D&D (2024) The Problem with Healing Powercreep

[Micah Sweet]

Well, you see Micah, I was responding to people who kept making claims about the fiction, the narrative, the story, ect. So, the fact that you see those things differently and were not who I was responding to, kind of means how you see them doesn't matter at all to the discussion I was having.



This is a rather meaningless point to the point I am making. The PC's perspective can include these elements. So... then you have no issue, because they are part of the PC's perspective.

Can you give an example of these narrative elements being part of the PC's perspective, other than Deadpool, She-Hulk, Zack Morris, or a similar 4th wall breaker?

 

[Micah Sweet]

So, what if I told you that, just like Magic, Luck is a thing that has Goddesses, point to spend, and seems to actually exist in the world of DnD. In fact, why don't you tell me. WHat is the difference between a Halfling with the Lucky Feat, and a human Sorcerer? Does the sorcerer have something real in the DnD world (magic), but the Halfling has a fake thing that doesn't really exist (Luck), even as they pray to the Goddess of Luck while holding a magical item that increases their luck?

Do they have to pray to a Goddess of Luck, or otherwise do anything in the setting to invoke said luck? Because the sorcerer has to actually cast a spell.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Do they have to pray to a Goddess of Luck, or otherwise do anything in the setting to invoke said luck? Because the sorcerer has to actually cast a spell.

Do characters have to pray tot he god of fire to light a tindertwig?

 

[Chaosmancer]

Exactly. The default flavor has no binding power unless the social contract enforces it.

The only thing that actually determines whether a player resource is known “in-character” is the agreed upon narrative concept of the character.

This ^^^

This is the point I keep trying to bring up. If you don't like your resources being being "out-of-character" just change the narrative presented and make them "in-character"

 

[Micah Sweet]

Do characters have to pray tot he god of fire to light a tindertwig?

No, but lighting a tindertwig is an action taken by the PC in the setting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This ^^^

This is the point I keep trying to bring up. If you don't like your resources being being "out-of-character" just change the narrative presented and make them "in-character"

Or change the resources.

 

[Vaalingrade]

No, but lighting a tindertwig is an action taken by the PC in the setting.

Being lucky is the thing that happens as a consequence of either luck existing or the goddess of luck existing that the player decides when it comes into play. And you can have the character doing things they consider being good luck like chopping the foot off every rabbit they meet or stealing the shoes off of horses.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Being lucky is the thing that happens as a consequence of either luck existing or the goddess of luck existing that the player decides when it comes into play. And you can have the character doing things they consider being good luck like chopping the foot off every rabbit they meet or stealing the shoes off of horses.

You can, but the game doesn't put that in the rules, like it does with the action you have to take to light a tindertwig.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Okay.

So what we actually have here is that they don't fit the type of narratives you want to actually have. Because, in DnD land those could be things that mundane characters have. But you don't think they would be mundane anymore.

So I'm on the record saying that I'm fine with higher level martials being "mythical" so I would not oppose fighters having diegetic "warrior spirit" or some such they could burn to empower themselves or stuff like that. But that's also not what the Marvel plot points actually are, and that's the sort of mechanic we're talking about.

And you also realize that, the solution people come up for for this issue of mundane characters spending resources they don't have conscious knowledge of, is to make it subconscious. Which you've rejected because it is not a choice in story then, while it is a choice out of character. However, we also have reactions, many of which have been flavored as "not a conscious choice" which have that exact same problem

Which reactions are unconscious?

 

[Vaalingrade]

You can, but the game doesn't put that in the rules, like it does with the action you have to take to light a tindertwig.

Yeah, because it doesn't have to. You get to decide how your character acts.

Also, the last time they did people got real sad about it and spent fifteen years going to war over the attempt.