Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Machiavelli" data-source="post: 3251891" data-attributes="member: 40964">I'm a heavy-handed, railroading DM.&nbsp; When someone says &quot;I'm going to chop down that door with my greatsword&quot;, I stop them and say &quot;okay, even your Int 8 fighter knows that this is a bad idea.&nbsp; Proceed?&quot; or &quot;as a dwarven Runeforge with 8 ranks in Craft(Metal), you know there is about a 50/50 chance those iron straps are going to tear up your sword.&nbsp; Try anyway?&quot;&nbsp; Then, if the player decides to proceed, that's where you roll damage against the sword, enforce a skill check to see if the sword shatters, or some such thing.&nbsp; It just feels right, so you go ahead and do it.&nbsp; As long as it's not a spiteful decision, and the players know about the challenges they face before those challenges bite them in the arse, it works out well.&nbsp; If you have to do something to avoid frustrating the players (these guys are, after all, probably your friends, and regardless you don't want to be a jackass to them), give them some other option to pursue.&nbsp; Heck, if they come up with an idea you hadn't thought of, as long as it sounds like it should work, reward it with success and maybe some extra XP.Edit: I just thought of an example.&nbsp; The cleric in a campaign I played in needed some sort of powder, but all we had was a whole clump of the material.&nbsp; The sorcerer cast Stone Fist to grind it up.&nbsp; We just assumed it worked, because it sounded cool.&nbsp; No need to consult or make up rules for it.The somewhat broken, occasionally stupid rules for hacking through things are only a suggestion for how to model such things.&nbsp; In plenty of situations, they make good enough sense to just use them as-is.&nbsp; Otherwise, do what you have to to avoid stressing suspension of disbelief beyond its breaking point.&nbsp; As long as you stay true to the fun factor, and you're not introducing rules to the game to be a spiteful creep, it should be fine.&nbsp; Thankfully, D&amp;D is not inherently a competitive match between players and DM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Machiavelli, post: 3251891, member: 40964"] I'm a heavy-handed, railroading DM. When someone says "I'm going to chop down that door with my greatsword", I stop them and say "okay, even your Int 8 fighter knows that this is a bad idea. Proceed?" or "as a dwarven Runeforge with 8 ranks in Craft(Metal), you know there is about a 50/50 chance those iron straps are going to tear up your sword. Try anyway?" Then, if the player decides to proceed, that's where you roll damage against the sword, enforce a skill check to see if the sword shatters, or some such thing. It just [i]feels[/i] right, so you go ahead and do it. As long as it's not a spiteful decision, and the players know about the challenges they face before those challenges bite them in the arse, it works out well. If you [i]have[/i] to do something to avoid frustrating the players (these guys are, after all, probably your friends, and regardless you don't want to be a jackass to them), give them some other option to pursue. Heck, if they come up with an idea you hadn't thought of, as long as it sounds like it should work, reward it with success and maybe some extra XP. Edit: I just thought of an example. The cleric in a campaign I played in needed some sort of powder, but all we had was a whole clump of the material. The sorcerer cast Stone Fist to grind it up. We just assumed it worked, because it sounded cool. No need to consult or make up rules for it. The somewhat broken, occasionally stupid rules for hacking through things are only a suggestion for how to model such things. In plenty of situations, they make good enough sense to just use them as-is. Otherwise, do what you have to to avoid stressing suspension of disbelief beyond its breaking point. As long as you stay true to the fun factor, and you're not introducing rules to the game to be a spiteful creep, it should be fine. Thankfully, D&D is not inherently a competitive match between players and DM. [/QUOTE]

Verification