Can a DM cheat at D&D? #dnd #ttrpg

Put your stories in the comments below they could be in our next video! If you have your own video ideas submit them to us on Reddit at r/MrRipper
Stay tuned for more awesome DnD content!

Source

#mrripper #dnd #dndstories

Stay tuned for more awesome DnD content!

[alexwaddington]

I found that "magic" is a much better and accepted answer than "because I'm the DM"

[NexeL_NKC]

That second guy found a thesaurus and wanted to appear refined and smart just because. IMO, they’re compensating.

[MitchellTF]

I had a DM who had us face invisible, incorporeal enemies who get free coup de grace against ANY player, with no warning.

Yes, a DM can bleeping cheat at DnD. He also had us face a werewolf with twice the levels of the party, who could revive any dead person as a werewolf, adding the werewolf template to their party levels instantly.

Oh, and he also had a Magic Missile expert who was doing damage as if he was Level 20, when we were all Level 7, wearing full plate armor.

[Arcticgreen]

Wow, that intro speech just keeps going! I can't even finish the video it just doesn't stop.

[dizzydial]

Yes, and no. DM establishes the world and the laws of interaction, essentially. For example, in a campaign I'm starting, the abyss has a gate to the material plane and something caused it to shut. Any demons and devils left in the material have their power greatly diminished, but the gate can be opened by four powerful fiends should they work together. If any demon or devil can go back and forth between the abyss and the material, there better be a damn good reason.
Another anecdote. I was a player and the DM had us fighting on a ship out at sea. I asked if the enemies were all wearing plate armor since he described them as knights wearing blue armor. He answered yes and I said out loud, "Oh! We can take their armor and sell it for massive profit!" Towards the end of the fight, the DM declared "A rogue wave crashes against the ship, make a dex save. Dead bodies fail automatically." Since they were washed away, I didn't get the plate armor from like 10 dudes.
So yeah. DMs can cheat.

[tomanderson]

"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal."

-Richard Nixon

[calebowens]

I've never played D&D. I've played tons of Mutants & Masterminds (M&M). For that, sometimes the rules get in the way of fun, so I would set them aside as GM. However, there are right and wrong ways to do that. I was running a sci-fi campaign in M&M and I had a murder mystery. I had some basic information about the crime and a pool of suspects which the authorities had detained. Each suspect had some distinctive traits. I had no idea who the killer was, I just waited for the players to learn a bit about the crime and the suspects. One of the suspects seemed more suspicious to them compared to the others. What do you know, after they accused him he drew a blaster and tried to fight his way out.

The big difference (in my fallible opinion) between good and bad ignoring rules as a GM comes down to the results for the players. Not knowing who the killer was and having it be whoever the players thought it must be worked well. The problem would be not knowing who the killer was and deciding that no matter who the players accused, that they would be wrong. Sometimes a GM might have a very specific storyline in mind (it might be a good storyline, but that shouldn't be a bigger priority than being kind to the players) that requires the players to accuse someone innocent. Now, if the GM has already decided who the killer is, the party rolls badly on investigation checks, and the players end up accusing the wrong person... eh, that's how it goes. Most mysteries I run already have a specific solution which needs to be uncovered (although I always use the "rule of 3" to have 3 different ways to discover every component of the solution to the mystery so one bad roll doesn't make the situation unwinnable).

[nerd]

The first guy: gives a calm, understandable answer using basic terminology.
The second guy: pulls out the Latin dictionary to say the word no
Also, first.
Edit: took too long to type this, so I even though my /comment/ technically wasn’t the first, I watched this first, so Ha. Ha.

[jordanhansen]

I once heard an account of a dm who wanted to win against his players. He was tired of them beating every encounter he threw at them. So he secretly looked at their character sheets and designed an opponent that would be able to overcome and beat them all. Basically it was a poltergeist chair with ridiculously high ac and attack set in a cabin. He killed the wizard first because he was the only person capable of dealing damage to the chair. The part survived because the ranger managed to drag everyone’s corpses out of the cabin and away from the chair despite this being meant to be a tpk.

[theofficerfactory]

I just saw a horror story of a DM who cheated by knowing his players strengths and weaknesses and built encounters to just crush them and then brag that they TPK's another party.

[adamwelch]

Maybe not cheat but I believe in plot armour when it's called for like everyone dies first session! Whoops 😬

[KCaldwellBlue]

Had an epic moment planned but the boss missed the attack. I made it hit anyway. Still ended with them winning by zapping him for 1 damage. It was beautiful

[Raintamp]

My dm made a mistake that would have made my level 4 character a multi millionaire.

All I needed to do was convince the chaotic good barbarian that I was secretly working for the king's spy master. And that all the treasure we had gotten to in the lord of never winter's vault would be ours.

To do that I was using a character who was an old PC that we'd decided our characters would know each other from our backstories.

I'd saved her from a massive fall, and had even brought her back to life on my own dime. (I'd missed that section so we just had me do that in the time skip)

My plan was, she was supposed to be dead, so it would be a big revel that she was there and working with me on this mission to get back the king of the fey's property before a war started on our kings orders, (heist to steal everything using that bs lie)

My dm though, knew having my character who makes a mile with an inch, would be... problematic with millions to my name, so he made it to where my ally, would actually work for the king, and everything in my lie was true, other then the lord of never winter being a corrupt thief who was aboutto start a war, and I got thrown in prison instead. (My dm is a good one, but that was annoying, because he didn't even come up with an idea on this one, just took my lie and made it true, loosing me millions and magic tools)

[mikewithington]

In terms of cheating for the dm, I agree with the first post where the cheating is to gain advantage against the players but it depends on the group. The dm allowing murderhobos to have their way in a campaign where other players are getting annoyed with them might be alright.

However I personally think cheating is bad unless there is some narrative way to explain it. As an example an enemy is hit by a 14 but not a 17 might be sus if they haven't used magic, however after the battle they find a ring of shielding which acts like shield without the magic missile negation.

[ReclaimerMkII]

The answer is "Yes, a DM can cheat." DM in our Curse of Strahd game basically used Legendary Actions like reactions, and Strahd wasn't beatable because nothing ever hit him. When you drop a Dawn spell on his head, and he suddenly drops into the floor during your turn, you get a little frustrated. This is a single example of many. (For those who may not recall, Dawn does its damage immediately AND at the end of a character's turn, if that character is standing in the AoE. He would use a "legendary reaction" to avoid the initial damage. More than once.)

Not to mention, singling a player out to just remove them from the game for an hour. He said to me, "I've waited two months to do this to you." He basically made me, in combat, use an action to make a strength check, and I had to succeed 6 times.

[hkfifty]

Yes. Fudging, inconsistent rulings, making up the rules as you go, unfairness, none of these are really “cheating” per se. The DM interprets the rules of D&D and cannot cheat at the mechanics of the game itself, because them having that power is a PART of the game.

However. There ARE rules and limits implied and agreed to as part of the social contract between the DM and the players. Therefore it IS cheating when the DM intentionally violates the rules of the social contract of their table for their own benefit. The specifics and nuance of the social contract will vary depending on the group, so (for example) at one table fudging dice rolls may be expected and be part of being a good DM, but is not acceptable at another. Whether that behavior is cheating or not isn’t so much about WHAT is being done, but HOW it aligns (or runs counter to) the social contract. That agreement is just as important to playing D&D as the rules, but unlike the rules of D&D, the DM doesn’t have absolute power over it.

[Damalatorian]

Best part I ever have had when playing dnd is where me as a player played a charector who were mad and stupid due to that.. made a "that what my charector would do" -move and he ended up deliting himself.. it sucked and damn.. it was such a stupid thing to do and I would have loved for it to go in another way... but me as a player loved the way he died and I rolled up a new charector that lived for another two years (though now in prison (but still talked about today a year later))..
The dm and players are on the same team -but If you do stupid things you must face it and don't be salty about it.

[blazekeaveny]

Yeah, its thier story and they can do whatever they want, to improve the story or stack the cards against or in your favor! Some DMs overuse it(look at DND horror stories) and ruin the game for others, it should be a healthy dose of being in the middle.

[BoredTAK]

I personally fudge my dice as a dm. But I rarely and I try to not make it obvious

[gabriellegare]

Im writing my own homebrought world but whould like to make a world map just to have a tool for lore and orientation purpose. Any idea of what tool i could use on the cheap?