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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9002065" data-attributes="member: 6877472">D&amp;D has always picked some odd hills to die on.&nbsp; Some things we want to conform to some vague notion of &quot;reality&quot;, like swapping weapons or how long it takes to put on armor.Some things we are fine with totally abstracting, like not dying in a single sword hit, or somehow being able to avoid bolts of lightning.Other things we could care less if they conform to any realism at all, like flaming spheres that only damage you at certain moments in a turn, or having giants that don't collapse under their own weight.Often you run into this problem where someone will accept anything if it's explicitly magical, but won't accept anything some random guy at a gym couldn't do in real life.&nbsp; A high level character can get punted off a steep cliff, take 70 damage, stand up, dust themselves off, and keep on trucking without any other ill effects, but letting a Cleric cast cure wounds and healing word or even casting a spell while wielding a hammer and a shield simultaneously (despite being a class that is intended to use shields and cast spells while in melee) is right out.Rather than actually address this, game designers just keep making magical options available for every class and giving magic more things it can do, because doing it any other way will cause a vocal section of the player base to scream that letting non-magical characters bend the rules of physics is somehow &quot;not D&amp;D&quot;.I don't see this paradigm changing, as it's been reinforced by decades of the game's legacy; if you want a character to bend reality, you have to give them magic.&nbsp; Be it a magic item or some kind of boon.Or just change the rules in your home game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9002065, member: 6877472"] D&D has always picked some odd hills to die on. Some things we want to conform to some vague notion of "reality", like swapping weapons or how long it takes to put on armor. Some things we are fine with totally abstracting, like not dying in a single sword hit, or somehow being able to avoid bolts of lightning. Other things we could care less if they conform to any realism at all, like flaming spheres that only damage you at certain moments in a turn, or having giants that don't collapse under their own weight. Often you run into this problem where someone will accept anything if it's explicitly magical, but won't accept anything some random guy at a gym couldn't do in real life. A high level character can get punted off a steep cliff, take 70 damage, stand up, dust themselves off, and keep on trucking without any other ill effects, but letting a Cleric cast cure wounds and healing word or even casting a spell while wielding a hammer and a shield simultaneously (despite being a class that is intended to use shields and cast spells while in melee) is right out. Rather than actually address this, game designers just keep making magical options available for every class and giving magic more things it can do, because doing it any other way will cause a vocal section of the player base to scream that letting non-magical characters bend the rules of physics is somehow "not D&D". I don't see this paradigm changing, as it's been reinforced by decades of the game's legacy; if you want a character to bend reality, you have to give them magic. Be it a magic item or some kind of boon. Or just change the rules in your home game. [/QUOTE]

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