So I play 4 games as a player all the DM's are great .... otherwise I would have dropped the game tbh.
There is one DM that has a level of creativity .... honestly the shit he comes up with is awesome, we are L19 in his campaign. Granted there is a lot of homebrew so we are more like l25 ..... that said I have a panther familiar that is like CR20 give or take ... the amount of work to come up with a familiar that has l1-9 spells, 3 legendary actions, 3 legendary feats. That is just me .... another player has a dragon familiar ... another player is about to get a Pegasus familiar... the amount of work as a DM to come up with that, write spells 1-9, actions, legendary actions, feats, I mean its mind boggling. Very fun campaign!
Share your anecdotes about great DM's that have influenced you!
What would make this DM you speak of even better is if they are able to provide a challenge and ensure there is still a healthy character turnover death rate.
That’s the key to being a good DM- players are dying with some semblance of regularity.
A CR 30 monster with several henchmen in the CR 22-27 range seems appropriate. Can they pilot such a group of monsters in a tactically sound and challenging manner?
my first DM was my dad. he was a great dm, always having hidden features and more aspects to the npcs than we ever saw. he had a genuinley great recurring villain AND he put up with the group's shenagins.
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Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
That’s the key to being a good DM- players are dying with some semblance of regularity.
Ummm...no? You can be a great DM and have a whole campaign where no PC ever dies. It all depends on the table. Generalizing that the key to being a good DM is players dying regularly is ridiculous. Any specific things like these are always wrong because they don't work for every single table.
You want the key to being a good DM? You and your players have fun while playing the game. That's it. What does "fun" mean for each table can vary WIDELY. So in my opinion, the DM that OP is talking about sounds like a great DM because people are clearly having fun.
I guess its a matter of perspective players die all the time - then get resurrected - wished back - taken to the local deity and revived. So the campaign is challenging but are you asking are there harsh true death cases to force player rerolls then the answer is no. That is not an inability to rather a choice not to.
I guess I missed the page in DMG where it says killing players is integral to a good game. So many threads on this forum there are 1-2 posts just kill more players. The DM can kill players at any time - toss enough dps at the group and they will die - it is not a contest. Hell you could kill even the highest level group in 1 round if you stack the other side enough.
The DM can always win - that said I think the "win" is in challenging fights that are interesting and if a player or two fall then have use the appropriate in game mechanics to get them back in the game asap.
I guess its a matter of perspective players die all the time - then get resurrected - wished back - taken to the local deity and revived. So the campaign is challenging but are you asking are there harsh true death cases to force player rerolls then the answer is no. That is not an inability to rather a choice not to.
I guess I missed the page in DMG where it says killing players is integral to a good game. So many threads on this forum there are 1-2 posts just kill more players. The DM can kill players at any time - toss enough dps at the group and they will die - it is not a contest. Hell you could kill even the highest level group in 1 round if you stack the other side enough.
The DM can always win - that said I think the "win" is in challenging fights that are interesting and if a player or two fall then have use the appropriate in game mechanics to get them back in the game asap.
The object of the game is fun as I recall.
One of the groups I DM from is mostly 12-14 year olds who love their characters dearly. I would be anything *but* a good DM if I went into each session thinking "right, who can I kill this week?" and whoever died would possibly never come back or play D&D again. As you say so many threads on these forums have people telling you to kill players which I'm sure is fun for them but I always wonder how fun it is for their players
So I play 4 games as a player all the DM's are great .... otherwise I would have dropped the game tbh.
There is one DM that has a level of creativity .... honestly the shit he comes up with is awesome, we are L19 in his campaign. Granted there is a lot of homebrew so we are more like l25 ..... that said I have a panther familiar that is like CR20 give or take ... the amount of work to come up with a familiar that has l1-9 spells, 3 legendary actions, 3 legendary feats. That is just me .... another player has a dragon familiar ... another player is about to get a Pegasus familiar... the amount of work as a DM to come up with that, write spells 1-9, actions, legendary actions, feats, I mean its mind boggling. Very fun campaign!
Share your anecdotes about great DM's that have influenced you!
To actually contribute to this, my DM once made a whole magic item from my backstory. I made a warlock who made a pact with a hag. My character gave her heart to the hag, and the hag replaced the heard with a gemstone. I just thought it would be fun, and hags usually want things in exchange that are weird but not necessarily obviously valuable, or the reason for them. Next thing I know, my DM had already made a magic item out of the gemstone. It was very elaborate too, like, it gained more properties as the character leveled up. It also had a risk associated with using it, which had a low chance of making the PC more hag-like. I was shocked. I didn't expect or ask for anything related to the pact. And then I got that. The amount of thought and work behind it, just to make my backstory more fun and relevant was so touching. Super grateful.
That’s the key to being a good DM- players are dying with some semblance of regularity.
Ummm...no? You can be a great DM and have a whole campaign where no PC ever dies. It all depends on the table. Generalizing that the key to being a good DM is players dying regularly is ridiculous. Any specific things like these are always wrong because they don't work for every single table.
You want the key to being a good DM? You and your players have fun while playing the game. That's it. What does "fun" mean for each table can vary WIDELY. So in my opinion, the DM that OP is talking about sounds like a great DM because people are clearly having fun.
Perhaps they DM in for an old folks home or people in hospice care. That would explain their players regularly dying.
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So I play 4 games as a player all the DM's are great .... otherwise I would have dropped the game tbh.
There is one DM that has a level of creativity .... honestly the shit he comes up with is awesome, we are L19 in his campaign. Granted there is a lot of homebrew so we are more like l25 ..... that said I have a panther familiar that is like CR20 give or take ... the amount of work to come up with a familiar that has l1-9 spells, 3 legendary actions, 3 legendary feats. That is just me .... another player has a dragon familiar ... another player is about to get a Pegasus familiar... the amount of work as a DM to come up with that, write spells 1-9, actions, legendary actions, feats, I mean its mind boggling. Very fun campaign!
Share your anecdotes about great DM's that have influenced you!
What would make this DM you speak of even better is if they are able to provide a challenge and ensure there is still a healthy character turnover death rate.
That’s the key to being a good DM- players are dying with some semblance of regularity.
A CR 30 monster with several henchmen in the CR 22-27 range seems appropriate. Can they pilot such a group of monsters in a tactically sound and challenging manner?
my first DM was my dad. he was a great dm, always having hidden features and more aspects to the npcs than we ever saw. he had a genuinley great recurring villain AND he put up with the group's shenagins.
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Ummm...no? You can be a great DM and have a whole campaign where no PC ever dies. It all depends on the table. Generalizing that the key to being a good DM is players dying regularly is ridiculous. Any specific things like these are always wrong because they don't work for every single table.
You want the key to being a good DM? You and your players have fun while playing the game. That's it. What does "fun" mean for each table can vary WIDELY. So in my opinion, the DM that OP is talking about sounds like a great DM because people are clearly having fun.
@ SireSamuel
I guess its a matter of perspective players die all the time - then get resurrected - wished back - taken to the local deity and revived. So the campaign is challenging but are you asking are there harsh true death cases to force player rerolls then the answer is no. That is not an inability to rather a choice not to.
I guess I missed the page in DMG where it says killing players is integral to a good game. So many threads on this forum there are 1-2 posts just kill more players. The DM can kill players at any time - toss enough dps at the group and they will die - it is not a contest. Hell you could kill even the highest level group in 1 round if you stack the other side enough.
The DM can always win - that said I think the "win" is in challenging fights that are interesting and if a player or two fall then have use the appropriate in game mechanics to get them back in the game asap.
The object of the game is fun as I recall.
One of the groups I DM from is mostly 12-14 year olds who love their characters dearly. I would be anything *but* a good DM if I went into each session thinking "right, who can I kill this week?" and whoever died would possibly never come back or play D&D again. As you say so many threads on these forums have people telling you to kill players which I'm sure is fun for them but I always wonder how fun it is for their players
To actually contribute to this, my DM once made a whole magic item from my backstory. I made a warlock who made a pact with a hag. My character gave her heart to the hag, and the hag replaced the heard with a gemstone. I just thought it would be fun, and hags usually want things in exchange that are weird but not necessarily obviously valuable, or the reason for them.
Next thing I know, my DM had already made a magic item out of the gemstone. It was very elaborate too, like, it gained more properties as the character leveled up. It also had a risk associated with using it, which had a low chance of making the PC more hag-like. I was shocked. I didn't expect or ask for anything related to the pact. And then I got that. The amount of thought and work behind it, just to make my backstory more fun and relevant was so touching. Super grateful.
Perhaps they DM in for an old folks home or people in hospice care. That would explain their players regularly dying.