Travel Domain: Freedom of Movement

[Nail]

Every group I've played with has had the opposite interpretation of yours.

It's quite clear that the wrong interpretation - that is, skipping the middle part of the sentence - is wide-spread. At least, common enough that the topic comes up here in the forums alot.

Reading rules is a skill. (One that I at least will admit to still working on. ) Skipping phrases and parts of text will lead you to an erroneous interpretation.

Whether that has anything to do with "writer intent" is...questionable at best.

 

[mvincent]

Reading rules is a skill.

Agreed. Hence my long jump example, my interest in writer's intent (and prevalent interpretations), and my desire to avoid cognitive dissonance. I understand your interpretation, but your response indicates you do not completely understand others interpretation (and possibly the original writer's).

 

[Nail]

I understand your interpretation, but your response indicates you do not completely understand others interpretation (and possibly the original writer's).

Oh?

"The world is flat."

"Err, no, the world is a sphere."

"Okay, true enough, but I'm not sure you understand my interpretation...."

 

[mvincent]

Oh?

To restate: the domain ability description is similar the the long jump description in this regard. Using using your same reasoning, allowing someone to long jump across something other than a chasm or stream would be "Skipping phrases and parts of text" and using "an erroneous interpretation". But it's not that people 'skipped' the phrase, it's that they viewed it as a descriptor rather than a limiter.

 

[Nail]

Interesting restatement!

There are two problems I see with it:

First, the Long Jump text isn't a close enough analogy. "A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap like a chasm or stream." The phrase "like a chasm..." describes the "gap". There is no similar construction "like..." in the Travel domain description. Phrases with "like" are clearly not restrictive.


Second, in the rules text:

you can act normally regardless of magical effects that impede movement as if you were affected by the spell freedom of movement.

Which phrase is the descriptor?

Is it "regardless of magical effects that impede movement" or "as if you were affected by the spell freedom of movement"?

The phrase "regardless....." describes when you can act normally. The phrase "as if..." describes how you resolve those formerly limited actions. Both are "restrictive" in the sense you are using it. Neither qualify for the "like..." descriptive analogy.

"The world spins, like a top."

"The world spins, regardless of tiny effects that attempt to push it in the opposite sense."

If pressed, it's true I can't say (nor can you, I imagine) why most people misunderstand this rule. In the groups I've played with, it's always been because the reader skipped the middle of the sentence. They saw the words "like Freedom of Movement" at the end, and they went nuts.

 

[Elethiomel]

OK, let's elide the "like" phrase: ""A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap(...)."

So if someone wants to long-jump over a section of floor they suspect contains the trigger device for a falling-stone-block trap, for instance, they would not be allowed to?

 

[Slaved]

If the gap being jumped is between the two not-trapped sections it would still work just fine.

 

[Elethiomel]

That's why I used "suspect". There might not be a trap there at all! Now you can turn jumping into free trap detection; "If we can jump this section of floor, there's a trap there!". I wanted a motivation to jump the otherwise completly normal and uniform floor. Let's dispense with motivation and assume our players are crazy, they just want to jump for the sheer joy of it, and they don't care how far they jump or what's underneath there. Let's say it's an infinite featureless plane, where no part is distinguishable from any other part save the creatures standing on it, and at the moment there's only the player characters standing on it. Can they do a long jump? There's no gap for them to jump.

 

[Jhaelen]

OK, let's elide the "like" phrase: ""A long jump is a horizontal jump, made across a gap(...)."

Every jump crosses a gap, even if the gap is just on the subatomic level. Problem solved

 

[Slaved]

There's no gap for them to jump.

This does not change my answer. The Gap to be Jumped is the distance between the point where the Jump is started to the point where the Jump ends.

Gap is a dynamic word and it works here no matter how the Character decides to Jump.