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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dandu" data-source="post: 6050474" data-attributes="member: 85158">That is entirely correct, however, the real world never had magic. D&D, however, does. I feel this is a significant difference.It is entirely possible someone's studying probability distributions. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Wind" target="_blank">Name of the Wind</a> features an order of wizards who systematically study magic, energy, and chemistry, among other topics, in a medieval setting. Several D&D settings have had civilization last for a long while. In Faerun, for instance, Human seafarers settle Ruathym in the year -3100. The Time of Troubles was in the year 1358. Through the power of mathematics, one can conclude that humans civilization has existed in Faerun for 4458 years. And humanity is far from the oldest civilization in Faerun; Moon elves from Shantel Othreier founded Ardeep in the year -23,600.Other settings have younger civilizations. In <a href="http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=World_of_Greyhawk_Timeline" target="_blank">Greyhawk</a>, the humans of Flanaess spread across the region in the year -2004. The Temple of Elemental Evil takes place in the year 566. This is only 2570 years worth of human civilization, though as Greyhaws it the default D&D setting, it has all the spells in the PHB. This is important to keep in mind for reasons I am about to explain in a moment.I assume that, in most settings, there will be people who have already figured out basic spells. In which case, you'd think someone would notice that the duration of, say, Obscuring Mist increases in 1 minute increments. A novice who just mastered cantrips casts the spell and gets a 1 minute duration, a wizard of slightly more experience getting 2 minutes out of it, but never a duration of 1.5 minutes.And anyone capable of casting spells such as <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/analyzeDweomer.htm" target="_blank">Analyze Dweomer</a> gets metagame information as a direct result of the spell.So if Bob the Wizard casts this spell in game on Steve the Sorcerer, Bob automatically learns Steve's caster level. I imagine the in-game world reflects this somehow.Well, I imagine they would have Fighter bonus feats, so somebody could snag <a href="http://dndtools.eu/feats/players-handbook-ii--80/combat-awareness--388/" target="_blank">Combat Awareness</a> from the PHB2 if that book is allowed.There are feats and spells like this scattered through 3.5e that basically tell you metagame information. For another example, look at the psionic power <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/featLeech.htm" target="_blank">Feat Leech</a>.<a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicReformation.htm" target="_blank">Psychic Reformation</a> allows you to switch out skill points and feats for other ones. This means that the people using it would, again, have to have some idea of what they're manipulating, as the power adjusts discreet variables.And that's a valid point, but the real world never had Int 30 supergeniuses running around who can determine these sorts of things via spells and ask questions of the gods on how things work. Or gods, for that matter.Then let me ask you a question: How do players in your games choose their feats and builds? Do you let them pick whatever they want as long as they qualify in game terms, or do you force someone who wants to multiclass from Barbarian to Fighter to have spent time in a fighting academy, and if he wants to go back to Barbarian to avoid the dead third level of fighter, call him a powergaming munchkin and forbid him from doing so because you do not think he has an in-game knowledge of the upcoming dead level?What about skill points? That's a very mechanistic approach to skills which does not at all resemble how skills are gained in the real world. And probably a dozen other game elements in Dungeons and Dragons.You are applying real world logic to a game whose reality is governed by completely different rules, yet expect people in the game world to behave as if they were in our world.</blockquote>

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