Stunting and the Bag of Flour Connundrum

[gizmo33]

The constant replies are missing the forest for the trees. The issue is not the blindness ruling. The issue is a PC using a spur-of-the-moment stunt and turning it into a constant battle tactic which they are not spending resources to use.

IMO the issue is a clash of a story-driven cinematic style with a simulationist style. IMO the problem is solved by the DM first coming to terms with what kind of game he wants to run, and then communicating that to the players. If a DM is running a story game and makes decisions on the fly based on what he thinks would be cool in the moment then he can't expect those rulings to hold up to simulationist examination.

Perhaps he needs to explain to players that the rules are a vehicle for telling an interesting story and not a simulation-contract of elements that the PCs can play with independant of the preferences of the DM. Or, he sticks with the simulationist contract and makes up rules for a bag of flour that fall within reasonable parameters (and therefore warriors continue to carry around swords as weapons rather than bags of flour).

 

[Filcher]

Get a boffer sword. Give flour boy a dice bag filled with flour. For realism, have him store that bag inside of a backpack.

Stand within 5 feet of your friend who wants to blind foes with flour.

Have the gaming group shout, "Go!" If he can blind you before you boff the heck out of him, he gets to use flour as an encounter power. If you boff the heck out of him, he has to buy pizza for the next 3 sessions.

 

[Hussar]

It's too effective and, if it's so clearly overpowered then it's not clever at all. It's blindingly obvious.

Oh, that's an awful pun and you sir, are a bad man.

And Mustrum Ridcully's point about:

The better thing would be to make it clear to everyone that stunts are not reliable. A DMs ruling do not set the "physics" of the game world. Stunts work they way they seem appropriate at the moment they are used.

is spot on. Just because it works once and uses those particular set of rules that the DM comes up with on the fly, does not mean that it is suddenly canon for all time.

And, even the most simulationist headed player will generally be groovy with that. Most players aren't going to be asshats and try to break your game. Explaining that while the idea was fine at the time, the mechanics you pulled out of your butt in the middle of the session after two or three beers, is not set in stone.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Have the gaming group shout, "Go!" If he can blind you before you boff the heck out of him, he gets to use flour as an encounter power. If you boff the heck out of him, he has to buy pizza for the next 3 sessions.

Um. This is a family friendly forum. I wouldn't discuss this stuff here.

 

[El Mahdi]

Um. This is a family friendly forum. I wouldn't discuss this stuff here.

What's the big deal?! There's nothing wrong with mixing boffing with flour.

(Unless maybe if you live in some of the Suthern US states.)

 

[LostSoul]

I think that if you want to forbid plausible* actions you're missing out on a lot of interesting and creative play.

I think that the stunt/page 42 rules - aka "ask the DM how to resolve this" - goes a long way in making the game world come alive, allowing players to approach the game world as if it were a real thing, respect the fiction, all that. I think using the DM's judgement allows each group to adjust how they play the game in whatever way suits them best.

* - Each group makes its own judgement on what is plausible.

 

[ExploderWizard]

What's the big deal?! There's nothing wrong with mixing boffing with flour.

(Unless maybe if you live in some of the Suthern US states.)

Wha? It's more popular round these here Suthern states.

 

[The Shaman]

Am I the only person who finds it a bit odd that throwing something in an opponent's face requires rules for performing stunts and/or the allocation of some sort of finite power resource?

Oh, and Filcher's post is priceless, by the way.

 

[Pbartender]

Am I the only person who finds it a bit odd that throwing something in an opponent's face requires rules for performing stunts and/or the allocation of some sort of finite power resource?

Not exactly... Throwing something in somebody's face is just a basic ranged attack dealing damage appropriate to the object thrown, and with a little descriptive flavor text thrown in.

Throwing something with the intent of blinding or otherwise debilitating an enemy in a specific manner is awfully close to treading on the territory of "called shots", and very well should require just a few more rules or resources.

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

Get a boffer sword. Give flour boy a dice bag filled with flour. For realism, have him store that bag inside of a backpack.

Stand within 5 feet of your friend who wants to blind foes with flour.

Have the gaming group shout, "Go!" If he can blind you before you boff the heck out of him, he gets to use flour as an encounter power. If you boff the heck out of him, he has to buy pizza for the next 3 sessions.

You sir win the thread

and probably the internets