Cheating?
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SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
I don't cheat, but it does remind me of how much a good or bad series of die rolls can affect what you think of your character.
In a recent campaign, my Crusader character didn't roll over a _7_ in combat for three straight sessions. I'm not making that up. I had this picture of a valiant noble warrior and ended up as a clown who could take a real beating. It was extremely tempting to cheat at that point, but the game started to take on a surreal quality, where we were all trying to see when my character would actually hit something and I didn't want to mess with it.
Towards the end of the game (we played up to ~level 7) I started to roll extremely well, and my GM thought that the character might be overpowered. What the whole experience taught me was that assumptions about how probability works only really apply after the fact, and after a lot of die rolls. My character probably ended up statistically normal, but I had a huge cluster of results around the extremes.
If I had been playing a character who was less durable, I'm sure he would have died, and I might have been much more tempted to cheat, but it fortunately didn't work out that way.
--Steve
In a recent campaign, my Crusader character didn't roll over a _7_ in combat for three straight sessions. I'm not making that up. I had this picture of a valiant noble warrior and ended up as a clown who could take a real beating. It was extremely tempting to cheat at that point, but the game started to take on a surreal quality, where we were all trying to see when my character would actually hit something and I didn't want to mess with it.
Towards the end of the game (we played up to ~level 7) I started to roll extremely well, and my GM thought that the character might be overpowered. What the whole experience taught me was that assumptions about how probability works only really apply after the fact, and after a lot of die rolls. My character probably ended up statistically normal, but I had a huge cluster of results around the extremes.
If I had been playing a character who was less durable, I'm sure he would have died, and I might have been much more tempted to cheat, but it fortunately didn't work out that way.
--Steve
roguerouge
First Post
As a DM in a one PC game, I don't cheat. All dice are rolled in front of the player.
As a player, I don't cheat. 3e is complex enough in the rules and in the math that mistakes get made. But that's not cheating. Cheating is: "forgetting penalties, 'rolling' dice, failing to keep track of item/power usage..." I'd add the fast pickup of the die and serial advantageous "misremembering" of the rules to this category.
The worst effect of REPEATED player cheating is that it robs the other players of their moment in the spotlight. They never get the chance to be the unlikely hero. They never get the chance to be the one the party leans on. And it has an especially pernicious effect on players playing utility characters, like the ranger.
Moreover, it drains all heroism from the game when you remove the element of risk. The peaks mean little when there's no valleys and no sacrifice in the climb to the top.
And once a player gets caught after cheating frequently, I can't trust them again at the table. So it slows the game down to a crawl as the other players keep asking for the math. They may be fine people, but they're selfish at the gaming table.
If you can't handle the randomness of the dice, take the Luck domain, some Luck feats, or earn some action points. And if you can't handle failure even with those safety nets, well, go play a video game on God mode or go to therapy. It's not my job to enable your dysfunction.
Serial Player Cheating: It sidelines other players. It dulls the narrative's impact. It slows the game flow. It erodes party trust.
Don't do it. And if you did it last session, your penance should be to deliberately botch 2x the rolls next session at equally important times.
As a player, I don't cheat. 3e is complex enough in the rules and in the math that mistakes get made. But that's not cheating. Cheating is: "forgetting penalties, 'rolling' dice, failing to keep track of item/power usage..." I'd add the fast pickup of the die and serial advantageous "misremembering" of the rules to this category.
The worst effect of REPEATED player cheating is that it robs the other players of their moment in the spotlight. They never get the chance to be the unlikely hero. They never get the chance to be the one the party leans on. And it has an especially pernicious effect on players playing utility characters, like the ranger.
Moreover, it drains all heroism from the game when you remove the element of risk. The peaks mean little when there's no valleys and no sacrifice in the climb to the top.
And once a player gets caught after cheating frequently, I can't trust them again at the table. So it slows the game down to a crawl as the other players keep asking for the math. They may be fine people, but they're selfish at the gaming table.
If you can't handle the randomness of the dice, take the Luck domain, some Luck feats, or earn some action points. And if you can't handle failure even with those safety nets, well, go play a video game on God mode or go to therapy. It's not my job to enable your dysfunction.
Serial Player Cheating: It sidelines other players. It dulls the narrative's impact. It slows the game flow. It erodes party trust.
Don't do it. And if you did it last session, your penance should be to deliberately botch 2x the rolls next session at equally important times.
Ahnehnois
First Post
It's not DM cheating, it's just adding a +20/-20 ad hoc cirumstance modifier... 
Seriously, D&D is like theater: the show must go on. If I (while DMing) see a die roll that does something that hurts the story more than it helps, I have no problem rationalizing around it in one way or another. Somehow, my players have never called me on this type of "cheating".
Seriously, D&D is like theater: the show must go on. If I (while DMing) see a die roll that does something that hurts the story more than it helps, I have no problem rationalizing around it in one way or another. Somehow, my players have never called me on this type of "cheating".
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
Rules are for players.
