D&D 5E DM purposely gimping my Warlock

[thalmin]

I will agree that the DM should have informed his players before character creation about his house rules. We don't know that he didn't. Perhaps he did, but the OP somehow missed the information (didn't get or read the memo, wasn't there yet or dozed off when it was explained, whatever).

 

[Elf Witch]

I have to question though the appropriateness of sharing email betwen the players and the DM of the group on another forum. As a player and a DM this would make me angry enough to boot the player out.

Also as a DM I would not take kindly to having a player say I went to Enworld and every agrees with me you are in the wrong.

People are taking sides saying the DM is a bad DM but there seems to be some issues with the player as well. First of all there is an exaggeration on the players part that his warlock is totally gimped when it is not.

You people judging this DM should remember that the DMG has not come out yet and many DMs are trying to handle the game as they go without the assistance of a DMG. If this DM never played 4E then he may not understand exactly the impact on small rests have on the game.

In the end if the player is this unhappy and he and the DM can't reach an agreement then he should find another game that will suit him better.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

there is no excuse to weaken a class AFTER the game starts... it is bad DMing, and if the DM can't handle being questioned... walk away

 

[chriton227]

And lets not kid ourselves here. Any one of us could run a Ravenloft game with 0 rules changes and still run it 'Gritty' and 'dangerous' and 'gothic'. House rules like this are a lazy/ignorant DMs tool.

I beg to differ. Every published version of Ravenloft has had special setting rules to enforce the quirks of the setting, whether they be changes to the Turn Undead rules or the restrictions on Plane Shift and Gate to prevent characters from leaving. In the absence of a published 5e Ravenloft, it is up to the GM to come up with house rules to simulate the nature and feel of the setting. To me "you can't benefit from more than one short rest in an 8 hours period" is no more arbitrary than the RAW "you can's benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period". If you want a story-base reason, it could be something as simple as "a pervading sense of dread makes it hard to relax; you are constantly catching hints of movement out of the corner of your eye and feel like someone is watching you, so as a result you aren't able to relax and rest as easily as you could in the normal world. When you try to sleep, your slumber is filled with nightmares which prevent you from receiving the full benefits of a long rest."

It's hard to project a feel of injuries being something you need to worry about and something that could be with you for a while when the base rules say that you could be beaten unconscious multiple times in a day and go to sleep with a single hit point, and when you wake up you are completely healed with no effects from the beating you received the day prior.

 

[chriton227]

Without ascribing any blame or motivations, one thing that is clear to me is that this is a poor fit between the player and the GM, and I think the odds of this being a successful enjoyable game with both the player and the GM are very slim. Seeing as this game is on Roll20, I think the player would be better off trying to find a spot in one of the hundreds of other games on the site and will hopefully find one where they have a better fit with the GM.

 

[Henrix]

And lets not kid ourselves here. Any one of us could run a Ravenloft game with 0 rules changes and still run it 'Gritty' and 'dangerous' and 'gothic'. House rules like this are a lazy/ignorant DMs tool.

Frankly, what?

House rules are there to make the game work the way you want it, as suits the campaign.
And has always been,

Rather the sign of creative minds trying to tell a story.


If a lower, in this slightly lower, pace makes for more interaction with the world and less emphasis on bashing things on the head, then that is great.


If you don't like house rules, and prefer everything to be the same as it is printed in the PHB (but not, presumably, in the DMG), then do so, with like minded fellows.
But don't insult anyone wanting to things any other way.

 

[Elf Witch]

there is no excuse to weaken a class AFTER the game starts... it is bad DMing, and if the DM can't handle being questioned... walk away

I am curious to we have proof other than the OP that is what happened?

 

[Henrix]

I am curious to we have proof other than the OP that his is what happened?

We do not know how many encounters the DM plans for each eight hours. If there are but a few the Warlock would, effectively, be strengthened.

There's a lot of complaining about the warlock being punished, but nothing about how powerful it can get in a situation with few encounters a day.

A level 7 warlock can get off two 4th level spells between rests - a level 7 wizard one each day.
Given three short rests the warlock has 6 spells, that can all be 4th level.

That's what I'm worried about.

 

[Sadrik]

This is EXACTLY right. As soon as I asked him about his house rules that was sprung on us in the middle of the first session he got VERY defensive and spurted at me that if I didn't like it I could just re-roll a different class. HE was the aggressive one. Even another player spoke up in my defense who plays a Warlock in another game, trying to explain that Warlocks only get 2 spell slots through lvl 11 and short rests are how we regain those spell slots. The DM couldn't care less. In addition, he tried at first to take away my special feature the first time I used it too, Dark One's Blessing and he challenged me the first time I cast my one and only spell, Hellish Rebuke. The other player who plays a Warlock in another game had to speak up to help me in that case as well.

Why are you still in this game? Move on, please. Clearly you are unhappy and the gamestyle is not for you. There are those that can handle things outside of RAW though.

Your expectations are not what the DMs are. This does not make you wrong or the DM wrong.

Part of the interest and joy that 5e evokes is that it is a big tent and can capture many playstyles. It is arguably the easiest version of D&D ever to house rule. I think that going to very diverse playstyles again (like 1e and 2e) is a very good thing. It fosters creativity with how both the DM and how the players interact with the game system. 3e and 4e had one play method and house rules were seen as pretty far outside of scope (perhaps more so for 4e). 5e is not 3e and 4e and I expect a lot of diversity in playstyles throughout the 5e world with rules modules and house rules.

So for those who are RAW warriors this may be a little discouraging for their playstyle initially. Game culture will grow and evolve which will hopefully result in more tolerance of differing playstyles.

 

[Astrosicebear]

I beg to differ. Every published version of Ravenloft has had special setting rules to enforce the quirks of the setting, whether they be changes to the Turn Undead rules or the restrictions on Plane Shift and Gate to prevent characters from leaving. In the absence of a published 5e Ravenloft, it is up to the GM to come up with house rules to simulate the nature and feel of the setting. To me "you can't benefit from more than one short rest in an 8 hours period" is no more arbitrary than the RAW "you can's benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period". If you want a story-base reason, it could be something as simple as "a pervading sense of dread makes it hard to relax; you are constantly catching hints of movement out of the corner of your eye and feel like someone is watching you, so as a result you aren't able to relax and rest as easily as you could in the normal world. When you try to sleep, your slumber is filled with nightmares which prevent you from receiving the full benefits of a long rest."

It's hard to project a feel of injuries being something you need to worry about and something that could be with you for a while when the base rules say that you could be beaten unconscious multiple times in a day and go to sleep with a single hit point, and when you wake up you are completely healed with no effects from the beating you received the day prior.

I meant the house rules to healing and resting and classes and equipment and such that this DM imposed, not the stuff that would come with the setting proper.

And the DM never explicitly stated a reason for the short rest limitation like as you describe. I would like to imagine its something akin to your suggestions, but with the other limitations on that game, would have a hard time justifying that argument in place of "DM's will".