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<blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 8472925" data-attributes="member: 7031982">I think you are conflating decisions about what happens to a character with what a character decides to do.&nbsp; That is, physical states vs. action declarations.&nbsp; All your examples aren't decisions taken by a person: you don't decide to fall prone, you are knocked prone.&nbsp; You don't decide to miss the 20' jump, it just happens.But all of those things that happen to your character come with consequences that are covered by rules.&nbsp; If you fall, you take damage.&nbsp; If you're prone, attacks against you have advantage and it takes half your movement to stand up.&nbsp; If you are at zero hit points, you are incapacitated and you make death saving throws.&nbsp; Those things are all in the rules.Now, it's also true that the character doesn't decide whether or not to be intimidated by an orc, but what we're really talking about is what actions the character may take in the aftermath of being intimidated.&nbsp; And there are no rules, anywhere, that govern what action declarations are valid in that case.* So to tell a player &quot;you are in the Intimidated state&quot; is either meaningless or is making up non-existent rules.*And the general case of this is how players should roleplay in various circumstances.&nbsp; There is lots of guidance and advice, but zero rules dictating how to roleplay.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bill Zebub, post: 8472925, member: 7031982"] I think you are conflating decisions about what [I]happens to[/I] a character with what a character [I]decides to do[/I]. That is, physical states vs. action declarations. All your examples aren't decisions taken by a person: you don't decide to fall prone, you are knocked prone. You don't decide to miss the 20' jump, it just happens. But all of those things that happen to your character come with consequences that are covered by rules. If you fall, you take damage. If you're prone, attacks against you have advantage and it takes half your movement to stand up. If you are at zero hit points, you are incapacitated and you make death saving throws. Those things are all in the rules. Now, it's also true that the character doesn't [I]decide[/I] whether or not to be intimidated by an orc, but what we're really talking about is what actions the character may take in the aftermath of being intimidated. And there are no rules, anywhere, that govern what action declarations are valid in that case.* So to tell a player "you are in the Intimidated state" is either meaningless or is making up non-existent rules. *And the general case of this is how players should roleplay in various circumstances. There is lots of guidance and advice, but zero rules dictating how to roleplay. [/QUOTE]

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