PC's always ruining your adventures with magic?
- Thread starter Grishnak
- Start date
d12
First Post
I have a dungeon planned for my group that is only accessible vias dimension door, teleport without error, ghostwalk or other such high level spells. I mean, the group is going to have to use at least 1 very powerful spell just to get in the door (though, there is no door).
Also, remember that if the heros use some spell, say fly to get around some obstacle then some of the bad guys should have dispel magic ready to ground them. Or maybe just some archers. Smart bad guys (dragons, zhentarim, high preists of Ulok the Defiler) should have magical defenses in place.
Also, remember that if the heros use some spell, say fly to get around some obstacle then some of the bad guys should have dispel magic ready to ground them. Or maybe just some archers. Smart bad guys (dragons, zhentarim, high preists of Ulok the Defiler) should have magical defenses in place.
d12
First Post
I do feel your pain. My DM once had a series of swamp encounter planned for us. The party flew over all the encounters invisibly.
I learned a lot about DMing a powerful party when I ran Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Byuy or borrow a copy of this and just read it. There's some good stuff in there about how to allow PC's to use their abilities (fly, teleport, etc...) yet to still counter them sometimes.
I learned a lot about DMing a powerful party when I ran Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Byuy or borrow a copy of this and just read it. There's some good stuff in there about how to allow PC's to use their abilities (fly, teleport, etc...) yet to still counter them sometimes.
Brown Jenkin
First Post
Our DM sent us on an undercover mission for about 6 game sessions. I play a cleric myself. Both the Wizard and myself in addition to being disguised were forced to change our normal spell selections as they would likely blow our cover. It was fun for a short time, but by the end I was happy it was over and I couldcast what I wanted again. I selected a spellcaster so I could cast spells, take that away for to long and players will get frustrated. At least our DM didn't neuter us entirely since I would have been very irked after 2 sessions of not being able to cast at all. If I wanted to be a fighter or a thief I would have chosen that as my character.
Chimera
First Post
A 1 mile dead zone just to foil your player/casters?
Someone isn't interested in doing his homework...
If my players foil some carefully laid plans with one spell (as they have in many events), then it simply means that they're more resourceful than I gave them credit for, or I made a major blunder.
Work out some better tactics for your baddies and stop trying to nerf your players. YOU need to do a better job of playing your villains to the best of their ability.
How much fun is it to play when your DM insists that you have to get into some place, denies you your class tools, then sits back and laughs in glee at your apparent stupidity for not thinking up the one special way that he wants you to get in?
Not very.
Someone isn't interested in doing his homework...
If my players foil some carefully laid plans with one spell (as they have in many events), then it simply means that they're more resourceful than I gave them credit for, or I made a major blunder.
Work out some better tactics for your baddies and stop trying to nerf your players. YOU need to do a better job of playing your villains to the best of their ability.
How much fun is it to play when your DM insists that you have to get into some place, denies you your class tools, then sits back and laughs in glee at your apparent stupidity for not thinking up the one special way that he wants you to get in?
Not very.
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Grishnak said:
Isn't that the whole idea? The PC's are supposed to figure out ways to overcome obstacles (encounters). It's not a game of "stump the chump" between the DM and the players.
Ycore Rixle
First Post
Actually my players just foiled a great villain scheme by using an anti-magic circle. Definitely not too much magic.
Anyway, the anti-magic circle let them kill the Pharaoh's Grand Vizier, and so then the Pharaoh immediately had to send his elite chariot units across the desert after the fleeing players, and, well, even though it wasn't at all what I thought would happen, it was a lot of fun.
Anyway, the anti-magic circle let them kill the Pharaoh's Grand Vizier, and so then the Pharaoh immediately had to send his elite chariot units across the desert after the fleeing players, and, well, even though it wasn't at all what I thought would happen, it was a lot of fun.
Last edited:
Grishnak
First Post
The reason of the post/poll was the fact that there are some players with lots of time spare to read through all the spells/skills etc digest them and figure out where to use them to the best possible outcome, now I work a lot of hours and cannot go through all the chars spells, skills etc and read up on everything so have to make quick reads and decisions during game time. Now I'm all for letting pc's getting the benefits for using spells to help them but for once as a DM I stood up said no, use your skills and own grey matter to figure out the objective rather than say hey guess what spells I've learnt today I can get all the answers, teleport the queen with the unborn directly to safety and get back to the rest of the group only to face a set of creatures with no background as that was to be found out dring the journey, to roleplay with an npc that a pc was fond of and an evil npc with them that they know to be a great swordsmaster but cannot be trusted. This to me was fair as the players got through the adventures, used skills that would normally lie dormant and got them to work as a group rather than saying hey mr wizard just sort this out and we'll take the xp for completing the mission even though we had a thumbs jammed up our butts all adventure. As for the no magic they could always go ahead of the group to use some spells but for the teleport scenario sorry you have to travel!
Also 1 pointer, it wasn't just the casters that had the trouble, the warriors magic items were also nullified so they were less potent.
Would you as players prefer a good story with background, some challenging creatures to face or just a case as stated above where spells just complete everything within a few minutes?
Anyway thanks for the replies and I'm pretty sure plenty of other dm's have done this but instead of the magic dead just made it the typical no sleep scenario.
Also 1 pointer, it wasn't just the casters that had the trouble, the warriors magic items were also nullified so they were less potent.
Would you as players prefer a good story with background, some challenging creatures to face or just a case as stated above where spells just complete everything within a few minutes?
Anyway thanks for the replies and I'm pretty sure plenty of other dm's have done this but instead of the magic dead just made it the typical no sleep scenario.
the Jester
Legend
I'm currently taking the party imc through a very low-magic environment; they're two sessions in with probably 1-2 more to go.
They're having fun, and I think it's great- they can use their spells but have to figure out the limitations of the plane they're on ("I cast commune..." "It's going to take an hour and an animal sacrifice." "WHAT!!")
Tactics like this are legitimate, but I strongly dislike their overuse. A game with too much of that castrates wizards and sorcerers especially, which is no fun.
They're having fun, and I think it's great- they can use their spells but have to figure out the limitations of the plane they're on ("I cast commune..." "It's going to take an hour and an animal sacrifice." "WHAT!!")
Tactics like this are legitimate, but I strongly dislike their overuse. A game with too much of that castrates wizards and sorcerers especially, which is no fun.
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