So I have a gaming group that I play with that's been together with more or less the same composition since August of '09. The guy that got us together initially DMs 4th Edition D&D games. One is a story of his own creation, I play a Warforged Bard in it, we've been playing that off and on since we started, last week we started a new campaign using the Living Forgotten Realms modules with new 2nd level characters for a change of pace, for that I've got a Bullywug Rogue/Sorcerer hybrid (as an aside Rogue/Sorcerer rapes if you do it right).
The problem we ran into tonight, is he's really attached to steadfastly sticking to the rules even if they're kind of stupid, and in addition to that he seemed to be really hellbent on knocking my character out.
Here is what happened.
I asked if there was anything of note in a room, he said there was not, forgetting I had a low perception I proceeded to walk in and trigger a trap which promptly shot me with a dart. I have no objection to this, however the traps were capable of taking half of the HP away from even our tanks, and the way the death saving throws and healing work in 4th Edition that is a pretty bad thing.
After that, I rolled poorly for initiative, was last in the order, and proceeded to run across the room and climb up a statue on my turn, thinking I was out of the range of the dart (because it's a dart, in a relatively small room, if they travel fast enough to penetrate armor they should be traveling in a straight line). Before my turn came everybody else placed themselves around the room and there were multiple PCs standing closer to the (non-sentient inanimate) traps than my Bullywug.
Despite this, and my distance from the trap, it proceeded to shoot me immediately after my turn, even with the other targets, one of which was standing two squares away from the trap; taking a total of half of my HP (I have a CON and AC second only to the tanks). His explanation for why it was able to hit me when I was standing above it's line of fire was they were magic darts capable of firing in a parabolic arc (wtf). At this point we had a rather heated exchange about how the hell that would work in-game that ended with him just basically going "Deal with it, it's magic."
In the same round before I had a chance to heal he proceeded to have one of the monsters in the room attack me, putting me at -1 health and knocking me unconscious with a potentially mortal wound. I have less objection to this as the creature was close enough to me I was a target of opportunity, but there were also other targets and unloading like that in one round on one character is a dick move, especially when the trap attacked me the second time for almost max damage.
Yeah, it was dumb to trigger the trap but mistakes are made. After the fact if he had stuck to this strategy of focusing on one character per round the creatures and traps in the room would have easily taken out the entire party faster than we could make saving throws or heal.
After I regained consciousness thanks the the Paladin's Lay on Hands power, he told me, after referencing the Player's Handbook, that the way that worked is I regained HP and no longer had to make Saving Throws against death, but I still had to make a Saving Throw to regain consciousness. Two rounds went by like that with me failing the rolls before another player read the book and pointed out that by healing me I should have regained consciousness according to the same rules the DM had just read. When I said I should get to take the turns he cheated me out of by his misinterpretation of the rules he told me I only got to take one because I should have known the rules (when he didn't) even though two turns would have let me do enough to finish the encounter with skill, attack, and damage rolls. Later when he forgot to have the trap attack us in a round, he tried to have it attack us before I pointed out that based on his previous actions with the turns I lost it shouldn't happen and everyone agreed and he let it go.
We also spent more than half an hour trying to disable a trap when it was more or less irrelevant for the purposes of the story. (either the trap got disabled or the entire party dies ending the campaign).
In the other campaign he also made up some bullshit lore about Assassin Guilds forcing me to go on an assassination missions even if it was against my character's will or else they'd come after me AFTER I had already multiclassed as an Assassin (mostly for the Assassin's Shrouds power). While it is his choice to include this lore in his campaign in my opinion he should have informed me of it before I finalized the feat.
Also when we're not doing D&D I'm Storyteller for an ongoing Hunter campaign, in which he is the first person to complain about the players taking too much damage, or me gaming against them too much, even though I've gone out of my way to balance the PCs and antagonists and fudge rolls when it didn't server the purpose of the narrative and the enjoyment of the group.
I'm of the opinion that when the rules get in the way of the narrative they should be fudged, and if you're going to be steadfast about rules you need to:
Establish them beforehand.
Have a correct interpretation of them.
And evenly apply them in every instance.
I guess I am just pretty frustrated with how he is choosing to DM this, and I am going to try and discuss it as a group at the beginning of the next session and see if everyone can reach a consensus. If everyone thinks it is okay then that's that, but if people agree that it's messed up and he continues to take the tack of "Well I'm the DM and this is the way we're doing it deal with it." then I am going to ensure his character suffers enough bashing damage to be knocked unconscious at the beginning of every combat scene next time we're playing with Hunter and I'm the Storyteller he can deal with it.
I don't know, it sounds a little to me that you are being a problem player. Of course, I can't formulate a real opinion without having been there, but here's what I see:
1) You're playing a hybrid character, and an NPC race (one which has a racial reputation of being a bunch of racist douchebags). On top of that, your "already-multiclassed" character takes a multiclass feat. This sounds really disruptive and power-gamey to me.
2) He's probably using the standard "magic bolt" trap from the DMG, which can attack anything in range. If so, he may have given a description that wasn't wholly accurate in an effort to spice up the encounter. Then you try to call him on the "rules" when in actuality you're only complaining about the description. And for the record, most traps can hit for about half your HP in one shot. Perhaps instead of arguing you should have asked one of the defenders to cover you while you made your way over to disable it.
Frankly, it sounds like you both are being dicks to each other, causing both of you to escalate the situation. You need to either have a sit-down chat with the DM (keep it civil: you can let him know you're mad, but you can't start arguing), or you need to move on.
Again, I could be completely wrong here, so if I'm coming completely out of left field, just ignore my post.
delroland on
EVE: Online - the most fun you will ever have not playing a game.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
what did you even expect to accomplish with a letter that starts "you're a bad DM"
you could've just stopped there, really
Shit, that's how I start off all my dictations to doctors. Is that why I'm having issues getting referrals?
Pinfeldorf on
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
Every DM in existence has times when things annoy their players a lot or there are some frustrations and such. Understanding that these things happen and not taking it personally is quite important. The problem though is with your dialogue in this regard you've opened it up with "You're a bad DM" and that's honestly not going to get you very far.
Every DM in existence has times when things annoy their players a lot or there are some frustrations and such. Understanding that these things happen and not taking it personally is quite important. The problem though is with your dialogue in this regard you've opened it up with "You're a bad DM" and that's honestly not going to get you very far.
I'm not thinking this is going to end well.
You mean, you guys still pay attention to this thread when Fagatron asked for advice, then proceeded to ignore all that advice and whine about the consequences?
Posts
I don't know, it sounds a little to me that you are being a problem player. Of course, I can't formulate a real opinion without having been there, but here's what I see:
1) You're playing a hybrid character, and an NPC race (one which has a racial reputation of being a bunch of racist douchebags). On top of that, your "already-multiclassed" character takes a multiclass feat. This sounds really disruptive and power-gamey to me.
2) He's probably using the standard "magic bolt" trap from the DMG, which can attack anything in range. If so, he may have given a description that wasn't wholly accurate in an effort to spice up the encounter. Then you try to call him on the "rules" when in actuality you're only complaining about the description. And for the record, most traps can hit for about half your HP in one shot. Perhaps instead of arguing you should have asked one of the defenders to cover you while you made your way over to disable it.
Frankly, it sounds like you both are being dicks to each other, causing both of you to escalate the situation. You need to either have a sit-down chat with the DM (keep it civil: you can let him know you're mad, but you can't start arguing), or you need to move on.
Again, I could be completely wrong here, so if I'm coming completely out of left field, just ignore my post.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Shit, that's how I start off all my dictations to doctors. Is that why I'm having issues getting referrals?
I'm not thinking this is going to end well.
You mean, you guys still pay attention to this thread when Fagatron asked for advice, then proceeded to ignore all that advice and whine about the consequences?
Fascinating.