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Is my DM being fair?
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<blockquote data-quote="WarpedAcorn" data-source="post: 7141187" data-attributes="member: 6819400"><p>This makes the situation makes sense. It is definitely the DM not understanding the intention of the Surprise round. </p><p></p><p>In his mind, your DM is thinking that if the enemy is going to fire a crossbow at you and you have the feat, then that means you mystically know you are going to be shot. This is wrong. Instead, the DM should be looking at this as the guy with the crossbow is making an aggressive action and (if your Initiative is high enough) you are able to react faster.</p><p></p><p>This is not magic. In fact this is actually pretty common in the real world. Our brains are designed in a way that we can react to a stimulus quicker than we formulate a plan on initial action. The best cinematic example of this is the old-fashioned Western Showdown. The trope is that the two duelers stand in the street waiting for the other to move, they twitch, they stare, they build tension. But what is the one thing that these moments share? The guy that makes the first move gets shot first. This is because the other guy was waiting to react.</p><p></p><p>Back to the Surprise Action though. Spider-sense is a good way to look at it. The player with the Alert Feat has a bad feeling and is always on their toes. They feel a change in the wind, hear something different, or spot something strange. However you want to explain it, they notice the danger before the others and can act during the Surprise Round. Sometimes this means they can act before the person doing the Surprising. Think of other cinematic attacks by Assassins that hide and leap out to attack, only to have the protagonist not Surprised, but ready to counter the Surprise attack.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately the DM is the final say during the session, but I believe your DM does not understand how the Feat and the Surprise Round are meant to function. Also, spending a Feat on anything is a big deal. Feats should change the way you play and give you something very meaningful. In this case, it might mean trivializing a big part of the game. But the DM needs to understand that this is OK and not a bad thing. He needs to let his players be good at what they specialized in. If one guy has high AC, let him get attacked a lot so he feels the value of the AC. If one guy is heavily invested in AoE, throw in a bunch of mobs for them to take out. If someone is heavily invested in Face skills, let some dialogue lead to interesting outcomes. It makes the game table more interesting and it makes the players feel good about their characters.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WarpedAcorn, post: 7141187, member: 6819400"] This makes the situation makes sense. It is definitely the DM not understanding the intention of the Surprise round. In his mind, your DM is thinking that if the enemy is going to fire a crossbow at you and you have the feat, then that means you mystically know you are going to be shot. This is wrong. Instead, the DM should be looking at this as the guy with the crossbow is making an aggressive action and (if your Initiative is high enough) you are able to react faster. This is not magic. In fact this is actually pretty common in the real world. Our brains are designed in a way that we can react to a stimulus quicker than we formulate a plan on initial action. The best cinematic example of this is the old-fashioned Western Showdown. The trope is that the two duelers stand in the street waiting for the other to move, they twitch, they stare, they build tension. But what is the one thing that these moments share? The guy that makes the first move gets shot first. This is because the other guy was waiting to react. Back to the Surprise Action though. Spider-sense is a good way to look at it. The player with the Alert Feat has a bad feeling and is always on their toes. They feel a change in the wind, hear something different, or spot something strange. However you want to explain it, they notice the danger before the others and can act during the Surprise Round. Sometimes this means they can act before the person doing the Surprising. Think of other cinematic attacks by Assassins that hide and leap out to attack, only to have the protagonist not Surprised, but ready to counter the Surprise attack. Ultimately the DM is the final say during the session, but I believe your DM does not understand how the Feat and the Surprise Round are meant to function. Also, spending a Feat on anything is a big deal. Feats should change the way you play and give you something very meaningful. In this case, it might mean trivializing a big part of the game. But the DM needs to understand that this is OK and not a bad thing. He needs to let his players be good at what they specialized in. If one guy has high AC, let him get attacked a lot so he feels the value of the AC. If one guy is heavily invested in AoE, throw in a bunch of mobs for them to take out. If someone is heavily invested in Face skills, let some dialogue lead to interesting outcomes. It makes the game table more interesting and it makes the players feel good about their characters. [/QUOTE]
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