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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 8959846" data-attributes="member: 32164">I think that there's a sweet spot between over-complicating mechanics that limit player creativity, and relying entirely on DM fiat for resolution. I think my ideal system would have something like (and I'm just using combat as an example here, but this could apply to any game subsystem):&quot;Your character may choose to attempt any of a variety of 'stunts' or special maneuvers as part of your attack. Doing so imposes an X penalty on your attack roll, but if you are successful, you may add the effects of the maneuver in question. A sample of maneuvers the PC might attempt include:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Disarming Strike</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Trip attack</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Push attack</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cleaving attack</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Etc. (maybe 7-10 obvious options)...</li>
</ul>&quot;The preceding list is not comprehensive. Players are encouraged to be creative.&quot;And then provide guidelines for the DM on how to adjudicate what mechanical effect the stunt has. It would be real nice not to have to look up rules for every freaking corner case thing.I'll give an example. Should I, as someone who has trained as a sword fighter for 20 years, get some kind of success bonus for describing my character's attack or defense well? If my description lends to immersion at the table, and makes combat more interesting, why don't the rules support that? If not (and I know very few tables that would be okay with this), why do we treat social interactions and exploration differently in this regard?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 8959846, member: 32164"] I think that there's a sweet spot between over-complicating mechanics that limit player creativity, and relying entirely on DM fiat for resolution. I think my ideal system would have something like (and I'm just using combat as an example here, but this could apply to any game subsystem): "Your character may choose to attempt any of a variety of 'stunts' or special maneuvers as part of your attack. Doing so imposes an X penalty on your attack roll, but if you are successful, you may add the effects of the maneuver in question. A sample of maneuvers the PC might attempt include: [LIST] [*]Disarming Strike [*]Trip attack [*]Push attack [*]Cleaving attack [*]Etc. (maybe 7-10 obvious options)... [/LIST] "The preceding list is not comprehensive. Players are encouraged to be creative." And then provide guidelines for the DM on how to adjudicate what mechanical effect the stunt has. It would be real nice not to have to look up rules for every freaking corner case thing. I'll give an example. Should I, as someone who has trained as a sword fighter for 20 years, get some kind of success bonus for describing my character's attack or defense well? If my description lends to immersion at the table, and makes combat more interesting, why don't the rules support that? If not (and I know very few tables that would be okay with this), why do we treat social interactions and exploration differently in this regard? [/QUOTE]

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