D&D 5E Your Biggest Gaming Pet Peeve

[iserith]

This is an example of why @iserith suggests clarifying with tbe player what the character is actually doing to open the door, though. If the player was picturing his character kicking in the door like @cmad1977 was above, then describing that damage as going to the shoulder could be irritating. Maybe not, though, of course. A flexible player would probably just roll with it, but still, why not make sure everyone is on the same page to start?

But yeah, what you say is good, is what I aim for.

Yes, and this is why I find myself unable to watch some of the more popular actual play videos or podcasts. The DM is describing most of what the characters do for the players and, speaking of gaming pet peeves, that's one of mine. Though I do get a kick out of when the DM describes what the character is doing and the player goes "No, that's not what I do." The fault goes to both the player and DM though as I see it - to the player for not being explicit as to goal and approach and the DM filling in the blanks.

 

[RCanine]

This is an example of why @iserith suggests clarifying with tbe player what the character is actually doing to open the door, though. If the player was picturing his character kicking in the door like @cmad1977 was above, then describing that damage as going to the shoulder could be irritating. Maybe not, though, of course. A flexible player would probably just roll with it, but still, why not make sure everyone is on the same page to start?

But yeah, what you say is good, is what I aim for.

Yeah, I was aiming for a more concise parallel structure; in actual play I'd probably inform the character the door was stuck and ask if they'd like to force it first.

 

[MechaPilot]

How would you DM the same situation?

Player: "I want to open the door."
DM: "You try the door and find that it's stuck. Do you try to force it open? If so, how do you do it?"
Player: "I step back and try to kick it in."
DM: "What's your Strength score?"
Player: "24.*"
DM: "Wow! Yeah, that's way more than you needed. The door swings open and slams against the wall on the other side. As it slowly swings halfway back you can see it's not hanging properly from its hinges, if it ever was, and the wood is cracked where you kicked it."

*I am using 24 for the Str score based on the math of the initial example having a +7 bonus that bring a roll of 2 to a total of 9.

 

[Iry]

GM's who nitpick supplies and basic sundries. I'm not talking about big important things, but basic everyday mundane items.

• "A bedroll? You didn't write it down on your character sheet. You don't have it."
  
• "You didn't mention equipping your shield. It's still on your back."
  
• "You have -1 penalty due to starvation. You didn't mention eating all day."

I am not interested in detailing my poop schedule, or monitoring my imaginary fantasy diabetes, or playing inventory accountant with my free time. All of these things should simply be assumed so we can get to the fun.

 

[Wepwawet]

My pet peeves:

- People constantly talking about what happened in other games they played in the past.

- People that are way more excited about die and rolling numbers than what's actually happening in the story.

 

[ccs]

DMs who aren't prepared, and can't wing it.

Ex 1: Our nearly 3 year long 1e game came to a stumbling, grinding halt when the DM wouldn't read the next section of the module, and wouldn't bother reading the rules for the spells/abilities the enemies were using.
And then got pissed off because he thought that at 11th lv we were too powerful. (we had 1 wizard & 1 cleric. Everyone else? Martial types & 1 thief)
The result? He TPKd us. (Kinda. He couldn't even muster up a true TPK)
Then he had us make new characters using ALL 2e options (including the Players Options books) & tried to continue the game.
Well.... He STILL wouldn't read the module, the 2e rules, & had absolutely zero idea of what a 7 person, custom built, fully optimized squad of 11th lv multi-class clerics could do. (hint; it wasn't pretty for team monster)
The game ended on the 2nd "2e" session.

Ex 2: My PF DM. We're 6 13th lv, 5th tier mythic, characters, with ALL PF options allowed. Some of our characters consist of 4+ pages of mechanical detail....
The DM is becoming demoralized because when the dice start rolling long fights are lasting two rounds.
Again, we have a DM who's not reading the module, not taking into account what the characters actually being played can do, AND he's not so great on RP.

 

[Over the Hill Gamer]

1. Players who are too deferential to each other. No one wants to make a decision for fear of offending someone or appearing too bossy. Wrangling a decision out of these folks can be tough.
2. When a player announces their action and is immediately told by another player (typically a very rules-savvy player) that they should have done something else. This often results in the player trying to change their action after it's been announced.

 

[Wepwawet]

One of my favorite characters I have built for my world is a Gnome Paladin, serving the Morrigan at first, but later changes to Aphrodite, for story reasons. She is the opposite of Holier-than-thou, and is much more a team mom. Almost literally, as she feels like the entire team are her adopted children that she needs to protect and help. She also never gets angry, just disappointed. ;P

That's just like the paladin on Dice Camera Action, this Curse of Strahd game on youtube run by Chris Perkins.
She's called Evelyn and always speaks with a georgian accent, and she's the most hilarious character in that game! That Anna (don't know her surname) player is brilliant!

That was the first time I saw a cool paladin

 

[hejtmane]

For me it's a tie between:

1. DMs asking for ability checks when I haven't described what I wanted to do. The old "You walk into a room, make Perception checks!" Ugh.

2. Players asking a lot of questions during the game when the things they want to know can be determined by describing what they want their characters to do.

I do that for no reason but to keep players on their toes and there is absoultey nothing in the; no room traps, monsters etc just an empty room. I know complete and utter evil

 

[iserith]

I do that for no reason but to keep players on their toes and there is absoultey nothing in the; no room traps, monsters etc just an empty room. I know complete and utter evil

While I understand that to be a classic thing to do (especially as it relates to countering "metagaming"), that would cause me to lose trust in you as DM. Other DMs do it because they think there is a gate on information in the form of an ability check and can't do step 1 of the basic conversation of the game until they've gotten "permission" from the dice to describe the environment. This gets things out of order in my view.