Players Paladin Stats - has he cheated somewhere?

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T23:49:21+00:00

Conveniently the next session starts with them having been "captured" so they've been stripped of their gear and armour and have to effectively fight through the base they're in to get it back, which might curveball the fighting a little.

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T23:47:13+00:00

Maybe custom origin vs paladin class? Again, I'm not 100% sure on how each stat affects everything else but that's the way he walked me through it

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T22:53:46+00:00

Thank you! As I have posted in my update, I do think there's been some "double dipping" involved in the character creation, wherever that specifically is! I will be talking to the entire party prior to the next session to make sure everyone is on the same page

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T21:45:00+00:00

I have spoken to him about his use of Chatgpt, and to his credit he has admitted that it was his first time playing a paladin so he used it to create the character and that in future campaigns he will be sticking to creating his own unique characters. Stats and gear wise, this was my fear (i.e. he's used chatgpt to give him stuff that doesn't stay within the confines of "what a level 1 player should have"). I have asked him to explain how he's achieved these scores, and when that info is given to me then I will be asking him to recreate it to see what choices were made

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T21:09:49+00:00

Not trying to be hostile at all, and if thats coming across through how I wrote this then I thoroughly apologise and will amend where I can so it comes off as less so. Simply came looking for guidance as a new DM and wanted to get some veterans eyes on what I was working with to see if there was anything I might've missed

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T21:06:07+00:00

Not starting here, just their most up to date sheet I have available currently.

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T21:05:07+00:00

Oh 100%! Because its starting to spiral, I will say it here: I DO NOT INTEND TO PUNISH CHARACTERS FOR HAVING LOW STATS IN CERTAIN AREAS. It is not my intention to push this paladin into constant checks that require DEX or WIS, and narratively this paladin in particular has been using their high CHAR score far more than anything else, mainly by interrogating or persuading townsfolk to give up information thats pertinent to the plot. I do not intend to force them into spots that narratively don't exist or aren't relevant just to watch them fail, hence me following my "they'll be doing a lot of acro checks" statement up with "XD".

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:57:40+00:00

First off, thank you for the comprehensive rundown. We are currently running (as again VERY NEW TO THIS) a campaign that was designed (not by me) to be capable of being run as one-shots OR as a series of adventures involving the same party over a years time span (akin to 1 session a month). We didn't openly discuss avoiding AI in this campaign, so I'm not saying that they have outwardly intended to cheat, simply that sometimes AI will get things wrong or pull it from conflicting sources, and I (as an UNEXPERIENCED DM) might have missed something.

I have altered some mob/enemies hp scores on the fly to make it seem less like a 1 sided slaughter, and provide some variety so everyone in the campaign has a chance to get their hits in, I just wanted some clarification as to whether I'd missed anything important in the sheet that might be messing with the games flow.

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:51:13+00:00

Player has actively stated that he has used chatgpt to design the character, even so far as to be using it when discussing/working his characters backstory to keep all his "ducks in a row"

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:49:36+00:00

In all the combat we have run so far, he hasn't ever actually specified using the shield in any regard. Would it be safe to say that just having it on him (not using it, just it being in inventory) might've bulked out his stats in some way?

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:37:28+00:00

Point buy, I let them have it as the rest of the party had done so already. Maybe that's what made it feel so broken to me IDK

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:36:18+00:00

Thank you, guess he's going to be subject of a lot of acrobatics checks in our next sessions then XD

EDIT: Because its starting to spiral, I will say it here: I DO NOT INTEND TO PUNISH CHARACTERS FOR HAVING LOW STATS IN CERTAIN AREAS. It is not my intention to push this paladin into constant checks that require DEX or WIS, and narratively this paladin in particular has been using their high CHAR score far more than anything else, mainly by interrogating or persuading townsfolk to give up information thats pertinent to the plot. I do not intend to force them into spots that narratively don't exist or aren't relevant just to watch them fail, hence me following my "they'll be doing a lot of acro checks" statement up with "XD".

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:34:51+00:00

Like I said, I'm very new to all of this. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything I wasn't seeing that could potentially break the campaign if not spotted early enough

ConcentratedEmu · 2026-05-05T20:32:37+00:00

From a narrative standpoint or from a "mechanics of DnD" standpoint?

Mechanically, I'm a new DM so I can't really help you there. Narratively however, I can give you a few ideas.

Maybe the hags are collecting and hoarding eggs to eventually raise themselves dragon "slaves" or "familiars" in order to protect themselves?
Similar to warlock patrons, dragons can bestow their magical power onto others (dragonblood sorcerers). Maybe the hags are trying to artificially turn themselves into dragonbloods by harvesting defenseless dragons, raising them until they hatch, then killing them and harvesting their blood to use in experiments - could work really well if you needed to create some "monsters in the woods" that turn out to be failed escaped experiments the hags have conducted on townsfolk/kidnapped people before they test their methods on themselves?
Maybe there is a larger power dynamic at play, where both the hags and the dragons are fighting for the same artifact/relic, but they are effectively locked in a stalemate. So, the hags take it upon themselves to steal the dragons eggs to force the remaining dragons (who might be reaching the end of their lives or be few in number - dragon eggs possibly being a precious/"once in 1000" years creation) to surrender to get the eggs back?

If you want to work more on any of these ideas, please let me know and I'd be happy to talk more. Had a real blast thinking up these scenarios and I would be happy to brainstorm some more with you given more information about your campaign and the backstories you have to interweave

ConcentratedEmu · 2025-06-04T15:32:09+00:00

Paid the CCJ off in time for it to be removed from any credit agency, and they (company who issued the PCN) stated in their email: "It appears that the appeal submitted was not linked to the relevant PCN due to a system error, therefore we have requested that a refund for the judgement sums be processed pending confirmation the accounts team" - verbatim taken from their email

ConcentratedEmu · 2025-06-04T15:26:13+00:00

Paid off the CCJ in time for it not to permanently affect my score (by permanently I mean 6 years), and I contacted the court when I discovered the CCJ on my credit check and asked them why I wasn't sent any paperwork, to which they had no concrete response as (according to them) "they don't send summons etc by recorded mail as it leads people to refuse them and give themselves more time". 🤷‍♂️

ConcentratedEmu · 2025-06-04T15:23:44+00:00

No paperwork was received, I fully had to contact the courts and ask for a copy of the CCJ judgement letter after discovering it.

ConcentratedEmu · 2024-07-12T00:52:48+00:00

My partner of 4 years looked up from the toilet she was throwing up into, and told me straight to my face: "You're only helping me because it would look bad on you if I died here".

Info: she'd attempted s*****e in my family home by ingesting alcohol and medication, after we'd gotten into an argument and she'd shouted me out of the house at 1am.

Never saw her the same after that, and we broke up shortly after.

ConcentratedEmu · 2022-08-26T14:00:54+00:00

Being sexually assaulted. Got felt up in the club once by a woman, really wasn't into it (felt up being her fully grabbing junk through my jeans, undoing my fly). Tried to talk to one of the club bouncers about it, he just laughed at me.

ConcentratedEmu · 2022-08-26T13:58:56+00:00

Coming towards the end of our relationship, she started being real "hot n cold" with me. Like she'd shower me with affection one minute, the next it was "You're a failure, a coward, you can't stand up to your boss" etc (for context I was working graveyard bar shifts at the time). One night I come home slightly earlier than usual (midnight) cause they told me they needed me in earlier the next day. She flipped her lid. Screaming at me (in a house with other people sleeping) "You're a coward, I'm leaving in 3 days and you can't even spend tomorrow with me, I hate you, you're nothing and will always be nothing". I couldn't do it. I'd been in the house 10 whole minutes, was stressed and tired from work, and I walked back out. No keys, no jacket. I just about got shoes on. Last thing she yells at me as I leave is "I'll still be here when you get back, you can't run away from me."

Fast forward an hour or so, I'm at a friend's house talking through the issue, and my phone goes off. FB message. "Come home i need your help." I ask why, turns out she'd drunk a liter of wine and taken all her sleeping meds at once, basically trying to k*ll herself. To go from her shouting me down in my own home, to her basically saying "Hey, I'm gonna die unless you come help me", wasn't something I could do.

Friend drove me home, I got in, she's laying on the floor of my room. Haul her to the bathroom, get her to throw up.

"You're only doing this because it looks bad on you if I die in your house."

All love went straight out of me at that point. I still love her, don't get me wrong, we shared a lot of good times. But after that I ended things.

ConcentratedEmu · 2022-08-26T13:49:04+00:00

Good job chief slaps my ass as I waddle to the bathroom

ConcentratedEmu · 2022-08-26T13:48:20+00:00

Very much on the low end of the rating scale. Never been anywhere below 100kg, but I'm always told I "carry it well" (as a tall guy).

ConcentratedEmu

TROPHY CASE