When the GM gips you (a rant)

[Nightchilde-2]

I've done it, but only with NPCs who would eventually become foes.

That way the PCs feel happy to kill someone they hate, and they feel good about their increased levels ("whoah, we just killed that uber-blah from way back when!").

C, -- N

Exactly.

For example, I had a lich hand the 3rd level PCs their collective butts then go on to do other bad things to set her up as the BBEG in the campaign. The sense of accomplishment the PCs felt when they finally took her down 12 levels (and a year real time) later is something they still talk about today.

It can work if done properly. However, if it happens too often, it becomes an issue.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

The player characters don't have to be precious special snowflakes all the way through the campaign. The world does contain characters who are tougher than the PCs and when towns are attacked, those powerful NPCs should react using whatever cool and powerful abilities they possess.

But equally, the only interesting situations are the ones where the players can make choices that influence the course of events. If the players don't have the opportunity to make those choices, then the situation is just a boring railroad, and the DM should handwave it.

("Okay, you got attacked by a bunch of undead. You fight them together, but you're struggling to hold off the horde until a powerful NPC mage shows up and fireballs them. Now, the undead are re-dead and the mage is standing there with smoking fingertips. What do you do?")

 

[greywulf]

Kill him and take his stuff.

Seconded!

Unless there's a Darned Good Reason, this showboating ain't good. And why is a 3rd level guy in charge of a group the same level as him? They should always, always be of lower level. The PCs are the heroes, always

 

[Storyteller01]

Hold on, hold on. Could the NPC have had a necklace of fireballs? Even a 1st level NPC can throw a 9d6 fireball with one of them. All may not be as it seems. (Though cynically I bet it is a 9th level NPC.)

9th level Gunmage

 

[Storyteller01]

Was running like hell an option?

Not if I wanted to keep the character as a cavalier.

 

[IcyCool]

Check me if I'm wrong but D&D has never, ever factored in movement speed to to-hit chances and only EXTREMELY marginally to AC (and that in only in older edtions). In other words nobody in D&D EVER cares how FAST something is moving when trying to hit it with anything. What matters is only if the SHOOTER is moving.

Just FYC.

It absolutely considers movement. That's what your Dex bonus to AC is for, and why it is hampered by the armor you wear.

 

[Elemental]

It absolutely considers movement. That's what your Dex bonus to AC is for, and why it is hampered by the armor you wear.

But Dexterity and dodge bonuses to AC are not the same as having a fast or slow land speed, correct?

 

[IcyCool]

But Dexterity and dodge bonuses to AC are not the same as having a fast or slow land speed, correct?

For the most part, yes. You'll recall that Haste gives an AC bonus as well. Haste doesn't increase your base speed, but it does make you move faster.

*shrug* If a person is paralyzed, they aren't moving, and are easier to hit. This isn't exactly rocket science.

Edit - Oh, and before someone reads too much into what I said, you aren't a terrible person if you think it should be equally as easy to hit stationary kegs as it is to hit moving kegs.

 

[IcyCool]

You mean a +2 modifier to AC. A person doesn't get worse at shooting because the target is moving, but the target does get harder to hit.

Po-tay-tow, po-tah-tow. Either way, it results in the same. And yes, I'd likely play it like +2 to AC instead of -2 to hit.

I'd say there's every chance that the difficulty the DM assigned to the attack roll was fair, or at least close enough considering that he was winging it.

Possibly, but I'm starting to doubt that, given that the total of the gunmen's roll was at least 10 ...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I've done it, but only with NPCs who would eventually become foes.

That way the PCs feel happy to kill someone they hate, and they feel good about their increased levels ("whoah, we just killed that uber-blah from way back when!").

C, -- N

Nah, this one was "insurance". He was their superior (more or less), but I made it clear that him becoming a foe was definetly an option if they did the same monkey business as in the other campaigns. I was determined not to have my game be killed by some people with issues who use D&D as a cheap excuse to annoy people. Okay, I also throw idiots out, but still.