as a GM it's up to you to do what you need to do so that your players have a good time with the game. If they haven't had fun at the end of the game, you probably did something wrong in running the game. Just do what you need to do so that the game is fun for everyone. ^_^
I am surprised that it is your job to make sure that people, different people with different ideas of fun, have fun. I suggest not wresting responsibility from your players. Give yourself a break.
Make no mistake, there are wrong ways to play. If I hit you in the face every time you roll a one, that's the wrong way to play. If I use a racial slur against you because you made a bad choice in game, that's playing wrong. Not everyone acknowledges this fact.
It is a foolish argument that does not fit into the original topic. And just so you are aware there are a number of people in the world that like to be hit and called names during role-play.
It is a foolish argument that does not fit into the original topic. And just so you are aware there are a number of people in the world that like to be hit and called names during role-play.
That's ..... not the kind of roleplay we're usually talking about with D&D!
I'd like everyone discussing in this thread to take a step back for a moment and realise that there are many groups who play this game we all love and play it differently to each other and ... that's ok.
If they're having fun and not hurting anyone, it doesn't matter what rules or guidelines they're using.
Please don't let this thread turn into personal attacks against each other, as that will result in the thread being locked and me having words with people.
You can't fudge the dice if your dice rolls are meaningless to begin with ThinkingMan.jpg
I don't just fudge dice rolls, I fudge my entire encounters. I don't use MM statblocks for any of my enemies. Actually, I often don't even record or keep track of hp. Enemies just die when I say they die. Your photographic memory of the MM can't save you now! Instead, I gear all my combats and adventuring days around how many resources (short/long rest powers, money, hp, etc) my players should use and adjust accordingly. Have a good plan or get lucky? You get to save some resources for later on. Plan poorly or have some bad luck? That'll cost some form of resource which might not be replenished until tomorrow or might need other resources (like money) to replenish. Your plan always has a greater effect on resource cost than luck, but luck definitely still plays some role. Everything that happens during an adventuring day costs something, but you'll have multiple ways to pay for it. Meatsack can spend HP, Moneybags can spend gold, and Magicjar can sell their soul if that's what they're willing to pay. It all comes down to what you as the player are willing to pay to continue the story, but not all payment forms are accepted at all times.
Its certainly not a DMing style for everyone, and definitely not AL friendly, but it allows me the ultimate flexibility in determining the outcome of a combat. As long as I can read my players, I can adapt the situation to fit the overall mood. It allows me to avoid fun things becoming unfun (combat is a slog, combat is too breezy, a player caused an unsatisfying TPK, etc) and as a bonus I also circumvent any meta-knowledge being a factor. The MM gives me the direction that monsters should go, but its still up to both me and my players to make them come to life. The concrete math of the player's characters determine how they compare among themselves and their enemies, but I let the enemies be infinitely flexible to accommodate the players.
I only ever fudge rolls to compensate for my mistakes. Never to punish/reward players for their choices. But I'm not a game designer, and 5e has a garbage encounter building system. So until I have a MUCH better "eyeball" judgement of encounter balance, I will fudge rolls to compensate for my own mistakes.
Well, if you don't want to get better at not making mistakes, and your players don't mind you fudging, then keep it up. Just please don't think you are fooling anyone. Best wishes.
I don't understand the concept of "getting better at D&D" within the concept of balancing encounters. As a DM my job is to make sure people are having fun and to tell stories with my players. If you assign yourself a different job title as DM, that's your prerogative. However it's fairly insulting to imply that just because I don't DM like you do, it makes me worse at it.
Fudging should only ever be done when not doing so would remove the fun for a player (But never to compensate for horrible mistakes on their part, and probably never after level 3 or so). So I have a very small list of times its okay to fudge. The first being, if an attack would kill a player in the first round before they can act, as I think its just bad to have a player not get to participate at all during combat. I think fudging the damage die works best. If possible, you could make sure that isn't going to be an issue with enemies choosing to not attack said PC in the first round, but that doesn't always work out.
However, with that said, I would find it very unfun if the DM was always deciding when we win or lose. That means I can just blow spells or decide to sit in a corner and do nothing and the outcome would be the same. The game should be challenging and unpredictable and sometimes outside of the DMs control.
However, with that said, I would find it very unfun if the DM was always deciding when we win or lose. That means I can just blow spells or decide to sit in a corner and do nothing and the outcome would be the same. The game should be challenging and unpredictable and sometimes outside of the DMs control.
An interesting thing with fudging discussions, is whether or not the players know what's going on. If the players know that there's fudging happening that's one thing, but how would a player know there is fudging happening? How does a player determine whether or not the DM has control over the encounter without having some sort of knowledge of what's going on in the DM's mind? It seems to me as if the DM would either have to tip their hand through bad acting (a reasonable point) or the player would need to engage in some sort of meta-metagaming.
However it's fairly insulting to imply that just because I don't DM like you do, it makes me worse at it.
I am sorry if you see that as insulting; you did say, "I will fudge rolls to compensate for my own mistakes." "Getting better" would hopefully mean making fewer mistakes.
I don't fudge dice. I find that dishonest play. I never nerf the damage done to players. I find that cheapens the experience and gives a false confidence to the players that whatever they do, I'll take care of them and keep them alive. If the trap they just triggered is a 6d6 trap, I show them the dice roll. I don't feel that hiding those things adds any value to the game, and having players know them does. It's my job, as DM, to understand the survivability of an encounter and to describe it such as way that the players know that this area is deadly, or that NPC over is not your average Joe.
With that said, I do tune encounters in real-time. Maybe the big baddies needs a few more HP, maybe the critical strike that did 28 points of damage against a 29 HP monster kills him instead. But I do this for thematic changes. However, I never alter it to save the players.
Let's say I'm in a battle and I screwed up the balance. This encounter was supposed to be hard and I misjudged the player's ability. The baddies had an AC of 14, everyone knows it (I don't necessarily reveal it up-front, but a round or two in, they know). Instead of fudging dice, I'll create a mechanic on the fly that increases the room challenge.
The enemy is broken and near the edge of loss. They can feel it. In a last ditch effort, one of the badly wounded fighters pulls out a small sphere. It's dark swirls are captivating in a way that they shouldn't be. Everyone's eyes are drawn to it and I need everyone to make a WIS DC 15 check.
Now as the players make their WIS checks, if they fail, maybe they are now at a disadvantage for all attack rolls until they can cover up that sphere. It's also now my responsibility to start coming up with some backstory about this item, where it came from, and how it fits into the story. Otherwise, you lose cohesion. Of course, maybe it's just a wand that they pull out, etc...
But that's how my group players. It doesn't matter if you do or don't fudge dice as long as everyone is having a good time. D&D isn't about the rules, it's about the experience. We like a more cutthroat, gritty experience where death is always a distinct possibility. I get that not all groups like or want that.
I understand the arguments in favor of fudging, it's just not something I do or have done. I think the last time I fudged a roll, I was 11, I was trying to be nice, but ultimately the sense that I had blinked made me unhappy and I haven't in the 30 years since.
I think the last time I fudged a roll, I was 11, I was trying to be nice, but ultimately the sense that I had blinked made me unhappy and I haven't in the 30 years since.
Yes, I don't feel well when I fudged. It would also be arrogant to think that my players don 't see me "blink" when I fudge. Arrogance seems rife in D&D among DMs, and it certainly harms relationships. There's got to be better ways to handle things.
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It is a foolish argument that does not fit into the original topic. And just so you are aware there are a number of people in the world that like to be hit and called names during role-play.
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I am sorry, my comment was just meant to be funny and nothing more.
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You can't fudge the dice if your dice rolls are meaningless to begin with
ThinkingMan.jpg
I don't just fudge dice rolls, I fudge my entire encounters. I don't use MM statblocks for any of my enemies. Actually, I often don't even record or keep track of hp. Enemies just die when I say they die. Your photographic memory of the MM can't save you now! Instead, I gear all my combats and adventuring days around how many resources (short/long rest powers, money, hp, etc) my players should use and adjust accordingly. Have a good plan or get lucky? You get to save some resources for later on. Plan poorly or have some bad luck? That'll cost some form of resource which might not be replenished until tomorrow or might need other resources (like money) to replenish. Your plan always has a greater effect on resource cost than luck, but luck definitely still plays some role. Everything that happens during an adventuring day costs something, but you'll have multiple ways to pay for it. Meatsack can spend HP, Moneybags can spend gold, and Magicjar can sell their soul if that's what they're willing to pay. It all comes down to what you as the player are willing to pay to continue the story, but not all payment forms are accepted at all times.
Its certainly not a DMing style for everyone, and definitely not AL friendly, but it allows me the ultimate flexibility in determining the outcome of a combat. As long as I can read my players, I can adapt the situation to fit the overall mood. It allows me to avoid fun things becoming unfun (combat is a slog, combat is too breezy, a player caused an unsatisfying TPK, etc) and as a bonus I also circumvent any meta-knowledge being a factor. The MM gives me the direction that monsters should go, but its still up to both me and my players to make them come to life. The concrete math of the player's characters determine how they compare among themselves and their enemies, but I let the enemies be infinitely flexible to accommodate the players.
Fudging should only ever be done when not doing so would remove the fun for a player (But never to compensate for horrible mistakes on their part, and probably never after level 3 or so). So I have a very small list of times its okay to fudge. The first being, if an attack would kill a player in the first round before they can act, as I think its just bad to have a player not get to participate at all during combat. I think fudging the damage die works best. If possible, you could make sure that isn't going to be an issue with enemies choosing to not attack said PC in the first round, but that doesn't always work out.
However, with that said, I would find it very unfun if the DM was always deciding when we win or lose. That means I can just blow spells or decide to sit in a corner and do nothing and the outcome would be the same. The game should be challenging and unpredictable and sometimes outside of the DMs control.
I don't fudge dice. I find that dishonest play. I never nerf the damage done to players. I find that cheapens the experience and gives a false confidence to the players that whatever they do, I'll take care of them and keep them alive. If the trap they just triggered is a 6d6 trap, I show them the dice roll. I don't feel that hiding those things adds any value to the game, and having players know them does. It's my job, as DM, to understand the survivability of an encounter and to describe it such as way that the players know that this area is deadly, or that NPC over is not your average Joe.
With that said, I do tune encounters in real-time. Maybe the big baddies needs a few more HP, maybe the critical strike that did 28 points of damage against a 29 HP monster kills him instead. But I do this for thematic changes. However, I never alter it to save the players.
Let's say I'm in a battle and I screwed up the balance. This encounter was supposed to be hard and I misjudged the player's ability. The baddies had an AC of 14, everyone knows it (I don't necessarily reveal it up-front, but a round or two in, they know). Instead of fudging dice, I'll create a mechanic on the fly that increases the room challenge.
Now as the players make their WIS checks, if they fail, maybe they are now at a disadvantage for all attack rolls until they can cover up that sphere. It's also now my responsibility to start coming up with some backstory about this item, where it came from, and how it fits into the story. Otherwise, you lose cohesion. Of course, maybe it's just a wand that they pull out, etc...
But that's how my group players. It doesn't matter if you do or don't fudge dice as long as everyone is having a good time. D&D isn't about the rules, it's about the experience. We like a more cutthroat, gritty experience where death is always a distinct possibility. I get that not all groups like or want that.
I understand the arguments in favor of fudging, it's just not something I do or have done. I think the last time I fudged a roll, I was 11, I was trying to be nice, but ultimately the sense that I had blinked made me unhappy and I haven't in the 30 years since.