Why would a DM want a copy of the players character sheet?
Tsyr said:
Personally, I don't think there's any knowledge that a good intentioned, thoughtful GM shouldn't use. If his intent is to give you excitement, and tell a good story, then there's no problem with him using any piece of information. The DM can only "cheat" if you have an adversarial relationship with him.
You see, in a battle of wits, generally the players will beat the DM. They generally will have better tactics for one simple reason - they have many minds to put to the problem, where the DM has one. Only rarely do you have a DM who can consistently beat his players in an even fight. So, how is he supposed to challenge you? The best tools available to the DM to deal with this are information and forethought.
I doubt locking up the sheets will help, in the long run. It doesn't force him to use better tactics. He can still just use tougher challenges. All you've done is force him to do so in an uninformed manner, rather than an informed way.
Bendris Noulg
First Post
I agree with this. However, from what was indicated ealier ("...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...") isn't a case of the DM ensuring that adventures and encounters are challenging, it's a case of the DM making unbalanced encounters (which he can do with or without the sheets).Umbran said:
If someone else in the group is an experienced DM, than perhaps that person should sit down with him and the sheets and lay out a few scenarios that are difficult and fair (i.e., balanced) so he can get a better idea of how it's done.
Azzy
ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ
There are a lot of good points here. While it may be redundant, I'll cast in my main reasons...
1) Knowing the characters' strengths and weakness allows me to tailor adventures that play to these strengths and weakness and that are neither too much for the characters to suceed in, nor a cake walk.
2) Backups are always great if a player forgets to bring their copy (though I have some players that leave their copy with me anyway).
3) So I can, if necessary, make rolls that the players should have no idea about. This counters unwanted metagame thinking in some instances. (Though I also randomly make players roll dice for no reason and provide no explanation. This uses that unwanted metagame thinking against them--keeps 'em on their toes.)
4) Record keeping in general.
5) It minimizes cheating (fortunately, that's not a concern with my current group).
Aside from character sheets, I also want copies of the PC's backgrounds. But the reasoning behind that should be more than obvious.
1) Knowing the characters' strengths and weakness allows me to tailor adventures that play to these strengths and weakness and that are neither too much for the characters to suceed in, nor a cake walk.
2) Backups are always great if a player forgets to bring their copy (though I have some players that leave their copy with me anyway).
3) So I can, if necessary, make rolls that the players should have no idea about. This counters unwanted metagame thinking in some instances. (Though I also randomly make players roll dice for no reason and provide no explanation. This uses that unwanted metagame thinking against them--keeps 'em on their toes.)
4) Record keeping in general.
5) It minimizes cheating (fortunately, that's not a concern with my current group).
Aside from character sheets, I also want copies of the PC's backgrounds. But the reasoning behind that should be more than obvious.
Bran Blackbyrd
Explorer
Personally, I like to have a copy of the players' character sheets because;
If someone fails to show up or forgets their sheet, I have it on hand.
Four of my five players are total n00bs. They have a tendency to accidently give themselves feats they don't qualify for, then short themselves on HP, skill points, attack bonus... Having a copy lets me check for such errors.
If I need them to make a check for something their character shouldn't be aware of I can say, "Roll a D20.", and then check the sheet, rather than letting the cat out of the bag by asking for a specific check.
It's just handy, really. Though I am sure their are DMs out there that demand to have a copy of the (or the player's own) character sheets as a controlling factor. Some people go off on a power trip over the simplest things.
If someone fails to show up or forgets their sheet, I have it on hand.
Four of my five players are total n00bs. They have a tendency to accidently give themselves feats they don't qualify for, then short themselves on HP, skill points, attack bonus... Having a copy lets me check for such errors.
If I need them to make a check for something their character shouldn't be aware of I can say, "Roll a D20.", and then check the sheet, rather than letting the cat out of the bag by asking for a specific check.
It's just handy, really. Though I am sure their are DMs out there that demand to have a copy of the (or the player's own) character sheets as a controlling factor. Some people go off on a power trip over the simplest things.
I have no problem with giving a GM a copy of my characters sheet.
When I DM, I also demand that they give me a copy of the character sheet so that I can check it for errors.
I do not do this to taylor an adventure specific to a group. I does help though to balence the adventure for the group, I generally don't use it that way though. I have found that it also helps to have the sheet so that if a person fogets to bring it to the game they can still play with the back up copy. It is just good organisation to do things this way.
Just a few thoughts about it,
Darius
When I DM, I also demand that they give me a copy of the character sheet so that I can check it for errors.
I do not do this to taylor an adventure specific to a group. I does help though to balence the adventure for the group, I generally don't use it that way though. I have found that it also helps to have the sheet so that if a person fogets to bring it to the game they can still play with the back up copy. It is just good organisation to do things this way.
Just a few thoughts about it,
Darius
