D&D 5E How do you feel about PC abilities being nerfed by the DM?

[Mort]

So, no allowance for the DM simply not knowing something was an issue until play began? Perfect knowledge or you walk?

I'm starting to wonder what a lot of people here want from a DM. Because the DM-hate across the site is getting thick.

I suspect a very large % of the posters on this site DM - so would be surprised at actual DM hate!

But to answer the first sentence: If something proves to be a problem in play, you discuss it with the player AFTER the session and see what kind of accommodation can be reached. I've never seen banning something (especially something RAW) during a session lead to a good place.

 

[Fanaelialae]

This is what I'm talking about. I keep seeing this assumption that DMs are power-mad dictators that need to be reigned in, and if there's a conflict its almost always the DMs responsibility to bend to the player.

It's not about being a power-mad dictator DM.

It's that there are certain DM practices (like banning mid-game) that seem easy but often are not a good choice. Just because something is easy doesn't make it good.

We DMs are human. We can make mistakes just like anyone. If you're trying to hang a painting to cover up a blemish in your wall, a tack hammer is arguably a better choice than a sledgehammer. But inexperienced DMs will often reach for the banhammer sledge, which is more likely to knock a big hole in the wall of their game than it is to drive the nail. IME, there are almost always better alternatives if you take the time to consider them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I suspect a very large % of the posters on this site DM - so would be surprised at actual DM hate!

But to answer the first sentence: If something proves to be a problem in play, you discuss it with the player AFTER the session and see what kind of accommodation can be reached. I've never seen banning something (especially something RAW) during a session lead to a good place.

I suppose what I'm saying is that there is a strong current of, "most of my gaming history is full of jerk GMs, so I trust no one.

I agree with you about mid-sessions nerfs though.

 

[Maxperson]

Nope.

Yep! Or at least for some people DMing is hard. For others it's easy. I can't think of a single person that I've met over the decades, though, for whom DMing was easier than playing a PC. Which was the point.

It's far easier to be a player than a DM. Instead of having to worry about every person in the game world that interacts with the PCs, and many who don't, all you have to worry about is one single PC. You don't have to come up with plots or create in response to player inspired goals. You just have to play one PC.

 

[Mort]

I suppose what I'm saying is that there is a strong current of, "most of my gaming history is full of jerk GMs, so I trust no one.

Personally, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.

But:

People tend to better remember outliers. Most of their DMs have probably been fine, but they REMEMBER the god awful horrible experience they had much better than any "fine" ones. It's just the way the mind works.

 

[Stalker0]

Nope.

Perhaps DMing is not difficult in the grand context of all things difficult, but its certainly more work than being a player. Do you actually think playing is more work than DMing?

 

[Cadence]

Perhaps DMing is not difficult in the grand context of all things difficult, but its certainly more work than being a player. Do you actually think playing is more work than DMing?

Haven't you been following on here how awful so many DMs are and how hard players need to watch them like a hawk?? Maybe they're nerfing, or railroading, or TPKing, or fudging, or trying to use magic items like a club, or complaining about super heroes, or using charm spells, or trying to have gods or patrons exercise control -- it's exhausting!!

;-)

Edit: Or removing race choices for no reason, or removing class choices for no reason, or saving the party from TPKs, or acting like they get to assign who brings what snack, the list is endless!!!

 

[Vaalingrade]

Perhaps DMing is not difficult in the grand context of all things difficult, but its certainly more work than being a player. Do you actually think playing is more work than DMing?

I don't think it's so much harder that it serves as an excuse for all the shenanigans it's used to excuse.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Haven't you been following on here how awful so many DMs are and how hard players need to watch them like a hawk?? Maybe they're nerfing, or railroading, or TPKing, or fudging, or trying to use magic items like a club, or complaining about super heroes, or using charm spells, or trying to have gods or patrons exercise control -- it's exhausting!!

;-)

Yeah. DMs are apparently the worst. Guilty until proven innocent.

 

[Jer]

Perhaps DMing is not difficult in the grand context of all things difficult, but its certainly more work than being a player. Do you actually think playing is more work than DMing?

I dunno - most of what I do as a DM is fun, not really work. It's a different kind of fun than being a player, but it's still fun.

(Now if you want to make the argument that being the DM is more anxiety inducing than being a player I'd get on board. Being the constant center of attention is definitely more stressful than being one member of a troupe that rotates who has focus. But I'd classify that as different from work.)