DM's word is final... and illogical?

[evileeyore]

And if the DM does, does the DM have the right to just ignore the questions of the player, or should the DM accept his mistakes and come up with a solution to the problem?

Err, the DM's what now?


You gave the DM pretty much carte blanche to write stuff into your background and now your saying the DM made a mistake in doing so?

Seriously?

And you haven't really elaborated why the DM is not obligated to such.

The DM runs the game and adjudicates all rulings. If you don't like those rulings, you should be able to discuss this with the DM.


However at the end of the day, they are still the DM's rulings and that is all the justification any DM needs.

 

[korjik]

I am not in the mood of starting an argument over the issues I had with my DM.

It had more to it than simply a clash of homebrews being allowed or not in the end. And you haven't really elaborated why the DM is not obligated to such. Because really, like I said, the group at first saw nothing wrong in it, and I even told the DM that I would to my best to make sure my homebrews could fit into the campaign.

Either way, like I said, I do not need to worry about that anymore, since I left that group and found a far nicer DM who actually appreciates my works and ideas. Now, going back to the topic, I sadly have to say that I don't have much to contribute as many others have brought out the best stuff concerning this topic already.

If it were my game, I would not let you homebrew stuff either. If you came to me with an idea, and then discussed it, and then accepted my decision about wether I was going to use it, that would be fine, but if you insisted, then I would demand you run the bloody game and let me play.

 

[Sekhmet]

I think the most important thing is to have these discussions outside of your regular play schedule. Bringing these arguments to the table is a sure way to make everyone else in your group bored/angry/leave.
Create a dialog with your DM and voice your concerns. If he isn't giving you straight answers, just as if he has a plan to make it all come together. Don't ask what the plan is, just make sure he has something in mind.

 

[Icyshadowlord]

It seems that people here have misunderstood what I said. I did not insist in the sense that I shoved my homebrews in his face. I discussed the homebrews OUTSIDE the game sessions, and tried to be as reasonable as possible while doing so. He himself never made it clear if he would allow them or not until the last second, frustrating me a great deal.

And only far later did I find out that he had turned the group against me, because we later on ended up in an argument over him first promising me that I can play a homebrew and then suddenly denying it from me. And sure, the DM makes all the rulings, but like someone already said, a DM might be god, but his realm might get lonely if he decides to be a jerk about it. For all I know, me leaving broke up the whole party, and by this part I really don't have any regrets.

Lastly, like I said, it was on a more personal level in the end due to others issues outside the game.

 

[DumbPaladin]

Icyshadowlord, unless Zesty Gordita was the DM you got upset at ... what you're talking about has absolutely nothing to do with the OP's question. You should start your own thread about it, if you want to talk about it.

Mr. (or Ms.) Gordita: Clearly, there's a lot of confusion from the posters about exactly what is going on. I share in this confusion.

Are you unhappy because the DM is writing your own character history for you, WITHOUT your permission? Or are you unhappy because you do not believe you are getting any benefits to the backstory your DM has provided you, with your permission?

 

[ExploderWizard]

I have had my recent experiences with an a-hole DM, who more or less forced me to leave the group by banning my homebrews without proper explanations and even telling the whole group to go against them (the group itself had nothing against my works before, so I am sure he deliberately made them look bad)

Also, I would go with syber's suggestion of rolling the dice. And if you ask me, the DM has no right to neglect a player, especially when they have questions that would really need answers. And yes, a DM should admit his faults as well. That is where my DM failed, since my perfectly balanced homebrews (which didn't go against the campaign setting) were rejected with the sole reasoning of "because I am DM/because I can."

Run a game with your homebrew material included and show everyone how good it is. This the best way to get others to want to include your material. If your game is so good that the other DM couldn't imagine running another campaign without your stuff then the mission is accomplished.

Winning their hearts and minds will get you farther than trying to cram untested material down their throats.

 

[Holy Bovine]

So I have a character in a friend's campaign. He had some sort of magical amnesia, which made him forget who his parents were. Later on, it was revealed to my character that his dad was a Half-dragon (Black) and his mom was a Half-dragon (Bronze)...

Now, I know that D&D isn't based on logic, but, logically speaking that would make my character 1/4 Black dragon 1/4 Bronze dragon and 1/2 Human. By my understanding, this would make my character either a Half-dragon, or he would have the Draconic template.

If he had the Draconic template, then that would be an easy fix. However, even though he is descended from 2 different Half-dragons, that should still make him a Half-dragon... just, not an ordinary Half-dragon. I even thought of things for him to have (like a breath weapon that is a line of green electricity that does half acid damage and half electricity damage, and resistance 10 to acid and electricity). Although even after bringing all this up to him, he won't give me a straight answer on anything.

Now my questions for you:
Which do you think my character should have, the Draconic template, some kind of Half-dragon template, or no template at all?
Do you think it's right for a DM to "assign" a potentially race changing background to a character?
And if the DM does, does the DM have the right to just ignore the questions of the player, or should the DM accept his mistakes and come up with a solution to the problem?

Do you want all the questions about your PCs past answered out of game, or in game?

That is about the only valid question you can have at this point.

 

[the Jester]

To the OP- I've always felt that anything the player hasn't detailed and had dm-approved before play is fair game. In fact, last session the party met one of the pcs' brother (whom they had not known existed) and father (who the player had written into his background). They immediately were suspicious of the brother (just because he was named Ishmael and there was water involved), but whatever.

The dm controls the world outside of your pcs, and that includes the rest of the people they know. I have pulled "Surprise! You're not the race you thought you were!" tricks on a pc in the past ("Hm, thought I was an elf, but I guess I am a tiefling"), and not only did the pc love it, that campaign element (the Ilmixie family line) has become an enduring one that has far outlasted the character himself.

It seems that people here have misunderstood what I said. I did not insist in the sense that I shoved my homebrews in his face. I discussed the homebrews OUTSIDE the game sessions, and tried to be as reasonable as possible while doing so. He himself never made it clear if he would allow them or not until the last second, frustrating me a great deal.

The DM's obligation to a good game far outweighs any consideration he owes homebrewed elements that his players bring to him. You may think they were perfectly balanced, but unless you have playtested them extensively and with many different groups, that's a pretty bold assertion to make. Heck, many published rules, written by professional game designers, going through playtesting and editing cycles, etc., end up proving unbalanced over time. As a dm, I have had many players bring their homebrewed stuff to me, and there are almost always issues that I spot that they hadn't considered previously. Consider that your homebrews might have been rejected because of something like this.

OTOH, maybe the dm was just a control freak. That's a bummer, but it's still the dm's call, not a player's, what rules the game runs under. If you really want to use your homebrewed stuff, you should run a game with it and see how people respond. This whole "The DM is obligated to use my homebrews" idea is totally out of line, though; the DM is obligated to weed out bad rules, and homebrews are a lot of hassle to wade through and audit for brokenness. Long and short, I won't let player-written homebrews into my game without a long hard look, and my time is usually better spent elsewhere.

 

[Zesty Gordita]

I suppose I should clear some things up...

1. My character is a Dragon Shaman (Gold).

2. I was told by the DM to make my background somewhat vague so that he could fit it in with the main plot. He told me my character had no memories from his childhood and so I could only write about what happened after that. And even then I was told that I was trained by a Dragon Shaman (Gold) in a cave.

3. He is using practically every D&D 3.5 supplement and book in his campaign, including Races of the Dragon, Draconomicon, and Dragon Magic.

4. During the campaign when I reached... about level 4 or 5, when we reached the end of an adventure, the Black Dragon at the end of the castle thing turned out to be my father, then after about a minute or 2, he got stabbed and died (while in a human form).

5. The DM then told me to add to my races that I was part Black Dragon (my father) and part Bronze Dragon (my mother). Both he told me (OOC) were Half-dragons. Which means that somehow my father could polymorph into a Black Dragon. Now that I think about it, he only ever said that my mother was a Half-dragon... meaning that my father could have been a full Black Dragon. In either case, I'm still confused... how did he die from a single attack? I suppose if it was a crit and the weapon was vorpal... but even then he said a sword stabbed through his throat and he died... oh well.

6. Later on, in the middle of a big forest, I found a crystal ball and a note, which later revealed to me that I was one of the Gold Dragon's pieces in that Dragon game thing.

7. I asked the DM if I get any bonuses from my dragon bloodlines, he replied "Maybe."

8. I had to take the Dragontouched feat to get some breath weapon abilities, so if I get either of those templates, I should get that feat back.

9. I want straight answers from him because I don't even know who my character is anymore.

10. We are using bits and pieces of a homebrew Dragon Shaman class: (www) .giantitp. (com) /forums/showthread.php?t=147604

11. DMs can indeed make mistakes, like ruling that my auras don't affect unconscious characters, even when it clearly states that they are only ineffective when I'M unconscious. And causing me to get useless feats when he knows that I shouldn't need to take them. And afflicting my character with two template-causing diseases which cannot stack. And the list goes on and on...

12. I just want some proof to take to my DM, so that he'll give me a straight answer or tell me to eff off, which I will then respond with, depending on the straight answer, kill off my character and make a new less confusing one, rejoice and stop "annoying" my DM, or just quit the campaign.

13. If I missed anything or something else needs to still be cleared up, please tell me. And don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to undermine my DM and make him out to seem like an idiot, nor am I saying that all DMs are stupid and have god complexes (though some do). I just wanna know what the hell kind of character I'm playing...

 

[the Jester]

12. I just want some proof to take to my DM, so that he'll give me a straight answer or tell me to eff off, which I will then respond with, depending on the straight answer, kill off my character and make a new less confusing one, rejoice and stop "annoying" my DM, or just quit the campaign.

You lost me on this- proof of what?