A Leap over Boiling Lava onto a Flying Wyvern

In this case I don't believe it is the degrees of success or failure that is drawing fire. It's more a case of the degrees of failure only being brought up after the attempt failed.
There's nothing inherently wrong with that either. In this case the DM told the player what he needed to roll to succeed on what he was trying to do - that doesn't, by itself, rule out follow-up rolls.

There's nothing that says the DM has to present the specific mechanics, in detail, of things to the players before they attempt an action. Most of the protests in the thread seem to be of a slippery slope variety - if you always do this, bad things will happen. Or questioning what the DM would have done, had another result been rolled, which we can't know because it didn't happen.

It sounded more like a " I like your spark" mulligan than a logical ruling in presentation.
Quite possible. But that, by itself, is not necessarily bad. Some might see it as just another tool in the DM's toolkit.
 

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I suspect it was thought of only after the attempt failed by 1. Whether or not the GM thought of the same rules I did (regarding near failures on some skills), only he could say. But it's what I would have thought of.
It is quite possible. IMO a DM making a quick ruling to enhance player enjoyment (which it apparently did) is superior to letting things fall as they may. It's a balance unique to each group, and up to the DM to apply judiciously.
 

I was GMing for some friends--some of their first roleplaying games ever. One of them, I even had to explain the concept of roleplaying.

I was running the adventure at the back of the DMG, as an intro game, and in the first room, the party is separated from the kobolds by a pit of sludge in the middle. Falling into the pit yields some nasty problems, so everyone had to spend a round going around it.

Except, not this one girl. She--with a -2 Athletics skill--decides she wants to charge the kobolds, jumping over the pit of sludge. Since she was new to the game, I explained to her the rules for jumping. She'd have to have a pretty good roll on the d20, the odds were against her, and the sludge didn't look good. She wanted to go for it anyways. Tension mounted as she found her d20 and rolled... and made it clear across the pit.

For showing such huge cajones, I let her use a power at the end of the charge, too, instead of a basic attack. She also used an action point and an encounter power in a really awesome turn.

This was her first time playing 4e, her first real D&D game, her first real roleplaying game, and the very first encounter of her very first adventure. More than it being an awesome moment, it set the mood for the rest of the game, and for a party of players new to the game.

Needless to say, it was an awesome game.
 

There's nothing inherently wrong with that either. In this case the DM told the player what he needed to roll to succeed on what he was trying to do - that doesn't, by itself, rule out follow-up rolls.
No, it doesn't, but as I said in my first post to this thread, it sticks a fork in whatever drama and excitement was generated by the initial roll.
There's nothing that says the DM has to present the specific mechanics, in detail, of things to the players before they attempt an action.
No, there isn't, and if you want to play the game of, "I just make up whatever :):):):) I think is cool whenever I feel like it," that's probably the strategy you want to use.

Some other gamers like to have a sense of how the world works, to make informed choices on behalf of their characters, so that doesn't work so well for them.

And some players are fine with epic failure - and by epic failure, I mean failing narrowly at an important task - and don't want you messing up those moments for them by inserting yourself into the fate of their characters.
Some might see it as just another tool in the DM's toolkit.
And some might say, "Quit messing around with your tool and play the damn game already."
 

Except, not this one girl. She--with a -2 Athletics skill--decides she wants to charge the kobolds, jumping over the pit of sludge. Since she was new to the game, I explained to her the rules for jumping. She'd have to have a pretty good roll on the d20, the odds were against her, and the sludge didn't look good. She wanted to go for it anyways. Tension mounted as she found her d20 and rolled... and made it clear across the pit.

For showing such huge cajones, I let her use a power at the end of the charge, too, instead of a basic attack. She also used an action point and an encounter power in a really awesome turn.

See- I like stories like that.

You risk much against tall odds and still succeed? That is classic heroism.

You look at the stories of Jeanne D'Arc's early career- when people thought she was just a jumped-up peasant girl and nothing more- and she was doing stuff like that. She'd charge when others retreated. She stood her ground when lightly armed and wounded while others resolve was shaken.

And, IMHO, rewarding her for taking that kind of classic action by letting her get the unusual benefit of full use of her powers? That will only encourage role-play and lead to a fairly cinematic game.
 


Quite possible. But that, by itself, is not necessarily bad. Some might see it as just another tool in the DM's toolkit.

If I were a player in that game I would not disagree with the DM's ruling, but I would certainly want my 5 bucks back. People paid good money to see if the dude had the stones to roll a do or die attempt at those odds. :p
 

No, it doesn't, but as I said in my first post to this thread, it sticks a fork in whatever drama and excitement was generated by the initial roll.
The OP was a player involved in the session, and he enjoyed the experience greatly. This illustrates DMing to the tastes of the group. So this group specifically enjoyed the experience, as far as we know.
 


It's great how a thread about anecdotes of great moments in gaming turns into an argument over the philosophy behind the dice rolls.
Okay, Rechan, I'll throw one in just for you.

Traveller game, District 268, Spinward Marches. Free trader, captained by my character, with a hold full of gems and computer parts - very high value, sucked up literally all of our spec capital. If anything happens to this cargo, we're ruined.

We emerge from jump space and are hailed by what appears to be a patrol cruiser of the planetary navy - at least that's how they're announcing themselves as they direct us to permit them to board for inspection. My character, Captain Hauser, tries to put them off: we have a possible contaminant on board, can you inspect us in port instead?

No dice.

At this time our ship was equipped with two triple turrets, one all of sandcasters, one with a pair of beam lasers and a missle launcher. A Type T patrol cruiser has four triple turrets. It also has triple our acceleration. We've just come out of jump space, so we don't have the fuel to escape by jumping away. We're thoroughly outgunned and we can't run away; moreover an El-Kay usually carries a dozen or so additional personnel so we're likely outmanned as well.

If this goes south, it goes south fast and in a blaze of light and heat.

Our gunners take up position in their turrets, and I load the gunnery programs, which with our little Model/1 computer means the maneuver drive is now shut down; we're committed to whatever happens. The crew vacc suits up, seals the passengers in rescue bubbles, and the engineer depressurizes the ship. The ship's medic, the only crewmember not otherwise engaged, grabs his med kit, some suit patches, and a pair of snub guns and prepares to repel boarders at the airlock.

I make a Navigation skill check for Captain Hauser, to plot the cruiser's course; instead of matching vectors opposite our airlock, the cruiser is coming in behind us, opposite our engine space.

It looks like they're going for our drives or our power plant.

"Routine inspection" my Solomani arse.

I instruct the top turret gunner, with the twin lasers and the missle launcher, to fire. She rolls the dice: a hit with one laser and a missle on the way.

She rolls a twelve for hit location: critical hit! A collective gasp from the players. Let it be their computer, I think, as she rolls for effect.

A single die clatters onto the table: six.

Explode.

A 1-in-216 shot. A Sword Worlder privateer reduced to a debris cloud.

And we cashed in on our cargo.
 

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