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Things You Think Would Improve the Game That We WON'T See
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9275168" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>Does the game expect it, or does a specific DM with how they run their game expect it?</p><p></p><p>In my opinion there's not a single rule in the entire game that can be universally applied so that every single players says "Yep, that's exactly what's happening." It's never the case. For every "universal truth" about D&D that someone throws out... there will be any number of people who will honestly be able to say that that supposed truth is actually false as far as they are concerned. Even if someone tries their hardest to justify the truth with "Well, if you play RAW and don't make any changes, then the game will do X, Y, and Z, which means you have to do A, B, and C in reaction"... that doesn't take into account the idiosyncrasies of how that specific DM runs their game (even supposedly "RAW") and how those idiosyncrasies affect or change the results at their table compared to some other DM.</p><p></p><p>One table has only a single PC with healing magic, the other table has almost every single PC with healing magic. Boom-- all the numbers of combat and balance are now screwed up compared to each other and there's no "universal truth" to be made on how D&D combat runs. One table goes all Human, the other table goes all species with Darkvision. Boom-- exploration is now all screwed up compared to each other and there's no "universal truth" to be made on how easy or difficult D&D exploration runs. One table does all their social work verbally at the table and few to no CHA checks are made, the other table doesn't care what actually is said and all that matters is the several CHA checks that are made to convince NPCs to do things. Boom-- all the reactions and communications between characters and NPCs are now screwed up compared to each other and there's no "universal truth" to be made on how the social pillar runs in D&D. And every single one of those tables could still be playing "RAW".</p><p></p><p>At no point should anyone ever bother saying "You HAVE to do X" when it comes to something in D&D... because it's just not true. What they should be saying is "<strong>I</strong> have to do X" because it's what their perspective of the game is telling them and how they are reacting to that perspective. But it's not universal... it's idiosyncratic.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9275168, member: 7006"] Does the game expect it, or does a specific DM with how they run their game expect it? In my opinion there's not a single rule in the entire game that can be universally applied so that every single players says "Yep, that's exactly what's happening." It's never the case. For every "universal truth" about D&D that someone throws out... there will be any number of people who will honestly be able to say that that supposed truth is actually false as far as they are concerned. Even if someone tries their hardest to justify the truth with "Well, if you play RAW and don't make any changes, then the game will do X, Y, and Z, which means you have to do A, B, and C in reaction"... that doesn't take into account the idiosyncrasies of how that specific DM runs their game (even supposedly "RAW") and how those idiosyncrasies affect or change the results at their table compared to some other DM. One table has only a single PC with healing magic, the other table has almost every single PC with healing magic. Boom-- all the numbers of combat and balance are now screwed up compared to each other and there's no "universal truth" to be made on how D&D combat runs. One table goes all Human, the other table goes all species with Darkvision. Boom-- exploration is now all screwed up compared to each other and there's no "universal truth" to be made on how easy or difficult D&D exploration runs. One table does all their social work verbally at the table and few to no CHA checks are made, the other table doesn't care what actually is said and all that matters is the several CHA checks that are made to convince NPCs to do things. Boom-- all the reactions and communications between characters and NPCs are now screwed up compared to each other and there's no "universal truth" to be made on how the social pillar runs in D&D. And every single one of those tables could still be playing "RAW". At no point should anyone ever bother saying "You HAVE to do X" when it comes to something in D&D... because it's just not true. What they should be saying is "[B]I[/B] have to do X" because it's what their perspective of the game is telling them and how they are reacting to that perspective. But it's not universal... it's idiosyncratic. [/QUOTE]
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