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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7831182" data-attributes="member: 97077">The language of the books is sloppy, perhaps due to the &quot;natural language&quot; design conceit, but the core concepts are very clear in my view. And if one understands the core concepts, then everything that follows makes a lot more sense, even if the language is sloppy: A task is not an ability check, nor an ability check a task. You can have a task without a check, but not a check without a task. Characters aren't rolling dice and consulting character sheets in the game world. Players are doing that at the table. The ability check doesn't exist in the game world. DMs call for ability checks, not players.I repeat these concepts a lot because they really are fundamental to understanding the game in my view. While the game is playable without understanding this (or even disagreeing with it), it's often the case, as evidenced by many forum threads, not adhering to these concepts can lead to undesirable outcomes.Consider: I have absolutely no spamming of the guidance spell in my games and never have because of my understanding of the core concepts above. Guidance works for tasks that take a minute or less, which means the number of tasks for which it will apply is inherently limited. <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/guidance.667941/" target="_blank">But you do appear to have a problem with the guidance spell in your game</a>. In a pragmatic sense (if nothing else), what does that tell you about your interpretation?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7831182, member: 97077"] The language of the books is sloppy, perhaps due to the "natural language" design conceit, but the core concepts are very clear in my view. And if one understands the core concepts, then everything that follows makes a lot more sense, even if the language is sloppy: A task is not an ability check, nor an ability check a task. You can have a task without a check, but not a check without a task. Characters aren't rolling dice and consulting character sheets in the game world. Players are doing that at the table. The ability check doesn't exist in the game world. DMs call for ability checks, not players. I repeat these concepts a lot because they really are fundamental to understanding the game in my view. While the game is playable without understanding this (or even disagreeing with it), it's often the case, as evidenced by many forum threads, [I]not[/I] adhering to these concepts can lead to undesirable outcomes. Consider: I have absolutely no spamming of the guidance spell in my games and never have because of my understanding of the core concepts above. Guidance works for tasks that take a minute or less, which means the number of tasks for which it will apply is inherently limited. [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/guidance.667941/']But you do appear to have a problem with the guidance spell in your game[/URL]. In a pragmatic sense (if nothing else), what does that tell you about your interpretation? [/QUOTE]

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