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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8695605" data-attributes="member: 6915329">I don't know why I'm doing this, but...[USER=6801228]@Chaosmancer[/USER], please understand that fear and the Frightened condition are different things. A character who is afraid of something can move towards the source of their fear. This is being brave.A character who is subjected to the Frightened condition can't move towards the source of their fear. This isn't being brave or being not brave or being cowardly; it's being under the effects of a game condition that has its own rules that supersede player agency.If Bob the human fighter comes across an otherwise completely normal mouse that for whatever reason has the ability to cause people to make a Wisdom save or be Frightened, it doesn't mean that Bob isn't brave if he fails his roll. It means that in this instance, Bob can't approach that mouse and will have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while he can see the mouse. Bob can't choose to be brave and approach anyway, because the rules of the game say he can't. If he breaks those rules, then he's cheating.If Bob happens to be musophobic and sees a normal mouse, he's afraid. However, because he's afraid and not Frightened, he can choose to be brave and approach the mouse, and this doesn't break the rules. He will suffer no penalties while fighting even if the mouse is right there in front of him, watching his every move with its beady little eyes, no matter how terrified he is, because he's afraid, not Frightened. (This is an example. Please do not try to bring up anything as to why this mouse can or cannot inflict the Frightened condition.)And also, please understand that there is a difference between a game, which has specific rules as to how things must work, and any other form of media, which does not. It doesn't matter how halflings are shown to be lucky in a comic. The game has rules in order to keep things fair and working in a specific way, while media mostly has to concern itself with telling a good story.The comic you posted from would not be good if all the main characters got horribly eaten a dragon in the first book, because the point of that comic was to follow these heroes around while they go around doing hero stuff and making quips. And that combat also had a page count limit, which means that didn't have space show a combat that is as involved and that takes as long as real D&D combat can, unless that combat was the main point of the issue--which it was not. The point of that issue was to get the characters together. Combat was secondary. The writer brought in a dragon to show how dangerous the world can be and to establish some character traits, and then killed it off so they could move on the next plot point.Likewise, a book or movie can show a character being as brave or as cowardly as the writer wants because that's what's needed for the script that they are writing, because the writer has full control over the characters they create. And a game book can set up basic expectations for the races. But the DM doesn't write the PC's actions and can't force the players to adhere to any particular tropes or to act in any particular way (except when the PCs are under the effects of a condition, but even then, the forced actions have to conform to the rules).</blockquote>

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