Desdichado
Hero
Personally, I don't care what the book says DCs for various things should be. I always wing DCs on the fly. And that's just the way it has to be in my game, 'coz I refuse to bog down the game in flipping through books or arguments.
Help please. Complaints by players!
- Thread starter Gallo22
- Start date
- Status
I am on the side of the DM, it was a dangerous challange, it had to be overcome, the player did not take precautions.
Player: Mmmmm, the bridge looks slippery.
DM: Very slippery, wet and slime covered.
Player: I take a closer look at the bridge.
DM: The slime is normal mold, meldew, alge. Very hard to walk on as it produces a wet slippery slime/gel under foot. Nasty stuff.
Roll (insert needed) skill
DM: You know, it is going to be very hard to cross this bridge. Better take out your spike grips and use them. You could put sand on the bride too, maybe a safety rope.
The player(s) did not think about how to make it easier for them to cross the bridge. They saw a slime covered bridge and they were going to get to the other side, just like a chicken crossing the road, there are a lot of answers.
Player: Mmmmm, the bridge looks slippery.
DM: Very slippery, wet and slime covered.
Player: I take a closer look at the bridge.
DM: The slime is normal mold, meldew, alge. Very hard to walk on as it produces a wet slippery slime/gel under foot. Nasty stuff.
Roll (insert needed) skill
DM: You know, it is going to be very hard to cross this bridge. Better take out your spike grips and use them. You could put sand on the bride too, maybe a safety rope.
The player(s) did not think about how to make it easier for them to cross the bridge. They saw a slime covered bridge and they were going to get to the other side, just like a chicken crossing the road, there are a lot of answers.
Oh, talk to the players off line and just let them know that the DM runs the game and the reasons for the ruling, given examples and how they can keep issues from happening in future games. Players have to think about their actions, not just jump into them.
Tsyr
Explorer
Hand of Evil said:The player(s) did not think about how to make it easier for them to cross the bridge. They saw a slime covered bridge and they were going to get to the other side, just like a chicken crossing the road, there are a lot of answers.
Actualy, in the very first post in this thread, it said the rogue was testing it, and taking precautions.
drnuncheon
Explorer
mmu1 said:
Er...hello? The sense motive roll is the mechanic to realize it's a feint. That's the whole point of a feint - you don't know it's a feint until it's too late and you're already out of line and the other guy's weapon is heading right for your squishy vital bits. If you fail the Sense Motive roll, you can't tell whether that was an honest miss, or a feint designed to open a hole in your defenses.
Now, if you want to argue that fighters shouldn't suck so badly against feints, and that maybe BAB (as a measure of fighting skill) ought to come into it...well, I might agree but this is the wrong forum.
J
Tsyr said:
Sorry, right got caught up in all the other post and just started rambling a long.
Tom Cashel
First Post
Tsyr said:
Exactly! You must have read my entire post!
Bauglir
First Post
Hmmm Base DC of 15 (10 for 4' wide + 5 for slippery) - but that doesn't take into account the unstability - after all it's a rope bridge not a suspension bridge so as a judgement call you could apply a further +5 making it 20. So far so good.
However there are ropes to hold onto, making the balance check easier - so perhaps apply a bonus to the balance check for holding onto the ropes (players should not need to state they are doing this; it is the normal action when crossing a rope bridge after all - of course some of the more suspicious players may choose not to touch the ropes)
Holding onto the ropes IMO would greatly improve stability, so I'd call it a +5 situational modifier to balance checks, so there's room to slip, and still hang onto the ropes.
All of these things you did. IMO your call was fine.
As a little aside, in situations like this (where something is more difficult than expected) the characters are rarely going to be oblivious to why; some descriptive aspect of the result of the failed roll can go a long way.
"As you step out onto the bridge it wavers underfoot, causing you to slip on the slick surface. Fortunately you manage to hold onto the ropes and regain your balance. It seems this crossing may be a little more difficult than you expected"
"The rogue lunges at you and misses. You raise your sword to strike him when he is off-balance only to realise to your horror that you were tricked, as he nimbly plunges his blade into your unprotected guts"
However there are ropes to hold onto, making the balance check easier - so perhaps apply a bonus to the balance check for holding onto the ropes (players should not need to state they are doing this; it is the normal action when crossing a rope bridge after all - of course some of the more suspicious players may choose not to touch the ropes
)Holding onto the ropes IMO would greatly improve stability, so I'd call it a +5 situational modifier to balance checks, so there's room to slip, and still hang onto the ropes.
All of these things you did. IMO your call was fine.
As a little aside, in situations like this (where something is more difficult than expected) the characters are rarely going to be oblivious to why; some descriptive aspect of the result of the failed roll can go a long way.
"As you step out onto the bridge it wavers underfoot, causing you to slip on the slick surface. Fortunately you manage to hold onto the ropes and regain your balance. It seems this crossing may be a little more difficult than you expected"
"The rogue lunges at you and misses. You raise your sword to strike him when he is off-balance only to realise to your horror that you were tricked, as he nimbly plunges his blade into your unprotected guts"
- Status
Similar Threads
