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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ralts Bloodthorne" data-source="post: 2928254" data-attributes="member: 6390">There's a few other things I kind of want to cover. Two of them are hot topics in current threads, but seeing as they have to do with GMing, I'll put them here.#1: The Paladin, The Cleric & The Monk Walk Into A Bar....The Paladin, the Cleric, and the Monk, all have extraordinary abilities compared to the other classes. Even the Wizard and Sorcerer are not as amazing as these character classes, and as such, they are often seen as unbalanced.HOWEVER...This is easily handled, if you place on thing into the setting...Orders.Holy Orders, Monkish Orders.The PaladinWith his combat prowess, spell, healing ability, and obvious social standing, the Paladin is versatile enough to handle the open combat field, the indoor fighting, and the political arena. Specially chosen by his or her God, charged with seeking out enemies of the church and protecting those the church sees as special, the Paladin is a potentially unsettling influence on a campaign.However, these powers come at a price that isn't covered by mechanics. It's up to, the GM, to enforce that price, and to make the player aware that the price exists.The biggest one is the Paladin's Code. In my campaign, this includes: The Code of Conduct, The Oath of Law, and the Bond of Goodness. These guidelines state how the Paladin will comport himself, and is as follows:Code of ConductI will:Represent my Church and God in a good lightFight honorably without foolishly surrendering advantages that will allow me to defeat the foes of my church, of law, and of goodly folk.Treat others with respect due to their station, their rank, their position, or their status as one of God's creatures.Maintain an appearance that does not bring shame or dishonor upon my church or my order.Follow the commands of my superiors and of my church.The Oath of LawAs a standard of law and justice, I hereby swear to:Follow the Laws of GodFollow the Laws of the Church, so long as they do not conflict with the Laws of GodFollow the Laws of the King, if those laws are indeed just.Follow the Laws of the Land, providing they meet the above.Seek to ensure that the Law is obeyed, but temper the Law with justice and mercy.Encourage others to follow the law by deed and example.Uphold the Law by bringing Law to the lawless, seeking to redeem those who break the law, and by enforcing the law when needed.Bond of GoodnessBy the powers vested in me, by the love and grace of my God, I shall:Strive to uphold the tenets of good.Seek to protect goodly folk.Seek out evil and bring it unto the law and mete out justice upon it.Protect places of goodness and kingdoms that uphold goodness.These codes pretty much cover a lot of things. It lets him go out and slay evil, fight the cackling madman, and protect the innocent, as well as keeping a Paladin from killing anyone who parts his hair differently than the bible states to.Penances, atonements, and duties to the church and god are also good ways to keep a paladin in line. Having a local vicar tell the paladin that he fears for the paladin's soul, and perhaps the paladin would give the evening sermon for the next week and help chop wood for widows can give the paladin something to do while the wizard researches a spell or creates a magic item.Having to guard a caravan of pilgrims that must travel through monster infested country, having to check to see if rumors of heresy in a border church, being ordered to oversee the trial of a high profile criminal, all of them are things that the paladin can be ordered by his superiors to do.Now, many will say: "Oh, that's railroading, and I'd throw a fit!" Fine. Throw a fit. A paladin comes with duties and responsibilities with those cool powers, and you can either play a paladin and discharge those duties and responsibilities, or you can play a fallen paladin that is excommunicated from the church, or you can play a different character.LET THE PLAYER KNOW IN ADVANCE ABOUT HIS DUTIES!If he bitches later, he's always free to leave the church and set aside his Paladinhood.The Cleric...Spells, armor, decent saves, and good toe to toe slugging ability. A powerful mix, and one players of Wizards always say needs to be nerfed.However, they have duties to the church also. They may be ordered to go forth and cure the sick and lame, take famine/plague relief supplies through dangerous territory, carry an important message for a nobleman, act as a chaplain to a powerful general (dragging the PC's into the war as the Cleric's bodyguard), etc etc etc.The most important thing to remember, is that the Cleric is beholden to his God. If his god doesn't like what he's doing, or feels that humility and piety is taking a back seat to blood and glory, the cleric can get visitations by celestial beings, stripped of his powers, or suddenly "called home" to serve the god at his feet.Now, the last is blatant GM fiat, but hey, it's always out there.God's won't appreciate being constantly asked to heal the worshipper of another god, or having to constantly heal an atheist or agnostic character, and may communicate to the cleric that the healing recipient can either begin to donate/sacrifice to the Gods glory, or convert.It's the GOD'S power that the cleric is channeling, and the cleric better not forget it. And neither should his friends. For a good example of what the Gods see, look around the table. The players are the gods controlling the actions of the mortal characters. Just as you and the players know the characters plans, fates, and actions, so do the Gods.Good luck to the characters trying to fool the gods.Now, this curtails the cleric, and may seem as draconian and harsh, but hey, you don't HAVE to use it. Hell, I don't even use it all the time. It's an option often overlooked.On the plus side, both the cleric and the paladin, as being truly blessed by the God, should have access to loans of equipment and money from the church, as well as a place to sleep, respect from townspeople and even nobles. Churches in medieval times were enormously powerful, and a church that could produce miracles as easily as a D&D church would be an almost unimaginable political/military/economic powerhouse.The faithful may be unwashed and ignorant in the setting, but there's a LOT of them who are willing to lay down their lives, secure in the knowledge that they will march straight into heaven en masse.And...The Monk...Many people complain that Eastern Style monks were included as a "sacred cow" holdover form 1E, and well, that may be true, but complaining doesn't pull it out of the PHB, and you'll have players who see it, and get the image of David Carradine and others karate chopping off an orc's head dance behind their eyes.So, how do you handle it?Well, monks primarily come from quasi-religious orders. If nothing else, they follow a specific teaching of one or more teachers. Trainers would be few and far between for the non-ordered monk, difficult to find, and harder to convince to train a character in the Eagle's Talons feat.Tattoos, brands (think Kane from that old TV show) would be common, as would school/master/order rivalries.Vow of Poverty comes up a lot, but you realize, competition at those lower levels is intense. Two monks meeting by the side of the road can be suddenly messy, or simply involve a few contested Willpower Checks (think Chi Contest) to determine who steps aside. The higher ranking a monk gets, the more people will wish to challenge him.Those who follow evil paths, and some neutral, will simply kill challengers, while most good will be involved in subdual combats.However, having the order could restrain the monk to a set of vows much like the Paladin, even a limit on wealth or even a limit on how long a monk may sleep in the same area. (One order I use does not permit a monk to sleep within 10 paces of the last place they slept outside of the monastery)These limitation, while limitation, add flavor and some feel of... well... uniqueness to the monk, making it more than just "Generic Killing Character #43452 With Kung Fu Grip" as it's being played.And on the rivalries...Have church/militant order/martial society rivalries.Clerics who meet each other outside a designated field of battle, in a public place, may have to resort to a battle of words and comments (contested diplomacy rolls) and unable to resort to brutish threats and loutish actions. XP for defeating an opponent in such an arena should be given.After all, local peasants would love the show, and merchantmen would lean forward to listen to the finely crafted platitudes that hide deeply veiled and barbed insults. Humans love drama.Paladins of the SAME GOD may be part of different orders, and because one group wears the sword buckled one way, why the other uses a clasp instead of a buckle, they may be mortal enemies, considering each other heretics.Monks of the Way of the Blessed Light may suddenly have to fight inside the tea house with a Monk of the Way of the Bloodied Stone, both of them Lawful Neutral, because their ethics are completely incompatible, and their schools bitter enemies since the Great Earth Dragon gave birth to the world...Those are ways to handle these three powerful classes. In much the same way, the Wizard, the Rogue, the Bard, the Ranger, the Druid, can all have powerful organizations they have to give way to, to recognize the power of, and to follow orders.A druid who disrespects his elder, and goes against the wishes of his circle could find himself the centerpiece of next harvest season's wickerman.The GM Fiat________________________________________Seen as evil, seen as completely unfair, we need to look at the GM fiat, and it's beneficial uses to the party and players.A fiat is more than "Something the players disagree with" but rather the GM doing something without explanation and changing the rules.Examples are: Not allowing the character the craft anything. Saying: Rocks fall, you're all dead, no save. Having Demogorgon and his buddies attack a 3rd level party. Being attacked by a hastened ethereal mummy that explodes for 20d20 no save when killed. Or being attacked by three of them.Now, some of these are just plain unfair. Basically, everything after the rocks.The others, well, there are possible reasons.I tried out the Craft bit last night, in a game.Player: I'm going to forge a ring and put this red diamond on it. I'll enchant it afterwards. (reaches for dice)Me: When you quench the ring, it cracks.Players: What? No roll?Me: Go ahead, won't change anything.Player: Hmmm, I'm going to check my equipment. That shopkeeper better not have ripped me off. (PC's had this happen. A con-man selling bogus spell/potion components. Took them for about 200,000 gp. The slit open his stomach, tied his intestines to a bush, and pushed him down the hill)Me: Roll your Knowledge (Aracana)Player: Fifty-two.Me: It's all fine. Everything looks perfect. The essence of (some crap, I think it was specter, but it might have been illithid lust) looks like it's going bad.Player: OK, I'll try to make an origami bird. (He's an origami mage) (Reaches for dice)Me: You tear it's head off when you go to make the final fold.Player: WTF? I'm going to see if anyone else in the group can make anything.(Other players easily succeed)Player: OK, I'm going to summon up [his Pit Fiend Servitor] and question him.Me: Are you sure?Player: Sure, I'll draw the outline and...Different player: NO! DON'T! It's a trap! You'll blow the circle and he'll rip your head off again!So, they began investigating WHY it was happening.In the "Rocks fall..." you better resurrect them or have a different idea. I did that before, and handed them the stat-blocks for their henchmen and faithful servants, who went out to see about getting their Lords and Ladies returned to life, and discover who'd teleported a moving avalanche on top of the PC's.The difference between a good fiat, and bad fiat, is simple...There is a reason that enriches the story behind the fiat, that the PC's can affect, and that the players can unravel, reverse, or agree to.You wouldn't like it if suddenly you could only log on to ENWorld with a telnet browser if there wasn't a reason (Morrus gave you $5 every time you did it) and your players won't like it if you take something away for no reason.Good fiats have reasons behind them. If they ask why, just say: "There's a reason!" if you can't or won't divulge the reason. (The Craft thing is because the demi-lich they defeated about 3 months ago in the Astral Core cursed the mage to never be able to create or give birth again. That means a LOT of spells don't work for him any more either) If it's to keep control of the campaign (IE: No magic item creation) then tell them: "I disagree with PC's making magic items. Magic items should be my venue of control, not yours."That is a perfectly understandable stance, also. I'm loathe to allow PC's to create magic items willy nilly. I require strange and valuable components. The Essence of an Illithid's Lust is used to create an item that affects intellect.  Getting the components for something besides lower level potions and scrolls are side/pre-adventures in and of themselves.If they need a certain classification of magic items, I'll provide it. That's my job.But that's my style, and one my players have grown comfortable with. Your mileage may vary.BUT, fiat also includes saving the party at the last minute when your rolls are positively frightening, or the player is rolling abysmally.NEVER EVER EVER SAVE THEM FROM THEIR OWN STUPIDITY! Darwin Awards. Think Darwin Awards.BUT, if they are having a run of bad luck, or YOU didn't describe the situation well enough, you may end up using GM's Fiat to save their bacon.The Cavalry arrives is always a favorite, and not one to constantly use. ALWAYS MAKE YOUR FIAT WORK INTO THE STORY. The King's Men aren't always available. The cavalry is sometimes busy.BUT, the Party's Arch-Nemesis now knows where they are. He's gathered his henchmen, and is prepared to finally avenge the fact they took the last piece of sponge cake at the banquet!POOF! He arrives, teleporting in, wrath and doom apparently, and sees the PC's getting attacked."DOGS! HOW DARE YOU STAND BETWEEN ME AND MY PREY!" and the villains starts laying into the people whupping on the party. That's when you pass the party leader, or hell, just anyone in the group, a note that says: "RUN FOOLS!"While the AN is killing the attackers, the party can run for it.Or perhaps the enemies of the people currently beating up the party arrive and take the opportunity to attack while their hated foe is being distracted.I think the most obvious one I've done is a flash flood that separated the two groups, destroyed/lost a lot of gear, and separated the party.Sudden rain or wind or even a sandstorm can do it too.To quote Futurama: "The best trick is to make it look like you didn't do anything at all."</blockquote>

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