Tips for DM's. Spotting cheating players.

[Bob5th]

I thought I would post some of the ways I've seen players cheat so that DMs new and old might spot this.

Dice
I've seen a player call a dice cockeyed when it was sitting halfway on a single peice of paper and the table when the roll was not in his favor.

Players who roll one dice at a time and try to bump the dice with a poor result into giving them a better one.

Players rolling out of your sight.

Players who have picked up the dice the second it stops rolling.

Anyone else want to share some advice?

 

[Sanackranib]

cheaters

rerolling when it rolls off the book but keeping a good roll.
I tell 'um all set your PHB on the table and roll on it, if it falls off reroll it no matter what it is.

another good one is usually attempted by people who have been rolling % dice since long before a time when there was a 10's dice
so they use 2 colors and change high color depending on which die casts a more favorable result.

those little tiny dice suck too because I can't read them from my DM's seat (but that isn't cheating they are just difficult to read!)

 

[Delemental]

Just to get away from dice cheating...

Players who alter their character sheets - this is why you get copies (or, insist that you keep everyone's character sheet between games).

Players who "forget" their character every session and have to recreate them "from memory" - again, another good reason to keep copies.

Deliberate miscalculations of things like saves, attack bonuses, synergy bonuses, etc.

Overall, I have less trouble with true "cheaters" than I do with what I call the "Mighty Morphin Power Gamer" - those who attempt to stretch the rules far beyond their intent or any reasonable application. They aren't exactly breaking the rules, but trying to bend them in ways they just don't go.

My least favorite variation is the player who tries to retroactively change a character choice. Occasionally, this kind of request is reasonable, especially if it's caught quickly ("You know that new feat I picked at the end of last game? I reread it, and it doesn't really fit my character. Can I change before we start play?"). Most of the time I see it happen, though, it's neither reasonable nor quick ("You know that feat I picked two levels ago? Well, can we say I picked this other feat instead, because otherwise I won't be able to take levels in this kickass prestige class until I reach 8th level.").

 

[Guilt Puppy]

I trust my players not to cheat, and if they reroll in their favor every once in a while, eh, that's okay. It's not like I don't ever fudge, either.

Retroactive feat changes and the like get to me a little, but I generally allow them. I'd rather a player be happy with their character -- and usually they don't want to change it unless it's a feat they've never used (ie Combat Reflexes), so it doesn't hurt continuity.

Big pet peeve (and I don't know if I'd call it "cheating" per se, but it's something like that) is players who want to change their choices retroactively several rounds (ie, "if I'd known what the spell's effect would be, I wouldn't have cast it!" ... "well, you should have read the spell description")... When it's based on things the character would have known, I'm semi-okay with it (although it's still annoying because it slows things down), but when it takes NPC attributes into account (you're not supposed to know that this enemy is undead, and thus immune to Hold Person...) it's a real pain, and I end up having to go to a lot of trouble to explain why it's cheating to them.

 

[Ruvion]

I have one cheater that uses all the tricks in the book. Including one trick I think was not mentioned above: place a d20 die with 20 on the table, roll another d20 die with same colouring and design near that pre-placed die and voila the ever wonderful "always 20 man" (or woman however the cases may be). The guy also has a habit of "rolling" high damages as well as rolling many times when he thinks I'm not looking (and picks the best result). All the this result in always hitting, always maximizing damage monster that need very little munchy powergaming. I mean this guy is always rolling (even when you require only a single roll)....sheesh.

I have found that keeping the current hp of the players hidden from them tones down the hit point cheating that sometimes goes on. I'm also keeping their xp total from them, which prevents the all-so-common (at least IMC) "All I need is an orc to level up...let's go xp huntin'!" Most of these measures are in place to keep the player from cheating overmuch...

With players like the one mentioned above, DMing is a tedious chore sometimes....

 

[pisceanmars]

.

you can tell when most people lie to you by being open to the semantic clues they leave. there will be a silence after their lie, not really explicable in words but it is an almost "waiting for you to call their bluff" pause after their words. their eyes will be too wide, and they will make more eye contact than usual. their voice will change key or pitch or both.

then there are the obvious ones, like " i rolled a 52", or " my character has ALWAYS had a 20' rope ladder."

in my group, the players know that i will acknowledge their lie, and only the truly stubborn will attempt to continuously bend both the rules and rolls, and if that is their will then it will come back to them karmically, in and out of game.

 

[astralpwka]

Here's a great dice one:

Filing edges down to roll the high numbers. Not perfect, but bumps the odds quite a bit.

 

[bloodymage]

Cheaters in my group are tolerated until they're thrown out by the other players. It's not so much tolerance as "let's see how long it takes for you to piss everyone off!"

 

[Bagpuss]

I'm also keeping their xp total from them, which prevents the all-so-common (at least IMC) "All I need is an orc to level up...let's go xp huntin'!" Most of these measures are in place to keep the player from cheating overmuch...

Hmm last time my party did that they didn't find an Orc, a hunting pack of Low, Gorgons (CC1) found them, and one of the party died two others were drastically wounded. The survivors leveled mind you. Unfortunately the casualty happened to be the one that suggested an orc hunt.

 

[Bagpuss]

Re: cheaters

rerolling when it rolls off the book but keeping a good roll.
I tell 'um all set your PHB on the table and roll on it, if it falls off reroll it no matter what it is.

We play "one off, all off" basically if you are rolling a bunch of dice if one falls off the table, you have to re-roll all of them. Not that we really get any cheaters in our game.

Unless you count one of the DM's that always fudges the rolls to keep the party alive. I had to hide how many hit points I had left so he didn't pull the punches in a major battle.

You should have seen the look on his face when he said "From the three attacks that landed, with one critcal you've take 36 points of damage, how many hit points do you have left?"

"-24, I'm dead." It was priceless.