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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 8596527" data-attributes="member: 6879661">Anticlimax is a good reason to fudge. As a general rule I don’t want any the BBEG to be a SWEG (Small Weak End Guy). Sure every so often it’s fine for the Players to take down a foe before they get to act, but I do think it’s anti-climactic when that is anything but rare. As both a player and a DMSuspense is a good reason to fudge. The mystery scenario can fall flat when the player just happens to look in the right place and happen to check for the right thing, for no other reason than dumb luck (or having cheated and read the notes). Session over, sorry guys time to finish for the night.Training is a good reason to fudge. It’s not a problem to go easy on a new character while they find their stride. You can reduce is as they learn the rules. That second crit on the first round of combat that takes the new player out before they have acted isn’t necessary.Common Decency is a good reason to fudge. If you’ve heard the phrase, don’t kick a man when he’s down. The wizard has a fireball left but casts a scorching ray because if he casts fireball that downed character who was taken out on the first round and who has failed two death saves is dead. It’s gratuitous, it isn’t necessaryBalancing other Players Excesses is a good reason to fudge. If one player is spamming abilities and overshadowing players maybe resistance, appropriate spells, immunity to conditions etc might appear on the monsters stats.These are my reasons I sleep just fine at night.It is a basic principle of writing not to write more than you need to develop the adventure. I see some people here who plan out meticulously worlds just waiting for players to drop in. Most people don’t have the time or inclination for this. Neither is it particularly efficient, balanced or - in the case of massive power disparity - fun. So a lot of DMs make up their notes as the go or wing things on the fly. It’s why we have lists of NPC names waiting to go. If your notes aren’t written down the only person who knows you’ve changed things is you!There is a lot of overlap between fudging and improvising. If the players miss the clues that set up the next part of the adventure - through bad luck or maybe I was too obscure - then I improvise another encounter that can point in that direction. The only difference between me doing it after the fact rather than before is that I have saved myself some time had they not needed the extra encounter.There are definitely some things that I don’t think it’s good to fudge.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fudging to cause a character to die</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fudging to stop a player dying (unless they are new, or have only just died, or it would be unfun to do so)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fudging AC… this is really transparent and can be worked out by players, it’s also easy to forget and get wrong.</li> </ul>Most other things are on the table as acceptable.Now of course the posts are my point of view as a player because as a DM I never do any of these because I don’t ever fudge and would never fudge. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😉" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" title="Winking face    :wink:" data-shortname=":wink:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /><img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😉" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" title="Winking face    :wink:" data-shortname=":wink:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />That said don’t think it’s good or bad, it’s just a necessary corrective tool. A means to an end. A safety net.</blockquote>

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