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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9181728" data-attributes="member: 42582">The GM is absolutely constrained by the fiction.Both the PHB and the DMG explain Heroic, Paragon and Epic tier. The contrast between them is further reinforced by the Monster Manual, which presents monsters of various levels. There is also encounter building advice, which suggests which levels of creatures/NPCs are appropriate for combat with which levels of PCs.The level of a PC therefore tells us something about that PC's place in the fiction - namely, what tier they are. This helps understand which creatures and NPCs are powerful, or not, in comparison to them. This follows from the descriptions of the tiers. It is further reinforced by the Monster Manual's allocation of level and status (minion, standard, elite or solo) to various monsters.It is clear from all the material that I've described that (eg) a Hill Giant who is fighting mid-Heroic PCs would not be a minion. But a Hill Giant fighting low-Epic PCs would be an excellent candidate to be a minion. There's nothing arbitrary about any of this.Is it? Not in my experience. I wrote up a lot of 4e stat blocks when I was GMing that system. Deciding which creatures to stat as minions, or standard, or elite, or solo, wasn't difficult.Diegetic means, of a thing, that that thing is experienced both by the audience and by the characters. So the phrase represents a a diegetic thing is incoherent. If a thing in the fiction is represented to the audience, rather than directly experienced by the audience, that is sufficient to show that it is not diegetic.Minion rules obviously are not diegetic - like any other RPG rules, they are not experienced by the characters (setting to one side fourth-wall breaking zaniness). But the power relationship between PCs and creatures/NPCs that minion rules express is diegetic: the characters experience it, and so do the audience.</blockquote>

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