Why would a DM want a copy of the players character sheet?

[Tsyr]

One of the groups I play in actualy has a rather interesting way of doing this... It wouldn't work for most groups, but our system was developed after a LOT of arguements between players and GMs, so it works:

Players keep their character sheet, but there is also a backup of the character sheet in existance.

DMs get an index card with spot, listen, saves, etc on it. Not a full character sheet to use to spot weeknesses... GMs can meta-game too, and it sucks worse than when players do it.

The DM *does* have a copy of our character sheets, *but*, he can't read them. He has them only in the event that a player is missing and they have to be NPCed. Each character sheet is placed in a seperate envelope, which is then sealed both with the glue on the flap, and with a wax seal, which is then impressed with the signet of the player in question. The DM then has the sheet in question, but if it's opened, the players know about it. Done right, it's almost impossible to "lift" a seal with a knife or steam, like you might see done in movies, without at least leaving some trace of having done so.

This might seem overly conspiritorial, but after the incident where we were confronted with an entire dungeon of traps 1 DC to high for our theif to get, and NPCs who had spells prepared and in place to counter the *exact* spell list of our wizard, and a couple of other similar events, we started to get a bit more... careful.

 

[Zarthon]

I use the iniatitive cards from Gamemachanics.com, I also have my players list their magic on the cards so I know what they have.

One thing I do is check the sheets every level for mistakes, etc...

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Actually, I do better. Having a customized game with plenty of house rules, I have customized Character Sheet specifically made for the game. The information is kept on my computer. This provides several benefits.

1. I have the information available for planning purposes (I custom-build adventures for the particular party).

2. The Players can never forget their sheets (I can crank-out a copy of the rules and we keep out notes/adventure logs in a private forum on our own message board).

I also keep a "cheat sheet", allowing me to tell a Player to "roll a d20" and reference the modifier without the Player knowing what the roll was for (thus cutting down on reactions based on metagaming).

 

[tonym]

My super-fun D&D group has excellent attendence. But every now and then somebody can't make a session. As my DM does not keep copies of character sheets, when somebody (and their character sheet) is missing, we need to have more out-of-character discussions. Like...

"Does he know the spell called [whatever]?" "Yes, absolutely." "Yes." "Wait. No he doesn't."

But it's no big deal, really.

As a Player, if my DM wanted copies of character sheets , I'd be supportive. He's da boss.


TonyM

 

[Kahuna Burger]

This might seem overly conspiritorial, but after the incident where we were confronted with an entire dungeon of traps 1 DC to high for our theif to get, and NPCs who had spells prepared and in place to counter the *exact* spell list of our wizard, and a couple of other similar events, we started to get a bit more... careful.

Ever see a DM making notes on the sheets for the gladitorial combat you're about to enter while you're doing your buff spells?

Kahuna Burger

 

[Umbran]

This might seem overly conspiritorial

Yes, it does. Dude, if you couldn't fix this with discussion, you should have left that DM behind. Because sealing wax is only a fix for a particular symptom. It does nothing to repair the disease behind it.

If nothing else, if the DM is attentive, he can compile all the information he needs without ever seeing the sheet

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Yes, it does. Dude, if you couldn't fix this with discussion, you should have left that DM behind. Because sealing wax is only a fix for a particular symptom. It does nothing to repair the disease behind it.

All DM's have their good and bad points. If the group really liked playing with this dm in general but found he was playing just a little too agressivly against the players and they decided to handicap him, so be it. There likely was a discussion, and the fix was hiding the character sheets. Sometimes you can't just leave a dm behind. Its life, and you work around some problems rather than eliminating them entirely.

Kahuna Burger

 

[Angcuru]

well, you could avoid the whole problem altogether by having the DM hold onto the sheet when game is not in session. works fine for my group.

 

[Tsyr]

All DM's have their good and bad points. If the group really liked playing with this dm in general but found he was playing just a little too agressivly against the players and they decided to handicap him, so be it. There likely was a discussion, and the fix was hiding the character sheets. Sometimes you can't just leave a dm behind. Its life, and you work around some problems rather than eliminating them entirely.

Kahuna Burger

Yeah, that's basicly it. He's actualy a pretty good GM... good stories, great roleplay. His weakness is he's not so good at combat situations... He tends to actualy have really bad tactics, so he tends to try to "compensate" by using knowledge he really shouldn't.

 

[Fenes 2]

Well, for bad tactics, there is a fix or two.

First, and easiest solutions: Don't care about it. Your monsters get killed to easily, so what? As long as everyone has fun, all is right. If push comes to shove, just tack on a few hitpoints or levels when preparing, or even when fighting, so that the battles last a bit longer.

Alternate solutions include copying player tactics - what is good for the goose is good for the gander - or, a bit more work, checking on this board for some primers on getting the bad guys to act tougher. BADD may be overkill, but if everything else fails...

Third, look out for the revised Monster Manual. As far as I heard it has step by step suggested tactics for the monsters inside.