D&D 5E Vampiric Touch Opportunity Attack Ruling?

[MG.0]

Simply saying someone is wrong over and over doesn't actually make them wrong...

Naturally. However I provided as much reasoned argument in my replies as he did in his post, i.e. none. It was especially apt as his post was little more than telling me what my intentions were. Something I would know far better than him.

 

[MG.0]

Also, arbitrary doesn't mean what you seem to think it means.

I know precisely what arbitrary means. Just because you don't agree, doesn't mean I don't understand the word. Perhaps it is you who doesn't understand it.

 

[MindxKiller]

I know precisely what arbitrary means. Just because you don't agree, doesn't mean I don't understand the word. Perhaps it is you who doesn't understand it.

You clearly do not, you have used the word incorrectly every time you've used it thus far. There is nothing to agree with, the definition is a set thing, not an opinion. You do not understand the word, or you're intentionally using it incorrectly for god knows what reason.

 

[MG.0]

You clearly do not, you have used the word incorrectly every time you've used it thus far. There is nothing to agree with, the definition is a set thing, not an opinion. You do not understand the word, or you're intentionally using it incorrectly for god knows what reason.

You clearly do not. Prove it.

 

[MindxKiller]

You clearly do not. Prove it.

Look up the definition, arbitrary is random. The rules are anything but random, open a dictionary and learn something.

 

[MG.0]

Look up the definition, arbitrary is random. The rules are anything but random, open a dictionary and learn something.

Haha, funny. I guess you didn't bother looking it up. Arbitrary is not random.

From Merriam Webster (1 and 3a are particularly relevant):

1 : depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law <the manner of punishment is arbitrary>

2 a : not restrained or limited in the exercise of power : ruling by absolute authority <an arbitrary government>
b : marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power <protection from arbitrary arrest and detention>

3 a : based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something <an arbitrary standard> <take any arbitrary positive number>


Here's an example from Wikipedia that helps make the distinction between arbitrary and random:

For example, during the 1973 oil crisis, Americans were allowed to purchase gasoline only on odd-numbered days if their license plate was odd, and on even-numbered days if their license plate was even. The system was well-defined and not random in its restrictions; however, since license plate numbers are completely unrelated to a person's fitness to purchase gasoline, it was still an arbitrary division of people. Similarly, schoolchildren are often organized by their surname in alphabetical order, a non-random yet still arbitrary method, at least in cases where surnames are irrelevant.

Don't you feel better having learned something today? No need to thank me, I'm glad to help.

 

[MindxKiller]

Haha, funny. I guess you didn't bother looking it up. Arbitrary is not random.

From Merriam Webster (1 and 3a are particularly relevant):

1 : depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law <the manner of punishment is arbitrary>

2 a : not restrained or limited in the exercise of power : ruling by absolute authority <an arbitrary government>
b : marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power <protection from arbitrary arrest and detention>

3 a : based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something <an arbitrary standard> <take any arbitrary positive number>


Here's an example from Wikipedia that helps make the distinction between arbitrary and random:

For example, during the 1973 oil crisis, Americans were allowed to purchase gasoline only on odd-numbered days if their license plate was odd, and on even-numbered days if their license plate was even. The system was well-defined and not random in its restrictions; however, since license plate numbers are completely unrelated to a person's fitness to purchase gasoline, it was still an arbitrary division of people. Similarly, schoolchildren are often organized by their surname in alphabetical order, a non-random yet still arbitrary method, at least in cases where surnames are irrelevant.

Don't you feel better having learned something today? No need to thank me, I'm glad to help.

Cute, you cut out the very next part of the definition, here let me get it for you:

b : existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will <when a task is not seen in a meaningful context it is experienced as being arbitrary — Nehemiah Jordan>

Now clearly, to any human with an actual brain, I was paraphrasing, and I was still correct. Oh, and just to add on top, by these definitions, you used arbitrary incorrectly. Nice try though, it was kinda cute how you intentionally cut out part of the definition to try and make me look incorrect, I guess you just forgot that this is the internet though, and that I can go to the exact same website you did. Also, just the cherry on top, random is a synonym of arbitrary for a reason. Don't you feel better having learned something today? No need to thank me, I'm glad to help.

 

[MG.0]

Cute, you cut out the very next part of the definition, here let me get it for you: b : existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will Now clearly, to any human with an actual brain, I was paraphrasing, and I was still correct. Oh, and just to add on top, by these definitions, you used arbitrary incorrectly. Nice try though, it was kinda cute how you intentionally cut out part of the definition to try and make me look incorrect, I guess you just forgot that this is the internet though, and that I can go to the exact same website you did. Also, just the cherry on top, random is a synonym of arbitrary for a reason. Don't you feel better having learned something today? No need to thank me, I'm glad to help.

Wrong.
As I said before, 1 and 3a were the usages I intended, which have absolutely nothing to do with randomness and everything to do with individual preference, convenience, and discretion. Even your choice (and it isn't your usage we are talking about, is it?) "seemingly at random" isn't the same as random. You may as well have tried to suggest that I intended 2; ruling by absolute authority, if you want to be equally daft.

M-W lists synonyms for arbitrary as:
1) dictatorial, high-handed, imperious, peremptory, willful (or wilful)
2) aimless, arbitrary, catch-as-catch-can, desultory, erratic, haphazard, helter-skelter, hit-or-miss, scattered, slapdash, stray
3) arbitrary, autocratic (also autocratical), czarist (also tsarist or tzarist), despotic, dictatorial, monocratic, tyrannical (also tyrannic), tyrannous

Some of those synonyms apply to my intended meaning, some do not. Synonyms often don't apply to a word except under a specific usage.

Random doesn't show as a synonym or even a related word, although it probably ought to be listed as a related word for 3b.
Even if it did, it wouldn't matter. Words are often synonyms in one defined meaning and not another. The usage I intended, which is clearly spelled out, does not include randomness as a component.

Nice sidestepping the example of how something can be arbitrary and not random.