Since you've given me no real game issue that fudging HP or dice rolls is supposed to solve that a lighter touch couldn't otherwise handle in a more open, transparent, and honest fashion, I'd say it's actually your stance that's a strawman. If breaking the rules for combat and HP alteration serves a good purpose that other rules or rulings can't solve, the onus is then on you to prove that changing HP to some arbitrary value at any time is reasonable for a DM to do.
Some people obviously feel strongly about it. Even the DMG passage that is used to rationalize fudging is vague on when it should be done, with strong urgings to avoid doing it very often regardless. Why would they say that? Because it creates problems at the table, it breaks trust, it breaks suspension of disbelief. DM fiat is not exactly an uncontentious issue, even in an edition about "rulings not rules". Making a ruling to change HP by +10 or turn that crit into a miss is not really called for. Players or monsters dying at the whim of the dice is actually a feature of the game, one of its cornerstones.
If you want less monsters to track then put in a tougher monster. If you want the monster to last longer, give it some armor or bracers of defense or a level of fighter or barbarian. Why do you need to micromanage HP? That just negates the dice and combat resolution from actually mattering when it counts. If you're using a given monster's HP as a pacing mechanic for combat, might I suggest reading some other passages of the DMG that have much better advice than "some DMs fudge dice rolls, sometimes, but we don't recommend doing it often". There are tons of tools in the DM's toolbox, this is like using an eraser on the action that led up to that point. If you're dictating how many rounds a monster has to live, and preventing untimely PC death, why bother using dice? It's just an illusion.
Adjusting up or down is not the point. If you want monsters to have less HP, just use dice rolling or set them to have been injured prior to this combat. The difference might seem semantic but it really isn't. When you assign or roll HP then you stick to it, it cements the history of that monster as having some kind of reality in the story. If you alter it on a whim, in either direction, instead of tossing in more monsters or having that monster use some kind of actual healing ability it may or may not have at its disposal, then you're negating player choices in their abilities. The fighter who takes great weapon master for that extra +10 damage should actually kill monsters faster. Not the DM saying "it dies". If you want to end the combat, you can simply say "fast forward : combat ends, you guys won". It's as simple as that.
No need to fudge HP, ever.
What mood do you think is generated when players know their DM fudges dice rolls in their favor when they're about to die, or auto-heals monsters when they get the drop on them and can retire them early? One of DM authority gone wild, in my experience. Once players figure this out, they will start playing recklessly.
There are much better, open, descriptive ways to alter the mood of your game than fudging HP or attacks.
Ahh, ok. I don't approve of cheating, and nor do many others. I also don't approve of people cheating and then calling it not cheating. That I will always call people out on. I can't abide intellectual dishonesty. Go ahead and read the dictionary again, fudging means cheating. Altering HP or attack outcomes on the fly is referred to as fudging in the DMG and by people here. Therefore, changing HP is cheating.
And just because there is a passage in the DMG saying you can cheat, does not make it either "not cheating" or okay with everyone.
I have no doubt that lots of people derive great enjoyment from cheating when they play games. But I do think cheating is wrong. And so does the majority of the human species, I believe. (or so they say)
I don't really care why people do it, I've played the game just as long as anyone here has and have seen it all, and heard all the rationalizations. The game runs fine without fudging HP, and you can alter mood and pacing in much better ways if that's truly your goal or motivation.
Are you saying being against cheating equates me to a senile old man talking to a chair?
The difference between fudging dice rolls and HP is minor compared to running the combat resolution system without the invisible hand of god behind every outcome.
You are of course free to cheat at your table, just don't pretend that fudging isn't cheating, because it is. According to the dictionary.
My argument is founded in fair play and twenty five years experience playing this game. I fudged a few times, so I know how easy the temptation is, but I think it's lazy and a poor man's pacing technique. Worse, if it's used to make players have plot immunity or certain monsters have plot immunity, then yes, I do think that goes against the spirit of the game and there are plenty of people who agree with me and think the way I do.
Including the DMG, that explicitly warned people not to let players know they are fudging things behind the screen. Why even say that if it's not a problem? I didn't invent this problem, this problem exists and has for a very long time, since the beginning probably. There are better ways to handle pacing, and if a PC dies suddenly, you can always have a priest resurrect them at the church for a fee and send the party for a quest.
Fudging HP is a solution in search of a problem. And it's a bad solution at that, because it inherently causes problems. Namely trust issues. Lots of players find fudging dishonest. Many tables roll out in the open for this exact reason. If the current HP are altered, that violates trust that rolling in the open is supposed to provide. Making is even more dishonest.
I actually like the core D&D rules for 5th edition, and I don't think it's a big deal if a PC or a BBEG dies one round sooner or later. If you're circumventing the rules for HP alteration by adding or substacting from the current total, you're just saying you have no confidence in the combat system or game system or the dice from providing a compelling game experience.
And if you only alter HP when it would make the difference between life and death, that's the same thing as invalidating the entire combat, because killing stuff or dying is usually how you win or lose. If you're forcing a win condition or a lose condition on the outcome, then rolling dice is pointless.
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