I the DM, did I cheat?

[Dagger75]

If it possible for the DM to cheat.

Heres the situation. I have me an Epic Level Blackguard Level 21 and his Demon freind (MM2 CR18 Demon Assassin thing). Well I made the Blackgaurd pretty nasty with his +6 Keen Greatsword. So as my 1 epic feat I took Epic Weapon Focus.

Well stupid me for got I have a 21st level Druid with a favorite spell of creeping doom.

This was half way throught the game, I never saw the Druid Spelllist I changed the feat to Damage Reduction, bumped up his Con so he qualified for the feat and adjusted his hit points and to hits. Was this wrong? I didn't want the Blackguard to be killed by one stupid spell. Needless to say the parties 1/2 Orc Babarian/Fighter/Orc Blademaster ended up killing the Blackguard in throw down one on one sword fight. No Creeping Doom was ever cast and the Damage reduction made little difference in the fight . Everybody had fun, the party got the sword (part of my plan) and made another enemy to add to there ever growing list. (I don't think my group realizes the bad guys have access to True Rez also )

I know the goal is to have fun, we did. The fighter finally got to go toe to toe with another equally matched fighter. The druid was busy with the demon thing. So it all worked out pretty good. But I still feel like I cheated just a bit to keep my bad guy alive a bit longer.

 

[Mark]

If it possible for the DM to cheat.

Only if the DM changes things to make it impossible for the players to succeed. If the DM is just trying to keep things challenging and recitify an oversight on his part, then there is nothing wrong with that. It would suck a lot more to promise a fun game that will last all afternoon, and be breaking for dinner an hour after lunch...

 

[Zappo]

I think it was perfectly OK. Anything that makes the game more fun for everyone is OK. Heck, I do that sort of things constantly.

"Cheating" is really not possible for the DM, because no rules bind you. You could have been unfair if the PCs had already met the villain, knew that he had no DR feat but he had Epic WF, and then you changed it in their second encounter.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Everybody had fun

Then whether or not you cheated, you did the right thing. A tough encounter is always more fun than one resolved with a single unanticipated spell effect. The job of the DM is to make the game fun: IMO, this is a simple matter of maintaining a realistic (albeit fantastic) world and confronting the players with difficult situations. So long as his previous stats hadn't come into play previously, continuity isn't broken, so you've succeeded.

Even if the changes had resulted in a TPK, I'd still look at that as a better choice (as a player and as a DM) than putting them through an encounter which is far too easy.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

There's no such thing as the Dm cheating. The bottom line is you and your players had a good time, you're responcable for making things challanging it doesn't really matter if you need to make small adjustments to do it.

 

[Privateer]

Yes, I think you did the right thing, too -- but remember to let the Druid shine occasionally, if you don't already.

It's a game. Games are, by definiton, made to have fun. Fun is good.

 

[Terwox]

I know the goal is to have fun, we did.

You'd of been cheating them if you HADN'T of changed it.

Don't worry about stuff like that, just worry if you start doing it all the time, and more importantly if people start noticing and being annoyed.

 

[-Warlord-]

The only cheating the DM can do is cheating the players out of having a good time.

I think you did just the opposite, by adjusting the black guard, you made the fight with him more interesting.
Think the players would have had more fun if they only had to cast a single spell? I think they would have a "Was that it?"-feeling.

And you adjusted the blackguard so he could have damagereduction rules-wise.
There are DM's that would have thought up some silly reason why the creeping doom had no effect on the spot.

I think you did good.

 

[Fast Learner]

If it possible for the DM to cheat.

As noted, there's no such thing as the DM cheating.

There is such a thing as the DM breaking the trust, though. There's an unspoken bond between the DM and the players that the DM will work to make the game fun, and the players will work to make the DMing fun. If anyone does something that is designed to, say, hurt someone's feelings or make the game suck then the trust is broken. It's when this trust is broken that people will most often complain about cheating.

You did something good, imo.

 

[Zarthon]

I think it was perfectly OK. Anything that makes the game more fun for everyone is OK. Heck, I do that sort of things constantly.

"Cheating" is really not possible for the DM, because no rules bind you. You could have been unfair if the PCs had already met the villain, knew that he had no DR feat but he had Epic WF, and then you changed it in their second encounter.

What Zappo said