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Message: <blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 4058240" data-attributes="member: 51942">The two factors are not unrelated.  You're presumably using the D&D rules because you enjoy fantasy role-playing - the ruleset serves to provide a clear-cut basis for what flies and what does not - in a fantasy setting.  Your imagination is thus key to the selection of the rules, not vice-versa.Of course, a certain about of arbitrariness is unavoidable, and that's actually part of the reason why you use rules - you're trying to find a common ground and be consistent in your interpretations.  That implies that even more so than normally, when the rules make arbitrary decisions it's imperative they're consistent.Finally, the rules support the DM in the role of the arbiter.  They should avoid conflict and where possible work the way expected - in other words, the consequences of the rules should be a setting and a mechanic which works like your mental model of it.  If a rule is arbitrary, it better be consistent and reasonable - but if a rule is surprising and actually works contrary to your expectations, it's a bad rule.Considering these three guiding principles, and the fact that natural text is not precise and the semantic meaning of the rules cannot be derived unambiguously, when a rule is unclear, it's best to interprete it in such a fashion as to speak to the imagination, remain self-consistent with the rest of the rule set, and to avoid illogical, surprising rules.So, given your imagination, the rest of the rule set, and your fellow players, which interpretation is better - that swordsages retain their Wisdom armor bonus to AC when unarmored, or that they do not?  It's not unambiguously derivable from the text, so you'll need to make a choice.</blockquote>

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