Is picking spells to counter the DM's tactics undermining the fun of the game?

[Charles Rampant]

Now, you might want to ask the dm this same question. Explain that you don't want to ruin his fun, but that if the bad guys can do it to you, and you can do it to them, you will.

This is pretty interesting. One issue that came up in the Cyberpunk 2020 game i'm playing in now is that, in a system where rounds are 3.2 seconds, you can do multiple actions (eg, reload, fire another shot, move) in return for taking a -3 penalty on the dice rolls for those actions. Now, the GM told us not to do that, as if we started doing it, so do the enemies. He cited the GMs book which said that some people try to powergame by doing stuff like, for their extra actions, shooting, reloading, running up to someone point blank, shooting again. This is dodgy since the 2nd and 3rd actions take no penalty (no dice involved) and shooting at point blank is pathetically easy, so the penalty can be ignored.

When the party does this - use more actions - the enemies do it straight back. That seems fair to me, especially since the enemies only do it in reaction to us.

Somewhat back on topic...

Your GM is really pushing your group here, sorta like an endurance game. Fight back. After all, your roleplaying your character, and what character would want to be constantly attacked if he could stop it?

And that house rule, wtf. One does not drop stuff like that on players. It's just not done. You explain it, let them use it first, print it out so everyone can look it over and remember it. After all, why was your archer not doing the same to the enemies in that combat he was firing at?

Not to mention the dubiousness of totally destroying a characters ability to act in the short term. That's not bad, it could be an interesting situation certainly, but it just doesn't seem very... planned out. Random combats shouldn't really make characters unable to fight in the next one...

 

[S'mon]

I think... hm... I think, although this is heresy, that breaking your arm is ok if done by simple one-off GM fiat, no "rule" involved. I don't think it's smart to invoke an unknown 'house rule' since obviously players can use house rules too. When the game becomes adversarial, nobody wins.

Edit: I use Fate Points, if I declared that a PC's arm was broken I would award an FP in compensation for being 'screwed over by fate'.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

From what I can see, none of the spells you are talking about choosing would be done as a result of metagaming. Your characters have observed the effects of what has been happening and have become paranoid. I say load up and use whatever tactics you can to take out the opponents quickly.

That said I too would be concerned the way this game seems to be turning. The body parts damage rule seems excessive to be dropped into the middle of a fight. If you are going to continue, I suggest also finding ways to buff out your party's spot, listen etc. to reduce the chances of being surprised as these rules give a very strong advantage to whomever gets the drop on the other.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Personally, if a DM pulled out this kind of "house rule" out of the blue on me, I'd have quit the game there and then. It's unfair because it seems obviously invented on the spot just for you, and if it wasn't you should have been told in advance.

Agreed - my adversarial game detector has just exploded.

Something else must be wrong for the DM to pull such a stunt.

 

[Templeton580]

*

 

[S'mon]

Good point from Cutter.

 

[Zappo]

I hope that this is not the case, but very often it isn't so easy. Every single time I've played with a DM that announced house rules right when they would screw the PCs the greatest, and then dodged fairness issues by saying that the PCs could do that too, the campaign exploded soon afterwards.

The implications of body part damage rules so tough that a single hit can prevent spellcasting and require a 7th level spell to fix are huge. The DM has effectively revolutionized combat and thrown existing balance out of the window. You simply don't do that out of the blue, it won't work. Letting the PCs use it may make it fair (not - fairness means telling your house rules in advance), but it still won't work.

 

[Voldrath]

Well, the next round comes, and as I prepare to do my part of beating the snot out of the archer, I'm informed that, with a broken arm, I can't use spells with somatic components. That's all of my spells. That's ok, as I was dominating this fight.

Is it not stated somewhere that you can use one hand for somantic components?
I can't remember where i read that.

[EDIT] Ah here it is.

Somatic (S): A somatic component is a measured and precise movement of the hand. You must have at least one hand free to provide a somatic component.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Heh, I would just have answered 'no, it is not alright, but we can talk about it after the game, but not in this encounter'. He did ask, so I would not be stuffing my dice back into the bag at that point, just not have said 'yes'. If he then did it anyway I would leave, you don't drop house rules with that big an effect into the game with no notice.

The Auld Grump

 

[Angel of Adventure]

You owe it to yourselves to use everything in your power to not get your butts kicked. If talking about the rules w/your DM gets you nowhere, then use every spell, attack strategy, or dirty trick that you have to win the fight. Can broken body parts be taken care of with a polymorph spell?