D&D General "As a Player, I Alert the DM When I Notice Them Make a Mistake in the PCs Favor" (a poll)

[payn]

I always welcome when my mistakes are caught at the table. There is a difference between someone trying to help and someone trying to rules lawyer.



When I'm a player, I will speak up if the mistake is in favor of my character, but I am less likely to do so when it's someone else's, unless it's really egregious. I'm generally a forever DM, so I don't want to come across as a backseat DM when I do get to play.

Sure, the level of egregiousness matters. If a player gets a 75GP discount on their armor that's not a big concern for me as player or GM. If they are getting a combat bonus in 50% or greater of encounters, that's more of a concern.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, I think it's important to remember that not everyone DMs the same way, but also to speak up when something is just plain wrong in a way that makes the game less fun.

Sure, the level of egregiousness matters. If a player gets a 75GP discount on their armor that's not a big concern for me as player or GM. If they are getting a combat bonus in 50% or greater of encounters, that's more of a concern.

 

[James Gasik]

Of course, I usually get yelled at for offering my two cents on a DM's house rules. But I make the effort anyways!

Like in a desert survival game, the DM had us acquire "resources" that would be depleted as we traveled across the desert, such as food, water, shelter, what have you. Knowing full well that there were spells that could obviate this fact, he just gave you bonus resources for unspent spell slots whenever you took a long rest (but to take a long rest required a cost of resources).

Immediately, I noticed something he didn't take into account- on days where there were no encounters, spellcasters would have their full allotment of spells. I tried to point this out, but the DM just said "damn it, James, can we just playtest this without you poking holes in everything?"

Ok, sure thing. I just quietly marked down how many resources I generated each traveling day, and where they came from (Survival checks, unspent spell slots, etc.).

When we got to our destination, he said we could sell off unused resources for gold. I made the adjustments, and started my spending spree at the local bazaar.

"Wait, where did you get all this money? You didn't find that much treasure!"

I gave him my notes and watched his face pale, then turn red. "Why didn't you tell me this was going to happen?!"

"I tried, and you told me to shut up!"

 

[Nebulous]

I'm very glad when players step in and support rules, especially when they realize they can't do something they'd planned on, and I'm too busy on the DM side to even notice their mistake.

 

[MichaelSomething]

In my group we all do this. Then the other players all make fun of the person who pointed out the mistake for being like the kid in school who would say "teacher, you forgot to assign us any homework today."

Don't look at a gift horse in the mouth...

 

[iserith]

In my group, when someone corrects the DM to the detriment of the players, we all say "Teacher, Teacher! You forgot to give us homework!" Just one of those table traditions.

 

[DND_Reborn]

When I am a player, I alert the DM if they make a "mistake", whether it is in my PC's favor or not.

Now, I say "mistake" that way because I also am certain to ask if the DM is simply running the game differently that I have seen or known prior. Sometimes it isn't a "mistake" so much as just their way of running things, which is totally cool, I just like to be aware of it when that's the case.

 

[Larnievc]

Again, what I think is a simple premise -

True or False: "As a Player, I Alert the DM When I Notice Them Make a Mistake in the PCs Favor"

DMs have a lot to remember, and sometimes this plays out in them forgetting something that makes things harder for the PCs and you notice it - maybe the monster is resistant to the damage just dealt to it or it should have had advantage on an attack or saving throw but the DM only rolled once in their hurry to move things along, etc. . ..

As a DM I often rely on one of my player’s knowledge of the rules to help me out.

As the great actor once said “I was elected to lead, not elected to read”.

 

[nevin]

nope. having DM'd I know what a pain it is to stop the game and rework everything because of rule's lawyers trying to keep everyone in a state of perfection. When I run a game if I miss something and it works out in the players favor I just roll with it. Baddies should make mistakes just like players do. And when I'm playing same thing. I don't want some rules lawyers stopping the game to correct some minor thing, I just want the game to keep moving.

 

[Mull Ponders]

Missing concentration checks, that comes up all the time. I do call myself and other players on it.