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How often do you cheat?
- Thread starter takasi
- Start date
lukelightning
First Post
Doghead Thirteen said:
You're gonna be in a huge quandry when two of the PCs have a duel to the death!
blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
I roll in the open. Mind you, we adopted some Unearthed Arcana variants to reduce lethality.
-blarg
-blarg
I'll cheat if the players are getting an incredibly bad (or sometimes good) run of luck. Basically, if through no fault of their own, they're getting hammered (They keep rollings 1s, I roll three crits in a row), are adjusting their plans to account for that, and are still getting beat up, I'll give them a break. Likewise, if an important enemy is about to get killed in the first round because three players crit on him after he loses initiative, I might fudge a number or two.
However, if the players are in trouble through their own bad decisions, that's their own fault, and its up to the dice to save them. Likewise, if they get the drop on an enemy through really clever planning as well as some luck, that NPC is in trouble... which he should be.
Basically, I'll cheat a bit to compensate for really abnormal rolling, but never, ever for player decisions.
However, if the players are in trouble through their own bad decisions, that's their own fault, and its up to the dice to save them. Likewise, if they get the drop on an enemy through really clever planning as well as some luck, that NPC is in trouble... which he should be.
Basically, I'll cheat a bit to compensate for really abnormal rolling, but never, ever for player decisions.
Jolly Giant
First Post
Never.
WhatGravitas
Explorer
Fudging? Rarely. In combat? Never by fudging rolls, sometimes by "oops, forgot to cross that potion/spell/whatever away", but only if the PCs are already winning - just to prolong combat a bit.
Outside of combat? Not per se, but rather by making most social rolls hidden, just telling the PCs individually what they achieve/believe/and so on, so they cannot know if they're right or wrong (however, the ranks are usually a dead give-away), since they don't know the exact roll. And yeah, then - albeit once in a while, I think out of the last 10 sessions I DM'd I've done it just once.
Outside of combat? Not per se, but rather by making most social rolls hidden, just telling the PCs individually what they achieve/believe/and so on, so they cannot know if they're right or wrong (however, the ranks are usually a dead give-away), since they don't know the exact roll. And yeah, then - albeit once in a while, I think out of the last 10 sessions I DM'd I've done it just once.
Arkham
First Post
I roll out in the open, so when a death is coming, everyone sees it.
And the fights where the BBEG gets disintegrated mid-speech, or the BBEG gets turned into a bunny are far more memorable than yet another long drawn out fight where the bad guy finally dies after thirty arrows, 8 spells, and 25 sword and axe blows, only falling because the final 5 damage or so are dealt by the 3rd attack of someone's full attack action.
And the fights where the BBEG gets disintegrated mid-speech, or the BBEG gets turned into a bunny are far more memorable than yet another long drawn out fight where the bad guy finally dies after thirty arrows, 8 spells, and 25 sword and axe blows, only falling because the final 5 damage or so are dealt by the 3rd attack of someone's full attack action.
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