3olum Episode 5(?) Q&A

1) Rhetorical questions will not be answered.

2) Not a question, not a complete sentence, and the intent of the sentence is based of a faulty assumption.

3) The point of the spell is to force a creature to follow a suggestion.

4) It's not weak. It could save your life. What if you're being chased by a NPC you don't think you can defeat? You could suggest that it should chase someone/something else, saving your life! If anything, it should be higher level than 2nd.

5) The spell doesn't inherently let the target know it's been affected by a spell. In a world where magic exists at a moderate level, people would interact with magic from time to time. Someone involved in money, be that gambling, banking, loansharking, or other, would be well aware that someone could screw them over with magic. They'd be very bad at their jobs if they were unaware of it. Looking back on an action, it's more than reasonable for a person to realize that they might be affected by magic when their previous actions are completely illogical and contrary to their person. People in the real world used to be wary of other as sorcerers and witches, even though magic doesn't actually exist! Imagine you live in a world where people really can charm you to be their friend, or suggest/command you to do shit you'd never do. You'd be pretty paranoid about unusual stuff, wouldn't you? I'd venture that minor charms like suggestion would be pretty common place among 3rd rate spell casters who can't hack it in the big world of magic as a way to get by.

6) I like to have a world that is intelligent and difficult. Would you rather I pander to the players? Would you rather a situation where no matter what the players do they are successful? Would you rather they never face any real challenges? If so, this is not the show for you. I will challenge the players. I will do my best to create a world that responds intelligently and appropriately to the players. Fairness in D&D is subjective, and I believe I run my games fairly.

7) Extreme consequences is a little hyperbolic, don't you think? I love players being creative, but see #6 above - not all creative ideas are good ideas. Some are bad. Some are funny. Some are good, but poorly executed. As for the frequency with witch it happens, I think you're totally wrong. Oh, and the bit about, "not even based on the rules of the game" makes little sense since the rules of the game are largely based on the DM's rulings. The DM makes up most of the rules in the game.

8) I'm sure you could create a whole big list of things you dislike about how I've run my games, but I really don't see any point in that. I don't particularly enjoy having people armchair my rulings and judgements,, and I don't think that'd be a good use of time for either of us.

9) You either trust me or you don't. If I were faking my rolls, then my response would be to just not roll dice in the situations where I wanted to fudge things and instead just declare the way they happen. Keeping my rolls hidden is part of my style - it keeps everybody guessing. What did he roll for just then? What numbers came up? Wait, did he just secretly roll some dice? How many? Damn, that monster is hitting a lot, is it really strong or just super lucky? Rolling publicly is a legitimate style other people may prefer. Rolling publicly because someone thinks I'm cheating at a game I cannot win or lose, a game that I can't profit from, a game that I play for the fun of playing it, and a game that I could cheat in 100 different ways aside from faking dice rolls is to say "I care less about the game than I do about making people happy".

In summery, if you have questions about how and why things happen, I'm happy to lift the veil and talk about them, but there's no need to be rude about it.

Lastly, I appreciate that you care enough to be so passionate, but I'd appreciate it if you took some time to try and view the actions of the NPCs from the point of view of the NPCs rather than as the puppets of the big, bad, ugly, DM who just here to be mean. I am a player at the table, but I don't play against the players, I play with and around them. I make a world, they react to it, and the world reacts back. I'm not trying to make them lose, I'm not trying to beat them, I'm trying to run a good game for them.

/r/itmejp Thread Parent