Varianor Abroad
Explorer
ZSutherland said:
Quoted for truth.
Is this fair? -- your personal opinion
- Thread starter Quasqueton
- Start date
Quoted for truth.
merelycompetent
First Post
Other - Again, not enough information. See here for details why: http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=3020822&postcount=43
As a DM and a player, I've run into too many situations that appear "unfair", when the reality is that the players (myself included) ignored all the warning signs, got a bad case of "dice-itis" or "hack-itis", or decided to go for "just one more room - how bad could it be?" Note that I do not discount a possible DM screw-up or killer DM situation in this either. We simply don't have enough information to form a valid conclusion. Heck, with the info available, we don't even know for sure if the Monk is dead. He might have been teleported to the other side of the secret door and replaced with a pile of dust.
As a DM and a player, I've run into too many situations that appear "unfair", when the reality is that the players (myself included) ignored all the warning signs, got a bad case of "dice-itis" or "hack-itis", or decided to go for "just one more room - how bad could it be?" Note that I do not discount a possible DM screw-up or killer DM situation in this either. We simply don't have enough information to form a valid conclusion. Heck, with the info available, we don't even know for sure if the Monk is dead. He might have been teleported to the other side of the secret door and replaced with a pile of dust.
coyote6
Adventurer
Not enough information, Magic Eight Ball says: "Answer hazy, vote Other".
Did they cast detect magic? Why pull the lever anyways? Bare room, secret door with no way to open it, and a lever on the floor -- there doesn't seem to be any connection between lever and door. It screams "trap" to me. They had the MacGuffin, why were they hanging around to yank on strange levers? If time was of the essence, they should've been getting gone; if time wasn't of the essence, and they were curious/greedy, why not wait until the next day and have the cleric throw an augury at the lever? What's the dungeon? (If it was some legendary epic wizard's long-lost sanctum that had been found & occupied by someone else, then maybe a random uber trap in a corner might make some sense.) Etc.
Did they cast detect magic? Why pull the lever anyways? Bare room, secret door with no way to open it, and a lever on the floor -- there doesn't seem to be any connection between lever and door. It screams "trap" to me. They had the MacGuffin, why were they hanging around to yank on strange levers? If time was of the essence, they should've been getting gone; if time wasn't of the essence, and they were curious/greedy, why not wait until the next day and have the cleric throw an augury at the lever? What's the dungeon? (If it was some legendary epic wizard's long-lost sanctum that had been found & occupied by someone else, then maybe a random uber trap in a corner might make some sense.) Etc.
Mishihari Lord
First Post
There's not enough info to really decide. But I like to give the benefit of the doubt - I assumed that there's a context for such a deathtrap and that the players have had some kind of clue that pulling random levers is a bad thing. I voted fair.
Dire_Pug
First Post
I'd say at first glance that this is a borderline case. The save DC sounds pretty high (especially if the monk failed it) and the consequences are a little harsh. I could certainly see unleashing some other damaging spell (preferable one without a save or die mechanic) with this trap. Taking out a character via disintegration to teach them not to pull random levels in your dungeons seems a liitle heavy handed.
Heathansson
First Post
Just don't whine when the pc's "wise up" and start taking 20 to search every inch of the dungeon for traps from now on...
Sometimes, it's condusive to the game for the players to be a little daft about things.
Hyper-paranoia is boring, and it's this kind of crap that initiates it.
Sometimes, it's condusive to the game for the players to be a little daft about things.
Hyper-paranoia is boring, and it's this kind of crap that initiates it.
If his DM wants to encourage the bold heroism of "We take 20 on all skill checks, cast every detection spell we have, avoid anything that looks even remotely dangerous, and assume that we could die with effectively no chance to save ourselves at any time," he's doing a wonderful time.
Real life isn't fair. I completely agree. I could get taken out by an Apache attack chopper on my way to work. My console could have been rigged with explosives by anti-video-game terrorists. I could get hit by a bullet from someone firing a gun into the air half a mile away.
And do you know why I play roleplaying games? It's NOT because I want to replicate real life. I want fun. The kind of play experience I described above is not fun for me.
Real life isn't fair. I completely agree. I could get taken out by an Apache attack chopper on my way to work. My console could have been rigged with explosives by anti-video-game terrorists. I could get hit by a bullet from someone firing a gun into the air half a mile away.
And do you know why I play roleplaying games? It's NOT because I want to replicate real life. I want fun. The kind of play experience I described above is not fun for me.
