Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5554803" data-attributes="member: 22779">I'll admit that I'm not much of a rules tinker.  I don't generally have a huge problem following the rules of any given system, by and large.  If the system says X, then, most often, I'll follow the path of least resistance and do X.  But, that being said, I do like to lift up the hood once in a while and get a bit greasy.However, that being said, I think there really are three issues that every DM should stop and consider before making changes.  Note, none of these are necessarily show stoppers nor are they insurmountable problems.  Sometimes they're not even problems at all.  But, I think that these three issues should be kept in mind.The first two are pretty much strictly pragmatic issues and are fairly strongly related:1.  Exactly how does this change work?  Take the recent "can a snake be knocked prone" discussion.  No, I don't want to re-open that, but, just use it as an example.  What constitutes a snake?  How snakelike does a creature have to be to be considered a snake?  Is a Naga a snake?  A Purple Worm?  A Rhemoraz?  A Behir?  A Basilisk?  Some types of Yuan-Ti or a Marilith? Just how snakey does something have to be in order to be immune to being knocked prone?Again, not an insurmountable issue, particularly in this case, where it's probably something that's fairly easily resolved.  But, there can be other cases where changing something might have unforseen consequences.  2.  Related to 1, how often is this issue going to come up in play?  Keeping with our snake question, is this something that's going to happen once in a while and be an interesting tactical challenge or is the party going to spend the next sixteen sessions wandering the Slithering Swamp of Supernatural Serpents in Search of the Supine Snake Goddess?If it's the second one, then maybe letting the players know before they start sinking considerably character resources into tripping might be a really good idea.  No one wants to get sidelined, particularly when a few words to the wise could have prevented it.3.  What else?  This is the issue that, in my mind anyway, might be the most pernicious.  Players can only interact with the game world through the mechanics of the game as adjudicated by the DM.  When the DM begins changing mechanics, the players can no longer accurately assess the results of their efforts.Again, using the tripping snake issue, it's quite possible that the DM might also have additional believability issues with other elements.  If the PC's cannot trip a snake, can they push a giant?  Can they swing from the chandeliers?  Reading the rulebooks tells the players one thing, but, the DM has now shown that the rules in the book might not be the rules at the table.One of the dangers here is shutting down player creativity.  Again, I want to stress that this is not a foregone conclusion.  Just a possibility.  The players choose options based on what they believe will pass muster through the DM filter instead of choosing options based on what the rules allow and what the players think is cool.  To take a 4e example, a player with a 7th level fighter shies away from Come and Get It because he knows the DM will have issues with it, but instead takes Reckless Attack (I think that's what it's called - Str -2 vs AC 3[w] damage) because the latter power is so basic, it's sure to pass through the DM's filters.Again, just to be absolutely clear, I want to say that none of these issues are necessarily inevitable.  They certainly aren't.  These are possiblities, nothing more.  Just something the DM should be aware of and give some thought to beforehand.</blockquote>

Verification