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<blockquote data-quote="Scott Christian" data-source="post: 8071687" data-attributes="member: 6901101">Almost every GM I have ever seen does this to a degree. But they really go for the cinematic more than anything else. This becomes as large of a problem as &quot;the killer GM.&quot; Botched rolls, reducing the opponent's hit points, suddenly having the super smart villain do something not too bright, watching a truly evil creature have the ability to squash all the death saves on a character and not doing it. We've all seen it. In the end, there is a balance. The GM's that can prep with a great combat that is 80/20 (80% chance the players win, 20% chance the opponents win) has done their work diligently. It's not easy to do, but it makes for the most memorable boss encounters for me, as opposed to the creature going strong and then after it drops two characters, suddenly someone gets a killing blow. But that is the game. Choose consistent cinematic and the players begin to understand they are not going to die unless it is, well, cinematic. Choose the path of not budging, and you are going to have dead characters... a lot of dead characters, and sometimes for silly reasons. Choose to make a bunch of fights 95/5, and then the boss fight 80/20, you will have to do a lot of work as GM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scott Christian, post: 8071687, member: 6901101"] Almost every GM I have ever seen does this to a degree. But they really go for the cinematic more than anything else. This becomes as large of a problem as "the killer GM." Botched rolls, reducing the opponent's hit points, suddenly having the super smart villain do something not too bright, watching a truly evil creature have the ability to squash all the death saves on a character and not doing it. We've all seen it. In the end, there is a balance. The GM's that can prep with a great combat that is 80/20 (80% chance the players win, 20% chance the opponents win) has done their work diligently. It's not easy to do, but it makes for the most memorable boss encounters for me, as opposed to the creature going strong and then after it drops two characters, suddenly someone gets a killing blow. But that is the game. Choose consistent cinematic and the players begin to understand they are not going to die unless it is, well, cinematic. Choose the path of not budging, and you are going to have dead characters... a lot of dead characters, and sometimes for silly reasons. Choose to make a bunch of fights 95/5, and then the boss fight 80/20, you will have to do a lot of work as GM. [/QUOTE]

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