What is RAW?

[kate_unknown]

Probably a dumb noobish question, but what is RAW? I see people using it a lot in this forum, but I am unaware of any book that would be an acronym for.

[exalted]

It is a common acronym for Rules as Written.

Aka what the rules really say regardless of intent or if it makes sense or is a good rule.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

"Rules as written." That is, the text of published works, without any workarounds, house rules, or common variants.

[Celjabba]

Rules As Written :refer to the text of the published rules, with no outside knowledge (ie author comments, ...) or variants.

[kate_unknown]

Cool, thanks everyone!

[Daigoro]

It's a bit dated and out-of-date, but there's the forum list of abbreviations to check out.

[Inky]

RAW can also be used as the opposite of RAI (rules as intended). That is, it can be used to describe something that is possible if you interpret the letter of the rules literally, but possibly wasn't intended. (This usage of "RAW" comes up a lot on sites that discuss Dungeons & Dragons, where exploiting the exact letter of the rules to determine what your character can and can't do is positively expected!)

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Inky

RAW can also be used as the opposite of RAI (rules as intended). That is, it can be used to describe something that is possible if you interpret the letter of the rules literally, but possibly wasn't intended. (This usage of "RAW" comes up a lot on sites that discuss Dungeons & Dragons, where exploiting the exact letter of the rules to determine what your character can and can't do is positively expected!)

E.g. by a literal reading of parts of the RAW in several D&D books, it is possible for a first level kobold (IIRC) to ascend to godhood by doing a specific sequence of things, but most people who know the details are almost certain or totally certain that the RAI would not allow it, and most DMs would not allow it either.

GURPS does not have so many literalist RAW exploits, largely because of how it's structured compared to D&D. Of course, I like to think that GURPS attracts fewer minmaxers and ruleplayers who go for that sort of thing, but that may be optimistic on my part.

[Whitewings]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

E.g. by a literal reading of parts of the RAW in several D&D books, it is possible for a first level kobold (IIRC) to ascend to godhood by doing a specific sequence of things, but most people who know the details are almost certain or totally certain that the RAI would not allow it, and most DMs would not allow it either.

Pun-pun is not actually possible; the build is illegal several ways, though I don't recall all the ways. But they're not hard to find.

[kate_unknown]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

It's a bit dated and out-of-date, but there's the forum list of abbreviations to check out.

Wow there are a lot!