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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gibili" data-source="post: 7751078" data-attributes="member: 6682820">Yes, if it helps the fun of the game to have the monster hit when the dice say that it missed, then I say the monster hit.  If the monster is missing all the time and so is no threat to the players, then I might well ignore the dice and say that it hit.  If one small hit on the player will say, knock him into the cauldron of hair remover, then yeah, I might well bias the outcome  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />   Let's face it, the rest of the players will be braying for it anyway.I very, very rarely convert an ordinary DM dice roll into a crit.  Sometimes it can be done to great effect though. If you actually tell the players that your NPC has crited then it usually gets a sharp intake of breath from the players, which is great.  Use this with suitable care I would say.  Less is more effective.  If you fudge a crit, and then roll a real one on the next turn, make a judgement about whether to convert back the other way.  Maybe two crits in a row would be very effective.  It might mean a sudden and exciting shift of power in the encounter for example.If a crit on the part of the NPC and the subsequent damage or effect is going to have a detrimental effect on the play, then I might well back it down to an ordinary hit.If a fumble on the part of the NPC would be funny, appropriate, help the story, then I might well make that happen.If a fumble on the part of the NPC would spoil a tense situation or be contrary to the nature or skill of the NPC, then I might well ignore it.With all these things, using it sparingly is the key.  The randomness of dice rolling on NPCs can be just as much fun and throw up new and unexpected situations as it can for the player characters.No, never, ever!  What the players do and roll is entirely up to them.  As the DM you are there to create a fun environment for your players to mess around and have adventures in.  You should never be a film director working to your own script and storyboards and forcing your players to adhere to them or changing what they do or roll to suit your own preconceptions about how things should go.  That is absolute death for a fun game.As a DM though you do have some influence on events before you get to the player's dice roll, so you don't have to back your players into a corner, and similarly, if you want them to go a certain direction in the story, there are subtle ways you can do it.  Carrot is always better than stick! If the game system has it, you can always make the DC (target difficulty of the action) a little less or more.  If you think the players roll is close enough, then go with it, either as a success on their part or as a failure on their part.  Players of course have a pretty good feel for what makes sense though so don't push it.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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