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Dash Description

Open kewldewd666 opened this issue 9 years ago • 7 comments

It's clear once you click on it but "double movement speed" is fairly ambiguous. Do I double the remaining movement? Do I double the max movement? Do I move first and then get double my speed (meaning a total of 3x)? People figure these things out pretty quickly but if you're looking to this for reference on movement, it shouldn't be confusing.

Something like "Gain more movement" would be more obvious, and the click-through then makes it perfectly clear.

kewldewd666 avatar Jan 06 '16 22:01 kewldewd666

Well, neither "gain more movement" nor "double movement speed" clarify all the details. In both cases, you have to open the expanded description. "gain more movement" gives you even less information, why is this better?

crobi avatar Jan 10 '16 21:01 crobi

The way I see it, less information is better if it steers away from an incorrect interpretation of the rules. "Double movement speed" could be conflated like I said above. "Gain more movement" prompts for clarification, and rules out the ambiguity when clicked through. Still, a minor issue for what's a neat a useful project.

kewldewd666 avatar Jan 10 '16 22:01 kewldewd666

My problem lies with clicking through. This is a quick reference, so I think having information right there is more important. Personally, I do not see the problem with "double movement speed", as movement speed is how much you can move that round. Double it, and it means you can move twice as far that round.

Perhaps something like "Double your movement speed this round" is needed, although that is ~~probably~~ too long. (Checked using inspect element and emulating a mobile screen. Causes column to be too wide for some phones.)

s-thom avatar Jan 11 '16 00:01 s-thom

I don't see a problem with the click through, since a number of the things on the list require a click through to understand. Dodge, for example isn't very useful without it. You can only expect so much from a few words.

My problem is with using the word "double". It's not obvious what's being multiplied. A quick reading of an action that says "Double movement speed" suggests to me that you then gain double your movement speed by speeding that action. So if I move first, then do a Dash action to "double my movement speed" I would expect to move a total of triple my speed that round. That's wrong of course, what you're really doing is simply adding your movement speed again.

I know other people will have a different first reading and that what I'm saying is quite pedantic but I have a hard time seeing how "Gain Extra Movement" or "Gain your move speed again" could be misinterpreted at all.

kewldewd666 avatar Jan 11 '16 02:01 kewldewd666

If I understand you correctly, you have the feeling that people unambiguously read "double movement speed" as

"you gain an extra movement speed, equal to double your normal speed" (double being a number here)

and don't even think that it could mean

"you double your movement speed for the current turn" (double being a verb here)?

Because if the description is clearly incomplete or ambiguous, then "Gain Extra Movement" is no better. If however you feel that the current description unambiguously suggests the incorrect interpretation, then we should change it. (Note that I'm not a native english speaker, so I can't decide this).

crobi avatar Jan 11 '16 08:01 crobi

I'm not saying that people will literally unambiguously read it as incorrect. I imagine that some of them will get it right. If you require infallible wording then my suggestion won't be satisfying and there's no need to change anything. I'm simply saying (as a native speaker) that "Gain Extra Movement" is much better than "double movement speed" because it is to the point, and much less likely to cause confusion.

kewldewd666 avatar Jan 12 '16 22:01 kewldewd666

kewldewd666 is exactly right on this one. Doesn't matter that it was 4 years ago, he was right then and nothing changed so he's still right. The phrase "Double movement speed" is completely wrong because the Dash action does exactly nothing to your speed. Your speed never changes. What is does is give you extra movement equal to your speed. And 'double' is wrong because if I have a speed of 30 and Dash I add another 30 Movement, if my Rogue (or Monk or whatever) then Dashes as a Bonus action, I Add another 30 to my Movement... so from 60 movement to 90... nothing is Doubling here. "Gain Extra Movement" is probably the best, or "Gain More Movement equal to Speed".

OrbitalBliss avatar May 18 '20 07:05 OrbitalBliss