I would have gone further and conquered an entire new nation, as well as finding some kind of magic that would return my form to its original state. If it were me.
I would roll up an oath of the crown Paladin. I would make them a tax collector so any time the party got paid we would all have to sit there and file taxes. Hope the gm likes spending a whole session just filing taxes. No adventuring just going around town collecting taxes. Basically just wasting the gm’s time.
or, or , or ..... they could've talked to the dm about it. if they all asked him to make it a bit more easy then normal after the first few deaths because they were emotionally attached, then he probably would've ... well I can't say for sure, because they didnt. instead of ruining the encounter he probably spent several hours making just because the dm runs at a harder difficulty then the player would've liked, they could have at least talked about it to him. sheesh, I used to be like the narrator the first few times I played , we were doing curse of strauhd and it was really hard and everybody kept dying, so I would always try to bullsh** the wording of the spells to use them that was neither as intended, or even that clever. it all changed when I dmed for the first time when I realized how much of an a***hole I was being. you can't blame the dm if you haven't tried talking to them about it first.
Your the bbeg You hear a sound going "la ko ka ra cha, la ko ka ra cha dadadada" and then a bunch of dragons all at least adults storm your castle. Clickity clackity your about to get atackity
@@generik7414 idk you find scrolls of create a spell in a tomb of an undead trying to become a lich who has not USED the scrolls yet... sounds to me like they'll take a toll so trying to create an OP spell i'm not surprised kills you
Agreed. When I first did dm I listened to everyone's backstory and I just nod thinking "Yeah I can work with something like that." For example, a friend of mine a human fighter who escaped slavery from a gnoll fortress and about mid point into the campaign, the gnolls found him and were going to capture him again. What does he do? Goes on a complete killing spree while going berserk Minsc style. When he finished his spree, he would roar in complete victory and we just clap to him cause we we were amazed that this dude just killed every single damn gnoll while in a complete rage.
Backstories are still a part of the story, so a good DM should at least fact check it to your current story plans and maybe adjust the (DM's) story so the backstory fits well with what you originally planned... And of course, make sure they (the player) aren't secretly related to someone important to the story so you aren't flabbergasted when their connections are eventually used in the campaign. (By that I mean you should prepare for that if you allow the player to, say, come from a royal family.) I'd say only adjust a players backstory if it doesn't make sense or is *too* broken.
@@williamfalls agreed. And for fuck sake, none of that backstory as an excuse to hit on a player's character. I swear this happened when my friend's younger sister who was 15 at the time who played as a elven draconic sorcerer and this one dude played as a bard made a background story that he had a crush on her the moment he laid eyes on her. This waved so many red flags but my friend's younger sister is a devious one and what did she do? Burned the fucker alive with breathe weapon and killed the bard. This pissed him off and went on rant but the moment I told the idiot that she's a minor, the dude just panicked. We banned him before he could even apologize and told him that if we see him, my friend would put a restraining order on him. We never heard from him again Also my friend and her sister are lesbians and have no interest in men so that's something to laugh about.
@@phantomvulpe791 Yeah, romance can be another thing to squash out between people that don't know each other. I get an occasional "I could woo you" jokingly quip from a bard for kicks and giggles... But not make a backstory right out the gates about it without both players agreeing. It's just plain awkward if it wasn't planned between them both on session 0-1. Maybe you could hint at Session 2 or onwards the character may have a strange budding interest, but fresh out one-sided love struck is just plain off-putting even if they're the same age. Unless it was like the character is literally charmed by one and they make drunk like declamations of love and do anything for them, but if you're getting charmed it's more likely to be used to scam you or get information out of you rather than any weird relationship starter and characters may very well realize that once the spell ends. (Though, I should also note: the potential hitting on a minor is also very sketchy, and I'd probably not be any potential romance mood with any party member if I was a player. Though, I'm not a romanticist to begin with either... Just hopefully they learned a lesson.)
@@williamfalls agreed. If two players are totally okay with romancing with each other then I'm totally okay with it...as long as they go overboard like having every 5 seconds of sex or something like that cause that can ruin everyone's mood reeeeaaal fast. I probably should've made this clear and I apologize for this but the reason why the dude was hitting on my friend's sister because he thought she was 18 and this was a common mistake because she seriously looks like a young adult and I had this happen all time when my little brother was a bit taller than me and people think my brother is older than me when it's the other way around.
Session 0: Me: "My backstory is I'm the most powerful person to have ever existed in your world." DM: "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, other guy, it says here in YOUR backstory that you were...a chef? I'm not sure I buy this."
Every All Things DnD Story Ever: Player: I use the malicious tool you tried to destroy me with to wreck your campaign. DM: No you can't do that. Other Players: Yes they can you just said they could.
as a Wizard main in a group that was always behind wealth by level by a significant margin, years ago i adopted that "anything you confirm existence of is fair game" habit that slowed the attrition rate of the party, since between necromancy and item creation, i was going to make use of anything i survived against (and i put my survival as #1 priority) and the dm decided to lean a little towards less exotic threats. for a while anyway :p
How to deal with this particular one: Ruby is summoned, but was clearly in the middle of a battle, ajd looks to he on the edge of death. What's more, her scales are ripped away, and it looks like even a child could strike a killing blow against the Crimson dragon. Oh, would you look at that? Someone shot the dragon.
I once attended a conference from a fantasy author who said something very true: "Be careful with the powers you give to your characters, they might use them."
When there's a sketchy insta-kill item and several players had rolled insight checks that weren't literal garbage, there should have at least been "a sense of dread" for the scrolls rather than just the DM basically like "Go ahead and try it. Whoops, ya dead. Who else wanna try?" At least make them roll some check/saving throws before killing them outright. Serves them right to have a derailed campaign ending if they railroad murder PCs.
Exactly my point. Going threw the comments i see the occasional. The dm isn't that bad sounding. I mean ya he can roll with things but when you roll that d 20 and get a natural 20 and still die come back to me and honestly tell me he isn't a bad dm after.
@@vortex7733 Yeah. I see no problem with having nearly impossible rolls, but as a DM, it's important you hint at the difficulty of it before they chance. Or in this case, indicate that there's at least something else going on that they don't quite understand. Something that could trigger the "wait a minute" response on the perceptive player. Instead, it's the equivalent of "you find a healing word scroll, of cour- woops, forgot to mention the death side effect right between the fine print! Guess you better make a new character!"
Man I feel like a poser when I listen to these because I've never gotten the chance to play dnd but these stories are so captivating and I listen to them for hours and it makes me want to play dnd so badly
I've never played myself due to scheduling conflicts that said I listen to this channel, many lore and monster vid channels, theory crafting, etc, to get an idea so that one day, should I ever have the chance to, I can enjoy myself without looking like a total noob, if however I never get that chance its entertainment and frees up my mind for imagination.
You'd only be a poser if you claimed that you did play (or made it seem like you had been playing ever since the first introductory game years ago). Take it from someone that knows posers, you're good! Also, there are plenty of discord servers and Facebook groups you could try joining that run games; online games have surged in popularity with covid-19 forcing social distancing.
If you want to play Dnd, go for it! My experience with it has been very fun and I am sure you will enjoy it if you find some good people to play with. If your party ends up being people you don't have fun with, then try it with a different group.
Lol, this reminds me of a time I asked to buy a bunch of random items including bags of flour that I gave to the party but didn't get questioned by the DM because I was good about giving an explanation for a good chunk of the items...except the flour. Fast forward three sessions and we start combat with a Rakshasa and an Erinyes (Quick disclaimer, I didn't know either were demons until the fight). The Rakshasa turned invisible while the Erinyes engaged our Rogue to make sure we were occupied. As for me, I moved to spot near the where the Rakshasa was last seen. I yell in character, "Use the flour." as I tore open the a of flour and floured the immediate area. The DM, stunned by realization, said slowely, "Make a dexterity check." I did so, getting a 19 in total, the DM then said, "That will be the Dex. Save against the flour." He rolls and proceeds to announce that we watch the flour fill the space, an invisible figure becomes by the flour. The Party, equally shocked, started whooping in excitement. A few rounds later, using more flour to keep the Rakshasa visable, we managed to kill the Erinyes and the Rakshasa. Which, if it weren't for the flour, would have been a much tougher fight on our hands. The only PC in danger of dying was my PC because the Erinyes singled out my Lawful Good who's signature weapon was a +1 magic pike as the greatest danger in the room (Rakshasas being vulnerable to magical piercing weapons wielded by good aligned beings. Do the math). It has been a thing in our party to keep a bag of flour on each person ever since.
Well, that's the thing: if you seek out and find chances to try and screw your players, don't be surprised when they turn around and try to screw you just as hard or harder. Besides, I imagine he was out to try and kill the players one last time before the final dungeon of the campaign with the scrolls. It's not the players' fault that they saw a way to cheese the final boss and the GM didn't see it, and it's also a good example as to why you read backstories every so often to refresh your memory when needed. I can guarantee the DM was only thinking of the servants the enchantress had during the campaign, and the player rightfully smashed the bus through the hole because he approved the spell as written- it's the GM's fault for not paying attention and then pissing and moaning about getting caught with his pants down when the player used the spell to do something he wasn't expecting but completely legal under the rules he approved.
People don’t understand the difference between making a campaign challenging and going out of your way to kill the players over and over again. While I won’t say that the OP handled the situation as good as they could, I would say they’re totally justified in wrecking the campaign.
I would've at least you know, asked him to dial it down a bit. it seems unfair to blame someone for repeatedly doing something to you that you don't like if you never speak up and ask them to stop. if they asked the dm to go a little easier, would he, or would he really turn out to be a jerk? since they never asked we really dont know.
I once had a DM who killed off the entire party within three hours. Pit trap took out one, spike trap combined with fire trap took out a second with two other PC's injured, injured PC's passed out and died via slime and hobgoblins without the rest of the party noticing, fifth ran into a room filled with treasure and a gelatinous cube, six and seven lost to the hobgoblins that killed three, and the last party member encountered the pit trap that took out the first PC. For some odd reason, he never had anyone who wanted to play with him more than once.
A Smith It’s like when the DM makes everyone an unsympathetic asshole because it’s “realistic”, but all that does is make me question their perspective on life.
honestly, if I were DMing a game I'd be stoked to have my players storm a castle with and army of dragons, that shit would be so cool... it also means I won't have to feel bad for summoning a demon lord to the prime material world. you want an army of dragons? ok but you have to fight Orcus and an army of liches.
this here is making it fun :D not like the DM in the video, who just messed with the players. and as for a super undead Dragon may i sugest Daurgothoth: The Creaping Doom. CR 50 Dracolich Archmage. so far no stats in 5e but hes in the lore :D hes an anchient black dragon lich blessed by Mystra who studies magic to make the ultimate dragon species :D he can use every dragon type breath of the Chromatics and even got a undeath breath that raises the ones it kills as zombies :D
What frightens me is this sounds like a cross of two different characters I made. Human fighter. Used to be a red dragon but was polymorphed/cursed to be human and did not remember being a dragon. So played it straight as a human fighter till someone noticed the odd magical aura and worked to dispel it. The other was from Vampire campaigns. I always push my age back a few centuries. So I seem mild and weak. But technically older than the princes of most territories. So the 'back before any remember' lines get an 'oh yeah. That was a fun party. I recall they brought in a pony and someone knocked over a cask of wine.'
@@JustAJosuke probably because they're unlikely to get a nat 20 so the DM was gambling on that 95% chance, though punishing for a 19 seems unfair as well su idk
There can be a justification for punishing on a nat 20. For example if you decide your going to walk straight in to a ancient red dragons mouth at lvl 1 so you can punch its uvula, yea your gonna catch some fire (although maybe not lethally for rolling the 20).
NEVER half-ass it as a GM. If you're going to go in half-way, the lack-luster performance is going to be powered by a lack-luster attention to things like backstories (whether or not OP'ed), Rules As Written (and thereby the rules as you've tweaked for this game), and the details of literally everything. That only leads to your own frustration, since the Players are only going to pay as much attention to YOU and YOUR GAME as you've paid them and their designed Characters, inventories, ingenious innovations, and unique spells, abilities, powers, and so forth. There's a reason I prefer to meet up someplace I have access to a scanner or copier... As much as there can be said for perusing the backstories on the spot, there's PLENTY more to be said for reviewing and thoroughly reading them at leisure and sessions where someone brings details up. Having your own copy on hand makes it much easier and quicker to reference whenever it may be relevant. There's also a reason I like to use "tween-session" meetings. We change over time and experience in and out of game. Being allowed or even encouraged as the Characters evolve in-game to re-assess the direction things are going versus where you'd like them to go can do WONDERS for straightening out misinterpretations along the way, as well as allow you to shift your (Player's) paradigm for continued growth. ;o)
@@Spiceodog If I actually bother to read something, I tend to retain it. If one can't, maybe GM'ing is a bit too complicated for them... More likely they perused or barely more than skimmed the backstory, handwaving it off... OR there should be notes and respect for it... I hear this same bitch-session with GM's all the time. "Why don't Players respect my history and the full world I constructed?" They don't because they don't feel the respect of their GM for their contribution to the Game. If you (as GM) want the respect of Players to take notes and read in depth on your worlds, then maybe have the decency to respect their Characters and Backstories, by reading in depth and taking a few notes, yourself. I know I have a LOT on my plate for GM'ing, and I'm liable to forget details, SO I compensated by investing in a scanner... I prefer to have copiers if we don't meet where I can access my scanner... It's more work, but anything worth doing is a lot of work. ;o)
*halfway through the video* So a spell that can summon anyone you control from anywhere in the world to fight for you for 24 hours, and you can use it 4 times? Why am I getting Aragorn at Pelennor Fields vibes? *finishes the video* Well, that's sorta what happened.
Except it would have been a lot more terrifying if Aragon had a army of lotr dragons at his beck and call...he probably could have just gone and smashed sauron by himself honestly
Yeah. I don't know where the competitive approach to DMing comes from. Im a DM to create challenges for them to overcome and I arbit the rules for what happens when they try. I want to redline them without sending them over the brink because I think in tabletop that's where they find their fun. I dont win by players dying, I win by everyone having fun.
Player death is a important, though hopefully infrequent tool. It shows the players that there are stakes and what they do matters. They know that their actions and choices could lead to heroism or death.
I feel this was a best case scenario as the players followed the dm’s rules stuck to them and got creative and went out with a bang leaving the dm pissed
I feel my blood boil every time I hear dragon born now... going from a unique concept of people giving up their original species to help Bahamut tip the scales away from Tiamat's grasp, instead they're now "lizard men but better".
True, i feel like for a game aptly named "dungons and dragons" people tend to misrepresent and missuse dragons and their kin. A bit of a shame personaly as they are some of my all time favourite aspect of most fantasy settings due to their variety, history, and the inherent situations that can revolve around how these powerfull and inteligent beings react to the world around them, shape it, and especially all forms of situation for those who stray away from the norm. For me there is really an interesting clay for any DM to use when talking about individuals that work on such a large timeline, and can have either the most grandiose or the most querky of objectives, a bit like litches in a way. I mean when you are speaking on the span of a dragon's lifespan, you are bound to make some interesting stuff just to not get bored out of your mind. There is definitly a really good story material there but i don't often see it used well, outside of "big angry dragon kills and steals stuff". And i also think the dragonborn concept got quite missused too, just as you said.
I... don’t get DMs who do this. I like seeing my characters get more powerful, and like the challenge to make it more interesting. For instance, I’d probably change up the last chapter adding the BBEGs own army/difficult dungeon entry, and also probably tried to lean in the characters backstories more to arc it (unless continuing from there)
I hope I don’t end up on one of these bad dm videos. I was set up to fail by a player that didn’t allow me to see his character sheet using a heavy modified artificer class. I didn’t know he had a modified class. He also was going through my notes and consistently countered my custom bosses. These always started with a “nat 20”. I was a new dm and somewhat non confrontational, I nearly lost all my friends when the slandering started but COVID hit and toxic player was separated from us.
Remember, if you are the DM, you have the sovereign right to see all of your players sheets, and to see the updates every time they level up. Part of your job as a DM is to ensure compliance with the agreed rules, whether they are RAW, just a few modifications, or complete homebrewing, so that play is fair for everyone. You can even make it a fun thing to get them to forward the sheets to you. I tell my players that I know they are going to hit a level point soon, so send me the updates to approve in advance so that if they hit the level up point mid-session, they can immediately utilize the new abilities without waiting for the next week. This both ensures compliance because they like getting to level up the minute they reach that point, and builds positive enthusiasm for the process with the players. Also, while confrontation with a cheating player is never a fun prospect, it's also part of the DMs job to watch for that and call it out when needed. In the event that accusation makes you extremely uncomfortable, try elimination of opportunity instead. If playing in-person, you can put dice trays where all can see to make sure rolls can't be fudged, and online you can utilize dice roller bots that either are public, or are visible to both the player and moderator (DM as Moderator). This keeps everyone honest without requiring you to get in a shouting match.
A perfectly handled situation, heads off to OP. Remember the value of backstories kids, they are the very soul of your character, and souls are power...
I think I would actually like a DM like that. I very much like to try out new characters and get bored after playing the same one for too long. The most important thing in a DM for me is that he is able to set the scene and atmosphere right. Some nice, fitting background music, some believable characters, challenging fights... yeah that would be nice.
the best way to avoid being in a bad dm video is to tell your dm if your not having fun. the only reason it got to the point it got to is because nobody directly told him that they think the campaighn is to difficult .
I for some reason am reminded of my Pathfinder game wjere we (mostly) play a family of Kitsune in the Wrath of the Righteous module. We use Automatic Bonus Progression so the magic items feel more special than "it's a +1, yay" and to save headache for the GM, amd thanks to the module we are also playing Mythic tier. We are still fairly early on, we just recently got the army after finally breaking the siege on the main starter city and are level 6, Mythic 1. However the GM loves optimizing stuff and seeing OP builds in action, and actively encouraged us to take some of the most gamebreaking stuff we could pull woth our resources. Now, I don't play Pathfinder, frankly I dislike overall the D20 system, finding it far inferior to others. But it keeps wanting to be played. I didn't want to learn a whole bunch of rules out of the gate for a system I don't play, so I went with the idea of playing a Martial character instead of my usual spellcaster. So the GM and I looked through the SRD and I stumbled across the Shifter, a variant take on the Druid which I already liked as a class that was more focused on the Martial shifting aspect. And there was a psuedo werewolf option as well! Being a massove werewopf fanboy I naturally picked it amd reveled in what it could do. Between tje GM and I we built a Dex tank dual-wielding natural weapons who would gain Damage Resistance and a form of Regeneration. (We re-flavoured the Tiger form as a Fox to fit the Kitsune aestetic). Things started pretty well, and. I planned to be able to basically stay shifted all day long by taking certain abilities, amd would get my Regeneration through Mythic abilities using the Guardian path. The rest of the table rolled a Rogue who seems focused on stealing, lockpicking, and Dirty Trick (which is basically her kicking enemies in the groin) and last I heard was planning to go down the Shadowdancer perstige class and going full Kitsune with the Extra Tail feat (I think she is up to 5). We got a Magus who is entirely focused on damage and weeb-ing it up woth crazy stuff like wallruns with his katana. Lots of Demon Slayer gifs get shared when they roll well. (And some when they roll badly too) we also got a Cleric of Anubis who has mostly been alternating between topping us off with healing bursts or bashing enemies with a flail. My character aside (who gets played kinda like Draxx the Destroyer) she seems to be the "straight man" of the group. Finally where the earlier mostly comes in is a Ratfolk Gunslinger we ran into who was protecting some fair maidens from frankly insane guards/knights who thought a virgin sacrifice would quell the siege and appease the demons. They were not mourned. But the Rat can shoot the wings off a fly several blocks away so we took him with us. Until recently our plan of attack was to sneak close until the Cleric's armour gave us away, then I charge into the middle of the enemy to draw attention while everyone else works their way through the enemy. It had been working great with enemies rarely being able to bypass my AC which was usually between 20 and 22 at the time, and the blows that did hit blunted by DR2/Silver from being a Weretouched Shifter. I put out mibor but consistent damage with two-weapin fighting, but my job was tanking, not killing. Though I did mawl a good many demons and cultists myself. Deapite not being able to spread Lycanthropy myself, we still left none alive to tempt fate. That all chamged recently though, when I noticed a nice little ability I had on my major shift form. Grab. Normally limited to Monster statblocks, it let me free-action grapple an opponent whenever I hit a melee attack. Which with my +12 or something I almost always would. I still wasn't the most familiar with what the Rogue wanted to do, and as playing a Support role I figured I should open up opportunity for them to deal some real damage with Sneak Attack and Flanking and making enemies flat-footed. Knowing how infamous the Grapple rules are in game systems, I was loathe to use it for much more than opening enemies up for attacks, but when we fought a, effectively demon minotaur near the end of the siege is when we saw just how overpowered I accidentally became. So, I mentioned Inwas a Dex tank.. Combining my shifting I reached a Dex of about 24 for a +7, and Shifters got Monk AC, AND Weretouched got Natural Armour and additional AC buffs. I had also put ranks into basically all the Dex skills, so my Acrobatics was something like a +14 to avoid Attacks of Opportunity. We had a little warning about this creature before fighting it so we devised a plan. Granted, the plan was almost identical to our other plans thus far, but I would be fully kitted for facing this thing and everyone had their actions planned. I rushed up to them, planning to powerslide under his massive war axe as he swung and push off the wall to attack and grapple him. Unfortunately my dice didn't agree with the first part and I ate a pretty hefty hit from that axe but didn't let it stop me. Between charge bonuses and my massive Dex I managed to hit him with every attack I had, and succeed in the grapple too. It was at this point someone who had actually read the rules piped up, because we wondered what Grapple did to their AC exactly. Turns out it does so much more. Such as preventing him from using that big axe due to being 2 handed. So tje GM told me after that I had shut him off from a big +15 mmod weapon to just like, +5 mod natural attacks instantly, with the downside that I had all tje same debuffs. Though as I was already using two "light weapons" I was majorly unaffected by this. Bonus, he couldn't do attacks of opportunity anymore, so y allies were free to flank him with all the sweet bonuses that entails (pathfinder is so superior to 5e...) We ultimately made what should have been a challenging foe that might take one of us down into a complete joke that died in 2 rounds due to debuffs and grappling. The fight after was even easier, practically a cutscene after the last fight and we proceeded on, gaining our first Mythic tier and when I became truly strong. Between the level and the blessing we got, I ended up bumping up my Wis for more AC and to in future take Energized Wild Shape, which would give me Energy resistance and added elemental damage on my now three attacks. (By the end of the module I should have about 10 attacks if I charge or am grappling) but the big thing was a feat to change my CMB to Dex instead of Strength to make my grapples land better, and our first Mythic tier. I took a Mythic feat to make me count as Tier 3 instead of 1 for my abilities, and got Absorb Blow (spend Mythic power to negate 5 points of damage per tier (so 15) and gain +DR1/- and Energy Resist 5 for every 10 points absorbed.) Amd an ability to spend a point of Mythic power to gain Fast Healing 5 for a minute (5HP/round) giving me my regeneration. So now I could land grapples almost constantly, just ignore most damage, and recover the damage I do take basically at will. My GM loves it, but has no idea what to do about my character. The other PCs are similarly OP, but all offensively and I am not familiar with what ways since we only got 1 session since gaining Mythic.
The spell actually feels like one you would have in DnD. Maybe used by Succubi, Vampires or other creatures that have abilities that, Charm/Oathbind someone else.
2:34 Natural 20s on skill check don't mean they automatically succeed as they do on attacks. It's a good roll, and will most likely end with a positive result, but it's not guaranteed. So, from now on, when referring to skill checks, just give us the total after bonuses.
Considering an average rating of 3 or so for core stats, and lets go with a general, prof for arcana, add an extra 3-5 and at minimum,.. You're looking at a roll of 26-29 for a skill check,.. And, if they didnt even get a minor 'hey, this item is dangerous' that dm can go fuck themselves, at absolute worst, they would have rolled a 20 bonuses included, which is a fairly damn good roll btw, as 30 is considered impossible,
I have a sort of hombrew-ish character which is still W.I.P,meet Tonka,the war forged barbarian coming from a distant nation called “Mechanopolis”,he was built to protect the king’s daughter but she got captured,and he got thrown off the carriage he was trying to save her from the kidnapper,he then was in a scrapyard and found a lil auto security drone and befriend it,and he’s never seen without it! He also has a cool design,a metal box body,a ionicle cannon (energy used in Mechanopolis and used as weapons)replacing his left arm and a retractable ionicle blade on his right arm,and a small tank head,he can also shift into his “Tank Box” form and gain resistance to most attacks,his backstory is still W.I.P
one of the most common problems with bad DM's is that they get it in there head that it's THEM vs THE PLAYERS. and any DM that thinks like this is wrong.
I have an idea for the "make a spell" scrolls. The spell is called "Age". The spell allows the caster to change the age/time of the target (including self, others, and items) up to 1 month for free, 1 year for a 1st level spell slot, 2 for a 2nd level, so on so forth (spell slots can be replaced by ki, so free one month, 1 ki for a year, so on). The target must be within 30ft at casting and the spell lasts 24hrs, until ended by the caster, or the caster goes down. When the spell ends, the target's health, spell slots, use charges, statis effects, and age are reverted to the state they were in at the end of the last long rest they had before the spell was cast, unless they were killed while affected, which then they revert back, but as a very nice corpse (memories, stats, death, and spells gained stay the same). Targeted living creatures, however, cannot be aged younger than a month after birth or a month before death by old age, though you can quickly progress poisons and diseases or revert their effect temporarily (though be careful, as with the case of poison, it is still there, just the effect is reverted, so aging someone to before the poison will just make them have the poison at a younger self and aging them forward again just makes the poison worst from that age instead of when administered, at least until dead or spell ends). While affected by the spell, the age of the target cannot be changed exept by the caster and the spell can't be stacked (so no double casting to make things permanently older or younger). Things worn by a living target are also affected by the spell and do also revert back when spell is over. Items cannot be aged past when they were created, but that is it. Oh, and you must have a timepiece in order to cast the spell (it is not used up/destroyed, you just need one as a representative symbol of time, whether $5mil watch or worn pocket sundial). Has 3 charges per day/long rest (AKA, only used three times a day/long rest).
You see I'll tell my players on how hard do they wish to make THEIR lives and because they know me well I can let something's slide while also being extremely heavy handed. But I will also tell them from the start that the game will be difficult and said difficulty will increase the more they level up. And we all have fun with it
@@Spiceodog while I'll agree to that I would also point out that the DM was kind-of being an ass for making it so hard at the start. I can understand if it was a Grimdark setting but this seemed like a "normal-style" of campaign. Oh and the NEEDING to get a nat 20 on the Roll is complete BS. While the rules are their to just intrepid and not set in stone here's an example on just how ridiculous that DC was: In 3.5 from the GM Screen-Skill Listen DC 15 = People Whispering.........how? you are able to pull this off at level 1 or my favorite same skill DC 30 = An owl gliding in for a kill
3.5e, my cleric researched a spell that was the equivalent of True Strike, except instead of giving a melee weapon +20 to attack, it gave a single piece of ranged ammunition that same bonus. DM shrugs and approves it no problem. Fast forward to a few sessions later, where we’re on a boat. We’re being attacked by a wizard dropping firebombs from a flying carpet. I head over to the ballista, and the rest is history.
I once made a spell that is a centrip that basically any class with magic can learn (even if there class doesn't learn cantrips) and it functions as a bubble from steven universe. But he actually made it better then I had designed it to be because originally you had to use higher spell levels to make bigger bubbles but he made it so they could be any size.
As a DM that guy was not the worse DM but close to it. I had a DM that didn't let us do anything but fallow his story the way he set it out, and if any of us got an uperhand on his NPC's he would use the "It didn't work." So when I started to DM told my friends that I would not be like that and now we have been gaming together for over 6 years. I don't let my PC's make their own classes but their back story is theirs. I just remind them the level we are starting from and say. "You are not a good." And that it. I do my best to work their stories into the campaign and the NPC's that name off. And if they name off a place that dose not exist I put it in. To me this makes the world feel more alive and relevant to my PC's.
Usually these stories are highly entertaining!.. but this one kind of rubs me the wrong way. The only thing I think the DM really did wrong was make an admittedly horrible scroll mechanic. As a DM my fights are carefully tailored; manageable trash to interesting special encounters.. and finally the challenging capstone fights meant to push them to their limits. Funnily enough two character deaths within an eight month period!.. but my players aren't complaining, they admit they should've thought their actions through a little more. Hard for villains to not capitalize on things such as a lone PC waiting on the outskirts of a kingdom for a boss in a force cage to be released (killed by BBEG's right hand Anti-Paladin which keeps pace with their Level) and a PC charging knowingly out of the range of the party and into a mob that trips whilst others were clearly fleeing through a gate to safety (other PCs included).. only to be quickly flanked by two more, tripped and torn to bits.
Dm was bad for not reading the backstory Player was bad for backstory being "was super power being before". Never do that. Also: "we knew he liked to play hard on the players. How dare him play hard on the players?" If you are the dm, read backstories and never be afraid to say "no" to exaggerate ones like the one in the video. If you are tge player, murderhobboing will bring the dm's fury, and dont act surprise if your dm accept your exaggerate backstory to teach you some modesty. Let's just say, even a dragon empire can fall.
As I said, he read it, just didn't think I'd do that. Also, it's not a bad thing to have a character with a lot of knowledge and experience but no power at the start. Finally, there's a difference between "hard" and "don't get attached to your characters because I kill them off with stupid BS for fun" When you have a near-TPK because there was a doorknob that, just by grabbing it, seals a contract with an evil god and turns that person into a relentless and crazy war machine, but they become a lot stronger, that's just dumb. We had three options there: kill that PC, get killed by that PC, or spend the rest of the campaign running from him until we could find and kill that evil god.
It sounds like a Everyone Sucks Here: • The DM for trying to kill off everyone. • The players for being murderhobos • The player for their broken backstory • EVERYONE for not talking about their expectations
DM literally asked us to make criminals that're chaotic and/or neutral in session 0. DM made all the NPCs be murderhobos, and we responded in kind. My backstory was broken if taken to the extreme, but that's it. Wasn't broken, or even really relevant, until the DM decided to throw straw onto the camel's back. We did talk to him about our expectations, he kept right on killing us. Sure, I'll admit that most of us suck here, but only one of us was a fucking black hole/cosmic vacuum cleaner in comparison to a bunch of three year olds with apple juice boxes.
@@CaTastrophy427 I see your point, but if I were in your situation, I would have simply asked him in person if he can dial down the difficulty a little bit as soon as it started to become a problem. would he respect your wishes and dial it down, or would he continue to make it abserdly difficult? since nobody bothered to try asking , who knows? not that I'm innocent of this either, the first few times I played, before I tried dming, I had a player vs dm mindset too, it was curse of strauhd, so we always just kept dying. in response , I would bull$$$$ as many rules as I could to win, after that campaighn ended and I tried dming, I realized I was being a jerk. dms really are trying to make sure everyone has fun, and if what they think is fun and what you think is fun are different, the best thing you can do is talk to them about it and come to a agreement.
@@Spiceodog Bruh. Did you read the second line of my comment. We talked to him, he kept killing us. He killed two of us in the very next session after we said "hey, we want hard, not meatgrinder, can you make it a bit easier to get attached to our PCs, and thus get in-character?"
a dm shouldnt build a fight able to kill the party for the purpose of killing the party, a dm should build a fight to kill the party to challenge the party, theres a difference :p a dm is indeed the final arbiter over a games balance and whatnot, even if they confirm a thing one day then double back the next. sucks but it happens. still sounded like this guy was out of his league from the word go and could use some help learning how to juggle sessions :x didnt help the drama he had with his players either. is a lot of this online pickup groups on roll20 i wonder?
Looking back at my experience with bad GM's, my expectation was: "Cool, you summon big super dragon. Neat." *Next session.* "*You encounter a bigger, stronger dragon. It stomps your dragon. And you. And then flies off. Make a new character.*"
Be the BBEG. Plotting your conquests, you gaze out of your fortress window. All around you are defenses, and armies at your call. You see a flock of birds in the distance, and contemplate your next conquest, but as you watch, those birds get closer. Something about the way they fly is off. You cast a Seeing spell, and find hundreds of dragons bearing down on the fortress. Alarmed, you start calling your minions to arms. Only to see more dragons coming from another direction. Going over your vast repertoire of spells, you realize you cant possibly defeat them all, and soon, your dreams of dominion lie in ashes.
or, or , or ..... they could've talked to the dm about it. if they all asked him to make it a bit more easy then normal after the first few deaths because they were emotionally attached, then he probably would've ... well I can't say for sure, because they didnt. instead of ruining the encounter he probably spent several hours making just because the dm runs at a harder difficulty then the player would've liked, they could have at least talked about it to him. sheesh, I used to be like the narrator the first few times I played , we were doing curse of strauhd and it was really hard and everybody kept dying, so I would always try to bullsh** the wording of the spells to use them that was neither as intended, or even that clever. it all changed when I dmed for the first time when I realized how much of an a***hole I was being. you can't blame the dm if you haven't tried talking to them about it first.
As a DM I find problem with the point of people thinking that a 15 to 17 automatically gets you all the answers. Criticals only matter in combat and sometimes the dice rolls are over 20 so it doesn't matter if you got a 15 to 17 that got over 20. The strongest locks in my world have a set DC of 25 and while those kind of locks are rare, they still exist and making new spells doesn't have to be easy if they're supposed to be strong. Your choleric having been drained of their life isn't necessarily an asshole move, as they don't necessarily have to know, but then again it seems like they wanted to kill your character so I can't say
Making things 'hard' is not really about having bigger numbers, it's about presenting players with interesting/tough choices. This DM was dropping the ball in a major way.
I'm currently *in* my first campaign, and I've put some thought into how I built my character. Warforged Fighter. Would have been Human, but my first campaign was a Spelljammer setting so I was like "Awww go on then. :D" Fighter because I'm new and slow. Backstory? Nearly none. My character's memories only go back 5 years. Why? Because I want to play a character that could get to know the world, the game, and expectations alongside me. More specifically, he was found in a collapsed building by an old merc who ran a mercenary company. My character was built to fight, and was very good at it, as immediately after activation, he had to fight off some muggers to rescue the man who woke him up, and did so to surprisingly great effect. He spent those five years working as a merc for that man, who he sees as a kind-of father figure. The old man hired a mechanic to take care of my character, and the two of them now treat each other as siblings. This was all before the campaign began. Now, he's continuing his work, as a part of the crew and party of the Spelljammer we called The Arcadia, but he also hopes to find who created him, and why, and if he had a life before. Things have gotten pretty interesting. I've only just found some clue as to where my character came from. And it's left me positively reeling with theories, especially given the various crossovers with other space-age franchises my DM has put in the game. I don't know if I can go into full detail on my character yet. I do want to contribute a story to All Things D&D, but it feels a bit early to do that yet. Maybe I will when I see more development with my character. If nothing else, I feel like I could do some stories about his now kinda-legendary practice duels with his new war buddy, a hobgoblin battlemaster.
I read a post exactly like this on reddit. If this is the same person, then oh my god did they leave a lot of stuff out. Like the fact that the Dm didn’t approve the backstory, but player forced it, and that the DM would allow them to summon 1 dragon, but just wouldn’t let them summon more because the empire fell thousands of years ago. This is the players fault, but they edited stuff out...
My DM (of Campaigns I never ever got to see the end of) always ask my Backstory interview-style, by asking questions that help limit what my character can be in his world. If my DM would allow some Homebrew, I (at my choice) just limit to just items and 1-2 racial feats (like darkvision, included spells, water-breathing, etc) but never Spells.
2 things. Moral of the story, 1 Don't be a bad DM 2 don't give players the ability to create their own unique spell unless you are willing to deal with the consequence of it backfiring. bonus, Don't mess with a Dragon. there is more forms of power than strength.
Not sure I would've done things much differently at all, if I had chosen to remain playing with an A-Hole DM. The best revenge on a mean and malicious DM is not to waste weeks or months playing in their bad game... it is to put on your DM hat, start up a game on the same day & time and take ALL the players, so that DM has nobody to torture for entertainment, while you and the other players are having a blast in a good game.
If you were a player how would you have handled this situation?
I would have gone further and conquered an entire new nation, as well as finding some kind of magic that would return my form to its original state. If it were me.
Exactly this. Thanks for covering my story, BTW.
I would roll up an oath of the crown Paladin. I would make them a tax collector so any time the party got paid we would all have to sit there and file taxes. Hope the gm likes spending a whole session just filing taxes. No adventuring just going around town collecting taxes. Basically just wasting the gm’s time.
or, or , or ..... they could've talked to the dm about it. if they all asked him to make it a bit more easy then normal after the first few deaths because they were emotionally attached, then he probably would've ... well I can't say for sure, because they didnt. instead of ruining the encounter he probably spent several hours making just because the dm runs at a harder difficulty then the player would've liked, they could have at least talked about it to him. sheesh, I used to be like the narrator the first few times I played , we were doing curse of strauhd and it was really hard and everybody kept dying, so I would always try to bullsh** the wording of the spells to use them that was neither as intended, or even that clever. it all changed when I dmed for the first time when I realized how much of an a***hole I was being. you can't blame the dm if you haven't tried talking to them about it first.
@@Spiceodog We did talk to him about it. He didn't change. Literally the next session after was a near-TPK
Okay, if random innkeepers are killing you in your sleep you don't have a party of murder hobos. You have a party of justifiably paranoid players
It's not Murder Hoboing if people really ARE out to get you!
I can already imagine the DM going absolutely livid when his BBEG gets nuked by hundreds of dragons.
Hoisted by his own petard. Fitting.
Your the bbeg
You hear a sound going "la ko ka ra cha, la ko ka ra cha dadadada" and then a bunch of dragons all at least adults storm your castle. Clickity clackity your about to get atackity
The DM didn't think to put a cr cap on that spell? Oof
well she just summoned them to give them orders to arrive at the about-to-be-stormed castle, she could of just made one dragon her messenger.
@@Sarah12471 those dragons are STYLING on that castle hahah!
@@fractalgem yea storm in style with this magic music box only 20.99 silver
Turnabout is fair play. If the DM is willing to kill a player on a whim, then they should not be surprised when the players turn against them.
Especially if the kills are so completely unfair that rolling a nat 15 on a roll that seemed completely innocent equals instant saveless death
I mean... If a DM kills a player the others should call the police...
@@generik7414 idk you find scrolls of create a spell in a tomb of an undead trying to become a lich who has not USED the scrolls yet... sounds to me like they'll take a toll so trying to create an OP spell i'm not surprised kills you
@@Choke-a-Cola Yeah, no, that's asinine and you know it.
This is why I read backstories.
and don't screw my players.
Agreed. When I first did dm I listened to everyone's backstory and I just nod thinking "Yeah I can work with something like that." For example, a friend of mine a human fighter who escaped slavery from a gnoll fortress and about mid point into the campaign, the gnolls found him and were going to capture him again. What does he do? Goes on a complete killing spree while going berserk Minsc style. When he finished his spree, he would roar in complete victory and we just clap to him cause we we were amazed that this dude just killed every single damn gnoll while in a complete rage.
Backstories are still a part of the story, so a good DM should at least fact check it to your current story plans and maybe adjust the (DM's) story so the backstory fits well with what you originally planned... And of course, make sure they (the player) aren't secretly related to someone important to the story so you aren't flabbergasted when their connections are eventually used in the campaign. (By that I mean you should prepare for that if you allow the player to, say, come from a royal family.) I'd say only adjust a players backstory if it doesn't make sense or is *too* broken.
@@williamfalls agreed. And for fuck sake, none of that backstory as an excuse to hit on a player's character. I swear this happened when my friend's younger sister who was 15 at the time who played as a elven draconic sorcerer and this one dude played as a bard made a background story that he had a crush on her the moment he laid eyes on her. This waved so many red flags but my friend's younger sister is a devious one and what did she do? Burned the fucker alive with breathe weapon and killed the bard. This pissed him off and went on rant but the moment I told the idiot that she's a minor, the dude just panicked. We banned him before he could even apologize and told him that if we see him, my friend would put a restraining order on him. We never heard from him again
Also my friend and her sister are lesbians and have no interest in men so that's something to laugh about.
@@phantomvulpe791 Yeah, romance can be another thing to squash out between people that don't know each other. I get an occasional "I could woo you" jokingly quip from a bard for kicks and giggles... But not make a backstory right out the gates about it without both players agreeing. It's just plain awkward if it wasn't planned between them both on session 0-1. Maybe you could hint at Session 2 or onwards the character may have a strange budding interest, but fresh out one-sided love struck is just plain off-putting even if they're the same age. Unless it was like the character is literally charmed by one and they make drunk like declamations of love and do anything for them, but if you're getting charmed it's more likely to be used to scam you or get information out of you rather than any weird relationship starter and characters may very well realize that once the spell ends.
(Though, I should also note: the potential hitting on a minor is also very sketchy, and I'd probably not be any potential romance mood with any party member if I was a player. Though, I'm not a romanticist to begin with either... Just hopefully they learned a lesson.)
@@williamfalls agreed. If two players are totally okay with romancing with each other then I'm totally okay with it...as long as they go overboard like having every 5 seconds of sex or something like that cause that can ruin everyone's mood reeeeaaal fast.
I probably should've made this clear and I apologize for this but the reason why the dude was hitting on my friend's sister because he thought she was 18 and this was a common mistake because she seriously looks like a young adult and I had this happen all time when my little brother was a bit taller than me and people think my brother is older than me when it's the other way around.
Session 0:
Me: "My backstory is I'm the most powerful person to have ever existed in your world."
DM: "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, other guy, it says here in YOUR backstory that you were...a chef? I'm not sure I buy this."
I mean that sounds about right as the dm was mostly just trying to murder their PC s
Every All Things DnD Story Ever:
Player: I use the malicious tool you tried to destroy me with to wreck your campaign.
DM: No you can't do that.
Other Players: Yes they can you just said they could.
DM: You dare use my spells against me, Potter?
@@williamfalls
UNO-REVERSO 🧙♂️
as a Wizard main in a group that was always behind wealth by level by a significant margin, years ago i adopted that "anything you confirm existence of is fair game" habit that slowed the attrition rate of the party, since between necromancy and item creation, i was going to make use of anything i survived against (and i put my survival as #1 priority) and the dm decided to lean a little towards less exotic threats. for a while anyway :p
How to deal with this particular one: Ruby is summoned, but was clearly in the middle of a battle, ajd looks to he on the edge of death. What's more, her scales are ripped away, and it looks like even a child could strike a killing blow against the Crimson dragon. Oh, would you look at that? Someone shot the dragon.
@@matrimalviarin5043 and like that you'd lose all the players simultaneously. good job
I once attended a conference from a fantasy author who said something very true:
"Be careful with the powers you give to your characters, they might use them."
When there's a sketchy insta-kill item and several players had rolled insight checks that weren't literal garbage, there should have at least been "a sense of dread" for the scrolls rather than just the DM basically like "Go ahead and try it. Whoops, ya dead. Who else wanna try?" At least make them roll some check/saving throws before killing them outright. Serves them right to have a derailed campaign ending if they railroad murder PCs.
Exactly my point. Going threw the comments i see the occasional. The dm isn't that bad sounding. I mean ya he can roll with things but when you roll that d 20 and get a natural 20 and still die come back to me and honestly tell me he isn't a bad dm after.
@@vortex7733 Yeah. I see no problem with having nearly impossible rolls, but as a DM, it's important you hint at the difficulty of it before they chance. Or in this case, indicate that there's at least something else going on that they don't quite understand. Something that could trigger the "wait a minute" response on the perceptive player. Instead, it's the equivalent of "you find a healing word scroll, of cour- woops, forgot to mention the death side effect right between the fine print! Guess you better make a new character!"
Man I feel like a poser when I listen to these because I've never gotten the chance to play dnd but these stories are so captivating and I listen to them for hours and it makes me want to play dnd so badly
Same here
Eh, you're no poser. Part of DND is appreciating the amazing stories that players and dms come up with.
I've never played myself due to scheduling conflicts that said I listen to this channel, many lore and monster vid channels, theory crafting, etc, to get an idea so that one day, should I ever have the chance to, I can enjoy myself without looking like a total noob, if however I never get that chance its entertainment and frees up my mind for imagination.
You'd only be a poser if you claimed that you did play (or made it seem like you had been playing ever since the first introductory game years ago). Take it from someone that knows posers, you're good!
Also, there are plenty of discord servers and Facebook groups you could try joining that run games; online games have surged in popularity with covid-19 forcing social distancing.
If you want to play Dnd, go for it! My experience with it has been very fun and I am sure you will enjoy it if you find some good people to play with. If your party ends up being people you don't have fun with, then try it with a different group.
"If you were a player, how would you have handled this situation?"
The same as with most of these horror stories: DON'T PLAY WITH THAT DM.
Lol, this reminds me of a time I asked to buy a bunch of random items including bags of flour that I gave to the party but didn't get questioned by the DM because I was good about giving an explanation for a good chunk of the items...except the flour. Fast forward three sessions and we start combat with a Rakshasa and an Erinyes (Quick disclaimer, I didn't know either were demons until the fight). The Rakshasa turned invisible while the Erinyes engaged our Rogue to make sure we were occupied. As for me, I moved to spot near the where the Rakshasa was last seen. I yell in character, "Use the flour." as I tore open the a of flour and floured the immediate area. The DM, stunned by realization, said slowely, "Make a dexterity check."
I did so, getting a 19 in total, the DM then said, "That will be the Dex. Save against the flour."
He rolls and proceeds to announce that we watch the flour fill the space, an invisible figure becomes by the flour. The Party, equally shocked, started whooping in excitement. A few rounds later, using more flour to keep the Rakshasa visable, we managed to kill the Erinyes and the Rakshasa. Which, if it weren't for the flour, would have been a much tougher fight on our hands. The only PC in danger of dying was my PC because the Erinyes singled out my Lawful Good who's signature weapon was a +1 magic pike as the greatest danger in the room (Rakshasas being vulnerable to magical piercing weapons wielded by good aligned beings. Do the math). It has been a thing in our party to keep a bag of flour on each person ever since.
Incredibly smart!
@@punkinghost and they could've used the flour to make a mini fireball in a pinch
Flour the poor man's Faery Fire
This is actually what I use the 10 pieces of chalk in the adventurer's pack for most times.
Haha! You basically used Glitterdust on them! CLASSIC early-game counter against invisible Enemies.
Well, that's the thing: if you seek out and find chances to try and screw your players, don't be surprised when they turn around and try to screw you just as hard or harder. Besides, I imagine he was out to try and kill the players one last time before the final dungeon of the campaign with the scrolls. It's not the players' fault that they saw a way to cheese the final boss and the GM didn't see it, and it's also a good example as to why you read backstories every so often to refresh your memory when needed.
I can guarantee the DM was only thinking of the servants the enchantress had during the campaign, and the player rightfully smashed the bus through the hole because he approved the spell as written- it's the GM's fault for not paying attention and then pissing and moaning about getting caught with his pants down when the player used the spell to do something he wasn't expecting but completely legal under the rules he approved.
People don’t understand the difference between making a campaign challenging and going out of your way to kill the players over and over again. While I won’t say that the OP handled the situation as good as they could, I would say they’re totally justified in wrecking the campaign.
I would've at least you know, asked him to dial it down a bit. it seems unfair to blame someone for repeatedly doing something to you that you don't like if you never speak up and ask them to stop. if they asked the dm to go a little easier, would he, or would he really turn out to be a jerk? since they never asked we really dont know.
As they say
A TPK is easy. A fun challenge is harder
I once had a DM who killed off the entire party within three hours. Pit trap took out one, spike trap combined with fire trap took out a second with two other PC's injured, injured PC's passed out and died via slime and hobgoblins without the rest of the party noticing, fifth ran into a room filled with treasure and a gelatinous cube, six and seven lost to the hobgoblins that killed three, and the last party member encountered the pit trap that took out the first PC. For some odd reason, he never had anyone who wanted to play with him more than once.
A Smith It’s like when the DM makes everyone an unsympathetic asshole because it’s “realistic”, but all that does is make me question their perspective on life.
@@Spiceodog I mean, I did ask, he said he would and killed off two players the next session.
honestly, if I were DMing a game I'd be stoked to have my players storm a castle with and army of dragons, that shit would be so cool... it also means I won't have to feel bad for summoning a demon lord to the prime material world. you want an army of dragons? ok but you have to fight Orcus and an army of liches.
Exactly! I have never had the pleasure of playing DnD but I follow it alot. This would have been and epic chance to create a world rending encounter!
Here's an idea, baphomet and an army of monstrosities hes created vs. The players and their dragons.
or just ripoff Warcraft and have a giant undead super dragon show up to eat them all. you can do so much with an army of dragons.
this here is making it fun :D
not like the DM in the video, who just messed with the players.
and as for a super undead Dragon may i sugest Daurgothoth: The Creaping Doom.
CR 50 Dracolich Archmage.
so far no stats in 5e but hes in the lore :D
hes an anchient black dragon lich blessed by Mystra who studies magic to make the ultimate dragon species :D
he can use every dragon type breath of the Chromatics and even got a undeath breath that raises the ones it kills as zombies :D
TEN THOUSAND LICHES! ....who cast Power Word: Kill!
What frightens me is this sounds like a cross of two different characters I made. Human fighter. Used to be a red dragon but was polymorphed/cursed to be human and did not remember being a dragon. So played it straight as a human fighter till someone noticed the odd magical aura and worked to dispel it.
The other was from Vampire campaigns. I always push my age back a few centuries. So I seem mild and weak. But technically older than the princes of most territories. So the 'back before any remember' lines get an 'oh yeah. That was a fun party. I recall they brought in a pony and someone knocked over a cask of wine.'
Wow. Punishing on nat 20? No sorry I don't care what anyone sais thats justification for war.
I'd say. As you know this means war.
If someone is punished for a nat 20, why make a roll in the first place?
@@JustAJosuke probably because they're unlikely to get a nat 20 so the DM was gambling on that 95% chance, though punishing for a 19 seems unfair as well su idk
There can be a justification for punishing on a nat 20. For example if you decide your going to walk straight in to a ancient red dragons mouth at lvl 1 so you can punch its uvula, yea your gonna catch some fire (although maybe not lethally for rolling the 20).
NEVER half-ass it as a GM. If you're going to go in half-way, the lack-luster performance is going to be powered by a lack-luster attention to things like backstories (whether or not OP'ed), Rules As Written (and thereby the rules as you've tweaked for this game), and the details of literally everything. That only leads to your own frustration, since the Players are only going to pay as much attention to YOU and YOUR GAME as you've paid them and their designed Characters, inventories, ingenious innovations, and unique spells, abilities, powers, and so forth.
There's a reason I prefer to meet up someplace I have access to a scanner or copier... As much as there can be said for perusing the backstories on the spot, there's PLENTY more to be said for reviewing and thoroughly reading them at leisure and sessions where someone brings details up. Having your own copy on hand makes it much easier and quicker to reference whenever it may be relevant.
There's also a reason I like to use "tween-session" meetings. We change over time and experience in and out of game. Being allowed or even encouraged as the Characters evolve in-game to re-assess the direction things are going versus where you'd like them to go can do WONDERS for straightening out misinterpretations along the way, as well as allow you to shift your (Player's) paradigm for continued growth. ;o)
just because they didn't remember the players backstory doesn't mean they didn't read it.
@@Spiceodog If I actually bother to read something, I tend to retain it. If one can't, maybe GM'ing is a bit too complicated for them...
More likely they perused or barely more than skimmed the backstory, handwaving it off... OR there should be notes and respect for it...
I hear this same bitch-session with GM's all the time. "Why don't Players respect my history and the full world I constructed?"
They don't because they don't feel the respect of their GM for their contribution to the Game. If you (as GM) want the respect of Players to take notes and read in depth on your worlds, then maybe have the decency to respect their Characters and Backstories, by reading in depth and taking a few notes, yourself.
I know I have a LOT on my plate for GM'ing, and I'm liable to forget details, SO I compensated by investing in a scanner... I prefer to have copiers if we don't meet where I can access my scanner... It's more work, but anything worth doing is a lot of work. ;o)
*halfway through the video*
So a spell that can summon anyone you control from anywhere in the world to fight for you for 24 hours, and you can use it 4 times? Why am I getting Aragorn at Pelennor Fields vibes?
*finishes the video*
Well, that's sorta what happened.
Except it would have been a lot more terrifying if Aragon had a army of lotr dragons at his beck and call...he probably could have just gone and smashed sauron by himself honestly
Yeah. I don't know where the competitive approach to DMing comes from. Im a DM to create challenges for them to overcome and I arbit the rules for what happens when they try. I want to redline them without sending them over the brink because I think in tabletop that's where they find their fun. I dont win by players dying, I win by everyone having fun.
Player death is a important, though hopefully infrequent tool. It shows the players that there are stakes and what they do matters. They know that their actions and choices could lead to heroism or death.
I feel this was a best case scenario as the players followed the dm’s rules stuck to them and got creative and went out with a bang leaving the dm pissed
I feel my blood boil every time I hear dragon born now... going from a unique concept of people giving up their original species to help Bahamut tip the scales away from Tiamat's grasp, instead they're now "lizard men but better".
"big kobolds"
True, i feel like for a game aptly named "dungons and dragons" people tend to misrepresent and missuse dragons and their kin. A bit of a shame personaly as they are some of my all time favourite aspect of most fantasy settings due to their variety, history, and the inherent situations that can revolve around how these powerfull and inteligent beings react to the world around them, shape it, and especially all forms of situation for those who stray away from the norm.
For me there is really an interesting clay for any DM to use when talking about individuals that work on such a large timeline, and can have either the most grandiose or the most querky of objectives, a bit like litches in a way. I mean when you are speaking on the span of a dragon's lifespan, you are bound to make some interesting stuff just to not get bored out of your mind. There is definitly a really good story material there but i don't often see it used well, outside of "big angry dragon kills and steals stuff". And i also think the dragonborn concept got quite missused too, just as you said.
Such a disappointment from the original proud and honorable people they used to be.
I think that was purrrrfectly handled.
I... don’t get DMs who do this. I like seeing my characters get more powerful, and like the challenge to make it more interesting. For instance, I’d probably change up the last chapter adding the BBEGs own army/difficult dungeon entry, and also probably tried to lean in the characters backstories more to arc it (unless continuing from there)
I hope I don’t end up on one of these bad dm videos. I was set up to fail by a player that didn’t allow me to see his character sheet using a heavy modified artificer class. I didn’t know he had a modified class. He also was going through my notes and consistently countered my custom bosses. These always started with a “nat 20”. I was a new dm and somewhat non confrontational, I nearly lost all my friends when the slandering started but COVID hit and toxic player was separated from us.
Remember, if you are the DM, you have the sovereign right to see all of your players sheets, and to see the updates every time they level up. Part of your job as a DM is to ensure compliance with the agreed rules, whether they are RAW, just a few modifications, or complete homebrewing, so that play is fair for everyone.
You can even make it a fun thing to get them to forward the sheets to you. I tell my players that I know they are going to hit a level point soon, so send me the updates to approve in advance so that if they hit the level up point mid-session, they can immediately utilize the new abilities without waiting for the next week. This both ensures compliance because they like getting to level up the minute they reach that point, and builds positive enthusiasm for the process with the players.
Also, while confrontation with a cheating player is never a fun prospect, it's also part of the DMs job to watch for that and call it out when needed. In the event that accusation makes you extremely uncomfortable, try elimination of opportunity instead. If playing in-person, you can put dice trays where all can see to make sure rolls can't be fudged, and online you can utilize dice roller bots that either are public, or are visible to both the player and moderator (DM as Moderator). This keeps everyone honest without requiring you to get in a shouting match.
Saw this story before on skydieray’s green text series
That’s where I heard it before!
@Jake the Greatest how dare you disrespect the reading bots
@@jackofastora8962 high production value for a reading bot channel tho. Gotta give him that.
A perfectly handled situation, heads off to OP.
Remember the value of backstories kids, they are the very soul of your character, and souls are power...
bad spells tend to be the best ones
Truestrike
@@Steelface97 and so many more.
An archer with truestrike and sharpshooter feat can be pretty bad from 100 yards.
As a bad DM: I loved it. backstories should play a part. Although thats really old for a dragon
The phrase "Hoist by his own petard" comes to mind here.
That is hilarious use of dm pulling a stupid. ^_^
DM keeps trying to kill your party? Time to play a Totem Warrior Barbarian with Min-Maxed stats.
While the DM is the one in charge of managing the story, he doesn't *lead* the story. DM got what he deserved for trying to do that.
3 words. Old man Henderson. Google it up, thank me later...
I think I would actually like a DM like that. I very much like to try out new characters and get bored after playing the same one for too long. The most important thing in a DM for me is that he is able to set the scene and atmosphere right. Some nice, fitting background music, some believable characters, challenging fights... yeah that would be nice.
Gotta give the DM a few points for not just tipping the table and letting them finish the campaign after they beat him at his own game
I think my biggest fear is ending up in one of these "bad DM" stories
the best way to avoid being in a bad dm video is to tell your dm if your not having fun. the only reason it got to the point it got to is because nobody directly told him that they think the campaighn is to difficult .
I mostly DM. Im afraid my players will think I suck
I for some reason am reminded of my Pathfinder game wjere we (mostly) play a family of Kitsune in the Wrath of the Righteous module. We use Automatic Bonus Progression so the magic items feel more special than "it's a +1, yay" and to save headache for the GM, amd thanks to the module we are also playing Mythic tier. We are still fairly early on, we just recently got the army after finally breaking the siege on the main starter city and are level 6, Mythic 1. However the GM loves optimizing stuff and seeing OP builds in action, and actively encouraged us to take some of the most gamebreaking stuff we could pull woth our resources.
Now, I don't play Pathfinder, frankly I dislike overall the D20 system, finding it far inferior to others. But it keeps wanting to be played. I didn't want to learn a whole bunch of rules out of the gate for a system I don't play, so I went with the idea of playing a Martial character instead of my usual spellcaster. So the GM and I looked through the SRD and I stumbled across the Shifter, a variant take on the Druid which I already liked as a class that was more focused on the Martial shifting aspect. And there was a psuedo werewolf option as well! Being a massove werewopf fanboy I naturally picked it amd reveled in what it could do. Between tje GM and I we built a Dex tank dual-wielding natural weapons who would gain Damage Resistance and a form of Regeneration. (We re-flavoured the Tiger form as a Fox to fit the Kitsune aestetic). Things started pretty well, and. I planned to be able to basically stay shifted all day long by taking certain abilities, amd would get my Regeneration through Mythic abilities using the Guardian path. The rest of the table rolled a Rogue who seems focused on stealing, lockpicking, and Dirty Trick (which is basically her kicking enemies in the groin) and last I heard was planning to go down the Shadowdancer perstige class and going full Kitsune with the Extra Tail feat (I think she is up to 5). We got a Magus who is entirely focused on damage and weeb-ing it up woth crazy stuff like wallruns with his katana. Lots of Demon Slayer gifs get shared when they roll well. (And some when they roll badly too) we also got a Cleric of Anubis who has mostly been alternating between topping us off with healing bursts or bashing enemies with a flail. My character aside (who gets played kinda like Draxx the Destroyer) she seems to be the "straight man" of the group. Finally where the earlier mostly comes in is a Ratfolk Gunslinger we ran into who was protecting some fair maidens from frankly insane guards/knights who thought a virgin sacrifice would quell the siege and appease the demons. They were not mourned. But the Rat can shoot the wings off a fly several blocks away so we took him with us.
Until recently our plan of attack was to sneak close until the Cleric's armour gave us away, then I charge into the middle of the enemy to draw attention while everyone else works their way through the enemy. It had been working great with enemies rarely being able to bypass my AC which was usually between 20 and 22 at the time, and the blows that did hit blunted by DR2/Silver from being a Weretouched Shifter. I put out mibor but consistent damage with two-weapin fighting, but my job was tanking, not killing. Though I did mawl a good many demons and cultists myself. Deapite not being able to spread Lycanthropy myself, we still left none alive to tempt fate.
That all chamged recently though, when I noticed a nice little ability I had on my major shift form. Grab. Normally limited to Monster statblocks, it let me free-action grapple an opponent whenever I hit a melee attack. Which with my +12 or something I almost always would. I still wasn't the most familiar with what the Rogue wanted to do, and as playing a Support role I figured I should open up opportunity for them to deal some real damage with Sneak Attack and Flanking and making enemies flat-footed. Knowing how infamous the Grapple rules are in game systems, I was loathe to use it for much more than opening enemies up for attacks, but when we fought a, effectively demon minotaur near the end of the siege is when we saw just how overpowered I accidentally became.
So, I mentioned Inwas a Dex tank.. Combining my shifting I reached a Dex of about 24 for a +7, and Shifters got Monk AC, AND Weretouched got Natural Armour and additional AC buffs. I had also put ranks into basically all the Dex skills, so my Acrobatics was something like a +14 to avoid Attacks of Opportunity. We had a little warning about this creature before fighting it so we devised a plan. Granted, the plan was almost identical to our other plans thus far, but I would be fully kitted for facing this thing and everyone had their actions planned. I rushed up to them, planning to powerslide under his massive war axe as he swung and push off the wall to attack and grapple him. Unfortunately my dice didn't agree with the first part and I ate a pretty hefty hit from that axe but didn't let it stop me. Between charge bonuses and my massive Dex I managed to hit him with every attack I had, and succeed in the grapple too. It was at this point someone who had actually read the rules piped up, because we wondered what Grapple did to their AC exactly. Turns out it does so much more. Such as preventing him from using that big axe due to being 2 handed. So tje GM told me after that I had shut him off from a big +15 mmod weapon to just like, +5 mod natural attacks instantly, with the downside that I had all tje same debuffs. Though as I was already using two "light weapons" I was majorly unaffected by this. Bonus, he couldn't do attacks of opportunity anymore, so y allies were free to flank him with all the sweet bonuses that entails (pathfinder is so superior to 5e...) We ultimately made what should have been a challenging foe that might take one of us down into a complete joke that died in 2 rounds due to debuffs and grappling. The fight after was even easier, practically a cutscene after the last fight and we proceeded on, gaining our first Mythic tier and when I became truly strong. Between the level and the blessing we got, I ended up bumping up my Wis for more AC and to in future take Energized Wild Shape, which would give me Energy resistance and added elemental damage on my now three attacks. (By the end of the module I should have about 10 attacks if I charge or am grappling) but the big thing was a feat to change my CMB to Dex instead of Strength to make my grapples land better, and our first Mythic tier. I took a Mythic feat to make me count as Tier 3 instead of 1 for my abilities, and got Absorb Blow (spend Mythic power to negate 5 points of damage per tier (so 15) and gain +DR1/- and Energy Resist 5 for every 10 points absorbed.) Amd an ability to spend a point of Mythic power to gain Fast Healing 5 for a minute (5HP/round) giving me my regeneration. So now I could land grapples almost constantly, just ignore most damage, and recover the damage I do take basically at will. My GM loves it, but has no idea what to do about my character. The other PCs are similarly OP, but all offensively and I am not familiar with what ways since we only got 1 session since gaining Mythic.
The spell actually feels like one you would have in DnD. Maybe used by Succubi, Vampires or other creatures that have abilities that, Charm/Oathbind someone else.
that is definitely how i would handle that. gotta be careful some peple re like genie. be very specific or they will make you cry
Awesome story, great way to deal with a bad DM! Throw a hundred dragons at the BBEG!
2:34 Natural 20s on skill check don't mean they automatically succeed as they do on attacks. It's a good roll, and will most likely end with a positive result, but it's not guaranteed. So, from now on, when referring to skill checks, just give us the total after bonuses.
Considering an average rating of 3 or so for core stats, and lets go with a general, prof for arcana, add an extra 3-5 and at minimum,.. You're looking at a roll of 26-29 for a skill check,.. And, if they didnt even get a minor 'hey, this item is dangerous' that dm can go fuck themselves, at absolute worst, they would have rolled a 20 bonuses included, which is a fairly damn good roll btw, as 30 is considered impossible,
So the DM gave you a restricted Gate spell, nice.
As a DM I would totally allow all of this for the dragon empress it’s totally genius
"go away, drake, you don't impress me with that trick"
"well.. maybe I just want to repeatedly appear and disappear because it amuses me"
Me: reads title
Also Me: *"Y E S"*
I have a sort of hombrew-ish character which is still W.I.P,meet Tonka,the war forged barbarian coming from a distant nation called “Mechanopolis”,he was built to protect the king’s daughter but she got captured,and he got thrown off the carriage he was trying to save her from the kidnapper,he then was in a scrapyard and found a lil auto security drone and befriend it,and he’s never seen without it! He also has a cool design,a metal box body,a ionicle cannon (energy used in Mechanopolis and used as weapons)replacing his left arm and a retractable ionicle blade on his right arm,and a small tank head,he can also shift into his “Tank Box” form and gain resistance to most attacks,his backstory is still W.I.P
A Crimson Dragon? Is that a good aligned Red Dragon?
2:08 Did it successfully create the new spell? And was the healer then promoted to Sainthood in his religion for his noble sacrifice?
I would have loved to see this character's catwalk strut in the BBEG's palace as her dragons laid it to ruin.
one of the most common problems with bad DM's is that they get it in there head that it's THEM vs THE PLAYERS. and any DM that thinks like this is wrong.
Many a time have I given a trinket that has come back to haunt me LOL
I have an idea for the "make a spell" scrolls. The spell is called "Age". The spell allows the caster to change the age/time of the target (including self, others, and items) up to 1 month for free, 1 year for a 1st level spell slot, 2 for a 2nd level, so on so forth (spell slots can be replaced by ki, so free one month, 1 ki for a year, so on). The target must be within 30ft at casting and the spell lasts 24hrs, until ended by the caster, or the caster goes down. When the spell ends, the target's health, spell slots, use charges, statis effects, and age are reverted to the state they were in at the end of the last long rest they had before the spell was cast, unless they were killed while affected, which then they revert back, but as a very nice corpse (memories, stats, death, and spells gained stay the same). Targeted living creatures, however, cannot be aged younger than a month after birth or a month before death by old age, though you can quickly progress poisons and diseases or revert their effect temporarily (though be careful, as with the case of poison, it is still there, just the effect is reverted, so aging someone to before the poison will just make them have the poison at a younger self and aging them forward again just makes the poison worst from that age instead of when administered, at least until dead or spell ends). While affected by the spell, the age of the target cannot be changed exept by the caster and the spell can't be stacked (so no double casting to make things permanently older or younger). Things worn by a living target are also affected by the spell and do also revert back when spell is over. Items cannot be aged past when they were created, but that is it. Oh, and you must have a timepiece in order to cast the spell (it is not used up/destroyed, you just need one as a representative symbol of time, whether $5mil watch or worn pocket sundial). Has 3 charges per day/long rest (AKA, only used three times a day/long rest).
You see I'll tell my players on how hard do they wish to make THEIR lives and because they know me well I can let something's slide while also being extremely heavy handed.
But I will also tell them from the start that the game will be difficult and said difficulty will increase the more they level up.
And we all have fun with it
exactly, if the players were mature, they would've simply asked him to scale down the difficulty .
@@Spiceodog while I'll agree to that I would also point out that the DM was kind-of being an ass for making it so hard at the start.
I can understand if it was a Grimdark setting but this seemed like a "normal-style" of campaign.
Oh and the NEEDING to get a nat 20 on the Roll is complete BS. While the rules are their to just intrepid and not set in stone here's an example on just how ridiculous that DC was: In 3.5 from the GM Screen-Skill Listen DC 15 = People Whispering.........how? you are able to pull this off at level 1 or my favorite same skill DC 30 = An owl gliding in for a kill
Me, who is a DM who never tries to kill off my players: *sweats nervously*
3.5e, my cleric researched a spell that was the equivalent of True Strike, except instead of giving a melee weapon +20 to attack, it gave a single piece of ranged ammunition that same bonus. DM shrugs and approves it no problem.
Fast forward to a few sessions later, where we’re on a boat. We’re being attacked by a wizard dropping firebombs from a flying carpet.
I head over to the ballista, and the rest is history.
Karma always strikes , this storys is nice
I once made a spell that is a centrip that basically any class with magic can learn (even if there class doesn't learn cantrips) and it functions as a bubble from steven universe. But he actually made it better then I had designed it to be because originally you had to use higher spell levels to make bigger bubbles but he made it so they could be any size.
As a DM that guy was not the worse DM but close to it. I had a DM that didn't let us do anything but fallow his story the way he set it out, and if any of us got an uperhand on his NPC's he would use the "It didn't work." So when I started to DM told my friends that I would not be like that and now we have been gaming together for over 6 years. I don't let my PC's make their own classes but their back story is theirs. I just remind them the level we are starting from and say. "You are not a good." And that it. I do my best to work their stories into the campaign and the NPC's that name off. And if they name off a place that dose not exist I put it in. To me this makes the world feel more alive and relevant to my PC's.
Usually these stories are highly entertaining!.. but this one kind of rubs me the wrong way. The only thing I think the DM really did wrong was make an admittedly horrible scroll mechanic. As a DM my fights are carefully tailored; manageable trash to interesting special encounters.. and finally the challenging capstone fights meant to push them to their limits. Funnily enough two character deaths within an eight month period!.. but my players aren't complaining, they admit they should've thought their actions through a little more.
Hard for villains to not capitalize on things such as a lone PC waiting on the outskirts of a kingdom for a boss in a force cage to be released (killed by BBEG's right hand Anti-Paladin which keeps pace with their Level) and a PC charging knowingly out of the range of the party and into a mob that trips whilst others were clearly fleeing through a gate to safety (other PCs included).. only to be quickly flanked by two more, tripped and torn to bits.
I know I'm late but how is everyone doing today
I'm alright thank you, how are you?
Very well, thank you so much! Just working away while thinking about all the tabletops games I’m in...
And how are you?
@@gorvarhadgarson5227 I am good
@@starbird3939 I am doing good just playing fallout 76
Dragon badge keeps getting better, doesn’t it 😬
Dm was bad for not reading the backstory
Player was bad for backstory being "was super power being before". Never do that.
Also: "we knew he liked to play hard on the players. How dare him play hard on the players?"
If you are the dm, read backstories and never be afraid to say "no" to exaggerate ones like the one in the video.
If you are tge player, murderhobboing will bring the dm's fury, and dont act surprise if your dm accept your exaggerate backstory to teach you some modesty. Let's just say, even a dragon empire can fall.
Poor communication, untrue expectations.
As I said, he read it, just didn't think I'd do that. Also, it's not a bad thing to have a character with a lot of knowledge and experience but no power at the start. Finally, there's a difference between "hard" and "don't get attached to your characters because I kill them off with stupid BS for fun"
When you have a near-TPK because there was a doorknob that, just by grabbing it, seals a contract with an evil god and turns that person into a relentless and crazy war machine, but they become a lot stronger, that's just dumb. We had three options there: kill that PC, get killed by that PC, or spend the rest of the campaign running from him until we could find and kill that evil god.
@@CaTastrophy427 .....he actually did that? Wow....I've never played DnD before but that is just dumb....
It sounds like a Everyone Sucks Here:
• The DM for trying to kill off everyone.
• The players for being murderhobos
• The player for their broken backstory
• EVERYONE for not talking about their expectations
Pretty much
No
DM literally asked us to make criminals that're chaotic and/or neutral in session 0. DM made all the NPCs be murderhobos, and we responded in kind. My backstory was broken if taken to the extreme, but that's it. Wasn't broken, or even really relevant, until the DM decided to throw straw onto the camel's back.
We did talk to him about our expectations, he kept right on killing us.
Sure, I'll admit that most of us suck here, but only one of us was a fucking black hole/cosmic vacuum cleaner in comparison to a bunch of three year olds with apple juice boxes.
@@CaTastrophy427 I see your point, but if I were in your situation, I would have simply asked him in person if he can dial down the difficulty a little bit as soon as it started to become a problem. would he respect your wishes and dial it down, or would he continue to make it abserdly difficult? since nobody bothered to try asking , who knows? not that I'm innocent of this either, the first few times I played, before I tried dming, I had a player vs dm mindset too, it was curse of strauhd, so we always just kept dying. in response , I would bull$$$$ as many rules as I could to win, after that campaighn ended and I tried dming, I realized I was being a jerk. dms really are trying to make sure everyone has fun, and if what they think is fun and what you think is fun are different, the best thing you can do is talk to them about it and come to a agreement.
@@Spiceodog Bruh. Did you read the second line of my comment. We talked to him, he kept killing us. He killed two of us in the very next session after we said "hey, we want hard, not meatgrinder, can you make it a bit easier to get attached to our PCs, and thus get in-character?"
Stuck it to his ass!!! Loved it!!! And the backstory was cool.
I would have left that game and abandoned that horrible dm.
this is just beautiful! an army of dragons? bruuuuuuh! gg the DM lol.
Did you ever did an ad for Men's Health for simco or something like that for hair shampoo on baldness? I swear it has to be your voice on that ad lol
Hoard of dragons? Sounds like the perfect opportunity to try out some of the more broken creatures from the monster manuals on the party.
Note: A dragon only lives about 1200 years unless they become a dracolich, they're not quite immortal, just extremely long lived.
Nice Video 🦊🔥💙
a dm shouldnt build a fight able to kill the party for the purpose of killing the party, a dm should build a fight to kill the party to challenge the party, theres a difference :p
a dm is indeed the final arbiter over a games balance and whatnot, even if they confirm a thing one day then double back the next. sucks but it happens. still sounded like this guy was out of his league from the word go and could use some help learning how to juggle sessions :x didnt help the drama he had with his players either. is a lot of this online pickup groups on roll20 i wonder?
Looking back at my experience with bad GM's, my expectation was:
"Cool, you summon big super dragon. Neat."
*Next session.*
"*You encounter a bigger, stronger dragon. It stomps your dragon. And you. And then flies off. Make a new character.*"
I just saw an Ad that had your voice. Balding eh? Well. I'm glad you found a shampoo that helped.
Be the BBEG.
Plotting your conquests, you gaze out of your fortress window. All around you are defenses, and armies at your call.
You see a flock of birds in the distance, and contemplate your next conquest, but as you watch, those birds get closer. Something about the way they fly is off. You cast a Seeing spell, and find hundreds of dragons bearing down on the fortress. Alarmed, you start calling your minions to arms. Only to see more dragons coming from another direction.
Going over your vast repertoire of spells, you realize you cant possibly defeat them all, and soon, your dreams of dominion lie in ashes.
DM got hoisted by his own petard...
Tossed the DM a lot sooner
I feel like the player still needs to realize that the dm himself is basically the ruler of rules
the DM sounds like someone who'd be better off running a game of Paranoia rather than D&D
Normal people looking at thumbnail: oh this is nice
My dumbass: *mmm chocie milkers*
As soon as I saw the spell, I knew what was happening.
Honestly, that was perfect
i have yet to watch this but the name intrigued me. also hoping for locate city nuke but knowing it's not here
There is no such thing a s worthless spell. It's value is only limited by your creativity, and circumstance.
I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THIS CHANNEL! HOW COULD I
That D M should remember, magic is a 24/7 on or OFF the field!!!:
or, or , or ..... they could've talked to the dm about it. if they all asked him to make it a bit more easy then normal after the first few deaths because they were emotionally attached, then he probably would've ... well I can't say for sure, because they didnt. instead of ruining the encounter he probably spent several hours making just because the dm runs at a harder difficulty then the player would've liked, they could have at least talked about it to him. sheesh, I used to be like the narrator the first few times I played , we were doing curse of strauhd and it was really hard and everybody kept dying, so I would always try to bullsh** the wording of the spells to use them that was neither as intended, or even that clever. it all changed when I dmed for the first time when I realized how much of an a***hole I was being. you can't blame the dm if you haven't tried talking to them about it first.
DMs like that don't last in our circles. As in we contact groups all over and tell them so that person is blacklisted.
Feel bad for the DM not going to lie sounds like he was going to craft a intresting narritve round the scrolls
Enchantress: I'm a 60,000 year old virgin.
Warlock: Woah, we gotta get you laid.
Bard: ROAD TRIP!
As a DM I find problem with the point of people thinking that a 15 to 17 automatically gets you all the answers. Criticals only matter in combat and sometimes the dice rolls are over 20 so it doesn't matter if you got a 15 to 17 that got over 20. The strongest locks in my world have a set DC of 25 and while those kind of locks are rare, they still exist and making new spells doesn't have to be easy if they're supposed to be strong. Your choleric having been drained of their life isn't necessarily an asshole move, as they don't necessarily have to know, but then again it seems like they wanted to kill your character so I can't say
Exactly
Making things 'hard' is not really about having bigger numbers, it's about presenting players with interesting/tough choices. This DM was dropping the ball in a major way.
I'm currently *in* my first campaign, and I've put some thought into how I built my character.
Warforged Fighter. Would have been Human, but my first campaign was a Spelljammer setting so I was like "Awww go on then. :D"
Fighter because I'm new and slow. Backstory? Nearly none. My character's memories only go back 5 years. Why? Because I want to play a character that could get to know the world, the game, and expectations alongside me.
More specifically, he was found in a collapsed building by an old merc who ran a mercenary company. My character was built to fight, and was very good at it, as immediately after activation, he had to fight off some muggers to rescue the man who woke him up, and did so to surprisingly great effect.
He spent those five years working as a merc for that man, who he sees as a kind-of father figure. The old man hired a mechanic to take care of my character, and the two of them now treat each other as siblings. This was all before the campaign began.
Now, he's continuing his work, as a part of the crew and party of the Spelljammer we called The Arcadia, but he also hopes to find who created him, and why, and if he had a life before.
Things have gotten pretty interesting. I've only just found some clue as to where my character came from. And it's left me positively reeling with theories, especially given the various crossovers with other space-age franchises my DM has put in the game.
I don't know if I can go into full detail on my character yet. I do want to contribute a story to All Things D&D, but it feels a bit early to do that yet. Maybe I will when I see more development with my character. If nothing else, I feel like I could do some stories about his now kinda-legendary practice duels with his new war buddy, a hobgoblin battlemaster.
I read a post exactly like this on reddit. If this is the same person, then oh my god did they leave a lot of stuff out. Like the fact that the Dm didn’t approve the backstory, but player forced it, and that the DM would allow them to summon 1 dragon, but just wouldn’t let them summon more because the empire fell thousands of years ago. This is the players fault, but they edited stuff out...
A fair call
I wonder what if OP did an old man Henderson. Minus killing off party members on accident. That would have been damn fun. But this is good too
My DM (of Campaigns I never ever got to see the end of) always ask my Backstory interview-style, by asking questions that help limit what my character can be in his world.
If my DM would allow some Homebrew, I (at my choice) just limit to just items and 1-2 racial feats (like darkvision, included spells, water-breathing, etc) but never Spells.
I'm pretty sure I read/hear in other channel before (hamster running in wheel)
2 things. Moral of the story,
1 Don't be a bad DM
2 don't give players the ability to create their own unique spell unless you are willing to deal with the consequence of it backfiring.
bonus, Don't mess with a Dragon. there is more forms of power than strength.
Honestly I wouldn’t be mad if my players did something so creative.
Not sure I would've done things much differently at all, if I had chosen to remain playing with an A-Hole DM. The best revenge on a mean and malicious DM is not to waste weeks or months playing in their bad game... it is to put on your DM hat, start up a game on the same day & time and take ALL the players, so that DM has nobody to torture for entertainment, while you and the other players are having a blast in a good game.