D&D General If they thought they could get away with it...

[Thomas Shey]

Its going to be hard to define an objective version of "exploit" but I'm pretty comfortable saying that uses and interactions of abilities that appear notably beyond what seems to have been intended, that make other abilities superfluous, or render some classes or operating procedures unattractive without being apparently intended for such are exploits. In a few cases this may something as simple as "using the ability at all without bringing it to the attention of the GM and group the implications." (Of course, sometimes this can be done by accident; I remember my wife starting to casually take a particular Feat in a Mutants and Masterminds 2e game where the implication of what it would mean for her Duplicating Super-Charisma character did not jump out at her).

 

[Blue]

Rate the accuracy of the following statement for games you have participated in (whether as player or DM/GM/etc.):

"If the players thought they could get away with it, they would cheat and/or exploit the rules."

Should you have participated in many games, consider it a sort of average across all the games you've played/run: in general, which rating would describe the groups you'd been in?

If you simply cannot choose just one answer, I've allowed up to 3, for example if you find that the answer is totally game and/or group dependent (e.g. players are more willing to do these things in D&D but less willing to do them in 13th Age, or whatever.)

Sorry, I had to pick the "I'm too Extra" option.

Right now, I play and run private games. We've all known each other for 5-30+ years regardless of the group. No one is going to cheat. And the only exploiting I've seen is knowing the style of the various DMs and playing towards is. For example, one DM will have a bundle of action for the day with no options for short rests - it feels it doesn't fit the pacing most of the time. So people don't often player Warlocks or other short-rest focused characters. But really, is that even an exploit?

We had one person who pushed harder, but was also a great roleplayer and a good guy. Some other issue came up and he no longer plays with us, but I could see him getting into exploit territory just to see how far he could push it.

I've played in both paid D&D clubs and at FLGS. There I would often see the style of gamer who wants to push as far as they can go. I prefer a certain level of system mastery, but things like coffeelocks were exploitative. And yes, some people who cheated.

I've played and run at conventions. Never AL or anything you brought your own character. Exploits are harder to pull off but cheating happened. I would avoid those players if I could.

Going further back, in ye olde times of AD&D 2nd I played with a good friend who would regularly cheat, would read the module to see what's coming up and where treasure was hidden, and the like. We talked to him, but kept playing with him. He was a friend, and he was very entertaining as well as one of the best roleplayers I've met. So there's times we'd put up with it.

 

[pemerton]

the only exploiting I've seen is knowing the style of the various DMs and playing towards is. For example, one DM will have a bundle of action for the day with no options for short rests - it feels it doesn't fit the pacing most of the time. So people don't often player Warlocks or other short-rest focused characters. But really, is that even an exploit?

Doesn't seem like it to me - it's just everyone getting on the same page in terms of what sort of game to play together.

 

[gnarlygninja]

I think every group I've ever been a part of has had at least one player who would definitely exploit things, some of them because the concept of sportsmanship was completely foreign to them and some of them because they enjoyed pulling something over on the DM. There have been a couple players who cheated, although most of the time it's been because they didn't actually care to learn the rules so they just made things up to get their desired result.

 

[CleverNickName]

most of the time it's been because they didn't actually care to learn the rules so they just made things up to get their desired result.

I prefer this type of player to the ones who memorize the rules and then start citing them like scripture. In a perfect world, players would just describe what their characters are doing, and then I'd tell them what to roll (if a roll is even necessary).

 

[Pedantic]

I'm not really sold on the concept of "exploiting" the rules. That points to a design problem, not a play problem. I like rules, if anything, I would prefer my players knew them better and used them more regularly.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've played with players who would bold facedly cheat unless constantly monitored (generally this would be the player sitting next to them).

I've played with players who would happily exploit the rules, but who (to the best of my knowledge) would never cheat.

And I've played with plenty of players who (again, to the best of my knowledge) had no desire to do either.

It really depends upon the player, and even sometimes the player's circumstances. I've known players who (from my pov) exploited the rules when they were younger, but gave it up as they matured.

This is exactly my experience. There is no "general" case for me - because there's all kinds.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I prefer this type of player to the ones who memorize the rules and then start citing them like scripture. In a perfect world, players would just describe what their characters are doing, and then I'd tell them what to roll (if a roll is even necessary).

I should note that only works for some of us if we and the GM are very, very much on the same page. Far more than is routinely the case.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not really sold on the concept of "exploiting" the rules. That points to a design problem, not a play problem. I like rules, if anything, I would prefer my players knew them better and used them more regularly.

I'd say they're both. Yes, under ideal circumstances there should be no exploits present, but that can be not the case for any number of reasons (including in some cases because its functionally impossible for multiple-pieces-snap-together systems such as are used in many superhero games), but that's not an excuse for someone to harm other people's enjoyment when he spots it (as I noted, its a different story when they simply don't realize it).

 

[R_J_K75]

I chose "Definitely would not cheat, but might exploit".

I dont play in game stores anymore, and even then there was only one person I remember cheating. I only play with friends now so theres no cheating. Theres some attempted exploitation of unclear, incomplete, or missing rules, sometimes its works, sometimes it doesnt.