When your DM asks you how many hit points you have left...

[Romnipotent]

I said no, but if I were asked I would tell him, just because he's supposed to be able to ask and be told truthfully. But I wouldn't want him to skimp some damage to save my character, its a risky line of living...

On the same hand I've had counter rulings that have caused me to go out (unconcious) for days on end because a myriad of house rulings (gurps and spending 50 fatigue without powerstones).

 

[takyris]

A few minor points:

1) I'm in favor of fudging, personally, because I like drama, and as the DM, most of the time, it's my fault that a PC died, not the player's -- an encounter I didn't plan correctly, whatever. I don't want them to die because I didn't realize that a 1/round save-or-die ability was kinda bad. That's wholly different from fudging because I want to control the plot, or to cave in to player stupidity.

2) I have a player who specifically asked me not to fudge for him, so I don't.

3) If I ask how many hit points somebody has left, it's often not to cheat, but to gauge how the PC looks, so that I can accurately play an intelligent monster's actions. In order to be fair, I usually ask the way that I have players ask each other -- I ask for the thumb. The thumb has proven to be a decent gauge. When the fighter gives you the "thumb at one-quarter or less" mark, you know what it means, and when the wizard gives you the "thumb at one-half" mark after taking a single hit, you know what that means. It's fair, but not so completely number-crunched that I can reduce them to 2 hit points and then miss them for the rest of the night as subtle form of mockery.

 

[DM JOE]

As a DM I never like to know the current Hp of my players so I never ask them. As a PC I would tell my Hp to the DM but would not like the DM to pity me

 

[Treebore]

I never ask a player to tell me HP so I can avoid killing them. I ask so I can start figuring out how to avoid a TPK if I think their character dying might tilt the scales in favor of a TPK. I've been fortunate with my current group, every time I have asked their HP they only went down to -8, and players were able to heal them in time. Most of the time they went to the -1 to -4 range. No fudging needed, even to try and prevent a TPK.

Since I allow raising and ressurections, I really don't feel bad about killing their PC, especially since I don't assess penalties unless their PC died because the player did something stupid. I don't believe in penalizing them just because of bad rolls in a nasty fight. Dying usually bothers the player enough. I won't rub salt in their wound unless I think they deserved it.

 

[tetsujin28]

I answered 'yes', but only because our GM only asks that when he thinks you really, really ought to consider running away.

 

[MonsterMash]

I never ask my players how many hit points they have left. I try to keep track of damage myself, and out of combat I'll verify my totals with theirs, but I don't ask before dishing it out.

This is pretty much what I do when I'm DMing.

With the group where I'm a player the DM rolls openly so there isn't any question of being able to fudge rolls to save a character, but we have a fate points system (like the Conan RPG) allowing characters to cheat death - at least occasionally and my cleric has had reason to be happy that fate points exist on a couple of occasions.

 

[Jolly Giant]

If I die, I die. If the DM 'cheats' to keep my character alive it takes away a lot of the exitement of combat.

 

[Bagpuss]

I don't think that the DM asking for your number of HP means that he's going to fudge to save you. I sometimes fudge, and sometimes ask for HP, but the two things are usually unrelated.

As a DM the only time I ask for hit points is if I'm going to fudge. Or it use to be since 3rd Edition I've not fudged and I've never asked for hit points.

 

[diaglo]

If he asks I'll tell him. I don't want him to fudge the dice but at the same time I'm not going to withhold information that is asked for.

i want to die if the dice say so.

if he ain't keeping track of my hps. then that's just sad.

if he asks i tell him straight up.

no fudging. fudging sucks worse than the 2000ed Bard

 

[Cor Azer]

Always tell him. And I want my players to always tell me.

It's not about fudging though - it's about knowing what's going on. You can lie, ignore, or bluff the NPCs, but you don't lie, ignore, or bluff the DM - if I can't trust you to tell me your character's current status, why should I trust you enough to play in my game? Trust is a big part of the fun with me.