You didn't. I was
asking you.
My style is not "the PCs are
meant to win", and I don't play with other DMs who do feel that way. I know as DM I can certainly kill off any PC I want--that isn't the point. Challenge and fun is the key, not just handing them a story IMO.
Right. And nothing I said ever suggested otherwise.
I would like a
real challenge. I think you'll find that in the many examples on this thread of boring shut-down effects, one of the issues is that they shut you down, but rarely make the encounter particularly more
challenging. You win in the end, sometimes easily. You just waste a lot of time doing it.
I'd rather the challenge was upped without the frustrating parts.
Fair enough. I don't like Banish spells either. When I used it against players, they got upset, so I told them: Either I can use it against you or we can remove it from the game. It was removed.
I mean, that's a solution, sure. I generally don't mind the characters having features that monsters lack. YMMV of course, but I think that monsters can be equally formidable without having to use the same abilities. For example, think of the size difference! As
@dave2008 and others have said - this dragon should be much more dangerous than it is simply because of how big it is. It's great that it
also knows magic, but it should also swat PCs like they are fleas.
I agree (I don't think I said you thought it was about winning at all--but there are multiple conversations happening...).
But it happens. Missing all the time, feeling ineffective in an encounter, having your PC watch from the ground while the rest do battle in the air or underwater---all these things happen at one point or another.
Sure, and they shouldn't be added to with purposefully designed shut-down mechanics. You can get bored enough with a few bad rolls, or with slow other players taking long turns. You don't ALSO need to have your turn taken away.
Luckily, such things are not common.
Yup. Thankfully.
Well, you feel that way, fine, but you also wrote:
Yes, I meant to illustrate how it would make me
feel not what I would actually do. I know how to "play nice with others" - it's what I consider the #1 rule. I was half-joking. I understand why that might not have come across. I often joke about "flipping the table" IRL - but it's not something that I'd actually DO!
You seemed to feel strongly about it, so how do I know you if you would actually get up and leave?
You'll have to take my word for it, I guess.
I only know you from the boards here, so not well, but you seem decent and I'd be surprised if you did leave, but people have walked out on games before and you wouldn't be the first do leave when upset later to regret it.
Yeah, I've seen it happen. I've thrown people out, too. I think it's probable that when I find a certain type of behavior to be so far from what I'm really like, I callously joke about it as if everyone ought to know that it's an exaggeration. I did that here, and you're not to blame for not being "in" on the joke.
I would not actually "flip the table" or "storm out". But I might joke about it to stop myself from actually doing it, if that makes sense.