DM being harsh then too nice. [Archive] - Wizards Community

DM being harsh then too nice. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
High Octane
11-15-06, 05:25 PM My DM has this problem, where he throws things at us that are utterly out of our league.

Then he has the problem of having us BEAT that thing that is out of our league. I actually pray for TPKs that never come.

Of COURSE I wont intentionally cause the group to get TPK'd, but when we face a vastly superior force and the DM is making calls entirely in our favor its sort of disappointing.

He does NOT fudge rolls, he rolls them in the open. However, its first edition, so the rules concerning things like AoOs and what can be done in a round are a lot more blurry and up to a DM. Not to mention that his NPCs sometimes engage in quite boneheaded tactics.

Despite this, he still ends up killing characters often, but he also hands out resurrections like candy.

Do not get me wrong about him, hes a GREAT DM, but I just am having a hard time contemplating how to bring this up without sounding like Im complaining or begging for more/less challenge.

I want less challenging opponents, but I also want the referee to call it fair instead of in our favor.
DarkNick
11-15-06, 05:33 PM Do you need to bring it up? Are you having fun?

Perhaps you're misjudging the encounters. Things you think are utterly out of your league might just stack up from the DMs perspective. Players are still dying afterall.

The main problem I think you have is that he is not using his monsters to their best advantage. You want a real challenge - a 'fair fight'.

Maybe you could approach it from this angle "I noticed that we fight a lot of powerful monsters and I wonder how we ever survive. You may not know this but you do tend to rule in our favour an awful lot which is fine, except it would be cool to get a chance to handle things on our own. It would be great to fight some slightly weaker creatures that were tactically much superior, that don't pull any punches. I think it would be more fun to see if you cold kill us using much weaker monsters"
High Octane
11-15-06, 06:34 PM Our group of level 2s took on a group of 3 level 1 thieves, 3 level 1 fighters, 1 level 2 fighter, 2 skeletons, and a level 3 cleric and some 3HD undead.

My character died and came back from a blood pact. (evil characters). Essentially my character has 3 resurrections for free. Ive used 2.

None of the other characters died and the skeleton archers were given a 25% chance to shoot their allies in the back, and had maybe a 10% chance of hitting us. Several backshots later the cleric didnt order them to change a thing.

I will admit we got some DAMN lucky rolls, but it doesnt account for us popping back up immediately when a potion is poured down our unconcious throats with no time lost by anyone but the potion pourer. With 3 people around them in combat, nobody got any sort of attack of oppurtunity or chance to stop it. Yet seemingly every move they made DID give us free atatcks.
High Octane
11-15-06, 06:56 PM Oops!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
High Octane 11-15-06, 05:25 PM	My DM has this problem, where he throws things at us that are utterly out of our league. Then he has the problem of having us BEAT that thing that is out of our league. I actually pray for TPKs that never come. Of COURSE I wont intentionally cause the group to get TPK'd, but when we face a vastly superior force and the DM is making calls entirely in our favor its sort of disappointing. He does NOT fudge rolls, he rolls them in the open. However, its first edition, so the rules concerning things like AoOs and what can be done in a round are a lot more blurry and up to a DM. Not to mention that his NPCs sometimes engage in quite boneheaded tactics. Despite this, he still ends up killing characters often, but he also hands out resurrections like candy. Do not get me wrong about him, hes a GREAT DM, but I just am having a hard time contemplating how to bring this up without sounding like Im complaining or begging for more/less challenge. I want less challenging opponents, but I also want the referee to call it fair instead of in our favor.
DarkNick 11-15-06, 05:33 PM	Do you need to bring it up? Are you having fun? Perhaps you're misjudging the encounters. Things you think are utterly out of your league might just stack up from the DMs perspective. Players are still dying afterall. The main problem I think you have is that he is not using his monsters to their best advantage. You want a real challenge - a 'fair fight'. Maybe you could approach it from this angle "I noticed that we fight a lot of powerful monsters and I wonder how we ever survive. You may not know this but you do tend to rule in our favour an awful lot which is fine, except it would be cool to get a chance to handle things on our own. It would be great to fight some slightly weaker creatures that were tactically much superior, that don't pull any punches. I think it would be more fun to see if you cold kill us using much weaker monsters"
High Octane 11-15-06, 06:34 PM	Our group of level 2s took on a group of 3 level 1 thieves, 3 level 1 fighters, 1 level 2 fighter, 2 skeletons, and a level 3 cleric and some 3HD undead. My character died and came back from a blood pact. (evil characters). Essentially my character has 3 resurrections for free. Ive used 2. None of the other characters died and the skeleton archers were given a 25% chance to shoot their allies in the back, and had maybe a 10% chance of hitting us. Several backshots later the cleric didnt order them to change a thing. I will admit we got some DAMN lucky rolls, but it doesnt account for us popping back up immediately when a potion is poured down our unconcious throats with no time lost by anyone but the potion pourer. With 3 people around them in combat, nobody got any sort of attack of oppurtunity or chance to stop it. Yet seemingly every move they made DID give us free atatcks.
High Octane 11-15-06, 06:56 PM	Oops!