D&D 5E The "need" for "official rulings"...?

[Eejit]

Probably for organised play, where you might bring the same character between different Adventurers' League tables with different DMs.

 

[Aiwendil]

I openly challenge you on this !

What if your WIFE is one of your players !?

Well, obviously, the trick is not to be married!

 

[Nefzyflin]

Well, obviously, the trick is not to be married!

Hah !

Indeed.

 

[Umbran]

Treating an opinion as "official" and thus invalidating the opinions of those actually playing the game...

Is not necessarily what's happening. How many people ask about something being official, but *also* use house rules? Asking about official rulings is merely seeking information and perspective - it doesn't dictate how you use that information.

There is the game, and suggested rules that the designers feel make for a good game. The rest is to be made up by participants depending on what they find most fun for them. Any opinion outside that group has equal validity in regards to what would be most fun for that group.

Official is therefore largely meaningless.

Right. So you spend a hundred bucks on something, and you find you have a question. It is A-OK to ask folks on the internet about it, but information from those who made the thing? Meaningless!

So, you never call tech support, do you? Never call a service provider, or check a company's web age for information after purchase?

 

[ExploderWizard]

Is not necessarily what's happening. How many people ask about something being official, but *also* use house rules? Asking about official rulings is merely seeking information and perspective - it doesn't dictate how you use that information.

This is true.

Right. So you spend a hundred bucks on something, and you find you have a question. It is A-OK to ask folks on the internet about it, but information from those who made the thing? Meaningless!

So, you never call tech support, do you? Never call a service provider, or check a company's web age for information after purchase?

Tabletop rpgs aren't tech, thus no tech support. Tabletop game designers make games. If I like it then I will buy it and play it. The product in question does not come with a service contract or a promise of support for a period of time. If there are numerous glaring errors or the book falls apart with barely a bit of use then I would contact customer service of course. In every edition there have been things done differently by various play groups. Some of these groups prefer the way that they came up with handling a particular situation rather than the official method. This doesn't make official material any less valid as an option for another group or anything, it just happens to be one way the designers chose to represent a concept.

As a hobbyist gamer rather than a consumer, this is perfectly natural. Hobbyists tinker, putter, and knock together solutions that suit them personally. To a hobbyist, official is only one of many approaches to doing something. So long as official advice isn't taken as THE LAW, it's all good.

 

[aramis erak]

my "need" for official rulings has entirely to do with organized play. In my case, a specific issue of replacement costs for a few clerical items, items which got left off the equipment list, except as part of starting gear of clerics and acolytes.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Official rulings are useful because pretensions aside, I'm not a professional game designer and I'd rather have the people who made the game I paid for tell me how it's supposed to work than try to slap together something myself. (I'm talking here about actual rules issues like "how is x feat supposed to work," not looser issues like "downtime rules aren't detailed enough."

 

[Umbran]

Tabletop rpgs aren't tech, thus no tech support.

It isn't computer hardware or software. But it is a complex system. It is new. And, in a bunch of cases, the creators have answered questions and given insight. While they don't have a 24-7 line for you to call, there is some answering of questions going on.

Why begrudge folk those answers?

The product in question does not come with a service contract or a promise of support for a period of time.

Correct. So, that tells you that the buyer is not entitled to any answers or elaborations. But, some come, regardless.

And, this has *NOTHING* to do with you calling it "meaningless". You are dodging the point.

This doesn't make official material any less valid as an option for another group or anything, it just happens to be one way the designers chose to represent a concept.

There's a wide, wide space between "official is meaningless" and "official is not any less valid". In fact, those are pretty opposing positions - not outright at the poles, but they say rather different things, and it is not at all clear how you are getting from one to another, or why you said one, and are now saying the other.

 

[Piratecat]

In my case, it's a case of knowing the rules well enough to break them. I'm happy making the call on my own, but knowing what the designers intended informs my choice, and helps me figure if there are any unforeseen ripple effects.

This. I'm delighted to break rules, but it's useful for me to know the designer's original intent first.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hell's Bells, even with actual laws, you can find information on the drafters' intent. Those insights thus uncovered can inform readers and occasionally even help decide actual judicial decisions.

So I have no problem with looking for official rulings for mere games...