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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spinozajack" data-source="post: 6598763" data-attributes="member: 6794198">You can always add caster or fighter levels or feats or spells or magic items or special abilities to any monster you want, to keep the game fresh. That's not the same as saying suddenly this healing potion magically appears in the BBEG's backpack and he regains HP as if he had spent an action taking it out of his backpack to drink it.Boosting HP, seen in this light, is a total sham. It requires not only ignoring the usual HP rules, but ignoring all kinds of other rules like having to use an action to cast a spell or drink a potion to restore their HP instead of attacking the players one more time. It's cheap. And in my opinion, it's cheating. Obfuscatory language aside, everybody here acknowledges that because they constantly use the term "fudging" which means the same thing. The only difference is is that they rationalize it because it's an easy tool to alter the number of rounds a combat takes. That's not a power the DM should have, unless it's a foregone conclusion. In which case they can just end the combat anyway without subterfuge.My main point in this thread is that I have tried it, and found over the years it's better to just let the chips fall where they may. You can always make another NPC or monster to take the place of the fallen one, players can always roll another PC, and the story goes on. Once you've opened up the can of worms that fudging is okay in your game, it sets a precedent that players don't see doing it as wrong. And they do end up fudging their own HP. Do people here at least acknowledge that's cheating? If DMs can fudge HP without a rules reason for it to justify the change, why can't PCs? DMs are supposedly doing it for the good of the story, why is it bad for the story for PCs to heave a little extra plot padding? The rationalizations cut both ways. Either DMs want PCs to win regardless of the dice, in which case it's absurd to not allow PCs to fudge their own HP, or they let the dice have their way and let the chips fall where they may. You lose all pretense of DMs as impartial combat referee when you give them that power. And that to me means in fairness, I can't as a player feel guilty if I do the same thing. Fair's fair. That's the whole concept of fair play. Fudging HP mid-combat is not fair play, it's rigged.There is no real challenge if combat outcomes are forced one way or another. At that point you might as well watch a movie or read a book. That's all I have to say on the topic, thanks for listening guys.</blockquote>

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