PC's always ruining your adventures with magic?

[Grishnak]

Do you find that pc's rather than try to work that troublesome trap out or an irksome riddle they go straight to the books for spells that can bypass all the DM's hardwork?

This is a poll I know but here is how I dealt with that scenario.
Yes it was mean towards the wizards and clerics of the group but sure made for a fun and very tense game. The adventure basically went on the line that a queen is pregnant with the heir to the throne only trouble was the child was inately magic dead and this extended out to 1 mile and they were being followed by a large group of undead (Not magically created). Now the party had to decide do they send the casters ahead to see if there is any trouble that they can deal with or do they stay and help the warriors protect the child. A good party will stay together but it's not essential just tone down combats to challenge both groups. Now I kept this magic dead part of the campaign going for 6 weeks and the casters in the group were frustrated when they had to rely on their own skills etc to get through the set tasks but they all said that they felt more achievement in doing so than just relying on spells all the time. I found it satisfying as all my hard planning wasn't ruined by a bloody fly spell or teleport as a couple of examples ( DM's know what I mean)

 

[Nifft]

IMC PCs don't "ruin" anything with magic. There are some situations which they can only get out of with magic, in fact!

I don't bother planning how they should solve problems any more -- I just throw the problems at them, with no solution in mind, and let them do whatever they want.

-- Nifft

 

[d12]

Recommended reading

here

on this topic

 

[alsih2o]

i personally get frustrated by them ruining my npc's with swords and arrows, but that is the breaks

 

[Valicor]

Everything made can & will be broken. You should be rewarding your PC's for actually learning the required spell in advance, & actualy thinking to memorize it before the encounter. It proves a PC is being flexable. Besides magic is supposed to provide answers to the unusual & tuff situations.

 

[Grishnak]

Thanks for the web page d12.

I personally do reward the players for use of spells used in certain situations but in this 1 case I thought that the group had had their own way for long enough with use of spells saving their bacon and that it was time for them to use their own grey matter than just knowing the spell list really well.
Thanks all for the replies

 

[diaglo]

i think any good DM worth his salt uses the interruption of rest as a tool.

never let the spellcasters get enough rest. they never recover their spells.

 

[Arnwyn]

IMC PCs don't "ruin" anything with magic. There are some situations which they can only get out of with magic, in fact!

I don't bother planning how they should solve problems any more -- I just throw the problems at them, with no solution in mind, and let them do whatever they want.

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I do.

 

[AuraSeer]

i think any good DM worth his salt uses the interruption of rest as a tool.

While this can be a useful tool in the hands of a good DM, it can also be a crutch and a copout for bad DMs. ("Damn, the PCs aren't supposed to get into the vault yet. I'll just prevent them from resting, so the pesky wizard can't memorize dimension door...")

 

[Kraedin]

rope trick, secure shelter, mansion...

High level PCs get their sleep disturbed all the time sleeping in their inviolate, impenetrable shelters.