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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 4782168" data-attributes="member: 3424">Would you allow the DM to be the final arbiter of what is &quot;realistic&quot; in a D&amp;D game? If so, there is one way to make the game more &quot;realistic&quot;, but at a (possibly significant) cost in DM bandwidth: the DM simply decides which encounter and daily powers are available to the PC in each encounter, based on his judgement of which powers would realistically be effective against the opponents. For example, if an encounter features monsters that won't approach the PC when provoked, the DM picks another 7th-level encounter power for the fighter instead of come and get it.Alternatively, if we flavor the various powers as the PC seeing and seizing chances to pull off a variety of maneuvers, the powers available to each PC in an encounter could be completely random - for example, a 7th-level PC would randomly select one 1st, one 3rd and one 7th-level encounter power for his class in each encounter. Since the PC won't be able to pull off the same tricks every fight, this approach may appear more similar to the chaos of combat and thus seem more realistic. This method of play probably works better with power cards, though - they would make it easier to randomly pick the powers available.Both these approaches probably work better for martial powers than for arcane or divine ones, though - thematically, it doesn't seem strange that a martial character may be able to trip an opponent one fight and cover an ally's retreat in another (spinning sweep and covering attack respectively, both 1st-level fighter encounter powers). Divine prayers and arcane spells should arguably be more stable since they are generally assumed to be more formulaic. Nonetheless, a deity of luck or fate might bestow random or particularly appropriate blessings, and unpredictable effects are very appropriate for a wild magic sorcerer!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 4782168, member: 3424"] Would you allow the DM to be the final arbiter of what is "realistic" in a D&D game? If so, there is one way to make the game more "realistic", but at a (possibly significant) cost in DM bandwidth: the DM simply decides which encounter and daily powers are available to the PC in each encounter, based on his judgement of which powers would realistically be effective against the opponents. For example, if an encounter features monsters that won't approach the PC when provoked, the DM picks another 7th-level encounter power for the fighter instead of [I]come and get it[/I]. Alternatively, if we flavor the various powers as the PC seeing and seizing chances to pull off a variety of maneuvers, the powers available to each PC in an encounter could be completely random - for example, a 7th-level PC would randomly select one 1st, one 3rd and one 7th-level encounter power for his class in each encounter. Since the PC won't be able to pull off the same tricks every fight, this approach may appear more similar to the chaos of combat and thus seem more realistic. This method of play probably works better with power cards, though - they would make it easier to randomly pick the powers available. Both these approaches probably work better for martial powers than for arcane or divine ones, though - thematically, it doesn't seem strange that a martial character may be able to trip an opponent one fight and cover an ally's retreat in another ([I]spinning sweep[/I] and [I]covering attack[/I] respectively, both 1st-level fighter encounter powers). Divine prayers and arcane spells should arguably be more stable since they are generally assumed to be more formulaic. Nonetheless, a deity of luck or fate might bestow random or particularly appropriate blessings, and unpredictable effects are very appropriate for a wild magic sorcerer! [/QUOTE]

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