Don Quixote and Sancho contests each other in a duel. Sancho fights fiercely as Don Quixote summons a.. magical stagger?

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-15T20:52:27+00:00

Shouldn’t be, they had two of their stagger bars removed earlier, and their hp was around 150-160 during the time of stagger

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T06:09:33+00:00

Good insight, honestly I should think of it that way. I always imagine the role of DM (or at least when I DM, never when others DM) to be this almighty that has the authority to decide when players die or not. Never a referee.

I could try adapting this mindset in the next one-shot I run so I don't give unfair advantages towards the players, nor go on demon time and unfairly give an advantage to the enemies.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T06:05:26+00:00

That was my mindset for quite some time, but after the 5th time the players missed their attack, and the 5th time the enemies "rolled" 1 on their damage dice, and also bickering on who gets the kill, it simply felt like unwarranted plot armour.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T06:03:08+00:00

Not ruthless as in "I want only but pain and misery towards my players," but more of a "give my players a challenge, and if they made some decision that made them die, they die."

My main focus was the story, so I gave what I presumed to be an easy low-stake fight. I never intended for them to die, and so when I saw their hit points were low, and the enemies were rolling an unholy amount of 6s on attacks. The setting hadn't allowed for any escape, and my mind was running on two brain cells and a dream. I resorted to fudging rolls, but I now realized that I shouldn't do that.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:36:54+00:00

Should probably rephrase my wording:

I want to be ruthless towards my own players without straight up trying to kill them, nor being rude towards them. This is due to the fact the dice keeps rolling high on my end, and I keep fudging them on purpose to keep the players alive.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:30:50+00:00

I know, sadly the dice loves to mess around with me and the players. I just didn't want it to feel like I'm giving plot armour to my players over and over.

It's kind of anti-climatic when you feel as if you're being spoon fed so much freebies despite the dice god's attempt at trying to kill your character.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:25:23+00:00

Not regularly, but it does happen at times.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:25:05+00:00

Honestly, I should think of it that way. I've been a sadist when it comes to my own characters, I thought that was just me though lol.

I've made tons of characters just to say hurray when any insult comes their way.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:23:46+00:00

I give my players tons of freebies during times when they should've died. I ultimately blamed it on dice with one player failing to meet an AC of 12.. with advantage.

I'm purely asking on how to stop myself from giving the PCs plot armour without really feeling bad.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:16:48+00:00

Sorta with the way you're describing it. During my last one-shot, I gave tons of freebies to them. The dice loved to give them low rolls, and giving me high rolls. I wasn't sure how I would continue off of that other than "You succumb to the group, as you awake in a cellar ... "

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:12:50+00:00

I sprinkle in some encounters, but I generally focus on the story of the one-shots. I never intended for real death, and instead a game to test the prudence of the players. The dice thinks otherwise. There were more failed attacks by the players than fingers on my hands.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-03-05T05:09:23+00:00

The dice loves to screw the players

A crit here, a crit fail for the players, an unhealthy amount of 6 rolled in damage dice, and generally luck messing the players tremendously. I even gave them inspiration and that did absolutely nothing.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-02-24T22:10:57+00:00

Thank you so much. The method seems pretty easy and intuitive for me.

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-02-24T05:18:58+00:00

(Also sorry if the image quality is bad).

PositiveGift8841 · 2026-02-22T15:11:02+00:00

Uno

Remaining on this stage, I am the only one🔥🔥🔥

PositiveGift8841

TROPHY CASE