Originally Posted by Totema Originally Posted by

Because it lets the DM make the game their own.



I recall a 3.5 game I was playing a few years ago. The party wizard wanted to know if he could hit a particular foe with a Lightning Bolt spell from behind a wooden wall. The DM wanted to say yes but felt the need to run it through RAW. We had a 10-minute discussion over how thick the wall was, what specific variety of wood it was made of, whether or not the force of the blast would be diminished after bursting through the wall, and more, before finally deciding that the spell would penetrate the wall. 10 minutes of debate, to reach the same conclusion that the DM tried to make in under one.



I understand that players might want specific mechanics that everyone can look up reliably, but in my opinion, a quick and fair DM ruling makes the game much smoother and more enjoyable. And where there are deeper ambiguities (such as with our warlock problem here) the DM should make his/her ruling both well communicated and strictly systematic. Hence, a rulings list.