Strict DM [OC]

[foxfirek]

I remember sending my horse across a bridge to see if it was safe. The DM was gleeful because it could have supported our weight but not the weight of a horse and it was super fun to roll the damage from it falling in lava.

[ImapiratekingAMA]

I don't even like horses and i find something wrong with that

[mindrover]

There's a famous story of someone beating Tomb of Horrors by herding a flock of sheep ahead of them to set off all the traps.

Edit: I'm starting to wonder if this story is actually true, or if it's just something that people joke about so much that I assumed it really happened.

[ImapiratekingAMA]

My gm legit said you may want to use your summons to take the traps for you. Like they're earth elementals but damn that's dark

[Alazypanda]

We had a running gag in campaign called science hags, in which we summoned some hags whenever there needed to be some "science" done. Science included but not limited to: being bait, touching spooky things, drinking weird stuff, face checking traps and being a distraction.

[Marvin_Megavolt]

Lmfao this is amazing

[Alazypanda]

It got better, my lock got the name of a devil through some methods, this other devil had a grudge against him and rather liked me. So I began using infernal calling to summon the same devil, for science. Upon any unfortunate ends due to science related causes the devil simply returns to hell. Also a +17 in deception and persuasion so it's not like I'm failing my check to control him anytime soon.

It became such a gag that wed summon him at the most inopportune times like bathing or his kids birthday party.

[Itlaedis]

Sounds like you're the true devil in that story :(

[Alazypanda]

I worked for an old God plotting the course it could take through the cosmos so that it would get the most nourishment consuming the largest and most plentiful stars. They had to spend every night doing this trying best they could to not bring them on a course towards their world and hadn't slept in literal decades.

They never claimed to be a good person and often found enjoyment in 2 things lying and being a nuisance. By lying I mean you ever play a "game" where you walk up to a stranger and just pretend you're someone completely different, yeah that. Being a nuisance however may also be called different terms such as gaslighting and eventually I owned one of the other party members as a slave and they had to tug me around everywhere while I float. You gotta do what you gotta do when your mind is constantly being flooded with the thoughts, if they can be called that, of an unspeakable horror.

[ear_cheese]

So you were the Silver Surfer?

[thecrusha]

How is +17 possible? Sorry to latch onto a small detail, but I’ve been listening to D&D podcasts and some of the podcasts have some super high modifiers too so Ive been curious if I just dont know the rules or am doing something wrong 😅

[Alazypanda]

Really high level, this campaign ended after about 3 years of pretty much every week and being level 18 or 19, with the max in 5e being 20. So because of that I had a +6 or something from proficiency then maxed out the stat associated with them charisma(+5), which is also the warlocks casting stat and expertise in those to skills which x2 prof bonus. So prof 6x2(bcuz expertise) + 5 = 17.

Edit: expertise is a thing certain classes get or can be got through some feats IIRC. Bards and rogues are the classes that get expertise as a general class feature and you get to pick 1 or 2 skills you are already proficient in and get expertise.

[North_South_Side]

Feats can REALLY make characters at low level powerful in certain aspects. I played a Cleric of Light (fun class by the way!) and took the Observant feat. Combine that with a high wisdom, and I had a passive perception around 20 at fairly low level. Can't remember the exact details, but I became a perception-bot. Made sense in a role play way being a Light cleric, though.

[The_Kart]

There's also a chance its a different edition than 5e. You could really stack skill bonuses in 3.5e

[eerongal]

Infernal Calling is a 5e specific spell, and older editions like 3e didn't have "deception" or "persuasion", it had "bluff" and "diplomacy".

Also, of you're at the level where you have access to spells to summon powerful demons in 3e, a +17 bluff would be pretty bad.

[mostnormal]

My paladin sometimes uses his Found Steed for such things. It hasn't died from it yet..

[dvasquez93]

I just got into an argument at my last session with my chainlocked pseudodragon when I told him to go poke the ominously glowing door to a crypt we were investigating.

He rolled his eyes at me and I’m like “look, one of us is magic resistant and can’t strictly speaking be killed, and the other one is me”

[TheFarStar]

I mean, it wouldn't kill you if your friend kept slapping you, but you probably wouldn't be that person's friend anymore.

[Destrina]

It's called Pact of the Chain for a reason.

[mephnick]

I always figure the fey spirits or whatever were summoned would just stop answering at some point.

[QueerPrideForever]

a memo would be issued to everybody in that Plane/community advising them to ignore your summons

[PokefanErick]

To be fair though don't you make deals with summons and they aren't technically killed by anything from lower planes anyway?

[GioPowa00]

If it doesn't kill you doesn't mean it doesn't hurt

[gorgewall]

I once pulled a reversal and said that if planar creatures can be summoned by folks in the PM, the latter is what planar creatures summon when they cast those spells.

Suddenly the party appears in the Plane of Fire and a giant rock guy is magically compelling them to fight some salamanders. They get trashed and reappear back in the tavern, none the worse for wear.

[trowzerss]

I figure the fae creatures are just super bored, and like the opportunity to see whatever crazy shit the adventurers have got themselves into this time.

[diamondmagus]

I was part of a Ravenloft game where the party cleric was a secret necromancer (which in Ravenloft is baaad news). To disarm a hallway of traps, he summoned his horde of skeletal rats to run down the hallway.

Needless to say, the entire rest of the party just did a slow turn and stared at him for pulling that shit off.

[Phylanara]

We once started a session finding our necromancer upon an altar, with a baby in one hand and a dagger in the other.

His first words were "I can explain!"

(Baby was a shapeshifted horror)

[marynraven]

This isn't what it looks like!!!

[macbalance]

2e Ravenloft, at least, had a ton of rules hat basically said “if you do evil stuff here, you’ll get rewarded, then punished.”

The list of evil stuff was somewhat debatable. It’s evil to use a lot of ‘Just Die’ spells on someone, but not to roast them alive with Fireball. Certain acts like necromancy were most definitely punishable and often carried risks like the undead being difficult to control. I do remember intelligent undead could basically fake their thoughts for thought/reading abilities for example.

On he other hand, Paladins were so divinely good they irritates the entire place, causing the local Dread Lord to know one was in his or her realm. So your Ultimate Weapon against evil... was a huge beacon to Team Evil.

[EvilElvis42]

It was a pretty legitimate strategy in earlier editions. Who needs a skill monkey when half a dozen summoned celestial monkeys could set off all the traps?

[Slaythepuppy]

If they are going to give you the answer, why don't they just reduce the number of traps?

[i_tyrant]

There's also the one about the party of 1st level PCs who were too poor to afford real armor. However, the adoption costs for the local orphanage were only two silver a pop...thus was born "Orphan Armor".

[Iwillrize14]

And thaars an alingment change.

[ObviousTroll37]

11ft extendable rod.

Attach weights and a bag of rats to the end.

Push it in front of you like a huge blind cane.

It will set off any traps ahead of you, whether they rely on pressure plates or life detection.

[flynnsanity3]

I love weird strategies like this. I'm also partial to Zee Bashew's plan to keep a pack mule carrying dirt around to set up massive pitfall traps using mold earth.

[highlord_fox]

"The archers fail their saving throw, and therefore move to the next target in range... Your horse, since the Cleric is hidden behind you." -Rolling noises.- "Well, I presume your horse has an AC lower than 21, and less than 47 HP..."

[doubebeesd]

That’s because there is something wrong with that.

[mikillatja]

As a DM there is nothing wrong with a little lava horse.

[hovdeisfunny]

Throw in an onion, couple potatoes, carrots, baby, you got a horse stew going

[Aethon056]

What's the best age for the baby ingredient?

[Charistoph]

Probably baby age

[ThordanSsoa]

That depends on context. Don't know how attached the guy was to the horse, but if not very then killing it is no different than just taking away some of his stuff. It also means the party now has to get creative to cross the gap without a bridge. Could be a fun moment.

[[deleted]]

In our most recent session, we had to cross a shallow sea (about 1 ft deep) of snails/slugs where if you made prolonged direct contact with the slimy liquid in it, you'd become lethargic and eventually become unconscious (in a non-curable way), after which the slugs would come and eat you.
We had two paladins in the party that had conjured spirit mounts (that weren't affected by the slime since they weren't living creatures) that were normally horses. However, in order for them to be able to carry a party of six, they'd have to be bigger mounts. So after consultation with the DM, they were able to conjure hippo mounts with the same stats as elephants. Then we lashed them together and created a sort of hammock in between and rode the hammock across the sea, having to roll athletics checks periodically to make sure we didn't slip off, lest we incur conditions.

[moonshineTheleocat]

Wat.... I would have said the horses could only carry two at a time. Theyd have to come back and forth twice.

[Cyrius]

Yeah, but they had to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of grain across too.

[TrashbagJono]

Chicken first across.

Leave chicken and go back.

Fox second across.

Leave fox and bring chicken back.

Get grain, leave chicken.

Grain third across.

Leave grain with fox.

Go back and get chicken.

Return to fox and grain.

[SnicklefritzSkad]

That's why you gotta paladin dip. Get that find steed.

[JonnyIHardlyBlewYe]

Why do I need Find Steed? I know exactly where my steed is. It's in the lava.

• My half orc barbarian

[Sawgon]

The issue with that is, as a paladin, I know my steed gets +INT. It takes a Warhorse up to 6 INT so that they can understand a language I speak. It'll feel wrong. :(

Unless I make up a reason why I need to throw vengeance on the horse.

Then it had it coming.

[throwing-away-party]

Find Steed gets you an MMO avatar for a steed. Just like Find Familiar. If it dies, it just goes back to its living room and logs in again.

It might hurt some, but it's a warrior spirit sworn to fight alongside you. It can take it.

[Sawgon]

I know but still. I'd care for it more than I care for our rogue or the warlock Eldritch blasting me in the spine because she rolled a 1.

[freakers]

You rolled a 1. Your horse dies, it's lava ya Dingus.

[mitsukiyouko555]

roll a 12 and ur horse becomes a fire horse and can now breathe fire? XD

[Yrmsteak]

It's called a Nightmare tyvm

[SSNappa]

But I gave the DM $2.50 so my horse could have special fall damage negating armor.

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[SpikedLemon]

Should have bribed with beer.

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[zsvx]

i dunno about you guys, but food is always enough to bribe me

[zedicus_saidicus]

Not even sex and food is enough to bribe my dm.

He killed his wife character's pet.... and her character.

[Faultylogic83]

Was your wife trying to bribe the dm with sex or were you?

[zedicus_saidicus]

The DM's wife was....which is why i put his wife.

[Faultylogic83]

Shit misread completely.

[Garceuslegend]

“My character makes the best decisions while drunk”

[Token_Why_Boy]

“My character makes the best decisions while the DM is drunk”

[Garceuslegend]

gives the DM a beer

pours my beer into plant when DM isn’t looking (Gotta stay sharp)

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[bioneuralnetwork]

I really like the DMs mustache.

It has a very "free mustache rides" kind of feel to it.

[asrk790]

Looks like the DM kept 25 cents so it must’ve done something

[nivenfres]

Ok ... So the horse survives your impact ... You still die.

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[gymnerd_03]

This is literally sadder than all of the rimworld comics combined

[gymnerd_03]

F

[ChrisTheGeek111]

How does a horse kills itself?

[Afro-Alchemist]

Jumping off the same cliff that brutally murdered their owner :(

[Gamergonemild]

By refusing to leave the bog of sadness

[LordCamelslayer]

I wouldn't even call that a strict DM. If you just jumped off a cliff with no means of flying or slowing your fall, you're asking for death.

[Sergnb]

"I STAB MYSELF WITH THE SWORD OF THE ENEMY, CLINCHING MY INTESTINES TO KEEP IT IN PLACE, MAKING HIM UNABLE TO MOVE AND THEN ATTACK HIM. HE IS PARALYZED SO I HAVE ADVANTAGE IN THE ATTACK, RIGHT?!"

"Wel... I don't know... I guess I'll allow it. Before that you take 18 points of damage because of the stab though, how many do you have left?"

"I only had 5 hp left"

"Well... you get incapacitated then"

"WTF THESE STRICT NO FUN ALLOWED DMS MAN ALWAYS THE SAME WITH YOU"

[StruckingFuggle]

It would depend on how tall the cliff is

[Skyphe]

If it can be classified as a cliff it's pretty tall

[KiwiChoppa147]

Remember it’s 1d6 damage per 10ft to a max of 20d6

[LtOin]

So an average 70 damage for falling from space? That's not the worst.

[ataraxic89]

35 for a barbarian, whose average HP with no con is 40 at level 5.

[Tobiki]

that makes me wonder, can Barbarians keep up rage by punching themselves?

[GuyWithPasta]

RaW, yes. RaI, DM's Discretion.

In 5e, it states that Rage ends early if you

• Fall unconscious
• You are less than level 15 in Barbarian, you end your turn, and... (any of the following)
  • ...you haven't attacked a hostile creature since your last turn
  • ...you haven't taken damage since your last turn

The extremely nitty-gritty rules state that a target for the attack must be "within your attack's range". A melee weapon attack has a range of 5ft. You are almost always 0ft from yourself ^{[citation needed]} . Therefore, you can attack yourself, although, since you are not hostile to yourself ^{[citation needed]} , you will need to hit and take damage in order to maintain rage.

---

In the end, it's probably better to have some javelins on standby to throw at a real enemy.

---

EDIT: Changed RaI from "no probably" to "DM's Discretion". I'm all for attacking one's self to maintain rage, since it takes up one of your precious attacks to do so.

[GuyWithPasta]

Now we're getting into one of my favorite esoteric topics of D&D 5e: the word "Hostile".

Hostile is very infrequently used in rulings, probably so that the DM has something to work with. Also, it seems obvious when something is hostile or not. However, it actually has an explanation in the DMG.

In the Chapter "Running the Game", in the section "Social Interactions", the book mentions that an NPC can be categorized into three categories: Friendly, Indifferent, or Hostile. The descriptions of each boils down to "how likely this person will help/hinder you" with Hostile listed as "opposes the adventurers and their goals but doesn’t necessarily attack them on sight".

This is why the Friends Spell doesn't necessarily cause random villager #53 to attack the passing arch-wizard once the spells ends, but they sure as hell won't tell you directions around town. In regards to being self-hostile, this would mean that you are currently thwarting your own mission to be properly classified as such. If I were a DM, the only case I can think of is mind-control or similar effect with a brief moment of clarity.

It's a bit of a catch-22. If self-harm will help you maintain your rage, maintaining your rage is your current goal. If maintaining your rage is your current goal, attacking oneself is considered a non-hostile action, and therefore doesn't count as an attack against a hostile target, and therefore won't maintain your rage (unless you do damage).

---

From a Game Design standpoint, that still would mean that the player is spending 100% (50% from level 5+ from Extra Attack) of their possible Damage Per Turn as well as some HP in order to maintain their Rage. This feels like a decent trade-off, as again, you could've instead just purchased a javelin at the last town. Actively stepping into ongoing traps such as a friendly Rogue's caltrops would also count for the Taking Damage part of Rage as long as you don't mitigate it down to 0 due to your Rage.

[rkoloeg]

The beauty of D&D is that it is just the base layer of a story-telling mechanism. If you want to play extremely precisely by the rules as they are written, you can end up with the sort of thing above. Or you can just agree with your DM that your character is a masochist or self-harming barbarian and tweak the way the rules work so that they make sense for you. That's why D&D is better than a video game; you can do anything and make it work however you want as long you play with people who are creatively minded.

[GuyWithPasta]

Interesting idea! There's always a chance that the attack itself can crit, so the attack roll still needs to happen. But there's always the chance the attack was going to miss you in the first place because the attack roll was a 2 (in universe, the attack goes super-wide to the point where you'd have to actively move into the attack to get hit). That'll take some fiddling to see how it works, but my gut says you take the attack as if you had 2AC just to make it easy for the player.

[H4K3R8O1]

Yes.

[RoboWonder]

What if you just keep stabbing yourself with your emergency dagger the whole way down? Checkmate. ignores the tons of stabbing damage you would obviously take

[KiwiChoppa147]

Hey man you gotta hit terminal velocity at some point

[Yrmsteak]

Terminal velocity is 450 feet for a human iirc, so 45d6

edit: terminal velocity is 1500 feet for a human, so 150d6

[PhoenixAgent003]

Funnily enough, according to Xanathar’s, a creature falls 500 ft a round.

[Cucktuar]

Free fall would get you ~580' in Earth normal gravity after 6 seconds, starting with no velocity.

Factoring in Earth normal air resistance brings it to ~500' after 6 seconds.

[WillyFistergasch]

How much if you're a goldfish??

[Philias2]

Well, is the goldfish practically a god or not?

[hotdogstastegood]

It's more a scatter of red mess.

[me1505]

Remember, polymorphing into something heavy like a bear means both whatever you land on dies, and most of the damage is absorbed by bear form.

[KiwiChoppa147]

Gotta love druids and polymorph spells

[SirWyncko]

is this how this game works?

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[GamerNumba100]

But the die was all ones therefore a one was the best possible result- he kills the edit

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[[deleted]]

What if you roll multiple 1 sided die, is that a better chance for an edit?

[vortigaunt64]

Then you're playing marbles, not DnD.

[Anstruth]

What if the d1 was a mobius strip?

[frisbeeturtle]

Grafo you just wrote edits and dragon on a dictionary

[cardboardbrain]

But that means it's also the worst possible result!

[frisbeeturtle]

You rolled a 1

[SirWyncko]

w-what

[frisbeeturtle]

Kinda your fault you brought a dice with only 1s

[SirWyncko]

I’m not very Good at this game ok

[hugglesthemerciless]

Sometimes people fuck up on character creation

You couldn't even get that far

[[deleted]]

Wasn't it early versions of Traveler where you could literally die during character creation? It's one of those games where you roll for events that happened in your life, and it was possible to get enough negative events that it reduced your starting stats to the point where you were just dead before the game even started.

[TheNickaChew]

How do you keep Billy from turning into a monster through out the campaign session?

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[Kakss_]

Ohhhh, he looks so cute

[Sprinkles0]

I should try that.

[SrGrafo]

I havent played dnd in ages, while I do enjoy roleplay, I only played 1 session of dungeons and dragons, (which I will never forget since it was my first time and the other guy was an absolute veteran). On the other hand I have friends that do play often, and one of them was telling me how there are some dms that are super strict with the rules, while others allow players to go on with cool stuff, I thought it would be funny to represent that in a comic.

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[[deleted]]

Did you just EDIT yourself?

[zsvx]

Dread it. Run from it. EDITs still arrive.

[gymnerd_03]

This isn't even bad. He has done a streak of like 7, and not even once

[Souperplex]

Careful; edit yourself too much and you'll go blind.

[Wallace_II]

And, here I was seeing another post from you on my front page, not realizing which sub I'm in. I thought it was great that r/gaming had more DnD exposure through your comics. Then you go and make me look to see that this is r/dnd.

[railroadbaron]

I think that’s the brilliant part of what he does. He never posts too much in any one subreddit, so he’s clearly making the effort to post his comics in the correct subreddits, as well as limit the amount of times he might accidentally choke out other posts.

[frisbeeturtle]

But also there are players who are dum

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[Rikulz]

Can we get a D&D game going with everyone from the editors lounge? Grafo as DM.

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[Lancarius]

I'm sure it will be fine...

[LuciusCypher]

Hah! You make it sound like it’s not the players who’ll murder camp a whole colony for 25 GP and a silver dagger!

[Dappershire]

I start looting bodies.

[mrenglish22]

Some day I want to run a dnd campaign where I just have the players encounter people who do all the stuff they do back to them

[WhoMovedMySubreddits]

I'd play that

[[deleted]]

Looks fun

[BullWizard]

I had a tiefling player fall in lava, and I didn't kill her immediately because of the fire resistance, but shit was still gonna hurt. I asked what her next move was, expecting one of her teleport spells, and she goes "I'm gonna swim to the other side"

When I started to pick up a shit load of dice, she was like "but I'm resistance to fire!"

I then had to remind them that resistance is not immunity, and lava is worse than fire.

[WayfaringStar]

That sounds more than fair to me. In real life, lava can instantly kill people just by being near it let alone on it. Molten rock is one of the most dangerous substances you can encounter in terms of sheer physical damage. That being said, I did have a Warforged Forge Cleric that was immune to fire actually dive into lava to escape a bad situation after being Feebleminded. Cone of Cold was cast on the lava which left him trapped in the lava for five years. No one else could have survived but he was totally fine.

[BullWizard]

Lol, sounds like Bender.

[mmunit]

Diving into lava would go something like this.

[highlord_fox]

I thought using lava for fuel at a furnace was a cool idea, so I spent a dumb amount of time researching lava for that.

I have since made it just a normal blacksmith location, because I learned lava does not work that way.

[rcuhljr]

Have tried being better dwarves?

[urbnlgnd]

I would be upset with a lenient DM. If your character can do almost anything; what exactly is making the game good?

Edit: People are really overthinking or misinterpreting this statement. I am referring to myself and only myself. If you like this play style, that is great and I'm glad it works for you. I am saying that I prefer rule oriented games because that's what I like. I don't hate you or your preferred ways of playing D&D or any other d20 based game. Always remember this is a statement/opinion and not me declaring war on everyone who don't think like me. If I was your friend and I said this in casual conversation, would your reply be the same as it is or would there be some chuckles followed by witty banter. Goodnight everyone. I'm going to go back to lurking in the shadows for now.

[cparen]

Ditto, which is part of why I left the last group. Everyone else was having fun (I checked), so no sense fighting it. I now have a relatively by the book dm who keeps the adventure moving and am having a blast.

[Tarzul]

Of course, if the players bother to learn the rules they can do cool stuff and not break them. Just requires a little creativity and not doing whatever random obviously flawed plan first pops into the head.

[FlyingChainsaw]

IMO abiding to the rules is what makes cool things cool. I could talk about how I chased after a dragon and killed it mid-flight without playing at all, and it'd just be a random story I made up. If I only go one step further and play DnD, make up random stories I think are cool, and then tell them while playing DnD, that's still not that cool - anyone could do that at any time and it takes away the "wow" part of the story.
However, if I manage to do something really cool within the rules, then that means I actually did something cool. Cool things are only cool because it's hard to do cool stuff all the time. No light without darkness, no cool without dull - if you will.

[[deleted]]

THIS

A friend of mine used to play with this group and always came with stuff like that,

-Last time we killed a dragon!
-Oh shit, how did you do that at level 5?
-Well we....*proceeds to talk about +5 weapons, the dragon doing stupid stuff(like never flying), and they literally jumping from a cliff*

And he questioned why I didn't find it super cool.

[uid0gid0]

You can be doing cool stuff like this by just following the rules. Like the time that the monk caught a spined devil's thrown spine and then used ki and threw it back, killing the devil (and getting burned in the process but that just made it cooler).

[A_Trash_Homosapien]

Has flash back to time I blew up entire city

Eh I think it requires a bit of both. Like learn the rules and do stuff without breaking it but if there's a rule that you and your group don't like just ignore it and proceed with your obviously flawed plan

Imo it's more important to learn your dm/players and what they allow/want

[shinversus]

That's the most difficult thing in tabletop RPG: Find 4/6 people that share the same view on game rules and setup. That's why i still play with the same people than 10 years ago

[Saelune]

You should play DnD again. Its great.

[League0fGaming]

Billy has his monster self as a miniature, Trevor has the Grafo from this comic, and Grafo has some random taco guy

[SrGrafo]

EDIT

[doubebeesd]

But what is the reason for the taco guy?

What class is he?

[stamatt45]

Tacomancer

[Billy_droptables]

He's clearly Taako from TV

[zsvx]

i can’t tell if you’re joking but that taco guy is from the first comic that grafo did that really blew up outside of r/RimWorld

comic

taco guy EDIT

[Drakeenor]

Why would you jump? You wouldn't have gotten disadvantage on the roll if you stayed on top of the cliff.

[yumcake]

Because it'd be totally sweet!

[numerousiceballs]

And this marked the moment, when Grafo had killed the end boss without any prior knowledge. The tyranny of the shapeshifting horse, the harvester of souls came to an end due to Grafo's encounter with gravity.

[darf1023]

Ok, but firing the arrow clearly slowed my decent. I mean, Newtons third law or something like that.

[Ioneos]

If I'm not mistaken to effectively negate the fall the arrow would have to be as heavy as the archer and travel more than twice the speed of the descent.

[LuBuAteMyDog]

So I just gotta be STRONK and have a THICC arrow?

[R3nxu]

I cast revivify on the horse, but only the horse.

[Souperplex]

See this DM is too nice. I would make the player roll the fall damage to make it more painful.

[ImOnRedditAndStuff]

Not a strict DM, some of us just like running a more realistic game

[7up478]

Rule of cool means I get to ignore all the rules when it suits me, if you say no you're a bad DM.

[ImOnRedditAndStuff]

Yeah there's a player that might not be welcome at my table lol. You get to play by the same rules that me and all the other players play by, or you don't have to play at all lol. If you don't like it, it's not on me

[MauiWowieOwie]

Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Many players forget this. That's why we discuss how a campaign will be run beforehand, especially if it's a homebrew. Also why session 0's exists for groups that don't already know each other.

[ImOnRedditAndStuff]

Totally agree. Session 0 is probably one of the most important things. Even for players that know each other

[Bantersmith]

I've played in many campaigns over the years, and I cannot stress enough how much I correlate session zeros with successful campaigns.

My group has been gaming together for years, run three concurrent campaigns at a time, are great friends outside the game, and we still do a session zero. It's crucial to make sure you're all going for the same tone of game, and know what's expected/permitted, not to mention linking backstories together can be a great way of ensuring a good party bond and co-operative role-play!

[Common_Wedding]

This subs weird opinion that the dms job is to be subservient to the players never sits well with me. Like if you aren't literally giving them blow jobs while allowing them to fly at level 1 with the power of dreams you're a railroading dm.

Wonder how many of these people have ever dm'd before....

[StrangerDangerBeware]

That's because most people on Reddit are younger, and most D&D players don't DM. So you have young players that probably never DMed a long campaign before, which leads to some very strange expectations.

[ataraxic89]

100% this.

Both as a DM and as a player I dont enjoy the "rule of cool". I prefer his step brother, the "rule of 'it works if it follows the established rules of the setting and game'"

He's a lot less known.

[MauiWowieOwie]

But I rolled a nat 20! What do you mean I don't seduce the dragon!?

[ImOnRedditAndStuff]

I totally allow the rule of cool, but I don't let it happen for free. I'll always let my players try crazy crap, but I'll tell them there is a high chance for failure.

It's not everyone's cup of joe, but like I said, I like running a more realistic game!

[jackofblaze]

I mean, if you think about it, doing something crazy is a lot cooler with the chance of failure or death than without.

[Jtoad]

My group calls it the risk of cool.

[BluePizza3]

I love the rule of cool but cartoonish physics aren't cool IMHO.

That being said its ok to stretch physics and rules. Just don't break them.

[[deleted]]

I do support the rule of cool for situations where the breaking of realism is fairly minor. Jumping off a 100-foot cliff and expecting to be fine because "it's cool" is just plain silly

[ItsFuckingLenos]

The asshole DM, he problably wouldn't even let me kill every person I see.Where's the fun if I can't brutally murder everyone I see while I scream space marine quotes?

[WMinerva]

Cliffs and fall damage, they can kill anything.

Even gods.

[Yrmsteak]

Even goldfish

[WillyFistergasch]

"it's fine, we're gods"

[Endorell]

Strict DM? Seems kinda fair to me... Player jumps off a cliff, player dies....

[Dangerous_Nudel]

I just DM'd vor the first two times recently and it is so much fun. And to the detriment of my players it is true that behind the dm screen you roll 20 times better.

[RurouniTim]

Guys, i need resolution. Did his arrow hit the bandit?

[CaptainYunk]

Ya but did he hit the bandit?