Aaaanyways, the point is: never say no to a player when he or she wants to try something. Instead, let them try, and suffer whatever consequences come from it, even if it is just failure. And occasionally give them something to reward such behavior.
When I DM I try to take a laid back, hand waving approach to the rules. The player's handbook to me is a good guide on what you can do but is not a be all / end all book. However, my last couple of groups have been more about Rules-As-Written than anything else.
Fortunately, I have Joe's Book of Broken Bull$hit too help show them the error of their ways.

Forum posts should be like a skirt. Long enough to cover the topic but short enough to keep your attention.
Riding a hostile creature
15/06/2010 09:58:07 PM
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Your DM was being a dick.
16/06/2010 02:08:17 AM
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And if you are playing 4th ed, which kicks 3.5's ass (
), then you'd do something similar.
16/06/2010 09:33:10 PM
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mm. two things that bother me about 4th edition
17/06/2010 05:16:07 AM
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Yep.
18/06/2010 12:28:08 AM
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I don't much mind 4th edition, wasn't trying to make a big argument
18/06/2010 01:09:01 PM
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Also: I'm confused by what you mean when you say "core" classes.
18/06/2010 04:26:59 AM
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I'm talking about the classes which DnD has always associated with as "Core"
18/06/2010 01:27:27 PM
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Those ARE all in the Player's Handbook 1.
18/06/2010 06:16:45 PM
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Yah, I was just signing on to say that they seem to have fixed that
19/06/2010 06:07:43 AM
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Well... 3rd edition had about a million books. So that's not exactly a new trend
*NM*
19/06/2010 03:56:20 PM
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Agreed. Ihaven't DM'd since 2nd edition, but :
18/06/2010 09:25:41 AM
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depending on how complicated you wanted to make it...
18/06/2010 01:30:37 PM
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Indeed. The number 1 rule for any DM: never say no. If a player wants to do something, let them try.
18/06/2010 06:31:20 PM
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Rule -1: Without players, the DM is powerless.
21/06/2010 06:54:15 PM
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