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I am tired of all the whining about “Mean” DMs. Particularly when it comes from the same people who claim some classes are far superior while hand waving rules that impact those classes.
So this thread is a listing of reasonable precautions and/or things to take under consideration as players in a game.
There should always be watch if you are out adventuring and you need to sleep. A reasonable PC knows the bad guys could (and if they are smart should) try to attack them when they are most vulnerable. The watch will take into consideration who needs 8 hours and who needs less. You are wearing armor when you sleep unless you say so, and you take the penalties unless you have the feats/abilities to negate them (that is the benefit of having the feat).
If you are a summoner, you hate sleeping and want to get ways to avoid it as much as possible as soon as possible, since without your eidelon you are a shell of yourself. And smart enemies will know this and try and target you when your eidelon is away.
If you fight with a weapon, you always have a back up. Even if it is only for getting past different types of damage reduction, you always have more than one weapon. (as an aside, you should also know the sunder rules mean they can only have an enchanted weapon destroyed by a better enchanted weapon.)
If you are a bard, you either have a back up instrument, learn summon instrument, or you have more than one way to perform in case your instrument is targeted/taken. Because you know that you need to be able to perform to make use of your best abilities. You are also aware that sound attracts attention. That includes verbal components. (similarly swords clang…) and attention can be a good or a bad thing. (Ghost sound is your friend)
If you are a wizard or an Alchemist, you have at least a rudimentary back up spell book somewhere, just in case. Someone with a high intelligence should realize that without this you are pretty much a commoner. And since the same people who want to count crafted items in WBL and always have the perfect scroll for all occasions are the ones complaining about the “time” it takes to replace it, I am calling BS. If you have time to craft and scribe scrolls, you have time to copy. And even if you didn’t, you can get some emergency low level books at you friendly neighborhood magic shop and just keep the ‘must haves’ spells in it should something happen to your “Blessed Book”. Something you need by mid levels anyway.
While you are at it wizards, either need to figure out a way to protect your arcane bonded item or get a familiar instead.
If you are a person, race or class that is not welcome in an area, you will need some sort of disguise if you don’t want problems in that area. This goes for any strange companions you may bring with you. Your 30 foot eidelon named fluffy isn’t going to be welcome in most respectable inns and taverns.
The person who goes first/opens doors either needs a either high perception/ good saves or both.
The goal is trying to find a way to fight/dispatch the BBEG on your terms, and barring that not to fight them on their terms. If you don’t plan well enough to do this, you can expect the BBEG has planned well enough to make you pay for it.
If you decide to build a fort of some kind, you should also decide how you are going to protect it while you are out adventuring. The amount of protection you need to leave is relative to how much valuable stuff you plan on leaving in it while you are out adventuring.
If you aren’t trying to be sneaky, you aren’t being sneaky. And if you aren’t being sneaky, the BBEG is ready for you.
Allies are allies, enemies are enemies. Life is easier when you have more of the former and less of the later. If you pick a fight with the King of an area, consequences logically ensue…
It is dark in some places. Of course sometimes light draws attention.
If you want to cast something every morning, let your GM know what it is and what time you define as “morning”. Then don’t complain if it wears off by mid afternoon.
Feel free to add your own. The basic point is there is a social contract at play in any game between the players and the GM. The GM should not be trying to “win” or be out to get you. The best GMs in my experience act as Referees.
The GM knows all the players and all the secrets. He doesn’t tell you what to do or how to do it. He simply asks himself “What would this action cause in the world.”
If you are fighting an intelligent enemy, they will play intelligently. And if you play intelligently, and the quest is well designed, you should be able to overcome the BBEG.
But when you start saying a GM is “mean” because you didn’t take reasonable precautions and got caught with your pants down…that isn’t the GM.
Killing random people in the town for no reason is not looked highly upon even if they are the town drunk. Torches can go out in wind. Putting out your campfire is a good idea so you do not start forest fires.
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Addition: Always carry a dagger. You will want it when you get grappled or swallowed whole.
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Other comments:
On posting watches, it is also good to take into account what characters have special senses or bad perception.
We’ve always played that you are NOT wearing your medium/heavy armor when you sleep unless you say so or you have feats that negate the penalties. It is just easier and IMO less dickish. So, the advice would be, “If you wear medium or heavier armor, have a decent set of light to sleep in.”
Putting out your campfire is a good idea so you do not start forest fires.
While I don’t disagree that you should put out campfires. Having a forest fire start because the party doesn’t explicitly state that they put their campfire out is a pretty good example ‘out to get you’. Unless of course you’ve warned them about that sort of thing and are cool with keeping up with such minutiae.
Addition: Always carry a dagger. You will want it when you get grappled or swallowed whole.
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Other comments:
On posting watches, it is also good to take into account what characters have special senses or bad perception.
We’ve always played that you are NOT wearing your medium/heavy armor when you sleep unless you say so or you have feats that negate the penalties. It is just easier and IMO less dickish. So, the advice would be, “If you wear medium or heavier armor, have a decent set of light to sleep in.”
Putting out your campfire is a good idea so you do not start forest fires.While I don’t disagree that you should put out campfires. Having a forest fire start because the party doesn’t explicitly state that they put their campfire out is a pretty good example ‘out to get you’. Unless of course you’ve warned them about that sort of thing and are cool with keeping up with such minutiae.
On second thought that is a bit harsh. You could have them find a campsite that was recently used and have a fire not properly put out would be interesting and sort of make sense storywise. Putting out a potential forset fire could give you xp as well for preventing the forest fire.
I can certainly imagine situations where the forest fire thing would be really fun even if the party caused it. Like, they had to flee the camp due to an ambush. The scenario you suggested sounds cool too. My ranger would be all about tracking those idiots down to find out what their deal is.
It was the more day-to-day routine situation I’d call foul on in 99% of games. (There is always that one game out there where every character is a city slicker aristocrat and that type of thing is what everyone is going for.)
Daggers are so under-rated. Two types of damage and can be thrown...I agree everyone needs one.Addition: Always carry a dagger. You will want it when you get grappled or swallowed whole.
And useful for cutting things.
Gold in your pocket means nothing in combat. Spending extra gold on potions or items that can be useful in a pinch is a good idea. Thunderstones, Alchemist Fire, Glitter Dust, Potions of Protection from Evil have saved my ass more than once.
If you ride your mount somewhere, remember to pick it up when you leave.
Never equip an item before you know EXACTLY what it does. Ever.
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I like the sound of this. Just to nitpick though, up here putting out the campfire at night is not such a good idea most of the year, you'll be waking up as an icicle. And with all the cold and wet you'll be lucky to start any fire, you'd need a plane load of napalm to start a forest fire. So these things are fairly circumstantial. :P
I don't agree with the forest fire thing (unless they specifically set it up in a really, really, dumb way), although I would say that if you are on the run from someone, always remember that a campfire can be used to see where you are, and where you were.
always remember that a campfire can be used to see where you are, and where you were.
That reminds me of another good tip. This is for the arcane spellcasters:
Prestidigitation, use it. Cover your tracks. Clean yourselves up before entering town, or dirty yourselves before entering the seedier areas. Warm up your bedrolls if a fire is too risky. Create that piece of chalk to mark the dungeon mazes' walls.
I like the sound of this. Just to nitpick though, up here putting out the campfire at night is not such a good idea most of the year, you'll be waking up as an icicle. And with all the cold and wet you'll be lucky to start any fire, you'd need a plane load of napalm to start a forest fire. So these things are fairly circumstantial. :PI don't agree with the forest fire thing (unless they specifically set it up in a really, really, dumb way), although I would say that if you are on the run from someone, always remember that a campfire can be used to see where you are, and where you were.
I think that is a better use than the forset fire yeah they can see smoke coming.
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always remember that a campfire can be used to see where you are, and where you were.That reminds me of another good tip. This is for the arcane spellcasters:
Prestidigitation, use it. Cover your tracks. Clean yourselves up before entering town, or dirty yourselves before entering the seedier areas. Warm up your bedrolls if a fire is too risky. Create that piece of chalk to mark the dungeon mazes' walls.
See, this is the kind of stuff that makes the game fun.
Players who are thinking about the world they are in and how they fit into the world.
As a GM I would make sure to reward this kind of stuff.
Also always get chalk, rope, mirrors, fishing line, etc...they come in handy.
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I like the sound of this. Just to nitpick though, up here putting out the campfire at night is not such a good idea most of the year, you'll be waking up as an icicle. And with all the cold and wet you'll be lucky to start any fire, you'd need a plane load of napalm to start a forest fire. So these things are fairly circumstantial. :PI don't agree with the forest fire thing (unless they specifically set it up in a really, really, dumb way), although I would say that if you are on the run from someone, always remember that a campfire can be used to see where you are, and where you were.
According to my (homebrew) Random Encounter Chart, keeping a fire at night reduces the chances of encounters with animal (or magical beasts with animal intelligence or the cold subtype, playing of their instinctive fear of fire) but increases the chances of being found by humanoids and other intelligent creatures on the lookout.
'findel
The most "reasonable precautions" in the world don't erase the fact that there really are mean, and/or totally clueless GMs.
We once were playing with a really nice guy who took the wandering monster tables waaaaay too seriously. We were attacked four times every night, by random things generated by dice, on a long road with nothing but haunted ruins in sight over several days of riding. When we got to a town, it was walled and we were denied entrance.
Didn't matter if we kept no fire. Didn't matter if we slept in trees, or burrowed into the ground. Setting a watch did not help. Alarm spells were useless. The wandering monster table was in the RULES, dammit, and he was going to use the rules even if it killed him. (Or us.)
My players keep all sorts of little necessities, and buy tools, pens, ink, chalk, whistles, shovels and everything when in town. I let them make use of them because I appreciate their forethought. But no amount of reasonable GMing on my part will never erase the memory of those several weeks we played wandering around a countryside with no protection from the wandering monster table.
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Like most things, there is a golden mean. I would like to play in world with the GM as 'referee' sort of thing, where the world is believable and there are reasonable consequences for your actions. Throwing a constant stream of totally random monsters at you seems silly. So does expecting to be able to kick down the door of a bandit fort and fight a series of perfectly balanced encounters where they always attack in groups of 5 for no obvious reason. If you have a wizard has a bonded staff he is useless without, don't be shocked if an enemy fighter tries to sunder it. That's not a cruel GM, that's your foe not being an idiot. (The White Witch will back me up on this) To me this seems less about being too 'easy' as such and more about it being too 'gamey' where things work out because that makes things fit into traditional RPG encounters best. Basically, some common sense is always nice for the nitpickers out here. :)
I think part of the issue is the different schools of thought on the role of a GM.
I am like you, viewing the GM as the Ref. I know all the rules of the world and I know what is going on, but the players play how they play and chips fall where they may. If a player doesn't take reasonable precautions, consequences ensue. The GM asks the question "what would happen if" and that happens.
Others take the approach of the GM leading people through a story, in which case anything that happens it the GMs fault, because the GM controls everything. He isn't asking what would happen if, as much as saying "This is what is happening."
I find the later approach rather dull, personally. But YMMV.
This, good sir Ciretose, is pure gold -it should be assumed to be "adventuring standard" and included in both the gamemastery guide and the core rulebook.
The most "reasonable precautions" in the world don't erase the fact that there really are mean, and/or totally clueless GMs.
Exactly. With some Dungeon Masters it doesn't matter one lick what precautions you take. Your spellbook will get stolen, you will get ambush, you will get lost, your pocket will get picked, your stronghold will fall, allies will always betray you, and the bad guy will always be ready for you.
That's not to say that you shouldn't take such precautions, I take many of them my-self especially for spellbooks, it just that all the precautions in the world won't stop a 'bad' Dungeon Master.
That being said, I'm enjoying this thread so far. I often have to warn my players about their selection of companions and how civilization friendly they will be. No taking Dire Tigers into that small hamlet.
Here's a big one from my homebrew campaign; don't expect everyone, everywhere to speak your language because they won't. The more languages you can speak/magic up, the better.
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The most "reasonable precautions" in the world don't erase the fact that there really are mean, and/or totally clueless GMs.Exactly. With some Dungeon Masters it doesn't matter one lick what precautions you take. Your spellbook will get stolen, you will get ambush, you will get lost, your pocket will get picked, your stronghold will fall, allies will always betray you, and the bad guy will always be ready for you.
If your reasonable precautions are met with unreasonable GM moves, then that person can't GM anymore. We have a lot of GMs in our group, and a couple of of people we had to take the GM stick from until they could play like a grown up.
The rest of the post I agree with, particularly the "Dire Tiger" and language stuff.