Why there’s a DM shortage in D&D (Rules Lawyer)
Added 2024-09-02 17:01:59 +0000 UTC0:00 Intro
2:30 Facebook piles onto a DM
10:56 What actually happened
13:33 Player entitlement and the "Illusion of Difficulty"
18:15 D&D's marketing and design put DMs in this position
23:13 Is countering PC abilities "adversarial DMing"?
30:41 Final Thoughts (and alternative systems)
Comments
Yeah I tried to be careful not to condemn that part of the reaction, but to isolate their opposition to the lich trying to win Yeah the Death trait can be a big surprise, and comes up at low levels with Vampiric Touch. I think a GM is within their rights to houserule it out. Fortunately it's such an easy fix compared to the juggling needed to "balance" D&D
ronaldsf aka The Rules Lawyer
2024-09-02 23:55:41 +0000 UTCIn fairness to the commenters’, a face-value reading of their post makes it look like they acted out of spite. However, like you say, you don’t have to read too hard between the lines to realize they were being somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I do think that GMs should be mindful of potential power asymmetries when using certain mechanics that may have been conceived primarily for use by PCs. For instance, the Death trait in PF2e (eg. Cloudkill). This trait is only rarely meaningful when employed by a PC, but can have a devastating effect when cast against a party, but I don’t think that caveat really applies in this case. In any case, a party that has worked their way up to 13th level in D&D probably has some inkling that a lich is going be a very tough encounter for them.
John
2024-09-02 21:58:39 +0000 UTCI love The Wire!
ronaldsf aka The Rules Lawyer
2024-09-02 18:10:21 +0000 UTC"Come at the king, best not miss" - Omar Little (liches being the king in this case :P )
Dirk Walls
2024-09-02 17:57:15 +0000 UTC
