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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 5942241" data-attributes="member: 21169">It's easier, much easier, for magic powers to 'escape the box' for two reasons:1) Although both magic and non-magic guys will be equally restricted by the rules text, non-magic guys are burdened by a further set of rules - the laws of physics, AKA realism.2) It's easier for the DM to come up with counter-measures to the non-magic guys because he can look to real world historical practices for inspiration. We've had thousands of years of experience in countering what muscle and metal can do. The world, if it's based to any degree on historical reality, will do that. We don't have thousands of years experience countering charm person or invisibility. If we had, societies would employ a range of defensive measures.I think combat as war is absolutely fine in games where all the PCs have equal access to supernatural powers, but that's not the case in D&D. To remain balanced, combat-as-war D&D will need the DM to step in and use techniques such as giving the fighter-types more magic items, employing magic resistant monsters, or saying "that spell doesn't work here" - very popular in Gary's modules.Amber takes combat-as-war a lot further than D&D ever has, because it has far fewer rules than any edition of D&D, and because the rules text describing supernatural powers is more open-ended. One of my Amber PCs ate the biomass of a whole planet, in an attempt to turn himself into a god. Another used probability manipulation to destroy an enemy base with a meteor strike, and sent mobile 'hunter-killer' trap dimensions chasing her enemies thru the omniverse.Stealing mithril walls? Pfft.</blockquote>

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