me and my group of friends have been running our first dungeons and dragons game for about 2 months now and i have been having some issues with how my DM edits the rules of the game.
for one he doesn't allow us to add our proficiency bonus to weapons we are proficient in to make the game harder which i can understand somewhat but later in the game when we are fighting things such as ancient dragons we will have to roll number higher than 15 just to hit even if we have a +3 weapon.
also he nerfed proficiencies quite a bit by making it so that sure we can be proficient in the amount o skills our class says we can be and our backgrounds but to get the bonus in our rolls we have to have double proficiency in it which only lets one skill be in the begging so we are really only actually proficient in one skill and because we didnt do enough reaserch in the begginig we didnt know about backgrounds and now we are unable to add the proficiencies we get form those backgrounds and that also includes feats as well
the third thing is that unless the enemy is completely distracted from me as a rouge I am unable to perform sneak attack so having advantage or a buddy that is distracting the enemy doesn't mean anything making the even harder to play
and lost but not least the disengage action doesn't stop opportunity attacks because the title makes it sound like you are just changing your focus to another person so the disengage action does nothing now but he doesn't count his way of disengaging an action so you can attack and disengage but disengaging does nothing.
I have just started playing D&D and the Dungeon Master is a friend of mine that is the only person that we know that has had experience with D&D so the only other option I have other than reconciling with these changes is to either have my characters killed and start over or to quite the table which is a last resort.
PLEASE HELP!!!
P.S. just so you know we have sessions on Sundays a response after the session this week is good but please try to respond before the one after that
Be honest and somewhat blunt. You're not having fun with how he has changed things and that it makes you not want to play. The way he's playing it, it really sounds like a niche rule set that only a handful of people would enjoy playing, not for beginners anyway. The actual rules have been playtested for hundreds of hours and are mainly designed to get people into D&D. If you're just starting out, you should learn the original, universal rules, and not his anyway. It means you'll be familiar with them and able to play with more than just him.
D&D 5e uses something called "Bounded Accuracy" to keep encounters challenging no matter the level of the PCs. Proficiency advancement is calculated in relation to Monster ACs. If you change one or the other, you unbalance the game.
If your DM wants to make combat more challenging, he can add more opponents, or increase their hitpoints, both re valid.
I won't say that he's playing D&D "wrong", but the whole group has to agree to it, otherwise the DM is just being a power-hungry jerk.
I'd say, go on strike. If the whole group wants to use proficiencies, tell the DM none of you are playing until he plays them as the rules are written. If that doesn't work, start your own game. You can be the DM for a while, then take turns DMing with the other players so everyone gets a turn.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
me and my group of friends have been running our first dungeons and dragons game for about 2 months now and i have been having some issues with how my DM edits the rules of the game.
for one he doesn't allow us to add our proficiency bonus to weapons we are proficient in to make the game harder which i can understand somewhat but later in the game when we are fighting things such as ancient dragons we will have to roll number higher than 15 just to hit even if we have a +3 weapon.
also he nerfed proficiencies quite a bit by making it so that sure we can be proficient in the amount o skills our class says we can be and our backgrounds but to get the bonus in our rolls we have to have double proficiency in it which only lets one skill be in the begging so we are really only actually proficient in one skill and because we didnt do enough reaserch in the begginig we didnt know about backgrounds and now we are unable to add the proficiencies we get form those backgrounds and that also includes feats as well
the third thing is that unless the enemy is completely distracted from me as a rouge I am unable to perform sneak attack so having advantage or a buddy that is distracting the enemy doesn't mean anything making the even harder to play
and lost but not least the disengage action doesn't stop opportunity attacks because the title makes it sound like you are just changing your focus to another person so the disengage action does nothing now but he doesn't count his way of disengaging an action so you can attack and disengage but disengaging does nothing.
I have just started playing D&D and the Dungeon Master is a friend of mine that is the only person that we know that has had experience with D&D so the only other option I have other than reconciling with these changes is to either have my characters killed and start over or to quite the table which is a last resort.
PLEASE HELP!!!
P.S. just so you know we have sessions on Sundays a response after the session this week is good but please try to respond before the one after that
Thank you
Tell him how you feel and then find another DM if he doesn't want to change it, not much else you can do.
Honestly, and this is coming from a relatively new player/DM: your DM doesn't sound that great to be completely blunt. As others have stated, there's other ways of making things more challenging than essentially removing features that help balance the game. As a new DM, I think the role of the DM is first and foremost to craft a story and set of challenges that people can enjoy. I want to run a campaign in a way so that even if one of my players dies, they WANT to roll a new character or encourage their teammates to find a way to revive them, rather than them preferring to just stop playing. If I see that combat is getting too difficult, I may fudge a few rolls, or (as my party experienced last week against a dragon), bring in an NPC to aid to make sure that they don't all get killed. The DM's job is to make a story that their players enjoy advancing through and that provides enough challenge without feeling like "oh, great, time to do this again I guess".
EDIT: Also, as a new DM with several new players, I've been running the campaign with, for lack of a better word, "Training Wheels" of sorts until everyone really gets comfortable with what they are doing. As we advance, I've been taking off more and more of those and making my players aware of that. This includes things like me starting to crack down on meta-gaming and encouraging more serious roleplaying from my players and having the NPC character that they started with sit out.
Communication is always key. Talk to your DM one on one and let them know that these house rules are deterring you from having fun. They might not realize how frustrated you are. But be prepared to find another DM, or better yet, become one!
Another optional rule the DM can use, that is totally within the official optional rules, is to make healing harder. Instead of gaining back all HP during a long rest, PCs have to spend HD to heal, just like in a short rest.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hello my name is Aleks and I need help.
me and my group of friends have been running our first dungeons and dragons game for about 2 months now and i have been having some issues with how my DM edits the rules of the game.
for one he doesn't allow us to add our proficiency bonus to weapons we are proficient in to make the game harder which i can understand somewhat but later in the game when we are fighting things such as ancient dragons we will have to roll number higher than 15 just to hit even if we have a +3 weapon.
also he nerfed proficiencies quite a bit by making it so that sure we can be proficient in the amount o skills our class says we can be and our backgrounds but to get the bonus in our rolls we have to have double proficiency in it which only lets one skill be in the begging so we are really only actually proficient in one skill and because we didnt do enough reaserch in the begginig we didnt know about backgrounds and now we are unable to add the proficiencies we get form those backgrounds and that also includes feats as well
the third thing is that unless the enemy is completely distracted from me as a rouge I am unable to perform sneak attack so having advantage or a buddy that is distracting the enemy doesn't mean anything making the even harder to play
and lost but not least the disengage action doesn't stop opportunity attacks because the title makes it sound like you are just changing your focus to another person so the disengage action does nothing now but he doesn't count his way of disengaging an action so you can attack and disengage but disengaging does nothing.
I have just started playing D&D and the Dungeon Master is a friend of mine that is the only person that we know that has had experience with D&D so the only other option I have other than reconciling with these changes is to either have my characters killed and start over or to quite the table which is a last resort.
PLEASE HELP!!!
P.S. just so you know we have sessions on Sundays a response after the session this week is good but please try to respond before the one after that
Thank you
Be honest and somewhat blunt. You're not having fun with how he has changed things and that it makes you not want to play. The way he's playing it, it really sounds like a niche rule set that only a handful of people would enjoy playing, not for beginners anyway. The actual rules have been playtested for hundreds of hours and are mainly designed to get people into D&D. If you're just starting out, you should learn the original, universal rules, and not his anyway. It means you'll be familiar with them and able to play with more than just him.
D&D 5e uses something called "Bounded Accuracy" to keep encounters challenging no matter the level of the PCs. Proficiency advancement is calculated in relation to Monster ACs. If you change one or the other, you unbalance the game.
If your DM wants to make combat more challenging, he can add more opponents, or increase their hitpoints, both re valid.
I won't say that he's playing D&D "wrong", but the whole group has to agree to it, otherwise the DM is just being a power-hungry jerk.
I'd say, go on strike. If the whole group wants to use proficiencies, tell the DM none of you are playing until he plays them as the rules are written. If that doesn't work, start your own game. You can be the DM for a while, then take turns DMing with the other players so everyone gets a turn.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
I don't think I will be able to follow this completely for reasons like I don't think this fact bothers the others as much as it bothers me
But I will try to talk to him about other ways to add difficulty
Also Thank You for responding I have had this bugging me for a while and it's nice to see that this bugging me hasn't been completely wrong
Thank you both for your responses it is nice to see that this wasn't bugging me for no reason I just hope your advise goes well
Honestly, and this is coming from a relatively new player/DM: your DM doesn't sound that great to be completely blunt. As others have stated, there's other ways of making things more challenging than essentially removing features that help balance the game. As a new DM, I think the role of the DM is first and foremost to craft a story and set of challenges that people can enjoy. I want to run a campaign in a way so that even if one of my players dies, they WANT to roll a new character or encourage their teammates to find a way to revive them, rather than them preferring to just stop playing. If I see that combat is getting too difficult, I may fudge a few rolls, or (as my party experienced last week against a dragon), bring in an NPC to aid to make sure that they don't all get killed. The DM's job is to make a story that their players enjoy advancing through and that provides enough challenge without feeling like "oh, great, time to do this again I guess".
EDIT: Also, as a new DM with several new players, I've been running the campaign with, for lack of a better word, "Training Wheels" of sorts until everyone really gets comfortable with what they are doing. As we advance, I've been taking off more and more of those and making my players aware of that. This includes things like me starting to crack down on meta-gaming and encouraging more serious roleplaying from my players and having the NPC character that they started with sit out.
Communication is always key. Talk to your DM one on one and let them know that these house rules are deterring you from having fun. They might not realize how frustrated you are. But be prepared to find another DM, or better yet, become one!
Another optional rule the DM can use, that is totally within the official optional rules, is to make healing harder. Instead of gaining back all HP during a long rest, PCs have to spend HD to heal, just like in a short rest.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?