What the hell is wrong with me???

[Hussar]

And that's why you have 22 confirmed deaths in 2 years
I believe the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves threw a sword hilt at Robin Hood which made for a pretty comical moment (or maybe it was Robin that threw it). I'm sure there's plenty of other examples of similar actions in plenty of movies. Like the old "handgun jams and badguy throws it at the hero" routine.

One of my players once reminisced to me about the time he cast Warp Wood on a Wererats X-bow & the Wererat threw the crippled bow at him...he liked that scenario. I'm sure that is a lot more memorable to him than the time his 22nd PC died in the same Dungeon....to me, that's "just stupid" too. But hey, if emotionally frustrated NPC's aren't believable in your world, keep on killing those PC's with your tactically perfect chess playing NPC's

See, the truly funny thing is here is that I don't play chess perfect NPC's. I own exactly 3 3.5 edition books so it's not like I'm scouring sources looking for an edge. Heck, I run the World's Largest Dungeon so every monster in it is 100% core. 22 PC deaths comes from the fact that D&D combat is bloody lethal. Almost any given monster of a given CR can kill an equivalent level PC in one round. Given that I've run almost two hundred combats over the past two years, it's not a real surprise that we've had this casualty rate.

Me, I hate it when DM's feel that their story is more important than the game. Sorry, to me, story is what comes AFTER the game. Deciding to deliberatly gibble the opposition so the players are never really threatened is boring to me. I play my monsters to the best of what I feel is their ability. An ooze doesn't use any tactics, but, a high level swordsman certainly would. Deliberately tossing fights leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, both as a player and a DM.

 

[Aramax]

Hi my name is Bob and I enjoy killing PCs
(Hi Bob!)
I think I get the jist of what you are asking-Is it alright to enjoy killing-the answer to that is yes-I remeber a TPK I did w/ a band of orcs that were WAY to weak for the party even to be fighting-Now that was an enjoyable kill.I also remember a kill w/a lucky critical hit -I hated that one,no flare no style.Look for the kill w/tactics,go for the kill with a LOWER CR
now thats art!I guess what Im saying is that theres killing and theres MURDER.Murder is wrong That huge Dragon they have no chance against-why bother.But fighting to the very last Gnoll,slitting throats of the ungaurded-go for it.

 

[Hussar]

Hi my name is Bob and I enjoy killing PCs
(Hi Bob!)
I think I get the jist of what you are asking-Is it alright to enjoy killing-the answer to that is yes-I remeber a TPK I did w/ a band of orcs that were WAY to weak for the party even to be fighting-Now that was an enjoyable kill.I also remember a kill w/a lucky critical hit -I hated that one,no flare no style.Look for the kill w/tactics,go for the kill with a LOWER CR
now thats art!I guess what Im saying is that theres killing and theres MURDER.Murder is wrong That huge Dragon they have no chance against-why bother.But fighting to the very last Gnoll,slitting throats of the ungaurded-go for it.

I like him.

 

[Gundark]

I've played with more than a few softball DM's who figure that the PC's should win no matter what and I can honestly say that I would much rather roll up a new character than be "saved" by the DM.

That brought tears for my eyes

 

[Goblyn]

What the hell is wrong with you?

Well, a lot of things, but let's just stick to DMing.

Being unafraid to kill PCs when the situation(read:capable enemy) warrants it is good. Joyfully revelling in the corpses of PCs stacked a mile high ... you're going to start to lose players. Or at least the players' interest. Back when I played(I will be once again soon.Yay!) there went an eight month or so period where I went through about a dozen characters; I just stopped caring whether they lived or died and others started to lose their characters due to my apathy. Alas, such things are only clear in hindsight.

Go ahead and be a rat bastard, though. Make the PCs sweat for those victories.

[Edit]: I only just remembered that humor doesn't translate well through text. Those first two lines were supposed to be funny.

 

[Hussar]

Yeesh, 12 in eight months? Even I'm not that nasty. Yowch. That's a tad bad.

 

[Nightfall]

*cheers on Shilsen in his fight with Jurgen*

Sorry but Shil's been good to me these past two week Jurgen. Otherwise I'd root for you.

 

[shilsen]

*cheers on Shilsen in his fight with Jurgen*

Sorry but Shil's been good to me these past two week Jurgen. Otherwise I'd root for you.

Actually, Jurgen and I are on the same side here. The side that slow broils PCs without every completely cooking them. It keeps the flavor nicely packed in.