Giving fighters something to do.

[RangerWickett]

Oh, actually, this is what I get for not looking over everyone's character sheet.

She's not a wizard, she's a witch. From some obscure 3rd party book - might even just be a web book - that the player emailed me, and I never read. Her primary ability score for spellcasting is Wisdom, but she gets lots of Wizard spells. And because we started the campaign at 10th level, he said that she reached 10th level when she was young, since apparently 10th level witches have the Timeless Body ability, so she can be 90 years old now with no physical penalties. Also, the Witch apparently gets a +2 inherent bonus to Wisdom.

Time for me to read the frikkin' class. When he said witch, I thought he meant the variant class out of the DMG.

 

[JackGiantkiller]

Honestly, I would only fudge if the drama of the situation seemed to call for it. If my players are having fun, and the pacing seems right, what happens, happens. But there *are* times when a DM has to fiddle with things to get the right feel. I might not actually fudge the save, but dang it all, it can be irritating. And, more importantly, my players can be disappointed by a 'big finale' that feels like an anticlimax. On the other hand, they could get stoked by the lucky kill. It's a judgement call.

It's my job to make sure the players have fun. That takes precedence over rules and really anything else. Another option in that situation is to make a big deal of the kill, roleplaying out the horrified screams of the dying monk as he tries to fight something that's only in his head...it's a nasty spell.

A bad roll by a villain just seems a cheaper way to win than a good roll by a PC. Don't know why.