Do you, as DM, fudge die rolls?

So do you?

Why do you care?

I said "no" although it's not strictly accurate.

One time online I fudged a damage roll, but that's because I seriously underestimated the amount of damage a Dire Wolf would do to the party (CR3 my foot!) and I would have achieved an accidental TPK if I hadn't. TPKs should never be accidental. They should be the fault of the players, not the DM.

In my normal game, I give the players "@ss-saver points" - a secret number from 0-3 per session - which they can use to reroll any one die. (If they use one when it isn't there, "something bad" happens. Mostly they're afraid to use them...)

J

Well, Umbran, it sounds to me like this is a logical poll based off of the many recent threads that have been talking about the very same thing: Should the DM fudge dice rolls for the sake of the story, or just let them fall where they may, and have lady luck as a major player, sometimes even dwarfing the efforts of the actual players.

I do it more often in favor of the players, but will fudge in favor of the baddies if they're trying to run away.

I rarely fudge. However, when I do so, I don't care whether I fudge for or against the players, because the seldom fudging of mine is for the story, and therefore for the players always.

However, I'd never fudge to kill a PC, but I'd do so to save one.

Berandor

I let the dice fall where they may. Now sometimes I roll the dice knowing that I am ignoring the roll (e.g., rolling for players searching for traps when there are none there, but I need to make them think that there could be.)

But I find it totally and completely pointless to put something in your game and go back on it when you decide that you don't really want to inflict that fate on the PCs in the first place. My general rule of thumb is not to put anything in an adventure unless I am willing to accept any possible outcome from it. As someone once said:

Don't roll a dice unless you are willing to pay the price.

Oh, like I am going to say.

There is a secret oath every DM takes...

Keep the players guessing!

I never fudge the dice. Not only that, I roll outside the screen for any roll that would be evident (such as hits, damage, and saves) as soon as it resolves. This means that when a PC dies, the player doesn't feel as if I "let" the character die, or "made" him die.

I find the "the dice are the master" thing a bit insulting. If you're going to fudge, then why bother having dice at all? I've played Amber Diceless Roleplaying, it's a great game, but it suffers if the GM can't be VERY detached and free of favoritism. I don't plot out my dungeons by rolling, I don't roll randomly to figure out what each NPC's class is, I don't give them random personalities, I don't roll on a toothsome wench chart when the PC's roll into a bar. The dice don't rule my game, and I resent the implication that anyone who doesn't fudge is a slave to the dice.

Is this a post to check our honesty?

Every once in a while the number on the die is too blury to read and I must make my best guess. If you call that fudging, then I guess I am guilty. One must keep the game going. I find I do it more at earlier levels where small effects can have massive results.