vithigar

I don't think the person you're responding to is trying to suggest otherwise. You can be curious about the context even while accepting that no possible context makes this okay.

I too am curious about what, exactly, set this officer off to escalate to such completely deranged behaviour. Not because I think there's a justification, just because I want to know exactly what kind of lunacy this is.

Now, this I like.

The idea that death is an acceptable outcome from being suspected of any minor infraction underpins the conversation around basically every police killing, with every single person on the side justifying it being tacitly accepting of that premise.

It's lunacy.

... What I can't grasp is how he still owes $44k on a 3 to 4 year old vehicle that was around $60k to start when his payments are that high. Unless he misspoke and meant $1400 combined and has some long-ass financing term it doesn't make sense.

Average annual family income in the US is around $80k/a. Are you seriously suggesting that families should be looking for homes in the $20k to $30k range? What kind of home, exactly, do you think you get for that?

I have also never played Rimworld but curiosity got the better of me and against my better judgment I checked to see if you were correct.

You were.

Since you asked:

• Rolling damage against the floor on a miss
• The intimidate check granting a +2 to hit as a free action
• Using Mage Hand to manipulate items that are worn/held by a creature

The damage against the floor is a minor thing, and smashing up the place as a consequence of fighting there is a reasonable bit of extra flavour. I'm not against it.

A free action that grants a skill check to get +2 to hit on your next attack as a reward for missing is wildly disproportionate. There are feats worse than that. If this is a thing people can do why would literally everyone playing not be constantly chewing up the floor in every encounter?

Broadly speaking objects that are worn or held are exempted from automatic manipulation by spells and effects, though this is usually called out in the description of the effect. Telekinesis, which is much stronger than Mage Hand, is one such spell which grants the wearer a save. Then you have things like Catapult, Daylight, or Fireball's ignition effect, from which held or carried items are flatly immune. Personally I'd consider that grounds to extend that same restriction to Mage Hand.

I'd go so far as to say it's not just the DM's prerogative to set DCs for actions the players want to take but literally part of their job as specifically outlined in the core rules on ability checks.

The fact that the DM presumably set a DC for the intimidate check is also not the part here that's in question.

Yes, completely agreed.

There are also systems much better at this than D&D, which makes calling it out as being the "great" thing here even more out of place.

If you want crunchier rules that have these kind of flavourful interactions you could play PF2e, which literally lets you roll intimidate to debuff your opponent and you have to actions available to do so after swinging your weapon. If you want something looser and more freeform that encourages improvisation maybe take a look at Legend in the Mist or something.

No. These people are welcome to play however they want. They're having a good time and that's great for them.

Pitching this as "d&d is great" when the entire story hinges on multiple table specific rulings makes this both less relatable for players of d&d used to a different tone of play and can set unrealistic expectations for new players who might join a game that plays very differently.

I'm not saying they shouldn't play like this, or that this isn't d&d. It's just a very specific scenario that is quite likely to be non-representative of many games.

I'm glad these people are having fun, but I always feel a bit put off when some random group's homebrew and table rulings are pitched as being typical d&d.

"me at my parents age" is in the future. It's a hypothetical where Elon has a moon palace, something happened to Greta, and an organised resistance has formed.