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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6568208" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>I'm thinking of this in terms of what was said about 2e earlier, where it was said to be 'out of genre' to have a wizard construct some magical effect on the fly. I don't think its really clear that this is the case, though certainly it is commonly held to be so. I think game balance was mentioned, and that's probably the main reason. With its roots in Gygaxian play 2e still tries to present each class as a finite 'menu' of options and attributes. You can try to apply them to different situations, but for Gygax it was all about 'use the tools you have', and making up a new tool wouldn't have fit well. So I can see why we think that way in terms of 2e, but its not actually spelled out per se in that game anywhere. There just isn't any mechanic for going outside that box (and there isn't even a defined mechanic for going outside other boxes like doing an athletic stunt, though interestingly 'mundane' things are assumed to be part and parcel of all characters, except the weird void of thief skills...). Overall 2e is a bit of a confusing game!</p></blockquote><p></p>