I am so scared for my character, that I am changing characters for P2: Demon Queen Enclave. I am currently DMing P1 and we are currently having the discussions on DMing styles. I tend to agree with the occasional fudging of circumstances(cheating is too harsh a word). The DM for P2 is a rule follower, believing that the modules are playtested for any situation. 4 people in the party right now are saying that if he kills their characters for some stupid reason they are quitting. To quote some of the things he says:

“Rules Adherence. By now you are all very aware of my rather strict by-the-book way of playing. This is not going to change very much. If you think this is unfair then you need to remember the rules apply to monsters just as they apply to you. In that respect, the playing field gets levelled very nicely. Don’t worry, this is the approach I followed for the Yuan-Ti trilogy and FOTS where normal mortality rates were seen.

How fair is that to know he is going to kill at least one character. D&D is for fun and excitement. Winning without a challenge is boring, but (in my opinion) a good DM knows how to adapt to make the challenge fun and exciting. Sometimes PC’s do get killed and that is part of the game, but for a DM to do it to satisfy his MONSTER needs(pun intended) is just no right.

I’m with Ameron on this one (and categorically disagree with MJ Harnish), although I might go even further.

Ameron says, “The DM is allowed to cheat. In fact it’s often encouraged.”

I would actually say, in my mind, it’s almost impossible for a DM to cheat. In my understanding, the DM is the ultimate arbiter, not only of the rules, but of the story and the universe. If the DM says a beam of holy light appears and smites the bad guys (or even the GOOD guys), damnit, it appears. How is it even conceivable for this person to cheat? Are you telling me that as a DM I can decide there is an earthquake that swallows the entire party but I can’t decide if a demons attack is a miss?

As far as I’m concerned, the DM should do their best to create encounters that serve the purpose of the adventure in advance. Maybe you want an encounter to be easy for the story, or you want it to be an incredible challenge, or whatever, so you design it accordingly. But then, it turns out you miscalculated, or you are rolling crits like crazy. That means that your efforts are going to be wasted and the balance in the encounter and the world is NOT as you designed. IN those cases, I think it’s the DMs job to CORRECT the encounter to be the balance he intended. This is not cheating. This is DMing.

Now, while I don’t think it’s possible for a DM to “cheat” per se, since the entire world is of his design and creation, I DO think it’s possible for a DM to be a jerk. If a DM is doing things that are unnecessarily punitive, wildly unfair, or singles out certain players, then they’re being a jerk, even if they’re not necessarily cheating.

Now, with regard to my game table, I always try to make on-the-fly balance adjustments in creative ways. In a pinch, sure, it’s a hand wave now and then, or a faked miss/hit, but generally, I like the role play solutions where the bad guy makes a mistake or the environment heavily favors the PCs (I recall reading someone else mention they let their PCs topple a tree onto the enemy for massive damage). Technically speaking, there is no real difference between the two as far as cheating goes, but I find that my players and I both enjoy the latter more than the former.

I usually roll enough crits that I don’t need to fake it. On the other end of the spectrum, I usually have one 20 become just a regular hit every game. Especially if one PC seems to be getting hit a lot more than normal.

@Hierophant Druid
Your approach to rolling is probably the norm, however when time is of the essence there are occasions when DMs allow pre-rolling. Half the fun of playing is watch the roll succeed or not so I’ve never subscribed to the whole pre-rolling idea myself (as a DM or player).

I play DM and all my players know that when something important happens, they can’t roll until I am watching and ready. And all other players, ofcourse in a critical situation are watching with the player who makes the roll.

So they could never change their rolls that way.