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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 5022823" data-attributes="member: 3424"><p>I think D&D has struggled with the issue of <s>powergaming</s> creative <s>rules lawyers</s> players attempting to turn flavor text into a mechanical advantage from day 1. It didn't help that in earlier editions, there was little to no way to distinguish the flavor text from the (balanced, at least in intent) mechanical effects. </p><p></p><p>Many flavorful powers also tend to be open-ended, which makes it difficult for the DM to adjudicate their effects. Take the proposed "know the name and manner of death of a dead creature" power. It is flavorful, it can be useful on occasion, but a player who uses it often might significantly tax the DM's ability to come up with stuff on the fly (some DMs can do this easily, but others can't - if it's not too obvious a statement, different DMs have different strengths). On the other hand, if he doesn't use it often, why have it as a power in the first place? I suspect that the difficulty of adjudicating open-ended abilities is the reason why some DMs subtly discourage the use of rituals in their game.</p><p></p><p>I wonder if there might be a couple of solutions to this, though:</p><p></p><p>First would be for DMs to be more flexible about allowing the player to do stuff that isn't a codified power or ability. If it is important for the Avatar of Death to find out how somebody died, maybe the DM could just ask for a Perception check to represent her ability to discern stuff related to death. If she wants to send the spirits of the dead against her foes, treat it as an improvised stunt.</p><p></p><p>Second would be to actually codify some "Flavor powers" for each magic item, epic destiny, etc. with the upfront understanding that these are not intended to grant any mechanical advantages whatsoever, e.g. a sword that causes a cool breeze to blow on the wielder. Of course, the DM may make the ability occasionally useful (or be persuaded that it could be useful), but that would be entirely up to him, and he can always make the argument that they are not intended to give any mechanical advantages if he doesn't want them to.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 5022823, member: 3424"] I think D&D has struggled with the issue of [s]powergaming[/s] creative [s]rules lawyers[/s] players attempting to turn flavor text into a mechanical advantage from day 1. It didn't help that in earlier editions, there was little to no way to distinguish the flavor text from the (balanced, at least in intent) mechanical effects. Many flavorful powers also tend to be open-ended, which makes it difficult for the DM to adjudicate their effects. Take the proposed "know the name and manner of death of a dead creature" power. It is flavorful, it can be useful on occasion, but a player who uses it often might significantly tax the DM's ability to come up with stuff on the fly (some DMs can do this easily, but others can't - if it's not too obvious a statement, different DMs have different strengths). On the other hand, if he doesn't use it often, why have it as a power in the first place? I suspect that the difficulty of adjudicating open-ended abilities is the reason why some DMs subtly discourage the use of rituals in their game. I wonder if there might be a couple of solutions to this, though: First would be for DMs to be more flexible about allowing the player to do stuff that isn't a codified power or ability. If it is important for the Avatar of Death to find out how somebody died, maybe the DM could just ask for a Perception check to represent her ability to discern stuff related to death. If she wants to send the spirits of the dead against her foes, treat it as an improvised stunt. Second would be to actually codify some "Flavor powers" for each magic item, epic destiny, etc. with the upfront understanding that these are not intended to grant any mechanical advantages whatsoever, e.g. a sword that causes a cool breeze to blow on the wielder. Of course, the DM may make the ability occasionally useful (or be persuaded that it could be useful), but that would be entirely up to him, and he can always make the argument that they are not intended to give any mechanical advantages if he doesn't want them to. [/QUOTE]
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