Hypersmurf said:The unarmed, naked man starts waving his arms and fiddling with some bat guano.
Is ducking behind something that gives cover cheese? It's not what I'd do normally, but it makes sense given the D&D mechanics.
If the rules and our universe don't gel, following our universe's version of common sense is silly. If a hundred high-level barbarians step off a cliff, and five of them die (failing the massive damage save on a natural 1), then high-level barbarians know from the empirical evidence that they have a 95% chance of surviving the fall. Should they, then, be afraid of cliffs because people die more often in our universe?
Isn't that using out-of-character knowledge, and therefore even more cheesy?
-Hyp.
Now, now Hyp. I only disagree to a point. D&D universe and our universe are certainly two separate things. However, D&D IS based on a certain sense of realism in how the basic person thinks and acts. You can't justify your actions based on the mechanics of a game, it's just...absurd. It sounds absurd, it looks absurd and its because it is absurd! I understand that most people play the odds for their characters and its not what I dispute. From a mechanic point of view it makes sense, that just the way it works. But if D&D were based on things as wacky as no gravity, elves were smurfs, dragons were made of 2 x 4's, and everything you stepped on swore at you because you walked all over them then D&D wouldn't be very popular (some of these things may exist now, but only in small quantities - I'm talking the whole picture here). It's because our sense of belief wouldn't exist. Many of the games elements have to make some sort of logical sense to us. When they start to lack that logistical sense for mechanic purposes it become cheese.
PS - I'd run away before Hyp smacks me but I think I will wait until 4 or 5 other people provoke his AoO's since thats the safest way to do it.