Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[+]What does your "complex fighter" look like?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 8762316" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>[USER=67338]@GMforPowergamers[/USER] : There is so much to address that I hardly know where to begin, so I'll try to confine my response to one area and that is that you don't seem to distinguish between in fiction and out of fiction. You switch freely back and forth between an in fiction perspective and an out of fiction perspective, without seeming to note or mark that you have done so. This is very confusing to follow.</p><p></p><p>So let's talk about the claim "Robin Hood is the protagonist".</p><p></p><p>Now out of the fiction, Robin Hood is the protagonist. From the perspective of someone outside of the book or story, we know that Robin Hood hits the target because he is protected by the power of plot. He will succeed whenever the story needs him to succeed and fail whenever the story needs him to fail. Robin Hood hits the target from the out of story perspective because the writer wanted him to because the writer had full control over the story.</p><p></p><p>But inside the story at the level of the fiction, Robin Hood is not the protagonist. Robin Hood inside the story is a skilled warrior. He hits what he is shooting at not because the author of the story wants him to hit, because neither the author nor the story exists. He hits the target because he's the best archer in England. Robin Hood's archery skills within the story are not outside of what a real archer can do, because one of the things the story author wanted was to make Robin Hood a believable figure in the real world. One of the things real world trick archers do is recreate the splitting the arrow shot. Therefore, it doesn't require magic. Moreover, in the story Robin Hood doesn't hit because he's the protagonist, but because he's a skilled archer. Inside the story, Robin Hood can miss shots. He's merely the best archer in England. He doesn't have any magical abilities. So regardless of whether he finds the shots he's called on to do within his ability, there is some level of shot which even Robin Hood cannot make, which would stretch his skills to far. It's merely the story never asks him to do any of that.</p><p></p><p>From the standpoint of the game, Robin Hood doesn't have power of plot. He's a player character. He wouldn't be the protagonist less if he was a druid or a rogue rather than a whatever class you think Robin Hood is. Regardless of whether he is the protagonist or not, he has to test the fiction because Robin Hood's player is not the sole author of the story. Even more so, from the standpoint of the game, not every fighter is the protagonist. The third level fighter who is the gate watchman for a town isn't the protagonist. So saying that a fighter should have power of plot just because Robin Hood does in a story is weird. The game is not a novel.</p><p></p><p>One way this becomes immediately apparent is if we start comparing Robin Hood to other story characters like Deadshot and Bullseye who do have magical and supernatural levels of skill. Unlike Robin Hood, inside the story itself they are supposed to be able to do impossible shots that are beyond human ability. Both claim to "never miss". But of course, they do. If Deadshot or Bullseye try to shoot a target that has sufficiently good defensive ability and reflexes, they can and do regularly miss despite being much better shots than Robin Hood. </p><p></p><p>A power like "1/day, hit a target without missing" is magical in the context of a story, because it doesn't test against the fiction. It doesn't matter how far away the target is, how small the target is, or how good the target's defenses are, if you have that power you still hit. That's not something that depends on skill, because skill is not tested - "Is my skill higher than the skill of whom I'm shooting at?" That is magic.</p><p></p><p>Something is not magic just because you call it magic and something doesn't stop being magic just because you say it isn't magic.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Two of those involve action at a distance governed by the mental force or will of a person who was born special. The other one is a guy with an axe. Action at a distance when governed by the mind is magic. Jedi are space wizards. In fact, I think that even in canon they are called sorcerers and wizards by other characters. "The Force" is just the in-universe explanation for magic in Star Wars.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 8762316, member: 4937"] [USER=67338]@GMforPowergamers[/USER] : There is so much to address that I hardly know where to begin, so I'll try to confine my response to one area and that is that you don't seem to distinguish between in fiction and out of fiction. You switch freely back and forth between an in fiction perspective and an out of fiction perspective, without seeming to note or mark that you have done so. This is very confusing to follow. So let's talk about the claim "Robin Hood is the protagonist". Now out of the fiction, Robin Hood is the protagonist. From the perspective of someone outside of the book or story, we know that Robin Hood hits the target because he is protected by the power of plot. He will succeed whenever the story needs him to succeed and fail whenever the story needs him to fail. Robin Hood hits the target from the out of story perspective because the writer wanted him to because the writer had full control over the story. But inside the story at the level of the fiction, Robin Hood is not the protagonist. Robin Hood inside the story is a skilled warrior. He hits what he is shooting at not because the author of the story wants him to hit, because neither the author nor the story exists. He hits the target because he's the best archer in England. Robin Hood's archery skills within the story are not outside of what a real archer can do, because one of the things the story author wanted was to make Robin Hood a believable figure in the real world. One of the things real world trick archers do is recreate the splitting the arrow shot. Therefore, it doesn't require magic. Moreover, in the story Robin Hood doesn't hit because he's the protagonist, but because he's a skilled archer. Inside the story, Robin Hood can miss shots. He's merely the best archer in England. He doesn't have any magical abilities. So regardless of whether he finds the shots he's called on to do within his ability, there is some level of shot which even Robin Hood cannot make, which would stretch his skills to far. It's merely the story never asks him to do any of that. From the standpoint of the game, Robin Hood doesn't have power of plot. He's a player character. He wouldn't be the protagonist less if he was a druid or a rogue rather than a whatever class you think Robin Hood is. Regardless of whether he is the protagonist or not, he has to test the fiction because Robin Hood's player is not the sole author of the story. Even more so, from the standpoint of the game, not every fighter is the protagonist. The third level fighter who is the gate watchman for a town isn't the protagonist. So saying that a fighter should have power of plot just because Robin Hood does in a story is weird. The game is not a novel. One way this becomes immediately apparent is if we start comparing Robin Hood to other story characters like Deadshot and Bullseye who do have magical and supernatural levels of skill. Unlike Robin Hood, inside the story itself they are supposed to be able to do impossible shots that are beyond human ability. Both claim to "never miss". But of course, they do. If Deadshot or Bullseye try to shoot a target that has sufficiently good defensive ability and reflexes, they can and do regularly miss despite being much better shots than Robin Hood. A power like "1/day, hit a target without missing" is magical in the context of a story, because it doesn't test against the fiction. It doesn't matter how far away the target is, how small the target is, or how good the target's defenses are, if you have that power you still hit. That's not something that depends on skill, because skill is not tested - "Is my skill higher than the skill of whom I'm shooting at?" That is magic. Something is not magic just because you call it magic and something doesn't stop being magic just because you say it isn't magic. Two of those involve action at a distance governed by the mental force or will of a person who was born special. The other one is a guy with an axe. Action at a distance when governed by the mind is magic. Jedi are space wizards. In fact, I think that even in canon they are called sorcerers and wizards by other characters. "The Force" is just the in-universe explanation for magic in Star Wars. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[+]What does your "complex fighter" look like?
Top