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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hypersmurf" data-source="post: 1407147" data-attributes="member: 1656">Not all of them.  But a lot of the ones that get into finicky arguments over the placement of a comma, yes, certainly.Everyone's aware that ultimately, the DM has the option to say "Not in my game".  So it could be argued that "What the rules say" isn't especially important to any given game.Nevertheless, a lot of people want to feel they're "playing by the rules", rather than making stuff up, so a lot of the questions are "What do the rules say?"Certain questions don't actually have a clear answer, or they have two equally valid but contradictory answers, and that's when it becomes a playground for the lawyers, as we try to find the key paragraph, sentence, phrase, word, or implication that lends more weight to one side or the other.One of the most useful aspects I've found of this is that it means the really tricky questions are less likely to spring upon us unawares in game.  If, in the middle of a tense combat, someone tries to Disarm a longbow, we've already read the rules, and we know that there's ambiguity as to how it's resolved.  We've weighed the arguments on both sides, and we came to a conclusion as to either a/ what the rules say, or b/ what we want to use in game, or both.  And a/ and b/ might not be the same thing.If we haven't examined those rules beforehand, and never realised there was potential for debate, there's always the possibility that when the situation arises in game, the debate will occur at the table.  A strong DM might simply make an instinctive ruling on the spot; a confident DM might be happy to inform his players a week later that he's changed his position, and henceforth will use a different interpretation if the situation comes up again.  But a DM who isn't quite so strong or confident might be inclined to try and figure out what the book actually says then and there, and that one can go on for some hours.Now, in game, I would certainly treat the bow as a held object.  But when this question came up on the WotC boards recently, after stating "I would certainly treat the bow as a held object", I felt compelled to note that there does exist the alternative interpretation that one takes a -4 since the bow is not a melee weapon, and then makes an opposed attack roll.  Since the bow is a ranged weapon, and the rules do not specify "opposed melee attack roll", the bowman is entitled to use his ranged attack bonus.I don't subscribe to that interpretation, and if the response had simply been "Huh.  That's amusing," I wouldn't have said anything more about it.But the response was "By the rules, it has to be a melee attack roll."And so I've spent about four pages so far defending an interpretation I would never use myself, because someone cited a rule that doesn't actually exist <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />If someone pulls out a "broken combo" (that happens to be strictly legal, but silly), the best way to react is "Gosh... you're right.  It does say that, doesn't it?  That's very clever.  And funny.  And absolutely not happening in my game."They'll respond in one of two ways:1. Happy that their brilliance at piecing together loopholes and disparate rules has been recognised, and happy that you're not going to let them destroy the game with it, or2. Angry that you, the DM, are "breaking the rules" because you can't handle it.If they're type 1, problem solved.  He's happy, you're happy, game goes on as normal.If they're type 2, they're probably not the sort of person you want in your game anyway.I'd never spring a "broken combo" that relies on a tortured (yet legal) combination of rules on a DM in the middle of a game.  I'd always bring it to him ahead of time and ask what he thought.  If he's happy with it, fine.  If he's not happy with it, all he needs to do is say "Not in my game".By the same token, I expect the DM to let me know about house rules before they come up in game."Does a 26 save?""Yup.  You only take 19 damage.""What about Evasion?""Well, you've already moved this round, so you don't have enough movement left to get outside the radius.""... but... what?"That annoys me.-Hyp.</blockquote>

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