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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StupidSmurf" data-source="post: 2527040" data-attributes="member: 35893">Here's the rules/observations that I've incorporated into my DMing style over the past few decades:1. "Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you." There will be times when the players will walk all over me, but there will be times that I'll walk all over them. As long as it's a level playing field, everyone should be happy.2. Let's face it; while most players are reconciled to the fact their PCs might die, the grander or more meaningful the death, the easier it is to stomach. Spitting in Yeenoghu's eyes as his triple-headed morning star crushes your skull in, but the battle buys time for your wounded comrades to escape, is a far more glorious and satisfying a death than if you trip over a rock, get knocked unconscious, and a kobold senior citizen with a slight limp crushes your skull with a rock.3. Coup de Grace is a fancy word, and it seems to conjure images of some clever fighting style or organized combat or such. For me, the phrase can mean anything from that, to what happens when an animal goes for your throat and rips it out while you're helpless. With that in mind, a hungry ghoul could administer a coup de grace not because it's mindful of rules of combat, but it's simply helping itself to a snack by tearing out the throat of a helpless victim.3A. There are intelligent enemies that are so rotten and mean-spirited that they just may kick a PC when (s)he's down, so to speak, by giving the ol' knife-thrust to make sure the downed PC is really dead. I'm thinking specifically of opponents like followers of Cyric, followers of Loviatar, assassins, or generic mean creepy sadistic jerks. After all, if an opponent is going at a PC with the intent to kill, and the PC is dropped, will the victorious enemy say "Well gee, that Paladin's down, but still alive, as evidenced by the continued bleeding. I'll just walk away and wish like mad that the Paladin's allies don't rush over and cure him. That would be a bummer." Bag that. 4. PC death must be taken seriously/feared. I knew things were getting bad at one point in my 3.0 campaign when a player recommended that they KILL ANOTHER PC in order to cure the PC of a disease because, hey, they can simply pay for a Resurrection and bring the PC back healthy! Yikes. To the rest of my group's credit, the idea was shouted down.5. If there is no risk of death, then where is the tension, the drama, the challenge? Why not just go to the Temple of Magic Item-Crapping Fluffy Bunnies That Love To Give Hugs? Without risk, there's no excitement. PC death is a risk. Cheating death is a far better accomplishment than cheating "relative inconvenience."6. Fudging dice is a slippery slope. Beware. There have been times that I've overridden a die roll because I have this Unwritten Rule that says "If the player has taken the time to come out with a really really great, creative idea, it would be a crime to let a random roll of the dice determine whether it actually works." But this is sparingly used.7. Although I do like the way 3.5 makes raising the dead a more expensive proposition in terms of GP, I miss the original AD&D way of doing things, with a Resurrection Survival roll, and a Con loss regardless of how you came back.8. Sometimes, a DM's hands are tied. For instance, in a recent adventure, one of the party members, a dwarven 2nd level Fighter/2nd level Cleric of Moridin, charged ahead of the group and engaged four (!) ogres by himself. They were all in his threat areas. Sure, they saw the rest of the party, thirty feet away, but hey, there's this DWARF right under their noses. So, what did they do? Naturally, they pounded the dwarf into sludge. Considering that ogres and dwarves aren't what you would call the best of friends, it made sense. To do anything else would be playing against type, and the player admitted as much. I DID profusely apologize, though...Anyways, those are my thoughts.</blockquote>

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