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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 644523" data-attributes="member: 63">I cheat all the time as DM.  Okay, let me rephrase that.  I don't prepare stats for badguys, except when I want to remember something specific or if I want to make a fight particularly tough and memorable.  Usually, the PCs wail on the bad guy until the bad guy gets a chance to use his cool nifty trick (most good bad guys have one, like polymorphing into a dire bear and crushing the life out of a PC [I don't kill them, just knock 'em unconscious], dispel magicking flying PCs who are chasing after him [my fly spells don't featherfall if dispelled, and so the one Dragon they fought almost never got touched], or opening a gate to the Abyss to let in demons).Of course, then the PCs do something cool (the half-dragon kobold orders the rest of the party to back off while he repeatedly strafes the dire bear with his breath weapon, just out of claw range, or the water mage summons a celestial orca in mid-air over the Dragon to knock it to the ground, or the party priest remembers the vision he'd had and realizes that if he apologizes to the demon, it will be powerless).That's the way I like to run things.  Coolness from the bad guys, followed by coolness from the good guys, who thus manage to save the day.  Dice just get in the way of good storytelling, so I never give solid answers in statistical terms.  The PCs roll their attack roll and damage rolls at the same time, and I tell them in narrative form what happens.  It gives me more flexibility, and it convinces them they're still playing a game, rather than taking part in collaborative theater.</blockquote>

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