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When a rule is clear but leads to illogical efffects
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7020989" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I'm afraid I can't think of many that were just laughed at right at the moment. Particularly in 1e, this topic was the result of many a heated table arguments (granted, we were high schoolers). One of the most heated I remember is that per the 1e rules, the ability to detect an invisible creature was entirely a product of intelligence. Having extraordinary senses of smell or hearing had no impact on the table, which was human centric and made no exception for non-human characters. As a result, a rules lawyer tried to argue that being invisible, he could sneak past a group of dogs in the dark because they could not per the rules detect him, despite the fact that it being dark, the dogs were relying not on vision but hearing and scent to locate him. That one got ugly.</p><p></p><p>As a DM with strong simulationist leanings, and perhaps also having been at tables both as a DM and a player were these expectations and aesthetics of play regarding to rules came into heated conflict, these things bug the heck out of me and I endlessly massage rules to try to achieve fewer illogical results that can't be easily explained in the fiction. Indeed, one of the things that sold me in 3e and brought me back to D&D was reading the 'scent' special ability rules. My mind immediately went back to that table argument, and I thought to myself, "Whoever wrote this has been exactly where I have been."</p><p></p><p>I don't have deep knowledge of 5e, but if you are looking for bizarreness, one of the longest running issues D&D has is that per the rules, you can usually chop through a stone wall with a sword fairly quickly and with no harm incurred to the sword. In some editions, you can even do this with your bare hands, and likewise incur no harm to your hands.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7020989, member: 4937"] I'm afraid I can't think of many that were just laughed at right at the moment. Particularly in 1e, this topic was the result of many a heated table arguments (granted, we were high schoolers). One of the most heated I remember is that per the 1e rules, the ability to detect an invisible creature was entirely a product of intelligence. Having extraordinary senses of smell or hearing had no impact on the table, which was human centric and made no exception for non-human characters. As a result, a rules lawyer tried to argue that being invisible, he could sneak past a group of dogs in the dark because they could not per the rules detect him, despite the fact that it being dark, the dogs were relying not on vision but hearing and scent to locate him. That one got ugly. As a DM with strong simulationist leanings, and perhaps also having been at tables both as a DM and a player were these expectations and aesthetics of play regarding to rules came into heated conflict, these things bug the heck out of me and I endlessly massage rules to try to achieve fewer illogical results that can't be easily explained in the fiction. Indeed, one of the things that sold me in 3e and brought me back to D&D was reading the 'scent' special ability rules. My mind immediately went back to that table argument, and I thought to myself, "Whoever wrote this has been exactly where I have been." I don't have deep knowledge of 5e, but if you are looking for bizarreness, one of the longest running issues D&D has is that per the rules, you can usually chop through a stone wall with a sword fairly quickly and with no harm incurred to the sword. In some editions, you can even do this with your bare hands, and likewise incur no harm to your hands. [/QUOTE]
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