Hey all I've been running a mostly homebrew campaign for a little over a year now. The players are currently level 9 and have been getting into higher stakes scenarios and running into more influential NPCs, etc. This is my first time DMing and after doing so for about a year I can clearly see that I struggle with player confrontation, what I mean by this is I feel like most conversations I let the players speak and talk however they want with little consequence. A recent example, one of my players, a rogue, recently met with a lesser deity in their dream, they were very abrasive and rude to the deity (completely in character for this rogue) but I felt I lacked the experience to handle the situation or provide consequence as that whole dream still ended with the player getting the information they wanted with no consequence. I know it is ultimately up to me to determine how these encounters go, I just am a generally nonconfrontational person and I feel that reflects a bit too much in my NPCs. Any and all advice would be appreciated!!
If the players are enjoying things, then there's no need to change your style.
That being said, your players are getting to be high level. Occasionally, you should try to just...drop information. If they players are being abrasive and rude, have an NPC just say "never mind, I won't waste my time" or something, and then leave. The players should be high enough level at this point that they can start to figure out alternative ways to gain information.
But to stress again - you only need to change styles if anyone at the table stops having fun. If you're not having fun because the players are being rude to your characters (somewhat valid, for sure) then go for it. At the end of the day, everyone's job at the table is to make sure everyone else is having fun.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I think most dieties' attitudes towards mortals being kind of abrasive to them would be light amusement. They're gods, they're so far above us that we might appear as insects, they're so secure in their power and strength that no amount of rudeness or disrespect would really phase them. From a good-aligned diety, that player needn't elicit any reaction beyond "heh, you certainly have a way of speaking, my child. I hope the armor around your heart can shield you from what's to come..." etc UNLESS by abrasive you mean threatening the lives of others and such.
Now, if it's an evil god, it really depends. Why are they deigning to act as messenger to a mere mortal? Must be for a REALLY important reason, so it must be that they'll put up with a certain amount of sass which is really just an annoyance to them. Maybe after the plot is resolved and if this player has been consistently stand-offish or annoying to this god, they'll place some kind of curse on them or set minions after them, but I really can't see a scenario where direct smiting for "abrasive speech" makes narrative sense.
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Hey all I've been running a mostly homebrew campaign for a little over a year now. The players are currently level 9 and have been getting into higher stakes scenarios and running into more influential NPCs, etc. This is my first time DMing and after doing so for about a year I can clearly see that I struggle with player confrontation, what I mean by this is I feel like most conversations I let the players speak and talk however they want with little consequence. A recent example, one of my players, a rogue, recently met with a lesser deity in their dream, they were very abrasive and rude to the deity (completely in character for this rogue) but I felt I lacked the experience to handle the situation or provide consequence as that whole dream still ended with the player getting the information they wanted with no consequence. I know it is ultimately up to me to determine how these encounters go, I just am a generally nonconfrontational person and I feel that reflects a bit too much in my NPCs. Any and all advice would be appreciated!!
If the players are enjoying things, then there's no need to change your style.
That being said, your players are getting to be high level. Occasionally, you should try to just...drop information. If they players are being abrasive and rude, have an NPC just say "never mind, I won't waste my time" or something, and then leave. The players should be high enough level at this point that they can start to figure out alternative ways to gain information.
But to stress again - you only need to change styles if anyone at the table stops having fun. If you're not having fun because the players are being rude to your characters (somewhat valid, for sure) then go for it. At the end of the day, everyone's job at the table is to make sure everyone else is having fun.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I think most dieties' attitudes towards mortals being kind of abrasive to them would be light amusement. They're gods, they're so far above us that we might appear as insects, they're so secure in their power and strength that no amount of rudeness or disrespect would really phase them. From a good-aligned diety, that player needn't elicit any reaction beyond "heh, you certainly have a way of speaking, my child. I hope the armor around your heart can shield you from what's to come..." etc UNLESS by abrasive you mean threatening the lives of others and such.
Now, if it's an evil god, it really depends. Why are they deigning to act as messenger to a mere mortal? Must be for a REALLY important reason, so it must be that they'll put up with a certain amount of sass which is really just an annoyance to them. Maybe after the plot is resolved and if this player has been consistently stand-offish or annoying to this god, they'll place some kind of curse on them or set minions after them, but I really can't see a scenario where direct smiting for "abrasive speech" makes narrative sense.