DM overruling a Player's play of his character

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Sometimes the DM needs to tell players what their characters do in certain situations. Usually in a situation where an involuntary effect occurs.

For example, if someone falls out of an airplane it's very likely they'll scream or panic. It's great an' all that a player can munch popcorn and say "I remain perfectly calm" but that's just what players want their characters to do so they can get around otherwise negative effects to their character.

If characters would only do what their players want them to, there would be no unfortunate events.

The DM shouldn't run a player's character, but it is perfectly legitimate for the DM to tell a player "This is what your character does, now how do you want to handle it going forward?". if a player refuses to role-play accordingly, just give them a near-impossible save to resist.

 

[KenM]

How about other examples of precedent set by the Player's choice -- is a DM within his "rights" to countermand a Player's choice when it looks like the Player is changing his character to me

Is there ever a situation where a DM could/should overrule a Player's play of his character?

Quasqueton

I did do this once when I was running a GURPS fantasy game. The PC had the overconfedence disadvantage. This makes him thinks he is better then he is accually is. it was the party thief. He was checking out a chest for traps, ect. I make those roles in secret. I tell the player: "you check it out and it looks safe." The player told me he backs away a little from the chest before he opens it. Thats when i told he he does no such thing. He stays where he is. I told the player: "You have overconfedence, you checked out the chest yourself. You KNOW its not trapped." The chest really was clean, but the player did not know that.

 

[Mark CMG]

Say the PCs are in the middle of a battle. A PC gets hit with a fear effect, fails the save, and flees in terror. When the DM asks, do you scream or cry out anything, the Player says, "No." The PC runs away in silence.

Later (maybe much later), the PC is separated from the group for a few minutes. The PC gets hit with a fear effect, fails the save, and flees off somewhere. There's no one around to see the situation, so the Player says the PCs screams in panic (obviously to either warn the others of danger, or to alert them that he is [about to be] lost).

Should the DM forbid/prevent the scream,...(?)

No. Let him do what he wants. There's plenty of reasons why someone might react differently at different times. I think it's even fair to say that the actual reason for the scream the second time is because he was even more scared *because* his friends weren't nearby. In a dangerous world like those of the game, running off alone can be almost certain death and warrants the loudest of all possible screaming...followed, of course, by the rusting of the grieves...and whatnot...

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

No, you're just being a <something Eric's grandma wouldn't like>.

Uh, chill. It was a joke.

It was not two seperate situations. It was a whole gamut of related situations over a period of time, in which the player had his PC act consistently and in character until it became tactically inconvenient to do so.

Reasonable players, when the DM pointed out the past behavior, would say 'Yeah, you're right, he wouldn't do that.' Or he might say 'Yeah, usually, but this is Orcus, I think that's a little more scary' and the DM would say 'Fair enough'.

 

[Blood Jester]

I think screaming when alone (as opposed to not screaming when near his friends) is utterly reasonable.

If he were yelling "A goblin shaman and 3 guards!!! AAAHHHHH!!! Two halls over from you!!!" when 'Feared' I would say it was reasonable to call B.S. and say 'You only yell incoherently.'

 

[Impeesa]

Personally, I think yelling for help when alone (or when your allies aren't looking, i.e. the sneak attack), but not yelling when simply fleeing a group fight isn't metagaming at all. It's just thinking about how a character might actually react to similar stimuli under different circumstances. Maybe that's just me though.

--Impeesa--

 

[Crothian]

Sure, if the player acts purely on meta game knowlkdge or way out of charater, as DM I'll step in. But the situation of the screaming character is not even close to one of them. It isn't even meta gaming.

 

[pogre]

I would let them get away with it - whatever floats their boats. I might mention it smells of metagaming, but I would let it go. Certainly not a line in the sand time material.

 

[Aaron L]

If I was in a room with my friends and was overcome with fear, I really doubt Id scream, Id just run. However, if I was in a dark hallway by myself and knew my friends were SOMEWHERE and was overcome with fear, Id scream my head off as I ran away! It wasnt metagaming for the character to do it anymore than it would be for me to do it in real life, it was common sense and something anything with even a "lizard brain" would do.

 

[Romnipotent]

no, every situation is different. Precedents are less than when your scared. Different types of fear and different creates can dictate different reactions.

I dont say things for my players unless its to hurry things along and avoid a 40 minute discussion on what to do with free'd prisoners (eat them or free them... hmmmm). "You've been stabbed in the back by a dagger, this is all you know. react"

The only over-ruling is when you think the player may be acting out of character for a Paladin say. That his actions are directly opposite to his ethos.