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Can the GM cheat?
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<blockquote data-quote="Oryan77" data-source="post: 6120232" data-attributes="member: 18701"><p>I don't make a big deal about rolling in the open or hiding behind a screen. Either way is perfectly fine to me and both have their pros/cons. I'm just not a fan of rolling in the open simply because I don't trust myself to always be accurate in my encounter designs. Rolling behind a screen gives me the ability to balance the game if I need to. I'm not perfect, so I don't want the players to suffer because of my mistake. That seems unfair to me.</p><p></p><p>I roll secretly for the same reason people roll in the open; to eliminate any need for arguments and to cut down on players complaining about fairness. Rolling behind a screen does not mean I'm catering to the PCs or taking advantage of them. It just means I have the option to keep an encounter balanced the way I want it to be balanced. Players are not immune to death just because I hide behind a screen. I've also seen plenty of crappy DMs that build overpowered NPCs, broken NPCs, don't understand the Challenge Rating system, misuse spells, or unfairly cheat (make up abilities/spells/items), and then think they are being more fair because they are rolling in the open. They are oblivious to their imperfections and think rolling openly means everything is legit.</p><p></p><p>The way you fudge your die rolls also depends on the type of players you have and the DMs ability running encounters. If a DM thinks he can just fudge die rolls willy-nilly, then he is mistaken. I think that is what a lot of "open-die-rolling" DMs think we're doing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oryan77, post: 6120232, member: 18701"] I don't make a big deal about rolling in the open or hiding behind a screen. Either way is perfectly fine to me and both have their pros/cons. I'm just not a fan of rolling in the open simply because I don't trust myself to always be accurate in my encounter designs. Rolling behind a screen gives me the ability to balance the game if I need to. I'm not perfect, so I don't want the players to suffer because of my mistake. That seems unfair to me. I roll secretly for the same reason people roll in the open; to eliminate any need for arguments and to cut down on players complaining about fairness. Rolling behind a screen does not mean I'm catering to the PCs or taking advantage of them. It just means I have the option to keep an encounter balanced the way I want it to be balanced. Players are not immune to death just because I hide behind a screen. I've also seen plenty of crappy DMs that build overpowered NPCs, broken NPCs, don't understand the Challenge Rating system, misuse spells, or unfairly cheat (make up abilities/spells/items), and then think they are being more fair because they are rolling in the open. They are oblivious to their imperfections and think rolling openly means everything is legit. The way you fudge your die rolls also depends on the type of players you have and the DMs ability running encounters. If a DM thinks he can just fudge die rolls willy-nilly, then he is mistaken. I think that is what a lot of "open-die-rolling" DMs think we're doing. [/QUOTE]
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