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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Rulings, Not Rules vs Cool spell usage
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<blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 6428935" data-attributes="member: 45197"><p>Hiya.</p><p></p><p> I think you are thinking about it all in the wrong order. IMHO, thinking of the situation first, and then finding rules to fit it is the right way; taking a look at all the rules and trying to find one that fits is the wrong way. Very similar sentences, but with a subtle difference.</p><p></p><p>So...</p><p></p><p>Q: <em>Is <em>Flaming Sphere</em> an obstacle?</em></p><p>A/Q: Would it stop you from walking down a hallway if it was directly in front of you? This is where you ignore your inclination to try and track down if/what an "obstacle" entails in RAW. Only after you have answered that question should you then move onto finding out if there is a rule to fit the situation; if there isn't, make it up.</p><p></p><p>Q: <em>Can Flaming Sphere be used by others by pushing things and creatures into it?</em></p><p>A/Q: If you were standing in front of it and someone shoved you forward towards it, what would likely be the result? Likely, you'd fall into it...but maybe you could stop yourself or dodge to the side. Either way, the answer is obviously "yes". Now, go try to find a rule to fit that situational outcome.</p><p></p><p>Q: <em>If it is an obstacle, what kind of power is required to push through?</em></p><p>A: This one is totally up for grabs. No help anywhere as far as I can tell...definitely a "make it up" situation.</p><p></p><p>Q: <em>When you ram it into something - does it engulf it, or doe it "stop" when it hits?</em></p><p>A/Q: How bit is the "something"? If that something is smaller than the sphere, then there's your answer; if it's bigger, there's your answer.</p><p></p><p>In all honesty, there's virtually no situation in 5e that has come up for me that had me truely scratching my head. I think there was one situation where the decision was so "maybe yes...maybe no", and nobody at the table (including myself) could get a clear idea...I just said "Roll d20; odd you can, even you can't. Sound good?", and the player just rolled a d20 and we played on. Sometimes you do just have to pick a chance and "wing it". The game play and pacing is more important than virtually all the rules of the game, so don't sweat it. <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=":)" /></p><p></p><p>^_^</p><p></p><p>Paul L. Ming</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pming, post: 6428935, member: 45197"] Hiya. I think you are thinking about it all in the wrong order. IMHO, thinking of the situation first, and then finding rules to fit it is the right way; taking a look at all the rules and trying to find one that fits is the wrong way. Very similar sentences, but with a subtle difference. So... Q: [I]Is [I]Flaming Sphere[/I] an obstacle?[/I] A/Q: Would it stop you from walking down a hallway if it was directly in front of you? This is where you ignore your inclination to try and track down if/what an "obstacle" entails in RAW. Only after you have answered that question should you then move onto finding out if there is a rule to fit the situation; if there isn't, make it up. Q: [I]Can Flaming Sphere be used by others by pushing things and creatures into it?[/I] A/Q: If you were standing in front of it and someone shoved you forward towards it, what would likely be the result? Likely, you'd fall into it...but maybe you could stop yourself or dodge to the side. Either way, the answer is obviously "yes". Now, go try to find a rule to fit that situational outcome. Q: [I]If it is an obstacle, what kind of power is required to push through?[/I] A: This one is totally up for grabs. No help anywhere as far as I can tell...definitely a "make it up" situation. Q: [I]When you ram it into something - does it engulf it, or doe it "stop" when it hits?[/I] A/Q: How bit is the "something"? If that something is smaller than the sphere, then there's your answer; if it's bigger, there's your answer. In all honesty, there's virtually no situation in 5e that has come up for me that had me truely scratching my head. I think there was one situation where the decision was so "maybe yes...maybe no", and nobody at the table (including myself) could get a clear idea...I just said "Roll d20; odd you can, even you can't. Sound good?", and the player just rolled a d20 and we played on. Sometimes you do just have to pick a chance and "wing it". The game play and pacing is more important than virtually all the rules of the game, so don't sweat it. :) ^_^ Paul L. Ming [/QUOTE]
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