Persepolis |
I'd like to talk about how to handle discrepancies between one's own GM style and that of others? I'd like to lay out general parameters and then a specific PFS1 situation.
In general, I find that Org Play GMs take a fairly loose approach to rules interpretation, except for rules specific to organized play. The reason (as I see it) is because a player may have an entire build made around a certain loose interpretation of the rules, and if a GM refuses to allow it, or allows it with serious restrictions, then the players preferred build may be non-viable.
Specific case: A player in my local Org Play community has a PC with a rod of wonder. An important part of his build is taking the rod somewhere secluded in the local town and simply using the wand until he gets a roll of 66—69 [Reduce wielder two size categories (no save) for 1 day]. He relies on this to buff his stealth, ranged attacks and so on.
The player pretends that the many side effects of the rod (fireballs, stinking clouds, summoned rhinos and elephants, etc) shouldn't matter, because he claims that no one is around to be affected by them and he can one-shot the summoned creatures. So he treats as just a matter of rolling dice until he gets what he wants, or even just doing it without the rolls.
He calls this part of his "shenanigans" -- the many ridiculous loopholes that he tries to bring into play. For example he runs a kineticist and insists that he doesn't need line of sight/line of effect to a target because of clause in the ability description that says he can strike a target "anywhere within range." To him this means "whether he can see it or not."
Personally, I despise this sort of metagaming, and if he ever runs that character at my table, the local authorities are going to complain to the local lodge about elephants crushing the town's trees, airburst fireballs scaring the townsfolk, and so on. And the local lodge will tell the PC to desist, with action by the authorities if he persists.
Other local GMs just hand-wave this nonsense, because of the "let players do anything that's technically legal, however outlandish" approach.
How do you all handle situations like this?