Tips for DM's. Spotting cheating players.

[Piratecat]

The one player who was nudged out of my game consistently added money to his character sheet whenever he felt like it, slowly upgraded his stats, had skill points (and in 2e, rogue skills) which didn't add up, and tended to roll a d20 until it got a good number. Then he would leave it, and point to it when I told him to roll for something.

 

[Sixchan]

My old D&D group from many moons ago called that activity "hunting Chaotic squirrels".

In my new D&D group, when someone's within 100 XP of going up they are teleported to some warped version of "Orc and a Pie", then pretty much gain the required XP automatically. Though the last time this happened, I felt like taking half the charges from the Wand of Knock that was responsible for this shortfall!

Ack. All my wizard and ranger characters have had squirrel companions/familiars. The players have learned that killing a squirrel means that they are attacked by ninja death squrrels with 20 levels of either Fighter or Sorceror. I'm a bit like Minsc and Boo.

 

[Zappo]

Beware of players who first roll a dice and then tell you what the roll was for (eg, *rolls a 18* "I listen to the door. 29!").

 

[Moe Ronalds]

I've had two cheaters in my games. One was my little sister, who always managed to roll: 18, 18, 17, 17, 16, 15 for her abilities.

The other, was this guy who actually threatened me to get stuff. And when he was GM, he'd always play a PC. And for the strangest reason which I still have yet to figure out, that PC was always either a: A hugely overpowered monster (he somehow managed to play a shield guardian). or the one to find all the cool magic items.

 

[Creeping Death]

re: cheating

The group I'm in is great. There is no cheating and I can trust my players. My group consists of a Father, Mother, their son, and the babysitter. Me, I'm just a guy that answered their ad here on EN World for another player.

Here is why I can trust my players: the Father was DM'ing and son was 8 at the time. The father asked for the son to roll a d20, he did and then quickly grabbed the die and said he rolled a higher number and proceeded to add his modifiers. Well, his Mother was not going to stand for this. She stopped the game for a moment and sent him to his room for the rest of the time for cheating (she saw what the original roll was).

Things that I learned to do when I was in high school many many many moons ago...

I do not care how many times the player has rolled or that the play has even rolled, when I tell them to roll a die I wait and watch them roll. None of this oh, I just rolled an 18.

If a player wants to roll something. He has to announce what he's rolling, get my attention and then roll when I see it. Rolling a die undeclared and then saying oh I just rolled a 20 on a spot check or some other thing. Undeclared rolls are empty rolls, no meaning.

That's about it. With the group I'm in now I still do this but I don't feel the need to verify rolls I let the other players do it for me.

 

[The Sigil]

In my group, a dice is cockeyed if you can't put another dice of the same type and size on top of it without it falling. Cuts down on the bitching.

I'd hate to have to give you the result of a d4 roll, then... ;-b

--The Sigil

 

[The Sigil]

My method is to just have a small cardboard box (about 1" high and 4" x 6") in the center of the gaming table. When you make a roll, you throw the die into the box, in full view of all. After I read the result, you take the die out of the box.

This eliminates "empty rolling" (roll... roll... roll... roll... roll... HEY LOOK I GOT A NATURAL 20! I'M SAVING THAT FOR MY NEXT ATTACK ROLL!) as well as the ever-popular "set the d20 to 20 and roll a d12 into the pile" trick.

Opponent/NPC attack rolls, Saving Throws, skill checks, etc. take place behind the DM screen so the players don't get an easy look at the critter's Attack Bonus/Will Save/etc. Initiative rolls and damage rolls, however, get made into the main box in full view of all players.

Finally, PCs attempting things like Search Checks, Spellcraft to ID a spell, etc., where knowing the result would be "bad" for metagaming ("well, I rolled a natural 20 on my search check, so we're automatically finding anything here") get made behind the DM screen by me. Skill checks with an obvious immediate result (e.g., Climb checks) are made by the players.

XP is tabulated by me. I announce, "Joe, you just gained enough XP to level."

Hit points for advancing a level are handled as follows - the player can choose right out to take half the maximum die value (e.g., 2 hp for a d4, 5 hp for a d10, etc.) - this means that he will have slightly less than average hit points, but that he's "safe" from rolling low (the "cost" for the "payoff" of a certain minimum). Alternatively, he gets one roll, into the box, in front of me, for hit points.

Players are always allowed, when rolling into the box, to declare, "this is not my actual roll" (you know how players like to find "hot dice"). I will repeat "ok, this is NOT your actual roll" and only AFTER I repeat it can they roll it. The roll does not count, good or bad. Otherwise, if you throw it in the box, that's your roll and you'd best live with it.

I use a laptop to track hit points, item charges, ammo (one PC was SHOCKED when his archer ran out of arrows at 3rd level - he just figured that buying 50 arrows at 1st level was the same as buying infinite arrows at 1st level since I never asked him how many arrows he had left). I also keep a copy of all character sheets on computer - and what my computer says is always right (unless the player can remind me that I missed something). I give the PCs a "loot list" at the end of each session; they have to decide how to divide it and return the list to me, indicating who gets what, and then I update their character sheets on my computer. IOW, the PCs can keep their own "unofficial sheets" but my "official" sheets are the last word.

I hate to do this, but I once had a VERY bad experience with a "chronic" cheater (his attributes increased by 10 points every session, he added tens of thousands of gp to his wealth, multiple magic items, and "natural 20'd" every roll (after 50 attempts) and he was generally an ass to the other players on top of it all - the campaign devolved into all the other players ganging up on him to beat the stuffing out of him and rob him blind every week - knowing that he'd just 'cheat' his way back the following week anyway) and I'm not letting it happen again. :-(

--The Sigil

 

[Ricochet]

I had a player who kept adding things to his inventory... "You really have another torch" (after using 20 torches)'

"Yeah see, it's in my inventory!"

 

[Leopold]

1. I never let the players roll a dice without telling them to roll the dice. IF they do, i MAKE them reroll it or just say "Automatic 1, you fail". Only had to do that once and the player never did it again.

2. Skill points, feats, etc changing: I use pcgen, it keeps them very very honest when i see their PC every week before the game and tell them: 'you have one too many feats' or 'you don't have enough skill points'. They like that honesty and looking over the shoulder. it keeps the playing field very very even.

3. Dice cheating? It happens, i don't care too much, it's cocked, i reroll it they reroll it, stuff happens, i move on. I've fudged and cheated, they've fudged and cheated, it only matters when it's happening ALOT! which it doesn't so it's no biggy...

 

[Olive]

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.").

i have ione player who does this all the time! and then he trys to get other players to try to change their feat choices too, even when they're happy with them!!!