Is this a case of GM bias, if so, what to do?

[Ranes]

Well, I think that GMW has had an issue with SO, that said issue has been discussed between GM and GMW, that for whatever reason GM has sought to resolve the issue without raising it, by DM fiat. The issue might have been as simple as, "Her character is treading on my character's toes." At the moment, if I'm right, only DM and DMW know what the issue is. It may be that DM doesn't agree with DMW but he's trying to disconnect the underlying cause of DMW's grievance without punishing SO.

The issue is the elephant. The peanuts are just a snack.

 

[Nifft]

"Elephant on the table" is psycho-talk for "huge problem everyone is deliberately ignoring". For example, if everyone in the family weighs 400 lbs., and one of the kids is depressed, it just might have something to do with his weight -- and it's the one topic that his (400 lb.) parents aren't willing to discuss.

-- N, psycho-translator

 

[Nifft]

PS: I keep parsing "GMW" as "Greater Magic Wife".

PPS: This useless fluff is my 3,500th post.

PPPS: Prolific. Useless. Am I now qualified for the [Hivemind]?

 

[Ranes]

Thanks, Nifft. I guess I should say that I was envisioning a small, baby elephant in this case.

Regarding your PPPS: All your post are now belong to us.

 

[Wikid Klown]

In reference to a post I read on here, no, vampires do not loose Dex, and spawn can't be played unless the vampire released it's controle (or a house rule, of course, but that's why they're called spawn). Unless they changed something in Libris Mortis, where you can play a Vamp Spawn, here are the printed stats.
Str:16 Dex:14 Con- Int:13 Wis:13 Cha:14
You said SO lost 4 dex, I'm guessing that it's from the DM using the printed stats, where if he was doing things the logical way, he'd raise them from the average 10 and 11's, meaning SO would gain 6 Str, 4 Dex, and probably the Cha (vampire, come on).
As for the problem at hand, about the favoratism, sounds like it somewhat, unless he rolled a dice on a make shift table and changed all of you. Or he might not have been looking at the stats when he changed you, either one. Also, the stat change is dependant on how you were changed, if it was just from being in Ravenloft too long, then yeah, if it was from a spell, like Polymorph, then no. Compirmise with the DM, see what happens, toy around with it, and if you aren't having fun, walk, and make sure the DM knows you're serious about it, since the whole reason of playing is to have fun. Hope I helped ya some, if not, well...sorry you had to waste time readin this.

 

[Nightfall]

Speaking from experience, when the GM favors ANYONE, it's a bad thing. I admit, I favored Silas, my PC's paladin. But I always tried to ensure the others in the group had similiar "bouts" of good luck. Well some times.

In any event, run and find a new group.

 

[scourger]

no bias

I see no bias here. The first change, not allowing the move + draw a weapon, is not surprising. Like the other poster above, I have considered disallowing it. It appears in a footnote. How important could it be? I think it makes Quick Draw undervalued. But I will also agree with the other poster above who mentioned that Quick Draw is still useful to some types--like thrown weapon users (I had a killer ranger who used Quick Draw to always be able to get armed for multiple ranged or melee attacks).

The items sound okay, too. Everyone got something cool and appropriate to the character. The brestplate shouldn't even still be an issue if it has now been replaced by magic plate awarded by the group to DMW.

The next change doesn't sound biased either. SO should JUMP at the chance to play a vampire (or spawn), even temporarily. I would. Anything to get something a little out of the ordinary.

It sounds as if there is alot of metagaming at your non-combat, roleplay intensive game. I think a little metagaming or min/maxing or munchkinism is okay and even shows genuine interest in one's character. SO going from 18 DEX to 14 DEX shouldn't cripple the PC. The bonus just reduces from +4 to +2, and it may be temporary. It shouldn't be as a big a problem in your non-combat, roleplay intensive game. Over-analyzing other's characters feats, skills, spells, etc., sometimes leads to problems. I've been there. I'm sure you and others posting here have been as well. I find it better to min/max my own character and let the other players do the same unless they ask for my advice.

I'm sure you have also experienced true DM bias as I have and as I am sure other posters have. My most recent experience with it was just a couple of months ago. For simplicity, I'll refer to 2 of my buddies as DM and DMF (favorite). It was DMF who got DM back into gaming after several years away. DM ran a game that was based largely on the PC of DMF. There were many other games and many other issues. Suffice to say that our group hit some rough patches. But it was during and just after DM's game that the most recent turmoil erupted. After many bitter emails within our group, DMF quit. Then, DM took a "hiatus". It is not ALL attributed to DM bais or favoritism, but the issues probably could have been avoided or minimized. The bottom line for us is that we lost 2 members, 1 a DM & player and 1 a player.

Thankfully, we are all still friends. Another buddy rejoined now that those 2 left, and I am still able to DM 4 friends.

My point is that it is just a game and just for fun. It sounds as if you are having a great time and your DM is bending over backwards to be fair. Don't rock the boat is my advice. Voice a concern IN PERSON if you MUST (email can too easily be "misconscrewed") and then LET IT GO. Who do you think DM is going to choose if you and SO make a big issue out of it and force him to make a choice? I bet he'll choose DMW.

Save yourself some trouble. Relax. Enjoy.

 

[billd91]

I think I have to agree with scourger and suggest that you lighten up a bit on the worries about bias. The GMW, being a new player, may be feeling a bit insecure and so was concerned about another PC overshadowing her after the DM probably helped her come up with something he called a 'good, effective character'.

As far as the Quick Draw thing goes, the DM may not be really clear on the implications of what Quick Draw is good for (those aforementioned throwing rogues and so on) and is probably trying to cover his butt with his wife because he told her it was a decent feat for a combat brickhouse. It's certainly not worth breaking up the gaming group for.

With respect to the vampirish transformation, your SO should lighten up on that too. It's only a shift of a +2 bonus and shouldn't a DM have the power to shake players out of their comfort zones every once in a while? Especially in a role-playing heavy game, I'd expect it from time to time. Let the player figure out how the PC would adapt to the changed conditions instead of complaining about ruining the character's concept. As players, you aren't in total control of the game, nor is the DM for that matter because he can't control your actions, but you really can't expect that everything will go your characters' way without having things adversely affect them from time to time, can you? If you're having fun, give it a rest and roll the dice.

 

[Patman21967]

Hell...bail out and you guys can come join my Sunday night game....

 

[fusangite]

Let me put another spin on what is going on here:

I've recently begun gaming with a bunch of new people. We are all coming from different levels of knowledge and bodies of house-rules. As you've noticed, house rules typically come into being out of a misunderstanding of the actual rules.

Maybe it's not the popular theme of female rivalry that you're dealing with. Maybe it's that your wife has shown up the GM and made him feel less than knowledgeable by showing how to create an impressive kind of fighter who has not been previously considered. Often, even when there is equal knowledge of the rules, the male half of the couple is very involved in the making of the partner's character. It may be that both by making a cooler characters and demonstrating a superior knowledge of the rules, your wife is threatening the GM as much or more than his wife.

A common GM reaction to a player getting "uppity" is the sort of thing that has just happened -- something that shows who is in authority in an unequivocal way. I have seen people respond this way as a way of giving a social cue to a player than their superior knowledge of rules loopholes will only get them so far. Sometimes such responses have even been directed at me.

I think that if the GM has in mind to make this a permanent change, it's probably time to go. I just made a 25 point buy character with an 18 and I can see how little fun the character would be with her Dex knocked down to 14. But it may be that the GM will let her get her 4 points of Dex back once he's re-established, to his satisfaction, his role as alpha-male of rules. If the latter is the case, perhaps you should re-evaluate who is being more petty and immature.