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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6860107" data-attributes="member: 87792">It always depresses me how many entitled GMs there are that seem to find it their sovereign right to cripple any hope I have of immersion.If I do not know in reasonable detail what my character can do then I can not immerse in that character. I'm someone who quite literally doesn't know whether they can walk a tightrope under average conditions. (Hint: for me, neonchameleon, the answer is definitely "no" - but like a lot of skills it's generally something you either can do with a pretty good chance of success or something you can't; there are fairly ordinary people out there who practice slackline yoga). I've a pretty good knowledge of what I can do - and to set out to deny me that is to set out to deny me the ability to roleplay anyone other than an amnesiac or someone newly hatched.3.X went overboard on its benchmarks and got them backwards (the benchmarks should be things you can do at a given skill level - so with a +5 in acrobatics or balance you should be reliably able to walk a tightrope without rolling) but the attempt was there (even if walking an ordinary tightrope is a surface less than 1" wide and by the epic rules is DC 40 in 3.5, RAW - one of the obvious places where the DC system messed up).If I don't have a clear idea of what my character thinks they can do I can't immerse in that character. If what my character thinks they can do is seriously flawed then my character can do then my character is delusional - and I'd rather know in advance that I've set up a delusional character. As for getting on the same page, the default page should be "Playing naively, fairly, and with intent to put up a strong showing". No, Pun-Pun counts as neither naive nor fair. The default assumption for game design should be always that where the PC has control of the choice, making the right one (as in picking equipment) is literally sometimes a matter of life or death so they should be assumed to not want sub-standard equipment. And that playing hard but honourably and respecting the intent of the rules while doing things like picking the spells that look best is the easiest default to settle on. For one thing it's a pretty obvious benchmark and playing less intensely than that is a challenge to say how and for people to match themselves to the group.This doesn't say that games where players don't play at least naively strongly shouldn't exist. But everyone who's saying they like playing sub-standard characters should by doing so be openly acknowledging that they play their own version of the game and that that is not and should not be the default for open groups.  For that matter they should also realise that "I'm roleplaying someone who likes walking into the jaws of death with sub-par equipment" says a lot about the character they are roleplaying. It's an intense character choice they are making there (a valid one - but an intense character decision all the same and should be treated as such).4: Either I'm overconfident or I think they are overconfident. Or both. Unless they came armed for me personally, I think that we're a tougher nut than they expected to be able to crack and the mistake is actually theirs.5: Because running is the single most stupid choice on the table. If we run we get hit in the back. And unless I'm playing the monk or the wizard they can run us down and put spears between our shoulderblades. 6: It's better to live on our feet than die on our knees. And if I didn't make that decision I wouldn't be an adventurer.7: I think they are bluffing.8: They prepared the ambush - what on earth gives me the impression that the apparent obvious escape route is safe rather than another part in their trap?Historical battles had the majority of their casualties inflicted after the rout started. When instead of trying to advance against enemies with weapons in hand they were skewering the slowest in the back. Indeed, all else being equal, staying to fight the ambush is probably the smart tactical choice and running is a choice that will almost certainly get the slowest of our party members killed.Ambushes are bad. But running away from one when you are part of a group normally makes things even worse.</blockquote>

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