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Mar 18, 2012 -- 3:22PM, Krusk wrote:

I'd reward him for doing something interesting and off the wall. Plus players tend to enjoy "I did that crazy thing and it turned out awesome" vs "I did that thing, and then the DM called me an idiot and my PC died".

Maybe treat it as a short term buff similar to a potion. Gives short term buff related to something the monster could do.  

Although I do want to address a few other things you did... 

i decided it was super fermented so he was drunk for a week in character time

IC your players wizard would know if magical potions ferment. I would run off the logical assumption that "its magic" and so is good indefinatly. It would be really annoying to find out "suprise you couldn't read my mind now you are penalized."

 well he got a natural 20 on the roll 

Natural 20 auto success doesn't work on skills for good reason. "I jump to the moon, and continue trying until I succeed" or other stuff I don't enjoy in the game.  Thats an extreme, but illustrates the point of "Extremes that shouldn't be possible are".

 tried to jokingly bluff that maybe if the wizard

players shouldn't be able to use social skills against one another. This often leads to someone realizing that their maxed out intimidate PC can just dictate how the entire party plays.

 just wondered if it was to awful of a thing to do to a player?

 Yes it is. You should offer the player some sort of monster identification check to determine whether or not it is poisonous or deadly. It should have a low DC if it is super obvious. Otherwise, how is the player to know your intention? I personally like to reward risks like this and would give a buff as explained above.  

oh and as a side not the same player was forced into intamacy with a dragon.

Never OK or acceptable.  

 it just seems the other players and him do stuff that causes bad things to happen to him

Consider that their logical thoughts on outcomes don't match up with yours. Allow skill checks when you think their PCs probably know something the players do not. Such as an obviously bad idea. The players can't read your mind, and just because you think "this is the logical outcome" doesn't mean they had a totally valid equally logical thought.

well just a few minor things. they were told the potion was 600 years old and is unlikely to act exactly as a fresh one would. i mean in the old dnd potions had a chance of having been poisoned because of time and the way they worked.


as for the natural 20s. one of the three was just to find stuff no big. one was to set up a bomb without it blowing up in his face so i gave it to him. the third i told the player he was trying to mess with about it and the player did what he did. although if they wanted to jump to the moon i would say if they get a one on a d 1000000 then they get to the moon. one in twenty would be to easy for something like that. just like when my party wanted to get this dangerous beast as a pet i made them roll a d 1000 and get under a five to succeed. they didnt.


as said above i just told the player the roll. he could have said screw that but he didnt he said oh in that case i eat it basically. i even asked the player if he minded before the barbarian did anything like roll.


next part is your opinion and i am making note of peoples opinions on it before i decide what to do since it is 9 days before the next session.


the dragon part was his idea dont feel sorry for him. he wanted to get past the dragon without a fight and the party unanimously agreed to let him be intimately used by the dragon. not a single player disagreed and no he did not get the last or even near the last say in the matter.


will keep the last bit in mind. i never say no to an opinion of matters since that would be how i stop improving as a dm.               

Mar 19, 2012 -- 6:04AM, DontEatRawHagis wrote:

"Hey theres candy down that hole." Nat 20 Bluff check. Even though the play climbed up the hole and knows there is a poisonous spike pit at the bottom he is forced to believe me. Player jumps down hole because otherwise he's not roleplaying his character and promptly has to make a new character after 10d10 damage from the fall and 8d6 poison spike damage.

What kind of stupid example is that?

OK, so you say there's candy down there.  I don't see it.  But for whatever reason I believe you....
Even if I wanted that candy, it doesn't follow that I'll A) forget what else is down there, B) forget how to navagate around whatever it is, C) simply jump down a hole & take damage.  I wouldn't do that for gold, magic items, etc, so why candy?
And then comes D) When I find out you lied to me?  I'll chop off your characters head - while I stand watch that night.  Let's see you bluff me while asleep 

Mar 19, 2012 -- 6:04AM, DontEatRawHagis wrote:

I was the leader of a party and everyone kept stealing dragon eggs, so I stopped them by threating to court martial them later if they did so. I see a player walking back towards teh nest, because my perception check was so high. But then the Player called it unfair because I wouldn't know the player was stealing the egg. To me it was just logical, a person leaves the party towards the dragon eggs I specifically told them not to take. So I roll a knowledge check and fail, now I don't know whats going on anything and my character is now an idiot.

Correction, you're character was already an idiot.
Seriously, people willing to steal dragon eggs don't have much reason to fear you....
So if the gain from stolen dragon eggs outweighs you're usefulness?  You're character becomes pretty expendable.