Do you, as DM, fudge die rolls?

[mzsylver]

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.

hehe. reminds me of when one of my friends was running a Tournie and rolling in the open. one guy was being a total jerk the whole time (stealing from the party, etc).

at some point in time the jerk had all the loot and decided to run away from the party & the enemies. the jerk was like "Ha, only if they critted could those AoO kill me!"

Lo and Behold. my friend rolled a 20, then a 20 to confirm. one dead jerk =)

the jerk proceeded to spout "You're the worst dm ever! I cant believe it! You did that on purpose!!!"

my friend, "Yes, I did that on purpose. These dice roll whatever I want them to."

 

[Wolfspider]

I fudge freely and shamelessly. I don't think that it is nonsensical or railroading and don't appreciate people who make such claims without backing up their accusations. Fudging keeps the game from being a slave to randomness and promotes heroism, but, like anything, too much fudge can be a bad thing. It must be used in moderation if it is used at all.

But, seriouisly, if we were all really concerned about making sure the players had fun by "living without a net" or whatever or keeping the game "real," then we would ask all of our players whether THEY want us to fudge or not. That would really give them a choice and put the game more in their hands.

 

[MythandLore]

I used to to avoid a tpa.
But now we all roll dice in front of everyone else.
It makes for wackier games.

 

[reapersaurus]

*sigh*

Unfortunately, reaper, I wasn't asking you. You've rather ruined my chance to get an unsullied answer.

Why is this datum interesting or meaningful, or is it meaningful or interesting at all?

Well boo hoo.

You've been riding on my tail for over a month now, pouncing right after i posted, skewing or "sullying" posts that might have come instead, so I thought I'd do what you do back at you, while at the same time standing up for the original poster's question, which IS appropriate, considering how many times it has been mentioned recently.

And I wasn't aware that the people who poll had to collect their "datum" and report their findings to some committee.

 

[DMaple]

I think if you find you need to fudge the dice more often than not then they game mechanics are broken.

Since 3rd Edition I have never fudged dice rolls but I have fudged hit points on a main NPC once, as it wouldn't have been at all dramatic for him to fall before he got a single action.

So far I've had one player die and that I think was more because to the poor allocation of CR in S&S's Creature Collection, than bad game balance. Even boosted by the CCII the Gorgon, Low is pretty over-powered for its level, IMHO. Lead to one dead Druid. Still he died fighting Titanspawn so its the way he would have wanted to go.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

once upon a time i used to DM a lot, I would fudge rolls for the sake of the story, but I got caught. the ensuing mess results in my answer to "will you dm", being not!

 

[Al]

*sigh*

Unfortunately, reaper, I wasn't asking you. You've rather ruined my chance to get an unsullied answer.

And, the fact that it is "logical" does not actually answer the question.

It is, after all, an honest question - why do any of us care what percentage of board members who choose to respond fudge their die rolls? Why is this datum interesting or meaningful, or is it meaningful or interesting at all?

Well pardon me for posting.

But seriously, if no one cared about this thread then why does it have 25 replies, 79 votes and 374 views at time of posting? Surely there is some interest.

As to why I posted in the first place, partially curiosity and partially because my gaming group thinks that any good DM should go for the second option. So it's really gauging what most DMs actually do.

 

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

I have a question as a player. I understand the idea of fudgeing for story perposes but what if you end up killing a player. Now you were just trying to drive your story (which I understand and support, I'm all for fun and a good story) but what if this results in pc death?

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

I roll in the open. My PCs know the AC right after they rolled their first attack, they know the DC of a save as they make it and usually know a skill DC before they make it.

Often they know the exact amount of HP a creature has. They always know the attack value of my monsters after they attacked once.

After the first round, when either my dice or those of the player hit the floor, everyone knows what numbers will spell success and which will indicate failure. It's as if we were in vegas and were betting on the lives of our PCs and NPCs! And that makes combat very exciting.