DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
I do the same. If I didn't create the foe with certain features, they don't just "get them" in the middle of a fight because I want them to. There was a thread a while ago about DMs doing such things--and I also totally consider it cheating.I apply a strict rule of:" If it is not not written, it does not have it." Period. Acting any otherwise would simply be cheating in my POV. So no, I would not add powers or items to a foe in the middle of the fight. If the group dies, it dies. If it kills my BBEG swiftly because of luck, great tactics or both, so be it. Easy fights or hard kne will not be modified because I feel like it. I do not fudge and roll.on the open. A gritty realism game we play and doing this, modifying a creature on the fly, would be disrespectful to my players.
After all, players don't get to add stuff to their characters in the middle of fight either, do they?
Not at all. It just means you play in an established "world" for the game instead of fluid one.Really? Oof. That seems very limiting.
If I was playing with a DM who changed things "mid fight", I would leave. Changing things after the session, or making changes for next time if it fits the world's narrative (like a caster swapping prepared spells) is fine--but in the middle of a fight? No way.