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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnLynch" data-source="post: 6808755" data-attributes="member: 6749563">If you don't want the possibility of a kobold killing your PCs, then take that possibility off the table. Alternatives are as follows:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have your PCs start at level 2 (a kobold cannot kill a Level 2 Wizard, even if that Wizard is on 1 Hit Point and the kobold scores a critical hit and deals maximum damage). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have the kobold deal subdual damage. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rule that creatures (or just PCs) cannot die from damage alone and only die from failed death saving throws. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have a fight on rule that allows characters to avoid death by taking a temporary penalty to their character. The duration of the penalty (and it's in-game narrative) can be determined either at the time by the DM and player or ahead of time (e.g. roll on a maiming chart). This gives control of the narrative to the players as they get to control whether they use the fight on rule or instead die. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rule that you cannot be killed by a creature of a CR = Player Level - 4 or lower and that any damage dealt by such a creature is automatically subdual. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give players more hit points at first level. </li> </ul>All of the above rules are less subjective than a DM getting to decide when he does and doesn't fudge. Fudging is not necessary to avoid the circumstance you have just described.When I come to a  table I expect to know the rules that will be employed in the game,  including whether or not fudging will occur. I will ask the DM what rules they are using and I will expect an honest answer from that DM. Even if the answer is "here are the rules that I plan to use at this time. This list may change" that's fine. But I would tell the DM to just let me know when he's decided to start using additional rules (or removes some of the rules that he initially declared was in play).If a DM secretly employed  facing rules but didn't tell the group, he simply gave his monsters  bonuses and penalties to their attack rolls and AC based on the direction they were facing, that is a DM I would  not want to play with and would feel he was being dishonest. A DM that  tells me "I will fudge some rolls" will result in me asking the types of  situations where they'll fudge. Based on the answer I will determine  whether or not I play with that person DMing. Secretly fudging without  telling the group is the exact same scenario as a DM using facing rules but failing to tell the players. If the DM does fudge without telling me he may fudge at some point, then I will not play with that person regardless of whether they are a player or a DM as they've broken  my trust and I do not wish to play a game with people I do not trust.I see fudging as a failure on the DM's part. Whether it's fudging dice or fudging the story. Everytime a DM fudges it meant the DM presented a set of choices and included one that they shouldn't have. I've done it. I've had a player uncharacteristically work on a grand speech for two weeks, give that speech and then had them roll a die to determine how good the speech was. One of the choices I initially presented was that the speech was bad. I shouldn't have presented that choice. It was a failure on my part. But I learned from it and have gotten better as a DM. Had I secretly fudged (and I did fudge, but I did it openly) I may not have put as much thought into the outcome that occurred and that would have required me to fudge in more scenarios in the future. Instead I learned how to adjudicate such situations without needing to fudge in the future (in this case the die roll would not allow failure, it would simply determine the degree of success with meaningful results based on the degree of success they had).</blockquote>

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