Dealing with bluffs

[jopperm2]

[QUOTE=Rob-hin]That sounds more like something a player has to decide for himself, not th DM.

Perhaps a note that he feels evil nearby or something, that could even mean another player.[/QUOTE]

I've thought of doing this before, but the Paladin ability requires concentration, so only the paladin can initiate it. If near a really great source of evil though, I make exceptions.

[Rob-hin]

[QUOTE=jopperm2]I've thought of doing this before, but the Paladin ability requires concentration, so only the paladin can initiate it. If near a really great source of evil though, I make exceptions.[/QUOTE]

I was responding to Math's post, stating how a paladin (or any other player for that matter) feels.IMO, a DM can never tell a player how his character feels, that is totally up to the player.

My comment was more in a note for situations where the paladin does Detect evil and you don't want the other players to know. It's a secret between the DM and the paladin.

[Math Mannaman]

[QUOTE=Rob-hin]I was responding to Math's post, stating how a paladin (or any other player for that matter) feels.IMO, a DM can never tell a player how his character feels, that is totally up to the player.

My comment was more in a note for situations where the paladin does Detect evil and you don't want the other players to know. It's a secret between the DM and the paladin.[/QUOTE]


I was jokeing there, useing a little sarcasm. But never say never, because if not the DM, then who will inform the PC(s) of their feelingsd/actions when they are charmed, or fear'd etc...?

[Rob-hin]

True, but then you are, as a DM, altering the way they feel yourself.

[I Am Naga Sadow]

In my sessions, when the DM has something private to say, or we want to say something private to him, the one asks the other to come and talk outside, at the back of the room, etc. Although it is obvoius that something is happening, we can all ably roleplay not knowing!

[boo's daddy]

[QUOTE=Math Mannaman]That would be the note that reads: "You are starting to have a morale problem with members of your party and feel compelled to act on this matter..."[/QUOTE]
Heh. Paladins don't usually last long when properly role-played, do they?

Pre-written notes can work for sure. But if it gets out of hand, then people have to be physically apart and the DM really starts to earn his/her stripes.

I was in a campaign once where the DM awarded a "performance" score at the end of each session to reflect how well players had role-played (according to class, alignment and character). When it came to level-up time, characters would have to spend time out of the game (practising new skills) and/or sacrifice loot (appeasing sceptical Gods) depending on what their overall performance was.

It was a really effective way of encouraging us to role-play properly.

[jopperm2]

I always divvy up about 1/2 total xp according to roleplaying. So if total xp awarded for adventure is 1000 xp, I give 500 as well, split up according to RP. That way that paladin who charges into danger can handle it. I also give a bonus for Mappers and Journal keepers based on the quality of their work. Usually about 1/20 of a level's worth.

[Aramant]

In terms of handling bluffs:

When I'm a player bluffing:
I tend to lie outright first, and then the DM tells me to make a bluff check. It's gotten to the point for me where if my party members fail their sense motive checks, but still try to argue that their characters suspect me or whatever, I just roll with it (in terms of adjusting, not dice). If the DM wants to punish them, great, but if not, I just stay in character. I try to avoid being the one to cause the game to slow down from bickering.

When another player bluffs me:
It's hard to ignore my suspicions as a player, but I try my best to do so. Yeah.

When I'm the DM:
Sometimes I punish the player by having something "unfortunate" happen to his character, but most of the time I just use out-of-character belittlement and derision to get them to just shut up and move on.

Another problem skill for metagame stuff is the appraise skill. On one occasion, the party came across a cache of treasure including gems. One player, historically notorious for whining, cheating, and being a general douchebag tried to appraise an emerald worth a few hundred gold, but failed, appraising it as a worthless glass fake. The player said he was keeping it anyway, because he (the player) "knew" he failed his roll and that it was valuable. I was stunned by his blatant admission of metagame thinking, and told him that his character has to have a reason to want to keep it, because according to said character, the thing was worthless.

He argued and whined for about a half hour, and his only defense was that he (again, the player) "knew" it was valuable. He came up with the weak excuse that his character, a spellcaster, was keeping it to use as a spell component. I challenged him to find a spell that used a large chunk of green glass as a component. Blah blah blah for a long time, and he still kept it.

So when he went to get it appraised, I changed it to a lump of green glass.

He still kept it, and tried getting it appraised in every town they came to.

[Math Mannaman]

and that is exactlly why I always roll things like that myself. The DM should roll all things that the players do not know the outcome of. ie. they can roll to pick a lock, but the DM should roll for f/r traps. Likewise for things like navigation, appraise, "bluff", etc...i even go as far as to be ready to realy mix it up for crit failures.

I think this is the best way to avoid situations that take away from the roleplaying ascpect of the game.

[Aramant]

Yeah. I actually began doing that. Set up a printable spreadsheet sort of thing with all those such skills, saving throws, armor, and so on.

[jopperm2]

One thing a friend of mine does is set up a spreadsheet with each stat(str, dex, con, etc... ) and each save (fort, will...) plus a column named other. Then, before the session, he uses a dice program to populate like 200 rolls for each column with a d20. Then, whenever he needs to do a roll he picks the relevant stat (cha for a bluff for example) and uses the next value on the list. Then he crosses that one off. That way the characters won't know every time he rolls. Works pretty well. Less cumbersome too. I think he make have started a new column for attack rolls too.

[Grimar]

that one was good! >starts rolling for next session<

[melancolly]

i know this is a bit off topic ,but i make my players role their own healing potions

[Grimar]

[QUOTE=melancolly]i know this is a bit off topic ,but i make my players role their own healing potions[/QUOTE]

so do i.. isn't that normal? all players and DM's i have played with made the players roll their own hp. But there is a house rule i forgot. if my players roll a 1, they can reroll their hp. if they have D8 and roll 2, they can reroll. if they have d12, they can reroll. but if the players have rolled 10-10-10-8-1, they will not be allowed to reroll.

[Aegis]

The group I play with generally re-rolls under half for HP. But then, we play in some pretty challenging campaigns.

[Aramant]

I require my players to make up backgrounds for their characters. It gets them more in tune with the character, and hopefully more attached to them as well, so they aren't just playing themselves in a risk-free environment (ie. if the character dies, so what, I can just make another one).

I also retain veto power over the characters. One of my players always played a monk/whatever, simply for the armor class bonus so he didn't have to wear armor. It was fine at first, but he never justified the monk class. He just wanted the armor class bonus. After a whack of characters with which he ignored any monk-like training in their backgrounds, yet who still possessed a number of monk levels, I started saying no. Which ties into the background issue as well. My rule is that characters don't just arbitrarily know things, so it has to be accounted for in the background.

On other occasions, it's not a background issue, but just something stupid. Like when a higher level character with more starting gold owns nothing but clothes and a magic weapon, because he spent all his gold on said weapon.

I don't like munchkin campaigns. I like to focus on the roleplaying. Though that doesn't mean I shortchange on the fighting or loot.

[jopperm2]

How does one roll healing potions?

On HP, If it is less than half I allow reroll -1, but you have to keep the result even if it's zero. I also allow average rolls; 2,3,4,5, or 6 depending on hd.

[Aegis]

[QUOTE=jopperm2]How does one roll healing potions?

On HP, If it is less than half I allow reroll -1, but you have to keep the result even if it's zero. I also allow average rolls; 2,3,4,5, or 6 depending on hd.[/QUOTE]
For example, a potion of cure minor wounds heals 1d8+lvl (to a maximum of +5). As you progress up to more powerful healing draughts, you add 1d8 for each level of strength, as well as increasing the +lvl bonus.

[jopperm2]

Oh okay.. So like I take a cure light and I get to roll my own d8? I do that too. I figure it's negligible how much that reveals and you should be able to tell how far you are from are keeling over.