D&D 5E DM purposely gimping my Warlock

[Mistwell]

Read his completely jacked response to my concerns here:

https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1258824/house-rules/#post-1259493

That doesn't go to a thread for the rest of us, can you please post the reply?

 

[occam]

The problem is that with short rests being capped at 2 per day, the warlock's out-of-combat utility is also nerfed as much as combat. That one slot he has starting out has to be all of the combat AND non-combat magic he gets outside of cantrips.

How many short rests would you expect to get in a day? A short rest is an hour of relatively uninterrupted time.

 

[Scorpio616]

2 short rests per day is not bad, that is still 3 alotments of spells. The 8 hours apart is a bit much though.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

It sounds like you really dislike the DM now. If so, then leave. Playing with a DM you dislike is a sure damper on the fun, and there's no shortage of games out there.

As others have said, it sounds like he's shooting for a gritty game, and that's legit. If you're not okay with gritty then this isn't the game for you. He should have told you about it before you came on, but this isn't a big enough mistake to get mad over. And if he's planned the game in this style, it's not really reasonable to ask him to rework everything for one character.

If you still really want in on the game and you have to play a warlock, then see if he's open to an alternate recharge method. Maybe something fitting flavor, like a ritual with the blood of a fallen enemy costing X gold and taking Y minutes to recover a spell.

 

[daddystabz]

That doesn't go to a thread for the rest of us, can you please post the reply?

Here was our latest discussion about it:

daddystabz
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I would like to please request that any and all house rules be laid out before us here in this thread so nothing will be a surprise for us in-game. I think it is always healthy for a DM to list all his/her house rules for a game out in advance with the players so the players can then decide whether they want to play or not given the alterations to the rules of the game RAW.

The short rest limitation was a big shock to me and will severely gimp my Warlock to the point of complete boredom even playing him, making it so I can only ever 99% of the cast my one offensive cantrip, Eldritch Blast. I don't think the impact this has on my particular character is fully understood, frankly, nor even cared about. Would you want to play a character that you can only cast 1 cantrip 99% of the time? I only have 1 lvl spell slot and will only have 2 up through lvl 11! I should not have to re-roll my character either. I rolled this toon for roleplaying purposes because Warlocks have to make pacts oftentimes with evil arch devils and fiends for power. This is written into my character's tragic background and is the reason he was brought to Ravenloft, if you read his background I constructed for him in our game thread.

In addition, the rules in the Player's Handbook RAW state that when you take a long rest you recover back up to 1/2 of the spent hit dice you have spent previously. Last night it was mentioned we would only get 1 spent hit die back. Was this just a simple rules mistake or will this be another house rule you will be enforcing? It was not clear to me after the session last night.

I understand wanting Ravenloft to be a somewhat tough setting but with all these house rules in place and given the other facts of how we entered the mists it will be incredibly difficult to stay alive and not virtually TPK every combat encounter, much tougher than in Dark Sun even.

I am not trying to argue with the DM over his campaign and do not want to seem argumentative. I am simply concerned how these rules changes espcially effect/gimp my Warlock more-so than any other class in the campaign and make him a complete bore to play, reliant on one cantrip for nearly everything in a combat situation. To the point at which I may withdraw from the campaign.

3:53PM (10 hours ago)

Edited 5:25PM (9 hours ago)
daddystabz
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Just getting opinions out there to see what other people think about things:

RPG.net

3:54PM (10 hours ago)
daddystabz
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EN World discussion:

EN World

5:40PM (8 hours ago)
Ajax
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This probably isn't a good fit for you, you seem to place a real emphasis on dealing damage as opposed to developing a character, just the comment how it gimps your character is pretty telling, so you might find it more enjoyable to find a campaign that doesn't have any restrictions. I made it pretty clear that this was not going to be for everyone and that it was going to be a hard campaign...

7:14PM (7 hours ago)

Edited 7:15PM (7 hours ago)
daddystabz
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I think your characterization of me is insulting, frankly. I am fine with roleplaying AND character development but frankly only being able to do 1 cantrip 99% of the time is a bit on the boring side. This has absolutely ZERO to do with dealing damage. This is what I was talking about with making house rules with no consideration as to how it might unfairly affect one class vs. others. If you read the threads I linked to the consensus seem to agree with me.

I am all for you running this game with a central vision but these kinds of rules should be mentioned upfront to the players before character creation and some consideration should be given for when they effect particular classes most unfairly. You are no more old school than me. I started with 1st. edition too and have played the game for decades.

7:41PM (6 hours ago)
Daniel B.
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Okay I hate getting into arguments that cause drama and crap like that but dude, you are victimizing yourself way too much. Your posts on the other forums are kind of biased and make it seem like he is targeting you. I'm playing a warlock in another game and we never take more than two short rests per day, It's really not that hard to manage. You get pretty much 6 spells per day and the invocations are crazy good. At level three you get a summon that can scout for us while invisible, 3 more cantrips, or a magic weapon all of which are also really good and spell independent. Almost all the classes benefit from short rests not just warlocks.

7:42PM (6 hours ago)
Ajax
Mentor
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I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you, if you don't like the way I run this then don't play. I am sorry if I offended you that was not my intention. As stated several times this campaign is not for every one. There a number of ways to deal with, as you say being only able to cast one spell, within the the game find a solution in game or don't play. I can't put it any plainer that that.

8:21PM (6 hours ago)
maddog a.
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Soooo..... looks like I missed some shenanigans with my stupid internets crapping out. I don't really know what happened; but quite honestly, all house rules need to be explained prior to character generation. Period.... At any rate; My internet still crapping out on me, so as of this writing I guess I am going to bow out so you all can find someone with more reliable internet. Thanks for letting me try, and hope all have fun in whatever games ya play here or on actual table. -maddog

9:17PM (5 hours ago)
daddystabz
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Daniel B. said:
Okay I hate getting into arguments that cause drama and crap like that but dude, you are victimizing yourself way too much. Your posts on the other forums are kind of biased and make it seem like he is targeting you. I'm playing a warlock in another game and we never take more than two short rests per day, It's really not that hard to manage. You get pretty much 6 spells per day and the invocations are crazy good. At level three you get a summon that can scout for us while invisible, 3 more cantrips, or a magic weapon all of which are also really good and spell independent. Almost all the classes benefit from short rests not just warlocks.

Warlocks are more dependent on short rests than any other class in the game and without them are one-trick ponies. It seems you disagree with the rest of the internet on this. And I NEVER stated anywhere that I was the one targeted by these changes. I simply said I would be the most affected, and that is a FACT.

9:37PM (4 hours ago)
daddystabz
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I think I will try to stick with it for now and see if I can deal with the changes. I want a good gothic horror story and I am hoping this will live up to that.

 

[Morrus]

I think you may be burning your bridges a little if you want to stay in the game. I can see why the GM would feel a little defensive given the general tone of that discussion you just posted, and the tone of some of the posts here.

I wonder if a less public and dramatic 'burn the witch!' approach might have been more effective in getting the point across?

If you don't want to stay in the game, then no big deal, I guess. But if I were him, even if I'd been convinced by your reasoning, I think I'd feel best parting ways at this point.

(And don't get me wrong - I agree this seems to nerf your character and that house rules which would affect character choice should be mentioned in advance where possible).

 

[Henrix]

One important thing to discuss in this context is how many encounters there are per short rest and per day.

If it is low enough the only thing that changes is the time scale.

 

[Pentegarn]

What do you all think about his crazy house rules and how it would affect you if you were playing the human Warlock?

I think you think his house rules are crazy. And no doubt there are plenty of others that may as well, even if you only consider all those coming from previous WotC editions of the game. Most players who started with those editions feel there needs to be a detailed rule on everything down to and including wiping your arse.

So for RAW players, I'd suggest either finding another game, or playing another character if you feel the house rules in his game are gimping your character to the point you will not have fun playing that character.

But since he's the DM, and therefore the one who has to do all the prep, and referee the game instead of just getting to show up and play it, he has the right to house rule it as he wishes. It sounds to me that he simply wants his game to be a little grittier.

That said, and if it is the case that he just wants a grittier game, I probably would have approached it differently. And I tend to discuss my house rules with my home group and listen to their input, possibly making some changes or compromises to my house rules based on that dialog. But if it's an online game with a lot of strangers, I'd be less likely to do so.

If his house rules make the game unfair, too hard, and/or unenjoyable, then he'll know when players stop showing up for his gaming sessions. He'll learn and adapt his style/house rules, quit DMing, or find a group of those players who don't mind and/or enjoy his house rules.

 

[NaturalZero]

How many short rests would you expect to get in a day? A short rest is an hour of relatively uninterrupted time.

If your game world has 24 hours in a day and a long rest is 8 hours, you can easily fit more than 2 short rests in a 16 hour period. The "must be 8 hours apart" thing is the more heinous aspect though.

 

[Henrix]

Nevertheless, the communication the DM and the players doesn't seem to have been very good.
The reasonable thing would be for you to be informed of this before making a character.


As always, most problems are solvable by peacefully talking to each other.