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Message: <blockquote data-quote="7thlvlDM" data-source="post: 107566" data-attributes="member: 1081">Ok, I'm going to stick my neck out and make the claim that NONE of these points necessarily indicate a bad DM.  In fact, I find a few of these comments a bit misinformed.  People have different styles of play and if yours does not jive with the DM's, as others have suggested, run a game yourself!> 1. Level every session or at least 3 out of every 5 sessions. This is up to and through 10th level.I think this is normal and characters should level up about once an adventure.  In 2nd edition, it took many game sessions to gain a level, but in this latest incarnation of the rules everything moves much faster (I, for one, find this refreshing).  It means the heroes can get to fighting really epic villians much sooner.Let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?A 10th level character needs 10,000 more experience points to advance to 11th level.  For a party of 4 characters, that's 40,000 xp.According to the DM's Guide, if the average party level is 10, each CR 10 monster gives 3,000 xp.  That means such a party would need to slay roughly 13 CR 10 monsters (e.g., clay golems) in one night to level up.  That doesn't sound so implausable (for the clay golems, my group discovered that 3 successful touch attacks with tanglefoot bags will drop the golems' Dex to 0 and prevent it from moving).> 2. 2nd level parties that kill chimeras that ambush them.I've seen parties do remarkable things.  Now, it could very well have been a cheesy battle, but I can also see how a smart party (even a 2nd level one) could take out Chimeras.  You didn't mention how many there were, but since the Chimera has an intelligence of 4, they wouldn't be hard to outsmart.> 3. 15th level foes with no lackies so the barbarian can easily grapple him and make him an esay target for the mage to blast to death. BTW the party was 8th level average here and there were only 3 characters.Pride cometh before a fall.  It is not too difficult for me to believe that a 15th level NPC would be without lackies.  Lackies are not a prerequisite to be a high level foe.> 4. Foes on the other hand so powerful a 15th level NPC Wizard needs to come along to save the day. Whichw as not really needed since the Lich had no spells preped even though she had to know we were walking around her pocket dimension.Personally, I *hate* having my players' characters wade through mindless battles with hordes of kobolds before they gain enough experience to take on some exciting and actually *important* challenges.  Why let them commit genicide on the irrelivant goblins when you can introduce them to liches, blackguard, demon lords, and dragons at first level?  That doesn't mean they have to be able to beat them in single combat at first level, but let's begin an epic story right, shall we?  A high level NPC tagging along is ok in my book so long as he's 1) there for a good reason, and 2) solely for support (i.e., does not steal the show, maybe he heals and casts combat enhancing spells.)  > 5. Paladins with no Code.Some groups are hack-n-slashers, and role-playing a paladin is secondary.  My group's paladin hasn't exactly been a model one, but the player is having fun and I'm not going to take away that fun just so we can stick by some rule in a book.  The alignment system is really screwy anyways, and maybe he does have a code when it really counts...> 6. Villages (population under 1000) that have multiple (at least 3) NPC's of 15th level and higher.This is quite possible.  If there's one 15th level NPC, he's likely to have a couple friends.> 7. Campaign started with the "your all in jail for crimes you didnt commit" routine.Most adventures don't start this way.  I don't frown on innovation.> 8. Who the Gods are in the world isnt introduced until 5 or 6 sessions in. This is really funny since it finally happened when I asked and I was running a figher wizard. You would think that the cleric, paladin, or druid would want or need this information.As the Player's Handbook states in the intro to the chapter on religion "When you first play a character, it's fine to leave the details sketchy."One of my players is pretty religious, and I get the feeling he's not too keen on discussing fake gods in a fantasy game, let alone having his character worship one.  Since it hasn't been relivant to the story, I have never discussed the gods in my world.  Perhaps there are none, perhaps there's only one.> 9. Players that fall asleep and the DM says nothing.This actually happened once in my group; we often play till 3am.  I could tell one of my player's was drifting asleep and it was time to call it a night.  We finished the encounter we were on without waking her and then wrapped up.  People are human, it's just a game, and if someone is sleepy he or she is the one missing out.I've played with some DMs that weren't the best, but cut those people who try some slack.-7th</blockquote>

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