Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Maybe, but I really prefer that it is.The hierarchy between magic/technology and mundane ability is not and does not need to be rigidly defined.
Maybe, but I really prefer that it is.The hierarchy between magic/technology and mundane ability is not and does not need to be rigidly defined.
That is frankly a stupid rule, proof to me of WotC 5e's radical oversimplification. It would never fly in my game.And you have immediately demonstrated the problem, because the bolded is FALSE.
Rules from the PHB, pg 182: Each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain) when you're climbing, swimming, or crawling. You ignore this extra cost if you have a climbing speed and use it to climb, or a swimming speed and use it to swim. At the DM's option, climbing a slippery vertical surface or one with few handholds requires a successful Strength (Athletics) check. Similarly, gaining any distance in rough water might require a successful Strength (Athletics) check.
These are the entirety of the rules for swimming. There are other rules for holding your breath, or making attacks underwater, but nothing else is stated for swimming rules. So, if my fighter in full plate wants to swim over a calm little river... there is no roll, they just deal with difficult terrain.
Yes, you can argue until you are blue in the face that it would be hard, nay a death sentence, for a real life human being to attempt that. It doesn't matter. The rules state there is no roll for this. The DM can optionally decide there might be a roll for rough water, but otherwise you are wrong.
So... if what you consider hard isn't even a challenge for the PC... what is supposed to be hard for them?
WOTC is scared to explicitly make any claims on D&D beyond the 5 core assumptions needed to make base D&D make sense.WotC has no interest in picking a lane. That might actually be their design goal, along with "make as much money as we can get away with" (although technically that's Hasbro's goal).
Then what's the point of leveling then???and half of the D&D community has an answer for you: A character is capable of doing what a human can do.
That's very often how it works though. People use technology because it gives them capabilities they wouldn't otherwise have or makes tasks much faster and/or easier. People use magic for exactly the same reasons.The argument that the solution to characters without magic to compete, is to give them magical gear always comes across to me in such a foul way. You are still saying the solution is magic, just not a magic that they earn or can utilize themselves. It has to be pre-packaged and standardized for their use.
It is like people who use AI to make art and claiming they are artists. You didn't do anything noteworthy, you just have the right gear to trivialize the situation.
Unless they are explicitly supernatural or have spells, yes, that's my take.and half of the D&D community has an answer for you: A character is capable of doing what a human can do.
I'd be down with showing real world records. My favorite D&D-adjacent game explicitly uses that kind of information to set benchmarks. Up that verisimilitude!But the community doesn't know what a human can do.
maybe
Put the Current Olympic records in the PHB?
Or have a chart, one with the Real World Records and the one with the Fantasy World Records.
You level into supernatural power, so once you cross that line you can do things beyond what a human can do.Then what's the point of leveling then???
i wonder how many people would ever actually notice if we just outright doubled all of the IRL records and didn't mention we were lying about those being 'regular human capabilities', i bet it would be more fun for DnD martials though.I'd be down with showing real world records. My favorite D&D-adjacent game explicitly uses that kind of information to set benchmarks. Up that verisimilitude!
Not a fan of falsifying records personally. Pretty much defeats my purpose in using them as a base, and really against deception in game design in any case.i wonder how many people would ever actually notice if we just outright doubled all of the IRL records and didn't mention we were lying about those being 'regular human capabilities', i bet it would be more fun for DnD martials though.