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There's no illusion of danger in my games. I straight up tell my players what the consequences of my next roll could be, and then roll it right in front of them, out in the open. For example: At one point in my campaign, an undead pirate helt a blade to the throat of a poor bar maiden, and...

For me this would be unacceptable. Buffing your AC does not mean you can't be hit. It just reduces your chance to get hit. A monster scoring several crits in a row is unfortunate, but it IS the outcome of the dice, which the DM decided to roll. So the player takes a lot of damage... so what...

Escape ship filled with undead!

No need to be so hostile. Not always. Failure can be quite fun.

I once designed a pretty elaborate social encounter for my players. They were at a gathering of nobility to pick the next city regent. They had to talk to everyone to try to sway votes. Each npc had a topic they cared strongly about (such as trade) and a topic they did NOT care for (such as...

And changing AC mid fight is a lot easier to notice than a lot of other things, since the players might know they were missing before. How odd would it be if the same attack now all of a sudden hits?

I wouldn't say I can always tell. But I CAN tell sometimes, and I'm certainly not alone. To all the DM's who think their players don't notice the fudging. Sometimes we do.

I've played with a player in the past who was clearly using loaded dice in D&D. That baffles me honestly. Why would someone do that? Seems to me that if you always succeed in combat and with every check, there are no stakes, and you rob yourself of a lot of fun.

Oh no, I roll with a dice cup. I make it a habit to shake it vigorously before each roll, so everyone at the table can see my rolls are legit. During the same session, one of our other players kept rolling several 1's, and never higher than a 3. Bad luck streaks and good luck streaks do happen...

Then surely I've now spent all of my luck, and I will never ever win a lottery. But it most definitely happened. It was surreal. The rest of the party was on the ropes, and my barbarian kept going and going, crit after crit. Such a luck streak could make short work of any well prepared boss...

Would you do the same if the reverse happened, and a player had an abnormal amount of luck? For example, a few sessions ago I rolled a 20 around 6 times in a row, each one a confirmed crit. Absurdly lucky, but it can happen. What do you do?

I know that as a player, I can often tell when a DM is fudging, and it severely undermines the stakes for me. We all know the signs: The DM starts asking how many hitpoints you have left, and then as he rolls deliberately behind the screen, I can see him pondering the result and staring down...

I have played adventures with players who have played the same adventure before. All I asked of them, is that they don't spoil any surprises for the other players, and to not assume everything will play out exactly as before. But, I also encouraged them to seek out other parts of the story that...

I think the players are free to do as they like. They probably didn't trust the fruit before the saving throw. They'll definitely not trust it after it. I see no issue with players acting on their gaming knowledge. It is more of a problem when players feel like they need to play into an obvious...

It ends with a level up screen. "You are now level 2!"

I think another way to look at it is: If you don't want dice to have swingy outcomes, then why resolve it with dice, or use crits? There are other ways to resolve game situations. It can happen that your players roll really well. And it can turn what was intended as a challenging encounter...

I don't think this matters to the core question: Are you resolving an uncertain outcome with dice? If you are, then yes, a critical hit or miss should be on the table. As are high or low damage rolls. If not, then those things are automatically off the table as well. Just decide up front if...

In my view, there are only two ways to treat your dice rolls: -The outcome is uncertain, and should be determined by a roll of the dice. This is usually how I would treat most attacks and damage rolls in combat, and some ability checks. Once you decide to roll dice, I feel you should also...

^ This. Alternatively, what you can also do for a hard encounter, is to include opportunities in the design of the encounter, that allow the players to turn the odds in their favor. Such as: -Options to take cover. -Environmental hazards that can be used against the enemy. -Locations where...

Since I have started rolling out in the open, and have embraced Iserith's philosophy, the quality of my games has improved dramatically. Players get to share in the thrill of combat by seeing me roll well for their opponents, or be entertained by how poorly I can roll as well. Having all of...