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<blockquote data-quote="Pbartender" data-source="post: 2255148" data-attributes="member: 7533">No, it wouldn't.&nbsp; I may have read it wrong, but it seemed a blantant and arbitrary way to sabotage the PC's carefully laid plans by reintroducing a plot hook that none of the PCs was the least bit interested in.&nbsp; You ruined a plan that was amlost completely successful through nothing but diplomacy and roleplaying.&nbsp; It is hard enough to get your average player to not kill NPCs at first sight...&nbsp; Unless your players are extraordinary, you've just given your players good reason to never rely on parley ever again, and made the Monk fairly useless in this party.&quot;Wait, let's talk to them?&quot;&quot;Why, he'll just have someone attack us anyway.&nbsp; Let's attack them first.&quot;A more Rat Bastard way to make trouble for the PCs, would have been to have a Bad Guy quietly and subtlely sabotage the talks behind-the-scenes.&nbsp; Using Stilled Silent magic spells (in plain sight of the PCs) to cause the PCs to make gaffes in goblin etiquette...&nbsp; Grease, Ventriloquism, Silent Image and Mage Hand are great spells for this sort of thing.That's the icing on the cake, so to speak.&nbsp; A good RBDM never tells his players that he's an RBDM, or how mean he's going to be.&nbsp; Your players can figure it out for themselves.If I'd done this to any of my players, I doubt they would...&nbsp; Unless they had a string of successes before this, most of them would be asking to switch characters to a more useful Fighter or Wizard.Imagine if you were playing a Rogue who was tricked out for massive Sneak attacking, but you nver got to use it, because your DM only set you up against Constructs, Elementals and Undead.You NEED to let your players succeed a few times at what they are REALLY good at, before you can toss them a failure like this.No sir, we do not.&nbsp; Killing player characters is easy.&nbsp; It doesn't take a Rat Bastard DM to do that.&nbsp; Rat Bastard DMing is about making thoroughly challenging enounters for your characters in new and interesting ways.&nbsp; It's about making your players think that their characters are in dire danger, even though they really aren't, so they feel great when they succeed thinking that they were against the odds.&nbsp; It's about making trouble for the characters in such a way, that the players brag about how you screwed them over afterward.It's about telling your player to go to Hell, and having them looking forward to the trip.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pbartender, post: 2255148, member: 7533"] No, it wouldn't. I may have read it wrong, but it seemed a blantant and arbitrary way to sabotage the PC's carefully laid plans by reintroducing a plot hook that none of the PCs was the least bit interested in. You ruined a plan that was amlost completely successful through nothing but diplomacy and roleplaying. It is hard enough to get your average player to not kill NPCs at first sight... Unless your players are extraordinary, you've just given your players good reason to never rely on parley ever again, and made the Monk fairly useless in this party. "Wait, let's talk to them?" "Why, he'll just have someone attack us anyway. Let's attack them first." A more Rat Bastard way to make trouble for the PCs, would have been to have a Bad Guy quietly and subtlely sabotage the talks behind-the-scenes. Using Stilled Silent magic spells (in plain sight of the PCs) to cause the PCs to make gaffes in goblin etiquette... Grease, Ventriloquism, Silent Image and Mage Hand are great spells for this sort of thing. That's the icing on the cake, so to speak. A good RBDM never tells his players that he's an RBDM, or how mean he's going to be. Your players can figure it out for themselves. If I'd done this to any of my players, I doubt they would... Unless they had a string of successes before this, most of them would be asking to switch characters to a more useful Fighter or Wizard. Imagine if you were playing a Rogue who was tricked out for massive Sneak attacking, but you nver got to use it, because your DM only set you up against Constructs, Elementals and Undead. You NEED to let your players succeed a few times at what they are REALLY good at, before you can toss them a failure like this. No sir, we do not. Killing player characters is easy. It doesn't take a Rat Bastard DM to do that. Rat Bastard DMing is about making thoroughly challenging enounters for your characters in new and interesting ways. It's about making your players think that their characters are in dire danger, even though they really aren't, so they feel great when they succeed thinking that they were against the odds. It's about making trouble for the characters in such a way, that the players brag about how you screwed them over afterward. It's about telling your player to go to Hell, and having them looking forward to the trip. [/QUOTE]

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