Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Neonivek 11-29-05, 08:41 PM	I as a DM love to do everything I can to make every single adventure I do as unique as possible... but when does it get excessive? I love doing the Zombies immune to turn, Vampires immune to sunlight, immortal sorcerer(puzzle boss), Enemies who know the parties every weakness and exploits it, Full sized slime monsters that come out of coffie mugs you name it... and that is not including every unique monster, magic item, or NPC who does not use classes (basically unique set up) My reasoning behind it is: Every single player in this room already memorised all the books... so Id have to use something not in the books. Only asking because I know I over do this (along with wishes but that is another story) *Edited to change but to so*
Corinthians 11-29-05, 11:00 PM	Just remind your players that meta-gaming is a no-no. Players fighting a Crystalline Troll for the first time and everyone capable starts whipping out the sonic damage without any knowledge or valid reason? Drop the CR of the mob significantly. I don't mind my players having read everything, I just expect them to try not to meta-game.
epifreak 11-29-05, 11:15 PM	Or, you can just pull the switcheroo on your players. I don't mean change stats (that can lead to accidental TPKs or overeasy battles), just switch the descriptions. Describe the crystalline troll, when in fact, what you've statted is a tarrasque. Just switch your flavor text and watch them pull horrendously wrong tactics on whatever you're throwing at them.
nnnnn 11-30-05, 02:54 AM	Also, custom spells. They are your friend. I was in a game where the DM was very good at characterizing the NPC actions. There was this recurring NPC Wizard we kept encountering and fighting to a draw. The DM would pantomime the Wizard's somatic components for us when it mattered, which usually meant a custom spell. Everytime he moved his hands around we knew something wierd and unknown was about to happen, and it was usually pretty nasty too. There really is no bigger fealing of dread than knowing ahead of time that an NPC wizard is about to fire off a custom spell at you. I thought it was a great way of conveying the real feeling of what your character is feeling when he encounters an unknown spell. The problem is that for the players, they know all the spells. So when they see Evard's Black Tentacles appear, they know exactly what to do. It also got to the point where finally we run into a different Wizard and we recognize the hand gestures and we not only knew he had learned custom spells from the other guy, but we knew which one! Now that was a good DM. His NPCs were fantastic. nnnnn
Schmendrick 11-30-05, 05:20 AM	The problem is that for the players, they know all the spells. So when they see Evard's Black Tentacles appear, they know exactly what to do. What with the rebalancing that took place in 3.5, it's practically assumed that players know "too much" about spells and will automatically metagame. I actually think that CRs for spellcasters and spell-like users should be increased a little for groups that actually roleplay character ignorance. (the same goes for other weird mechanics, like some special Grab, Trip, or Swallow Whole attacks.)
CzarGarrett 11-30-05, 10:06 AM	I too throw curveballs to my players. Minor CR increase templates are excellent, as are the addition of a PC class or two (rather than NPC). Low level magic items and enchantments can be great. Plus, I prefer to play creatures with intelligence, well, intelligently. Goblins don't just hide away in caves all the time. They send out scouts and stuff. Maybe some of them saw the party fighting the Ogres and that the mage was using a lot of fire spells. So when the PCs come against the goblins, they've been buffed with Fire resistance spells. Makes it much more difficult for the PCs.