168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons is a fair game, right? You make your character, roll the dice, add your bonuses, and it is w🦩hat it is - at least, in theory. However, one player at the table, the Dungeon Master, plays the role of jud🌳ge and arbiter and dictates the rules, among other things.

Related
These 10 Monster♛s Changed Dramatically In Dungeons & Dragons 🍷

Here are the best monsters that have changed dramatical🍎ly in D&D.

1

What if they cheat, though? Dungeon Masters not following the rules is a topic of constant debate in the community, especially because som🔯e do it for what they consider good reasons (such as keeping the game entertaining or engaging) or because they can bend the rules to do something that is technically not cheating. How do they 'cheat,' then?

10 🦄 🗹 Fudging Rolls

Classic

A montage showing different dice roll results, with a character having a critical success, regular success, and a critical failure, in Dungeons & Dragons (DND).
Art by John Grello

The most common way DMs may cheat is by having their rolls happen behind the DM screen, and nothing really stop🌞s them from lying about the result other than their sense of honor. However, fudging rolls are more complicated than they seem.

Though some DMs can 🍃do it to make a combat encounter harder (which can be unfair, but if the fight is too easy, it can be the right call), some ignore the dice when the result leads to an anti-climatic outcome, prioritizing people having fun rather than following the dice to the letter - though you might also argue that following them to the letter is part of the fun, hence why this is complicated.

9 Legendary Resistance 🐟

Cheating As A Core Mechanic

Dungeons & Dragons art of Arch-hags gathered around a cauldron by Dario Jelusic.
Arch-hags by Dario Jelusic

A similar thing to fudging rolls is when a monster has access to Legendary Resistance, which꧒ allows them to pass a saving throw that they fail to. It has limited uses, sure, but that's not too different from just fudging to escape failure.

In fact, the DM can be cheesy about how many times the monster can u♋se this feature, too, so it basically allows them to 'cheat' and claim that they are actually following the rules and using mechanics available to them.

8 ⛄ Altering NPCs Hit Points

Or AC, Or Attack Bonus, Or Damage Bonus, Or Spell DC

A character drinks a glowing potion of healing in DnD.
Potion of Healing by Pauline Voss

Another thing the players aren't aware of is how many hit points the enemy has. The best information they can get is asking how the enemy looks, and the DM can give a vague description. That ꦰsaid, they can alter hit points.

Like fudging, this can help the party if the DM realizes they made the enemy too much of a tank. Still, it can also make the monster last for a long time in the fight, just wait🥀ing for a move cool enough for the DM to allow it to be the ki🦹lling blow.

7 🎀 Adding Abilities Mid-Fight 🎀

Behold, My Final Form!

A balor in Dungeons & Dragons.
Balor by Sidharth Chaturvedi

DMs can sometimes screw up on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:difficulty balancing - it happens. Thus, they can adjust things on the fly, and some of the topics we tackled already are part of🦂 this re-balancing. Another thing they can end up doing is just using an ability the monster didn't have until now.

Related
Dungeons & Dragons: 10 Tipsﷺ For DM-ing Expert Players

Are you planning to DM for a 𝓡handful of expert-level players? Here are some tips and tricks you need to know.

This is also an easy one to cover up. The DM can say the monster wasn't taking the fight seriously until now - which could be true or accurate to the⛦ NPC's behavior - or they can improvise a second phase during the fight and use a transformation to justify a power increase.

6 S🅺ubtle Railroading ൲

This Path Seems To Be The Only Safe One

The town of Gateway in Ansalon in the Krynn campaign setting in DND.
Gateway via Wizards of the Coast

In front of the party, there are two paths. From the left, you hear a strange growl. What about the other path? "Oh, that path has three 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tarrasques playing fetch with a clan of Liches - but if you 🌠want to go that way, sure.👍"

Okay, your DM will (probably) not say something this absurd, but the idea here is to gently discourage the party from making a decision the DM doesn't want them to make. Why give them a choice if thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe DM will forceꦇ the result, you ask? To give them the illusion that they're making a decision, of course.

5 Repositioning Missed Content 📖

Looks Like The Clue Was In This Room, After All

The city of Waterdeep in DND.
Waterdeep Sunset via Wizards of the Coast

Assuming the DM is not subtly railroading the group,🦄 there is the chance they'll miss out on information or places where the DM prepared content for them. Does this mean this content will go to the trash? Of course not; good DMs always know how to recycle.

The events from a city the players decided not to go to are now suddenly in this new city the players chose to go to instead.✨ Missed clues from a mystery come up in different ways, or alternative clues that lead to the same direction appear. Whatever the case is, this content comes back in some way, shape, or form.

4 🅷 NPCs Knowing Too Much About The Party

Wait, That's Metagaming

Two magic users study a textbok in a dark library in Dungeons & Dragons.
Candlekeep Mysteries art via Wizards of the Coast

If you encounter a powerful boss for the first time and they immediately start attacking the healer relentlessly, something weird might be going on here. Sure, maybe this is an intelligent charactဣer who gathered information about the party beforehand, but it might be metagaming on the DM's part.

The DM has to roleplay people encountering the party for the first time over and o🐬ver, and they might get themselves confused and fight the players as if the NPCs have been doing that their whole lives. However, unless the NPCs have an in-game reason to know these things right away, that is technically cheating.

3 Villains Surviving Deadl🍨y Figh🥀ts

Somehow, Palpatine Returned

Dungeons & Dragons image showing a lich and two ghast gravecallers.
Art by Viko Menezes

We all love a good villain, and defeating them is likely one of the highest points of the story, if not the highest. The players can go overb♔oard with defeating the villain, where they can lose their heads, be disintegrated, or be wholly obliterated in many creaℱtive ways.

Related
What Your Dungeons &aﷺmp; Dragons DM Really Means When They Ask These 10 Questions ꦗ

Can you speak DM?

6

Then, whether because the DM found a loophole in their scenario or just for extreme drama, this villain somehow pops back up in the narrative or the next campaign. As long as it do𒆙esn't feel forced and if the character is coolﷺ enough, who cares, though, right?

2 🌟 Changing DCs

Or Absurdly High DCs

A player character succumbing to the Reality Break spell in Dungeons & Dragons.
Reality Break Spell by Brian Valeza 

Another complex tr♐ick a DM may pull off (and one they don't♔ really need to address beforehand) is to ask for a saving throw or ability check and not tell the players how much they need to roll to succeed. Why would they?

That alone isn't an issue, but it gives the DM an opening where they can decide the DC after seeing the roll and determine if said number was good enough for them. Or they can set a DC of 25 to ⭕30 without knowing (or caring) if the 𒁃players can reach this number.

1 Rule Of Cool For En🅷emies

Villains Can Be Cool, Too

Kas lifting his sword and surrounded by fallen enemies, from Dungeons & Dragons.
Kas by Craig J. Spearing. Official Artwork

A famous 'rule' in D&D is the r🐎ul🥂e of cool, where the DM and the party intentionally bend the rules, letting the players do something they normally wouldn't be able to because it'd be cool if they did so at that particular moment.

But what if the bad guy is about to do something cool that isn't exactly within the rules? Should the DM force themselves to follow the rules and find a way to do what they want through them, or can they just hit the 'rule of cool' button with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the BBEG? We would even argue that many DMs do this without even realizing they're technically using the rulꦿe of cool on their baddies, homebrewing unique mechanics just to do the thing they want to do.

dungeons-and-dragons-series-game-tabletop-franchise

Your Rating

Original Release Date
1974
Player Count
2+
Age Recommendation
12+ (though young🎉er can play and enjoy)
Length per Game
F🍷rom 60 minutes to hours on end. 🍬
Franchise Name
🤪 𓃲 Dungeons & Dragons
Publishing Co
Wi🥃zards of the Coast