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<blockquote data-quote="Underman" data-source="post: 5968000" data-attributes="member: 6696705">I'm sure it would be very frustrating and disheartening to perceive that DMs and game designers are actively punishing players by restricting fighters from hill cutting and chasm leaping.The way I see it is that verisimilitude (not realism per se) already has a baseline or reference point -- real life and/or action movies. Magic has no consistent reference point, so it's not the same uphill battle. For superhuman abilities, I then have to be sold (either through sheer ignorance or suspension of disbelief) on raising to bar for what I want to have as superhuman-possible in an RPG.Sheer ignorance: in action movies, people fly through windows all the time and get back up. Realistically, hitting and shattering glass can actually be quite crippling. Who knew? But it never bothered me because I've accepted the trope already and was ignorant of the realism and, well, it's not really a big deal. (I have to smile when people write that PCs aren't superhuman until 10th level or so... I think they're already superhuman at 1st level).Suspension of disbelief: If someone said &quot;it's not fair&quot;, well, that may be true mechanically,&nbsp; but it would never change my mind about what I ideally want for fluff.&nbsp; Sell me on the fluff fairly and I'll buy into it. Guy Gavriel Kay, for example, in the Fionavar Tapestry does a tremendous job on selling me a vision of ultra-skilled warriors that I bought into it hook, line and sinker.I don't think that the craving for verisimilitude is unreasonable, especially the idea of fighters slicing hills in half. Sell me on it. Hit the fighter with gamma radiation and turn him into a hulking green-skinned brute or something other than &quot;it's not balanced / it's not fair&quot; (I'm not quoting you, I'm just paraphrasing the general argument I think I'm hearing).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Underman, post: 5968000, member: 6696705"] I'm sure it would be very frustrating and disheartening to perceive that DMs and game designers are actively punishing players by restricting fighters from hill cutting and chasm leaping. The way I see it is that verisimilitude (not realism per se) already has a baseline or reference point -- real life and/or action movies. Magic has no consistent reference point, so it's not the same uphill battle. For superhuman abilities, I then have to be sold (either through sheer ignorance or suspension of disbelief) on raising to bar for what I want to have as superhuman-possible in an RPG. Sheer ignorance: in action movies, people fly through windows all the time and get back up. Realistically, hitting and shattering glass can actually be quite crippling. Who knew? But it never bothered me because I've accepted the trope already and was ignorant of the realism and, well, it's not really a big deal. (I have to smile when people write that PCs aren't superhuman until 10th level or so... I think they're already superhuman at 1st level). Suspension of disbelief: If someone said "it's not fair", well, that may be true mechanically, but it would never change my mind about what I ideally want for fluff. Sell me on the fluff fairly and I'll buy into it. Guy Gavriel Kay, for example, in the Fionavar Tapestry does a tremendous job on selling me a vision of ultra-skilled warriors that I bought into it hook, line and sinker. I don't think that the craving for verisimilitude is unreasonable, especially the idea of fighters slicing hills in half. Sell me on it. Hit the fighter with gamma radiation and turn him into a hulking green-skinned brute or something other than "it's not balanced / it's not fair" (I'm not quoting you, I'm just paraphrasing the general argument I think I'm hearing). [/QUOTE]

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