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What is the worst piece of DM advice people give that you see commonly spread?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9008615" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>See some of my other examples. Skipping over the thermodynamic and/or KMT consequences of spellcasting. Accepting whatever physical weirdness must result from how you interpret HP (because there is no interpretation of HP that has no weirdness--as Gygax himself pointed out.) Dealing with the "conjured stuff is only permanent if being impermanent would be the wrong kind of hurtful." Etc. Some things are simply accepted as the new rules--even if they necessarily violate the old ones.</p><p></p><p>Some of the things you employ will, necessarily, involve the gap between what is intuitive and what is real. Because the real world, while <em>often</em> intuitive, is not <em>always</em> so. Sometimes, what makes intuitive sense to be physical theory is simply straight-up wrong.</p><p></p><p>Noether's theorem, for example, mathematically <em>proves</em> that, for any "differentiable symmetry" (layman's terms: for any physical property which leaves physics-in-general unchanged if you shift it, and which allows a meaningful definition of "rate of change" for all times/locations), you <em>absolutely must</em> have a conservation law. AKA: Because physics looks the same if you add +t seconds to things, energy must be conserved. Because motion looks the same if you shift things +m meters in an arbitrary direction, linear momentum must be conserved. And because rotation looks the same even if you spin slower or faster, angular momentum must be conserved. This isn't a proof based on empirical observation that could be disproved by finding better empirical observations--it's a <em>mathematical</em> physics proof. As long as the requirements are held true (the whole "differentiable symmetry" thing), these things are <em>absolutely required</em> by logic itself. <em>All</em> physical systems with consistent physical laws will conserve these things.</p><p></p><p>Demonstrably, D&D magic violates every single one of them. Portals violate both forms of momentum conservation, and nearly all of magic violates energy conservation to one degree or another. Therefore, <em>some</em> of physics must be violated if we are to have magic.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I mean, so am I, but that's neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that snapping your fingers and causing a raging sphere of fire to appear, burn things, and then instantly disappear without consuming fuel and without combusting anything is simply, flat-out not possible. The <em>fireball</em> spell is simply un-physical...and that's the tip of the iceberg for magic breaking the laws of physics--by which I mean, doing things that we can prove are <em>mathematically</em> impossible if "the laws of physics" exist <em>at all</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9008615, member: 6790260"] See some of my other examples. Skipping over the thermodynamic and/or KMT consequences of spellcasting. Accepting whatever physical weirdness must result from how you interpret HP (because there is no interpretation of HP that has no weirdness--as Gygax himself pointed out.) Dealing with the "conjured stuff is only permanent if being impermanent would be the wrong kind of hurtful." Etc. Some things are simply accepted as the new rules--even if they necessarily violate the old ones. Some of the things you employ will, necessarily, involve the gap between what is intuitive and what is real. Because the real world, while [I]often[/I] intuitive, is not [I]always[/I] so. Sometimes, what makes intuitive sense to be physical theory is simply straight-up wrong. Noether's theorem, for example, mathematically [I]proves[/I] that, for any "differentiable symmetry" (layman's terms: for any physical property which leaves physics-in-general unchanged if you shift it, and which allows a meaningful definition of "rate of change" for all times/locations), you [I]absolutely must[/I] have a conservation law. AKA: Because physics looks the same if you add +t seconds to things, energy must be conserved. Because motion looks the same if you shift things +m meters in an arbitrary direction, linear momentum must be conserved. And because rotation looks the same even if you spin slower or faster, angular momentum must be conserved. This isn't a proof based on empirical observation that could be disproved by finding better empirical observations--it's a [I]mathematical[/I] physics proof. As long as the requirements are held true (the whole "differentiable symmetry" thing), these things are [I]absolutely required[/I] by logic itself. [I]All[/I] physical systems with consistent physical laws will conserve these things. Demonstrably, D&D magic violates every single one of them. Portals violate both forms of momentum conservation, and nearly all of magic violates energy conservation to one degree or another. Therefore, [I]some[/I] of physics must be violated if we are to have magic. I mean, so am I, but that's neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that snapping your fingers and causing a raging sphere of fire to appear, burn things, and then instantly disappear without consuming fuel and without combusting anything is simply, flat-out not possible. The [I]fireball[/I] spell is simply un-physical...and that's the tip of the iceberg for magic breaking the laws of physics--by which I mean, doing things that we can prove are [I]mathematically[/I] impossible if "the laws of physics" exist [I]at all[/I]. [/QUOTE]
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What is the worst piece of DM advice people give that you see commonly spread?
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