Is this bad DMing

[Chupacabra]

Horrible, stinky, putrid, inexcusable DMing.

Bending or breaking the rules to make sure that a character doesn't die is sometimes acceptable. Bending or breaking to make sure that a particular character, and only that character doesn't die is utter manure. Compounded by the fact that the DM wouldn't even give you the time of day when you called him on it. Now if the barbarian player was the DM's hot girlfriend would not sleep with him for a week if her character died, well, maybe he has a vested interest in keeping the barb alive. Short of that explanation, nothing else justifies this behavior.

Do the other players (except for the barbarian) feel the same way about this favoritism? Maybe you can get enough of them together to have a sort-of player coup d'etat and let the DM know that if he does not change his ways, the peasants are going to march on the capital (or at least march on over to another game).

PS - did I mention that this is bad DMing?

 

[Terwox]

Tremendously bad DM'ing.
You already called him on it and he blew you off.
Quit, it only gets worse from here, in most situations.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Wow, leave and if any of the other players are any good take them with you!

or as I was going to suggest (but Thanee beat me to it) play a Barbarian and, if possible before you go, slay the offending DM's pet if you can manage.

and after taking it his head shout at the top of your lungs: "There can BE only one...DM's pet!"

 

[Mr. Kaze]

I'm going to take the unpopular opinion and say that "Death doesn't have to happen at -10 and the DM doesn't have to follow the rules," because I've used this opinion to ensure that my group could continue a storyline they were having fun with when their characters would've given up had the eldest and most knowledgeable of them been killed.

The real problem here, though, is that there's percieved favoritism resulting in the player(s?) of other recently deceased characters not having fun. And if they're not having fun, then they shouldn't be playing with that DM because that DM hasn't learned the proper reasons for bending rules.

Even so, I can't imagine arbitrarily giving somebody +2 HP just to keep them alive after being clobbered (not bleeding out, just flat-out maimed) -- very strange behavior for a DM, especially with regards to a tank character.

Unless, of course, the DM is trying to put forth a not-entirely-subtle (but should be much more direct) clue that s/he's tired of the player whining about the rules and such. But that would still be a problem with the DM lacking proper communication skills to just come out and say it.

::Kaze (is one of those wierdo storyteller DMs who believes "it's good for the story" is a better reason for doing something than "it's in the rules", so take this post with however much salt suits your fancy)

 

[dontpunkme]

further evidence that this player is indeed the dm's pet- he had a frostband (flamberge instead of greatsword) at 7th level.

 

[BSF]

::Kaze (is one of those wierdo storyteller DMs who believes "it's good for the story" is a better reason for doing something than "it's in the rules", so take this post with however much salt suits your fancy)

Nothing wrong with that so long as you provide equal opportunities to all the PC's. If you want to change the rules, that's fine. Be consistent and be sure your Players are aware of it.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Bad DMing all the way around. Bad players too if they put up with it.

 

[Tatsukun]

Just to play devil’s advocate (No, that’s not a new D20 world) here…

I’ve played in a few games where the death rate was high mostly due to a bad mix of PCs. We would have something like three fighters and a monk, no healing, no artillery. It seems like this party is plotting and scheming against each other a lot, maybe this lack of teamwork is affecting the death rate.

Now, I’ve DM’ed a few games where the death rate was running too high for my taste. After a PC dies, you chalk it up to bad luck, the second one you wince at, the third one you really try to keep from dieing. It could be that your DM is trying to save the party form more deaths and the barb happens to be the first one he’s really tried to keep alive. If another PC dies and he does nothing, give him/her a boot to the head.

As for gear, remember that various classes are more/less dependant on gear. A frostbrand sword is, what, about 50K retail? Well, that’s WAY too much for a level 7 PC. But in terms of YOUR game, a 50K retail price means it’s 25K wholesale. I’m assuming your party found it somewhere. That means you could only get the wholesale price or it, and that nobody else wants to use it.

So the barbarian has 25K of the party gold. What do other people have? I (as a player and DM) tend to let fighters, barbs, and monks have a little more of the party gold since they really depend on gear. The cleric and sorcerer can live (literally survive) without as much gold.

I guess that’s it, I hope you can save the game!

-Tatsu

 

[random user]

Allowing the fort save... questionable. When that failed allowing a reroll? Um, I would have left at that point.

The only way a reroll *might* sit ok with me is if the DM went something like: "Hrm people are dying too much, what if I institute action points which you can use to prevent death. Everyone gets 2 action points per level. How would you guys feel about that?"

Not knowing when rules are going to be abided by and when they are going to be rewritten on the fly is an anathema to me.

 

[MarauderX]

...the party barbarian (our dm's choice class, who happens to have the best weapon, armor, and a ring of protection+4) gets dropped to hp=-11. Upon finding out that the barbarian is technically dead the DM rules he's a -10 (which suddenly isn't dead in our dm's book).

The party barbarian doesn't have any CON bonuses to help him out? That barbarian is just asking to be dog meat with a CON=10 or 11.

... The DM awards him a fort save to stay alive at DC22 and the player rolls a 2 giving him a overwhelming failure, the dm gives him a reroll which of course he makes. The dm rules the barbarian is still alive. My question: is this bad DMing?

Sure is, IMO.

...I've voiced my opinion of the situation to the DM and he shot me down without even thinking.

Not a bad move by the DM to not go back on rulings, even bad ones. But there is a limit.

...I'm considering leaving the group because I'm getting pretty fed up with favoritism from the DM. The DM insists that his decision making was perfectly fair and all rules are subject to DM discretion (insert jerking hand motion here).

Follow your instinct, leave, get someone else in the group to DM, or form your own group. I joined a similar group for one session, got fed up with the on-the-fly rules changes, and never went back. Things like that drive me crazy... to the point of attacking the pet PCs and/or uber-pet NPCs.