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“Rules aren’t physics” isn’t a useful response to problems that exist entirely within DnD’s rules.
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Rules aren't physics. The rules of the
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game are meant to provide a fun game
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experience, not to describe the laws of
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physics in the worlds of Dn D, let alone
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the real world. While I do understand
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the intent behind that paragraph, it is
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kind of Yes, the rules of the
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game aren't simulationist. They aren't
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intended to simulate physics, and you
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can't directly map between the rules and
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physics. So experiments like the peasant
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rail gun obviously don't work because
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you can't use mechanics that exist
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purely within the rules and then
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transition them back to physics and
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magically have them work creating a
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peasant rail gun. Obviously you can't do
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that. That's absurd. But things that
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exist purely within the rules still
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exist purely within the rules. So you
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can't say rules aren't physics to
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dismiss using the rules as written. It
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is a thought-terminating statement
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because you are saying very clearly like
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no you are doing a thing that is clearly
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within the rules that I don't like and
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therefore I'm going to say rules aren't
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physics and will no longer entertain
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this discussion. That's not how that
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works. That's not how the rules work.
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The rules say when you do X Y happens.
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That is in a lot of ways the physics of
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the game world. When you do X Y happens
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100% of the time. Magic is a fantastic
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example in DD spells specifically
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because spells are functionally physics.
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You do X, Y happens. The spell describes
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a specific effect. Circle magic, which
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is what this comment brought up, is
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specifically another kind of physics. It
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is another physical interaction of how
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spells work in Dn D. So, we can't say
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rules aren't physics and just say you
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don't get to do that with circle spells
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when the rules for circle spells very
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specifically say yes, this is what these
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do. This is how these work. Yes, I spent
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a lot of time talking about abuse cases
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and the rules. And honestly, those abuse
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cases weren't very difficult to come up
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with. It was just applying the text of
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the rules as written in the most
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obviously beneficial ways I could think
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of. Using the rules specifically as
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written and specifically how they're
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intended to be used is not an abuse
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case. The rules are just bad this time.
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Sometimes the rules are just bad because
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they didn't think through the
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consequences of what those rules would
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enable.
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