D&D 5E Was I in the wrong?
- Thread starter randrak
- Start date
Keep in mind that, as mentioned earlier in the thread by someone who had a different opinion than I do, that the person on the phone and the person selling the gear were two different people.
Why even mention the two different things if they are not related in some way? This was a major tactical error by the original poster if he is wanting sympathy or agreement.
The importance of a player on the phone was important enough that the DM felt that he had to mention it in a scenario that otherwise doesn't really have much to do with it. It's also important to note that this is one side of the scenario. We can only derive our opinions off of what the DM tells us. It is natural that he is going to state things in a manner that agrees with his point of view. If the players wrote about the same scenario, they might have said something that changes the overwhelming opinion of the posters here to something in their favor.
Why even mention the two different things if they are not related in some way? This was a major tactical error by the original poster if he is wanting sympathy or agreement.
The importance of a player on the phone was important enough that the DM felt that he had to mention it in a scenario that otherwise doesn't really have much to do with it. It's also important to note that this is one side of the scenario. We can only derive our opinions off of what the DM tells us. It is natural that he is going to state things in a manner that agrees with his point of view. If the players wrote about the same scenario, they might have said something that changes the overwhelming opinion of the posters here to something in their favor.
FrogReaver
The most respectful and polite poster ever
The kind that is planning on taking it to the magic shop to be inspected?
Not all parties have someone who is capable of casting detect magic. Their choice to go check out the gauntlets and ring (too late apparently in this scenario) indicates that they are going to use the services of someone who can determine its value for them.
L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Yeah, and how well did that work out for them?
If you can not do it your self then there is a great saying "Trust but verify"
Either way I know a certain Blacksmith who is due for a ganking by a vengeful party.
The bottom line for me is that while I think that the DM was punishing players for activities that they did as actual humans by enforcing the punishment on their characters, what is done is done. It's going to look foolish for the DM to go back and say they didn't sell the items after all and it ruins the story.
What needs to be done now:
-DM discusses with players that he is not going to tolerate people screwing around on their phones during D&D time (unless the phone is used for D&D purposes...my group uses smart phones all the time for actual D&D stuff, including character sheets for one player)
-Players know the value of the items they lost
-A sidequest of some sort is created to get the items back in a reasonable manner
-Time moves on, players and DM heal.
-DM has to be more specific and make sure the players are getting the full picture of things. What may seem as something obvious to the DM is not always obvious to the players. The DM already knows the value of the items, so a little description of them is more than enough to justify their significance to him. To the players, that same description may be nothing more than just weak story embellishment.
The DM in this case has to be care of these scenarios and how it affects his players longterm. From now on, he has already changed their play style. Every piece of loot they find, mundane or magical, is going to be closely inspected. Sessions that might have once been fluid now have the possibility of bogging down in the city as the players carefully inspect each item, one by one and having multiple confirmation, before they make any judgement as to its value. They are going to question every single NPC's motives to a degree that might slow the campaign down to a point where it is no longer about adventure and is instead just administrative.
What needs to be done now:
-DM discusses with players that he is not going to tolerate people screwing around on their phones during D&D time (unless the phone is used for D&D purposes...my group uses smart phones all the time for actual D&D stuff, including character sheets for one player)
-Players know the value of the items they lost
-A sidequest of some sort is created to get the items back in a reasonable manner
-Time moves on, players and DM heal.
-DM has to be more specific and make sure the players are getting the full picture of things. What may seem as something obvious to the DM is not always obvious to the players. The DM already knows the value of the items, so a little description of them is more than enough to justify their significance to him. To the players, that same description may be nothing more than just weak story embellishment.
The DM in this case has to be care of these scenarios and how it affects his players longterm. From now on, he has already changed their play style. Every piece of loot they find, mundane or magical, is going to be closely inspected. Sessions that might have once been fluid now have the possibility of bogging down in the city as the players carefully inspect each item, one by one and having multiple confirmation, before they make any judgement as to its value. They are going to question every single NPC's motives to a degree that might slow the campaign down to a point where it is no longer about adventure and is instead just administrative.
Exactly. That's actually what I've been trying to get at , but poorly.
How do you want them to respond?
Player talks to NPC one, asks them to appraise item.
NPC: It's worth this much.
Player: I don't believe this guy.
Player talks to NPC two, asks them to appraise item.
NPC: It's worth this much.
Player: I don't believe this guy.
That kind of distrust doesn't seem like a fun game to be in to me. I'd rather be out there solving quests and riddles and adventuring than be paranoid about how the DM and his NPC's are trying to trick me over the value of items and how I must now triple check every single thing. The DM in this case, however, is developing players that will be paranoid and the game will be far more about appraising than it should be.
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