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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8436389" data-attributes="member: 6915329">Is the PC a rogue? Then yes, they're likely stealthy and had lockpicks.It's the backstory, not an actual adventure.Who says that they "must" have deputies or that the sheriff "must" be a veteran at the time the backstory took place?One: Most NPC statblocks don't have a lot of magic.Two: Even if the NPC statblock has magic, that doesn't mean that the world has a lot of magical items in it, or that there are a lot of NPCs enchanting things all over the place.Three: Are these high-level Realms casters being employed by various other people to make antimagic or explosive rune jails? How much are they getting paid for this job?Four: These spells are expensive to cast (in the sense that wizards aren't going to be casting them for free). Are they going to be cast on every cell, or just when it's needed?Five: Who said that this hypothetical backstory took place in the Realms?In your game, sure. In other people's games?Thus you are presumably playing D&D with a modern viewpoint.Some of us just go a little further. Not just in terms of equality, but in other things. Like understanding the scientific method, or not burning heretics at the stake, or having literate peasants. Seriously, if you're going to say that it's unrealistic for someone to have escaped from jail as part of their backstory, then it should also be unrealistic for anyone but the wizard, cleric, and probably bard to be able to read. If you let your PCs be literate, then you're also not playing from a medieval mindset. If PCs are throwing around gold coins, they not playing from a medieval mindset. If they're free associating with people of other countries, social classes, or races, they're not playing from a medieval mindset.I'm not thinking you were sexist or anything, but there are many reasons why people don't want to play D&D with a realistic medieval mindset. Sexism (and other bigotry) is one of them. There's also that people shouldn't have to be, and don't want to be medieval scholars or anthropologists to play a game.Again, using a medieval mindset. Which D&D doesn't really have, because of the magic, non-humans, and gods who actually show up from time to time, or at least send minions. And because the "medieval period" on a typical D&D world has lasted for many times more than it did here on Earth, which meant that even though the technology hasn't changed (although it should), the mindset will have had time to change.Then a Lawful Good sheriff won't be engaging in brutal methods like torturing and murdering prisoners and removing their tongue so you can't interrogate their corpse. And if they were, then a Lawful Good society wouldn't allow that to continue.Which means that a PC can expect to not be tortured and then killed before they escape.PCs do. It's why they're PCs. If I had a player want to play a reborn or a dhampir, or reskin some other race as undead and gave this as their reason, I'd be cool with it.It requires a mouth.Desecrating a body is generally considered to be a Bad Thing. Bad enough that even if the former living person was weak-willed, the desecration itself might be enough to cause the corpse to rise as undead. Or it might attract attention from other things as well.DM: Fighter, give me a <skill> check.Other PC: Can I roll one as well?DM: No, just Fighter.Or even, I just ask them to roll a d20 because I have a copy of their sheet and know what their modifiers are. I've found that players don't like it when other people roll for them.If your goal is to keep the PCs in the dark for story reasons, that's one thing. But just to keep them from all wanting to roll? Also, I gotta say, if you were my GM and you pulled this on me, it wouldn't matter if you showed me a list at the end of the game. I wouldn't trust you.</blockquote>

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