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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 6747950" data-attributes="member: 5100">Ultimately, it's the entertainment of the players that matters. That's going to look different at different tables. It probably looks different on different days.When I was in college, we started a game after midterms. It was a really, really vicious semester for me and this was at 2:00 AM. I made a barbarian and the DM let me sell off my mental stats for more muscle (at a 2:1 penalty). I ended up with a 4 INT and a 5 WIS. I was so fried that it worked perfectly -- I couldn't think through anything. It was an absolute riot and I continued to play the character, even after getting some sleep. I had to be almost zen about it, but it was grand. The entire group was brought to laughter multiple times every session (this is the only time I've played for comedy relief). It worked, in part, because other characters were played with exaggerated reserve, which offset my character. I also "let" one of the other PCs fast talk me into being his buddy, so he was able to turn gross stupidity into just an amusing quip. Sure, it endangered the group on a regular basis. I had at least one moment most sessions where I was sure I was going to need a new character. But, I'm pretty sure the DM would have played it so that the dracolich (or whatever I'd vexed) only ate my character and I was fine with that, for the entertainment value. So was everyone else.Relevance to the topic? Regardless of whether you're challenging the player or the character, you have to engage the player. Sometimes, that's best served by granting the Rogue a few minutes of screen time and a few die rolls. Others, it's in having a puzzle trap that has everyone thinking but few, if any, dice. If you want a memorable trap, figuring out which dice to roll should be part of the climax, with the actual act of rolling being almost the denouement.</blockquote>

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