Scariest DM questions?

I love being able to randomly scare my players with questions and I'm looking for ones I can randomly whip out. Here's some of the ones I have.

• Remind me, what gods do you worship?
• What's your AC?
• What's your marching order?
• What's your passive perception?

"does a 31 hit?"

Or just call for a seemingly random die roll... "roll a d20 for me, and add your Cha bonus... are you proficient in Cha saves?"

or

"Someone roll a d6 for me"

I sometimes pass one player a note that says “Nothing. Just messing with everyone.”

I saw this list somewhere, and added a couple things to it:

Terrifying Phrases for DMs to use on failed checks


Acrobatics - "That looks easy enough, you seen the monk do it; how hard could it be?"

Animal Handling - "This snarling beast is just smiling at you, happy to have you pet it."

Arcana - "This magic seems harmless enough."

Athletics - "Yeah, you can make the jump, probably."

Deception - "You know that you've got them eating from the palm of your hand."

History - "That wasn't an important matter"
------- - "You're sure that that event never happened."

Insight - "All good."

Intimidation - "You leave them in a stunned silence."

Investigation - "It doesn't seem trapped"
------------- - (no trap) "You've never been more certain that its trapped."

Medicine - "You see nothing out of the ordinary"
-------- - "Other than the obvious wounds, it's fine."

Nature - "The rate at which things die here is normal."

Religion - "Probably some minor god with a cult or two"
-------- - "That god/goddess doesn't exist."

Perception - "The room looks empty."
---------- - "That guy is shadowing you."

Performance - "People will be talking about this for weeks."

Persuasion - "You’ve convinced them to surrender. They’re drawing their weapons so they can throw them down."

Sleight of Hand - "Your mark definitely didn't notice."

Stealth - "You have supreme confidence that nothing could have noticed you."

Survival - "You know this water is good for consumption."

Saw the title of the thread and thought you meant what’s the most frightening question *for* a DM which I think we can all agree is “what’s the name of this NPC?” 

“How many diamonds are y’all carrying?”

"Are you sure about that?"

 Not a question, but:

"Sorry guys, not able to run session today."

My players consistently say the thing the scares them the most is when I ask, "are you sure?" or "so you're doing [x]?" 

Do you have backup character sheets ready to go? No, plural you.

Quote from Xalthu >>

I sometimes pass one player a note that says “Nothing. Just messing with everyone.”

 I've done this, but the note said "You may not tell anyone the contents of this note" and nothing more.

You have to pass the occassional non-note, otherwise the group will realize something's up when you pass the real ones. Just like you have to describe the occassional rodent or forest animal they pass, otherwise the first time you say, "a raven on the branch is watching you" - the entire party will shoot at it.

Quote from HarmAssassin >>

You have to pass the occassional non-note, otherwise the group will realize something's up when you pass the real ones. Just like you have to describe the occassional rodent or forest animal they pass, otherwise the first time you say, "a raven on the branch is watching you" - the entire party will shoot at it.

 Oh for me, the one note, and the player's refusal to say what was in it, started an entire paranoia loop.  Don't need to pass real or fake notes after that. 😁

“Will you forgive me?” Is probably gonna mean something horrific

Clarification. Nothing influences a player's decisions more than asking for clarification.

"Oh, so you are reading the runes?"

"You touch the artifact, then?

"Are you using your spellcasting focus or material components for that?"

"Using your sword? Your steel sword?"

"So you step into the room?"

"You're wearing shoes, right?"

"Where are you looking, as you step out?"

Gets 'em every time.

THAT'S TERRIFYING DEAR GOD

I once sent a message to each party member that says "You are not the Doppelganger". Endless paranoia!

"Are you sure?"

Ok, one i really hated because it always spelled trouble before my current table.

"How much did you say your character weighed again?"

I think many things said with a tone of resignation or surprise:

"Wow, well... I didn't think you guys were going to do this."
"I mean, you had a chance to turn around...."
"Wait, you're taking the left path?"

Or just trusty old, "Hold on [short quiet pause] never mind."