Comments on: Ten Ways to Challenge Powerful Parties http://slyflourish.com/ten-ways-to-challenge-powerful-parties/ The blog for building the better dungeons and dragons 4th Edition Dungeon Master Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:46:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Ugghe http://slyflourish.com/ten-ways-to-challenge-powerful-parties/comment-page-1/#comment-1983 Ugghe Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:44:07 +0000 http://slyflourish.com/?p=409#comment-1983 This is an older article but I felt like responding to the above, incase anyoNe like me is going through the archive. DM cheating is almost necessary to keep the cinematic epic feel of the game alive. Often times this is like Mike suggests, keeping a monster alive one more round so it can show off it's teeth, or declaring the monster missed on the blow that would down the final standing character allowing the party one more dice roll to win the day. Almost 99% of the time this choice does NOT include putting a character in mortal danger. I don't give a monster more hp so it has a chance to kill a PC. I give it more ho because it just went down in 2 rounds, and it's first round it was dazed and weakened. So cinematically I'll give it a push of nastiness so that the party "sees" that these horrible monsters do have teeth and will hopefully have a fear response the next time they see them instead of thinking "pssshhh these things never even hit us last time". Anyway, my 2 cents. This is an older article but I felt like responding to the above, incase anyoNe like me is going through the archive.

DM cheating is almost necessary to keep the cinematic epic feel of the game alive.

Often times this is like Mike suggests, keeping a monster alive one more round so it can show off it’s teeth, or declaring the monster missed on the blow that would down the final standing character allowing the party one more dice roll to win the day. Almost 99% of the time this choice does NOT include putting a character in mortal danger. I don’t give a monster more hp so it has a chance to kill a PC. I give it more ho because it just went down in 2 rounds, and it’s first round it was dazed and weakened. So cinematically I’ll give it a push of nastiness so that the party “sees” that these horrible monsters do have teeth and will hopefully have a fear response the next time they see them instead of thinking “pssshhh these things never even hit us last time”.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

]]> By: Kevin http://slyflourish.com/ten-ways-to-challenge-powerful-parties/comment-page-1/#comment-764 Kevin Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:03:55 +0000 http://slyflourish.com/?p=409#comment-764 @ Oh Man: Even the DMG suggests fudging at times. It's not cheating, it's creative encounter management. Every good DM does it both in favor of their monsters AND in favor of their players. Would you rather have encounters that you bulldoze through every single time or a DM that fudges the rolls to give you a challenge? Or perhaps you'd rather have your beloved character perma-dead rather than a DM who wisely fudges the damage roll to keep your negative hitpoints above your bloodied level. Dice are capricious and vicious and a good DM knows when slap them aside in favor maintaining the fun. @ Oh Man: Even the DMG suggests fudging at times. It’s not cheating, it’s creative encounter management. Every good DM does it both in favor of their monsters AND in favor of their players. Would you rather have encounters that you bulldoze through every single time or a DM that fudges the rolls to give you a challenge? Or perhaps you’d rather have your beloved character perma-dead rather than a DM who wisely fudges the damage roll to keep your negative hitpoints above your bloodied level. Dice are capricious and vicious and a good DM knows when slap them aside in favor maintaining the fun.

]]> By: oh man http://slyflourish.com/ten-ways-to-challenge-powerful-parties/comment-page-1/#comment-695 oh man Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:59:53 +0000 http://slyflourish.com/?p=409#comment-695 cheating sux. either make a good / powerful encounter in advance, or - why not - grant the players victory. next time theyll suffer more. cheating is the beginning of the end. even if players never realized. if i knew my dm was cheating, trust was gone.. cheating sux.
either make a good / powerful encounter in advance, or – why not – grant the players victory. next time theyll suffer more.

cheating is the beginning of the end. even if players never realized. if i knew my dm was cheating, trust was gone..

]]> By: Zyrallus http://slyflourish.com/ten-ways-to-challenge-powerful-parties/comment-page-1/#comment-643 Zyrallus Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:35:19 +0000 http://slyflourish.com/?p=409#comment-643 Really great selection of helpful ideas. I'm most partial to #2, myself, as skill challenges that I've recently been involved in imposed little to no penalty upon failure. Great post. Really great selection of helpful ideas. I’m most partial to #2, myself, as skill challenges that I’ve recently been involved in imposed little to no penalty upon failure. Great post.

]]> By: Matt James http://slyflourish.com/ten-ways-to-challenge-powerful-parties/comment-page-1/#comment-642 Matt James Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:04:00 +0000 http://slyflourish.com/?p=409#comment-642 Excellent suggestions Mike! Excellent suggestions Mike!

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