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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7607917" data-attributes="member: 97077">Wow, I hadn't really thought about it in this way before, but that really is what's at stake. On the surface it's all &quot;hey, we're just checking to see what your character knows, 'kay?&quot; Which doesn't seem that unreasonable, especially if you are used to a paradigm where the DM just asks for checks sometimes without an action stated by the player and the player doesn't look too closely at the rules of the game. Under the surface, it's really about who gets to declare actions for the character. Which ought to be the player, by the rules anyway. Here though, the DM is taking that power or is being given that power by the player's acquiescence. Roll and get this number or better or you can't even make that action declaration.Like the DM declaring how a character feels about something which reasonably constrains choices in response, this really is just a way to control the characters. The DM may not even realize this, if he or she learned to DM this way from another game or DM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7607917, member: 97077"] Wow, I hadn't really thought about it in this way before, but that really [I]is[/I] what's at stake. On the surface it's all "hey, we're just checking to see what your character knows, 'kay?" Which doesn't seem [I]that[/I] unreasonable, especially if you are used to a paradigm where the DM just asks for checks sometimes without an action stated by the player and the player doesn't look too closely at the rules of the game. Under the surface, it's really about [I]who gets to declare actions for the character[/I]. Which ought to be the player, by the rules anyway. Here though, the DM is taking that power or is being given that power by the player's acquiescence. Roll and get this number or better or [I]you can't even make that action declaration[/I]. Like the DM declaring how a character feels about something which reasonably constrains choices in response, this really is just a way to control the characters. The DM may not even realize this, if he or she learned to DM this way from another game or DM. [/QUOTE]

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