Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5147864" data-attributes="member: 4937">Hmmmm... all those rules seem pretty bad but I can concieve at least of why a DM would do this one.&nbsp; This is the sort of rule that DM's pull out when he has cheaters at the table and he doesn't feel comfortable confronting them.&nbsp; Of all the rolls that a player does, the two that matter most to cheaters are iniative rolls and saving throws, and of the two, the one that annoys DM's the most is initiative rolls.&nbsp; The reason cheaters cheat on initiative is that in many combats, the side that wins initiative has a huge advantage.&nbsp; Many D&amp;D combats are over in 1-3 rounds, so the side that wins initiative advantage gets effectively 50% or 100% more damage inflicted than the side that loses.&nbsp; One of the ways to get around cheaters indirectly is to impose rolls like this were the cheater doesn't know whether to report a high roll or a low roll for his check.&nbsp; You can do something take a cup and turn it over without revealing the dice, and the cheater doesn't know whether to report he rolled high or low (doing it like this is the best method, because the first instinct of a cheater is to project on to the DM his own faults).&nbsp; Hense, you've stopped the cheater from stealing spotlight from the other players and reducing the game state to a degenerate one without having to confront the player directly and risking a friendship, wrecking the social dynamics of the table, etc.&nbsp; Usually cheaters are pretty smart players, so if you pull this kind of rule out, they'll probably figure out why you did it hopefully be impressed with your fairness and in some cases clean up their acts.The other aspect of this rule, initiative changing every round is one I've often been tempted to use because it makes the events of a round more surprising.&nbsp; The main reason I don't is that its just a huge burden in book keeping and dice rolling and that mitigates against everything you gain.&nbsp; However, in formal duels between two combatants I do often use the initiative changes every round rule to increase the tactical complexity and interest of the fight.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5147864, member: 4937"] Hmmmm... all those rules seem pretty bad but I can concieve at least of why a DM would do this one. This is the sort of rule that DM's pull out when he has cheaters at the table and he doesn't feel comfortable confronting them. Of all the rolls that a player does, the two that matter most to cheaters are iniative rolls and saving throws, and of the two, the one that annoys DM's the most is initiative rolls. The reason cheaters cheat on initiative is that in many combats, the side that wins initiative has a huge advantage. Many D&D combats are over in 1-3 rounds, so the side that wins initiative advantage gets effectively 50% or 100% more damage inflicted than the side that loses. One of the ways to get around cheaters indirectly is to impose rolls like this were the cheater doesn't know whether to report a high roll or a low roll for his check. You can do something take a cup and turn it over without revealing the dice, and the cheater doesn't know whether to report he rolled high or low (doing it like this is the best method, because the first instinct of a cheater is to project on to the DM his own faults). Hense, you've stopped the cheater from stealing spotlight from the other players and reducing the game state to a degenerate one without having to confront the player directly and risking a friendship, wrecking the social dynamics of the table, etc. Usually cheaters are pretty smart players, so if you pull this kind of rule out, they'll probably figure out why you did it hopefully be impressed with your fairness and in some cases clean up their acts. The other aspect of this rule, initiative changing every round is one I've often been tempted to use because it makes the events of a round more surprising. The main reason I don't is that its just a huge burden in book keeping and dice rolling and that mitigates against everything you gain. However, in formal duels between two combatants I do often use the initiative changes every round rule to increase the tactical complexity and interest of the fight. [/QUOTE]

Verification