Scott Rouse blog - Rogue ability

Exen Trik said:
But really, succeeding is fun, but failing isn't quite so much. And when failing involves trying to move in a roguish manner, and possibly getting a beatdown for it, it hardly seems worth trying over a more cautious approach. And if you're playing a rogue, how is that more fun?

By that logic, PCs should never fail at or suffer consequences from the things that are in their purview: fighters always hit and spells always bypass saves. I am sure that's not what you are saying, at least to that extreme, but that's where the line of thinking ultimately ends up. The chance of failure is necessary for tension and excitement. Possible negative consequences provide the same. Auto-successes are almost never entertaining, and often times the results of random die rolls, informed by the numbers written down on the character sheet and DM adjudication, are.
 

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Whizbang Dustyboots said:
If the term predates WoW by at least 21 years, it's not a WoWism. Neither is "grind," incidentally.

When a term is co-opted by a particular group, it becomes jargon and identified with that group regardless of its origins.
 


Reynard said:
When a term is co-opted by a particular group, it becomes jargon and identified with that group regardless of its origins.
And yet only on the court does 'love' ever mean 'zero'.

It's almost as if when a word has multiple meanings, including jargon, that reading that word in context with the other words around it would help with comprehension. Your reading is what we call "biased".
 

Reynard said:
When a term is co-opted by a particular group, it becomes jargon and identified with that group regardless of its origins.
And seemingly also regardless of context, background and use. Because it was used in a completely different way.... let's see:

Grund: Grinding is a pejorative term used in computer gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or non-entertaining gameplay in order to gain access to other features within the game (or in other terms killing stuff over and over again to get XP and gold).
Grind (Noun): 17. laborious, usually uninteresting work (here referring to "being in a grind").
Grind (verb): 1. to wear, smooth, or sharpen by abrasion or friction; whet.

Therefore, if I'm grinding a lens (as in entry one), I'm doing something MMORPGish? So I cannot grind stuff with sandpaper without behaving as in a MMORPG? Oh no, WoW is threathing all grindstones! on this planet. Grinding wheat is WoWish!

Excuse the sarcasm, but in my humble opinion, what have said is simply not true in this context. This only applies to a jargon, but the word "grind" is a perfectly normal English word. I mean WoW uses the word "paladin" and "mage" - therefore all paladins and mages in D&D are WoWish?

Cheers, LT.
 



Reynard said:
By that logic, PCs should never fail at or suffer consequences from the things that are in their purview
Not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that having to roll and take potentially a large risk just to move isn't something that should have to happen for a rogue. Or as the 4e designers would say, the rogue shouldn't get penalized for doing what it's best at.
 

Reynard said:
Thank you for making my point. In this context, it is WoW jargon, and obviously so.
Did you actually read his post? He didn't make your point, he refuted your point. The word "grind" was used in a completely different context here than it's usually used in WoW.
 

Mustrum_Ridcully said:
5 ft Step = 1 Square of Movement. So maybe 3 Steps are 3 Squares of movement?

I'm quite sure this is the case. From what I can tell from the stuff they've released, they're completely switching to describing distances in squares rather than feet.

Also, if the rogue has a class ability that allows him to move three squares in certain situations, how am I going to handle this if I'm not using a battle-mat and minis?
 

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