Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6620120" data-attributes="member: 5834">This is only true if you interpret a hit as a direct hit rather than a combination of avoidance and durability. As a DM if a character gets in a situation where they are captured and completely immobilized, then the giant gets to hit and crit them automatically. Even a high level warrior won't survive that very long at all. As a DM you could even rule instant death such as when being beheaded with no reasonable means to avoid it. A PC with hit points neck isn't any more durable against beheading than a regular human being once they are both immobilized on the headsman's block. No use making it seem like they have armored skin like some kind of superhero. You don't have to figure this out. It's all in the imagination of the player. I've found most players don't picture themselves taking a direct hit. They understand the abstract nature of hit points. They don't need you to explain every single injury. They also understand healing is abstract as well being a combination of healing actual physical damage and a general injection of spiritual energy that boosts a flagging body to fight on. All you have to do is adjudicate  according to the situation. If the situation fits, then it plays out as it would in a real situation. The DM should be looking to make the characters feel as immersed as possible in the world. If they're doing stuff that makes no sense in the real world because the game mechanics say they can, you're destroying suspension of disbelief and verisimilitude changing the character from a living, breathing character in the mind of the player into a set of game stats and a piece of paper.If your players are ok with this, so be it. I like to keep my players feeling like they're living and breathing characters that should act in a somewhat sensible manner (as sensible as people can be that wander into strange areas to fight horrifying monsters).Your entire job as a DM is to make the players believe they are in a fantasy world playing the characters they are playing. The rules give you guidelines for doing this. Some tables don't care about that and try to follow the rules exactly as they are written. But most tables don't care about that as long as you are making them feel like they're part of some epic tale playing an amazing fantasy character. They want you to make it all feel real to them. That's why a DM makes sure they don't do things like swim in lava or jump onto cliffs on purpose, while at the same time coming up with some plausible reason why they survive if it should happen during the course of combat. It's all about keeping the illusion up. That is your main job as DM.Not if he is choosing to jump in. People should avoid things that kill them like standing still and letting a giant hit them as hard as he can while unarmored. It's up to you as a DM to make sure players that try to ruin verisimilitude suffer the full consequences of their actions. If that means they leave your table, then so be it. I don't personally want those types of players at my table. Fortunately, I haven't had them. When a player metagames too much using game mechanics to do things that ruin verisimilitude for the rest of the group as well as the DM (I do feel as DM I'm supposed to have fun as well), that player is a problem that needs to find a group that better suits his play-style.Just to be clear, you would know the rules in advance at my table. I would let you know that most of the stuff is abstract. The game is focused on maintaining a story. If you do things that will get you killed like diving into lava, I'm going to say you're dead and be done with it. I would tell you that you have to play your character as though it were a living person in a real world. Game mechanics will not supersede verisimilitude. I do agree that a DM should let players know these kinds of things in advance.</blockquote>

Verification