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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8651607" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Yeah, even if what you did was wrong at the time, it's not like nobody has ever failed to make mistakes as a DM.We learn and carry on.&nbsp; Matter of fact, I'll share my &quot;bad DM tale&quot;.3.5 game.&nbsp; Had a player decide to make a pretty shabby character concept, a Fighter/Sorcerer who used a double weapon.&nbsp; Stats were ok, but they never seemed to clue in that their character wasn't cutting the mustard.&nbsp; Too used to 2e multiclassing I think.Now I try to balance AC's of enemies- I figure any character who has a reason to actually be in melee should hit on a 12 at the worst.&nbsp; So if the lowest attack bonus is +6, you're not going to see an AC higher than 18 save for special enemies.But their bad attack bonus was becoming a problem since I had better melee attackers.&nbsp; They rarely missed, and one was using Power Attack to drop their attack bonus to about the same as the Forcerer's and doing like double the damage.Plus, the first couple turns of any fight, the Forcerer was buffing themselves.But after awhile, they seemed to settle into a groove, and I stopped worrying.&nbsp; Then came a fight when the Forcerer was mind controlled by an Erinyes and forced to fight the party.They singled out the best warrior and started critting on them like crazy- the guy almost died.Afterwards, another player comes up to me and says &quot;hey man, the Forcerer is cheating.&nbsp; I've been noticing it for awhile, but kept my mouth shut.&nbsp; But those crits against the other PC weren't legit, and that's not cool.&quot;I thought about this and decided to hatch a plot.&nbsp; There was an NPC the Forcerer had already developed an enmity with.&nbsp; In the campaign, there were Hobgoblin poison masters, and the party had already run into some of their foul concoctions.So an insidious poison was put into the Forcerer's food at the inn (I made a bunch of rolls out in the open and asked everyone to make checks- fake checks for most of them.&nbsp; The Cleric was worried when they rolled a 1, lol).Then later, after they rested, I had everyone make Fort saves.&nbsp; Again, fake, save for my victim.&nbsp; The poison was a truly terrifying one that lowered your Constitution, but the only visible effects were a slight fever.Halfway through the next fight, I informed them that their hit point total was lower than they thought, and they died.I went to all that work to justify &quot;bolts from the blue&quot; or &quot;rocks fall&quot;, rather than confront the player.&nbsp; Not my shining moment of glory, and I learned from that.If a player is a massive jerk, always confront them.&nbsp; Then kick them if they don't change their ways.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8651607, member: 6877472"] Yeah, even [B]if[/B] what you did was wrong at the time, it's not like nobody has ever failed to make mistakes as a DM. We learn and carry on. Matter of fact, I'll share my "bad DM tale". 3.5 game. Had a player decide to make a pretty shabby character concept, a Fighter/Sorcerer who used a double weapon. Stats were ok, but they never seemed to clue in that their character wasn't cutting the mustard. Too used to 2e multiclassing I think. Now I try to balance AC's of enemies- I figure any character who has a reason to actually be in melee should hit on a 12 at the worst. So if the lowest attack bonus is +6, you're not going to see an AC higher than 18 save for special enemies. But their bad attack bonus was becoming a problem since I had better melee attackers. They rarely missed, and one was using Power Attack to drop their attack bonus to about the same as the Forcerer's and doing like double the damage. Plus, the first couple turns of any fight, the Forcerer was buffing themselves. But after awhile, they seemed to settle into a groove, and I stopped worrying. Then came a fight when the Forcerer was mind controlled by an Erinyes and forced to fight the party. They singled out the best warrior and started critting on them like crazy- the guy almost died. Afterwards, another player comes up to me and says "hey man, the Forcerer is cheating. I've been noticing it for awhile, but kept my mouth shut. But those crits against the other PC weren't legit, and that's not cool." I thought about this and decided to hatch a plot. There was an NPC the Forcerer had already developed an enmity with. In the campaign, there were Hobgoblin poison masters, and the party had already run into some of their foul concoctions. So an insidious poison was put into the Forcerer's food at the inn (I made a bunch of rolls out in the open and asked everyone to make checks- fake checks for most of them. The Cleric was worried when they rolled a 1, lol). Then later, after they rested, I had everyone make Fort saves. Again, fake, save for my victim. The poison was a truly terrifying one that lowered your Constitution, but the only visible effects were a slight fever. Halfway through the next fight, I informed them that their hit point total was lower than they thought, and they died. I went to all that work to justify "bolts from the blue" or "rocks fall", rather than confront the player. Not my shining moment of glory, and I learned from that. If a player is a massive jerk, always confront them. Then kick them if they don't change their ways. [/QUOTE]

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