pming
Legend
Hiya!
Here's how that plays out in my game...
Me/DM: "Uh, why are you asking me? I'm just the DM. You're the players...you tell me if you want to rest for an hour or so".
PC's: "Hmmmm....er....we're down a bit, sure. We'll push one of the tables in front of the door and settle down for a bit".
Me/DM: "Right then... [rolls some dice]... Not 10 minutes into your rest you hear something trying to push the door open. When it's stopped by the table, you hear a couple of muffled 'voices' talking in a language none of you can make out."
PC's: "Dang it. Why do we try and rest in the same room of a fight we just finished? It almost never works! This is...our fault, yeah...*sigh*...Ok. Here's the plan...".
That's how it pretty much plays out in my game. I don't tell the players "if they can do something". I do tell them "No, you can't do that" or "Yes, you can do that" if it's appropriate (i.e., My fighter wants to try and cat that fire bolt spell the wizards been casting all day. he's heard the words and seen how...what's his chance? My answer, if I'm being generous..."No. You can't". My answer, if I'm not being generous..."Ok, you spend your action mumbling and flailing around...nothing happens other than you look funny doing it.")
But as far as "can we/I...", I usually tell them "You can try if you want", or "Why do you keep asking me if you can try something? Don't ask, tell me what you'r character wants to do". Then I give them the general odds, if the action is significant enough to possible warrant a "common sense kicks in at the last moment" thing (i.e, the player says he wants his 4hp-left, scale male armored, fully geared up fighter to jump into the raging rapids 80' below....'Whats my chance to avoid all the rocks?' kind of thing....then I'll tell him outright the chances {"Make a DC 27 Acrobatics check...if you really want to do that". Then I let him roll, then I tell him how much damage his character takes from the fall/jump into water 80' down...
We usually start the "Death Saves" after that kind of thing... }. If the action isn't likely to be significant I usually just say "Roll..." and then ask if he made a DC ## whatever check.
Then again, I'm kind of a "killer DM" I guess; I don't hold back much at all. The tattered remains of dead character sheets coats my floor, decorates my walls, and my paper-mache skull-throne upon which I pass judgement is ever growing!

^_^
Paul L. Ming
Here's how that plays out in my game...
My group is in this camp as well. When my group of players starts looking for a way to take a short/long rest we play the justification game...
PCs: "Can we take a short/long rest right now? That last encounter had me use up X resources and I'm not sure we can get through another one..."
Me/DM: "Uh, why are you asking me? I'm just the DM. You're the players...you tell me if you want to rest for an hour or so".
PC's: "Hmmmm....er....we're down a bit, sure. We'll push one of the tables in front of the door and settle down for a bit".
Me/DM: "Right then... [rolls some dice]... Not 10 minutes into your rest you hear something trying to push the door open. When it's stopped by the table, you hear a couple of muffled 'voices' talking in a language none of you can make out."
PC's: "Dang it. Why do we try and rest in the same room of a fight we just finished? It almost never works! This is...our fault, yeah...*sigh*...Ok. Here's the plan...".
That's how it pretty much plays out in my game. I don't tell the players "if they can do something". I do tell them "No, you can't do that" or "Yes, you can do that" if it's appropriate (i.e., My fighter wants to try and cat that fire bolt spell the wizards been casting all day. he's heard the words and seen how...what's his chance? My answer, if I'm being generous..."No. You can't". My answer, if I'm not being generous..."Ok, you spend your action mumbling and flailing around...nothing happens other than you look funny doing it.")
But as far as "can we/I...", I usually tell them "You can try if you want", or "Why do you keep asking me if you can try something? Don't ask, tell me what you'r character wants to do". Then I give them the general odds, if the action is significant enough to possible warrant a "common sense kicks in at the last moment" thing (i.e, the player says he wants his 4hp-left, scale male armored, fully geared up fighter to jump into the raging rapids 80' below....'Whats my chance to avoid all the rocks?' kind of thing....then I'll tell him outright the chances {"Make a DC 27 Acrobatics check...if you really want to do that". Then I let him roll, then I tell him how much damage his character takes from the fall/jump into water 80' down...

Then again, I'm kind of a "killer DM" I guess; I don't hold back much at all. The tattered remains of dead character sheets coats my floor, decorates my walls, and my paper-mache skull-throne upon which I pass judgement is ever growing!

^_^
Paul L. Ming
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