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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7392579" data-attributes="member: 29398">I guess I've just been doing this for so long it's become second nature for me.  Once I know the "detonation" point I can usually pretty much eyeball the board (which is marked in 10' squares) and say right away who's in or out; and if there's one or more creatures close to the edge I'll get more finicky and if that doesn't help I'll leave it to the dice.As for whether someone near the edge is in or out, I'll just give a big bonus on the saving throw and if the bonus gets you to 20+ then you were outside the area and take no damage.  Obviously the same goes for the opponents.  (your example reverses the mechanics, using the 4e method of attack for damage rather than defensive saving throws).Never mind that the idea of only one human-sized bipedal creature being able to occupy a 5x5' space is itself kinda silly unless said person is waving a very large weapon around.A complexity I don't mind.The trick is not to remember it all, but to remember where to look it up when needed.  And, over the years I've gone through and rewritten absolutely every spell in the game, and put them online so they're easy for us all to look up.Shrug - to me, that's just how the game is played.And when the outcome is possibly the difference between life and death for your PC, wouldn't you want to dive into the minutae and make sure things were done right? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I don't deny it helps with agency.  On the contrary, I think it helps too much.My point is simply that if the PCs aren't in a position to know all the consequences then the players shouldn't be either, and thus there'll sometimes be some agency they just have to do without.Something basic like swinging a sword at a foe: yeah, the usual consequences are obvious - you're either going to hurt the foe, kill the foe, or do nothing to the foe.  There's also possible unusual consequences - you might fumble and do something you didn't want to do, or you might hit the foe so hard your swing follows through into something else (a.k.a. Cleave in 3e), or you might diasrm the foe, or trip it, etc., depending on system.But something basic like going left instead of right at an intersection - assuming no pre-scouting or other foreknowledge - the PCs have no way of knowing what consequences will arise from that decision, and thus neither should the players.Yeah, don't get me started on falling damage; it's bugged me since day 1.Ditto with whichever boneheaded edition it was that gave the spell Reverse Gravity a duration of 10 minutes.  The idea, I'm sure, was that this would for 10 minutes just cause anyone entering the area (or the individual target, it's been done both ways) to crash to the ceiling.  But what happens if it's cast outdoors where there is no ceiling?  Think about it..... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />A 10-minute upward "fall" doesn't quite put you into space, but you'll have long since suffocated by the time you come back down...and for the time you're falling upward you would always keep accelerating a bit, as terminal velocity is caused by air resistance which steadily decreases as you go higher.  I really don't think they quite thought this one through...None of it is perfect, but if you take an average you'll at least have a guideline to start from - which is indisputably better than nothing.Again, I think you're being a bit pessimistic.  I mean, I'm sure I've got it down at least past the 99.6% point... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Lanefan</blockquote>

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