"If you can't remember, your character definitely can't remember." Like bruh, two days have passed in-game, while the last time we played is a month ago. Like bruh I am playing a wizard with a 20 intelligence, speaks 6 languages, and who can memorize the complex patterns and coordinates of a teleportation circle by studying it for just a minute. I'm certain that he can remember the details that I don't.

I think the one that really got me was when I cast "Wall of Force" on a BBEG and then immediately a friendly NPC ran up and used a warhammer to break the wall. I pointed out that Wall of Force is immune to all damage and can't be dispelled. The DM said "the NPC has a warhammer that's specially made to break Wall of Force." Why an NPC that's friendly to us would free the BBEG with a perfectly suited magic item is beyond me...

Its a huge pet peeve of mine when DMs say "if you don't remember, your character doesn't" - We haven't had session in a month and half, its been one day for my character. Give me a break here

Me: "I cast lightning bolt in the water the pirates fell in." DM: "Ok, but I am not going to give any buffs to the lightning damage or effect." Me: "Ok, I won't complain" *Next week's session* DM: "Ok, so the lightning crab attacks and it is an auto crit since you are in the water. Because you are wearing metal armor, it rolls at advantage with a +12 modifier. Base damage is 10d12, so you take a total of 40d12 lightning damage from both attacks. Oh, and your character's back is broken." Me: *dies a little on the inside*

I’ve actually played in a game where you roll for everything. Trust me, it’s never fun to just fail looking at something and basically being blind

The guy who refused to poke the thing is actually the wizard who will take lethal damage from it.

Yeah, the DMs that just HAVE to remind you that they're the ones in control and your fun is entirely dictated by them are... well, they really can kill the fun.

For any dms out there, for the "not tracking hp" thing, there is a better way to deal with that. If you're trying to let the party get more interesting kills, track the hp as normal, but if a party member does something really smart or cool let them either get some sort of bonus, or kill the enemy early. That way the party can still kill them by just dealing damage (and thus they actually feel like their attacks matter), but you can reward creativity if you think someone deserves to get something cool.

there was one instance where the DM started having us roll for everything when we entered a temple. Turns out it was because the temple was dedicated to the God of Luck (both good and bad). It was annoying but we also got rewarded with some good ass loot when we left.

One of my biggest pet peeves in any DnD game is when I try to do something cool or roleplay something (like punching someone because they insulted me) I fail a check and then nothing happens. Like, even though I failed I would like my action to have some kind of effect on the situation and not just say “oh you failed. Moving on”

The "then I hit him with my sword - this hard" made me do a full belly laugh. You got me good.

In my defense, literally my first ever time DMing i killed a PC with Massive Damage on the very first turn of the very first combat with a single attack from a simple goblin. It's not that playing at first level sucks it's that DMing at first level is absolutely terrifying...

I HATE the "not tracking enemies HP" thing. It makes you feel your efforts/strategies are not worth it.

I've been exclusively GMing a Cyberpunk RED campaign for about half a year now, and hearing "Cyberpunk 5e conversion" gave me an aneurysm.

In all honesty, I have flubbed HP before, but I do track it. One time my party was fighting a young green dragon, and one of the players had just gotten a lightening javelin and was really excited to use it. The party was in top strategic form with excellent teamwork and had been POUNDING this freaking lizard, and they were all super hyped, the energy was high, the dragon was so freaked out it was actually fleeing (it had very few HP left), and it was super cinematic. The attack hit. The dragon had like 3 HP left. I stared at it for a few seconds, everyone was watching eagerly, and I decided "heck it" and described basically what happens when you get a dragon to low health in Skyrim and they crash out of the sky, and the impact killing it. Everyone. Lost. Their. Minds. It was my party's first dragon, and they were so incredibly excited. I thought it was way more important to let them feel like their tools and strategies were useful and effective than I did be pedantic and have it brush off the LITERAL MAGIC ITEM only to die to a 1d6 arrow or cantrip the very next turn. They earned that victory fair and square in my opinion, if a few previous dice rolls had been a touch different on previous turns it would've died outright. I take some leeway with HP mainly for storytelling purposes, but in general I like it because it helps me be more impartial. I really want my party to be victorious and successful, and I really don't want to kill any PCs, so tools like this that help me actually challenge them and not go too easy are super helpful. A lot of the time I let them succeed on things simply because they came up with a really creative and clever solution or they roleplayed something excellently, so I use dice rolls mostly when either it adds suspense and uncertainty to what they're doing, or I'm concerned I might not be impartial or realistic about the ease of what they're trying to do. Rolls and the DM just making decisions both have their place, but in the end the most important thing is that everyone is enjoying themselves, players and GMs both. They are table top role-playing GAMES, after all.

That Persuasion check is the one that really grinds my gears. If our characters can benefit from being more strong and dexterous than we are irl, they should also be able to benefit from being more intelligent and charismatic than we are irl. Also, our characters LIVE in these worlds. They should definitely know, understand, and remember stuff about it, even when we, ourselves, don't.

I take copious amounts of notes in my games I misspelled an “important” NPC’s complicated name and mispronounced him later. The DM ruled that because I couldn’t say the name, my character couldn’t remember the name. He was a wizard with a 18Int Score and History proficiency.. *dead* Edit: Making a video request -3- **CHAD PLAYER VS OP WIZARD PLZ** Edit 2: **HE FUCKING DID IT OMG**

My greatest reason for starting at level 3 is that i like to work my subclass into my background.

God only Jacob can be the only person on screen and have me fully believeing in the fact he absolutely hates off screen Jacob. 10/10 acting Also I swear the "not tracking hitpoints" thing has got to be the worst thing in this video, I'd probably leap across the table and hit my GM with his own screen if he pulled that on me.

One of the worst for me is when you have to make this really specific check to progress (like lockpicking this important door), but the DM doesn't have any concept of "failing up" so you fail the roll and the story just stops.

God I feel that ending, I love D&D but other TTRPGs exist and people should DEFINITELY play them. Edit: Okay the level of "but this my group can't even remember X" comments I'm getting are a tad annoying so let me respond to them all in one swoop - _cool,_ then this statement doesn't apply to you and your group. If you can only run 5e campaigns because your party is a bunch of unorganized TTRPG newbies that's fine. But if you're party is experienced enough that you're trying out weird homebrew modules or "supplements" instead of just playing a different system, that's some 5e-brain if I've ever seen it. ESPECIALLY if it's a "5e supplement" for an ALREADY EXISTING TTRPG LIKE SHADOWRUN. It's like trying to mod Skyrim in a way that makes it DOOM.

I actually, physically felt my brain short circuit on the last one. Every time I hear about a 5e conversion for something that has an excellent purpose-made ttrpg that deserves attention and love I lose like 12 years off my lifespan

Thank god for the RAW “take a 10 if your character has no time constraints or stress in completing the task”

The one I hate the most is when you make a character specifically to handle one thing really well and then a not even that challenging opportunity arises to use that skill and the DM still makes you roll. Then due to horrible luck you roll terribly and fail miserably. Then someone who is really bad at that thing rolls very well and succeeds. Then that specialized character is made into the butt of the joke for the rest of the campaign. Yes - this has happened to me several times lmao

I don't hate level 1 and 2, I just feel like most classes feel very samey at level 1, and only begin to feel unique at level 2 and 3.

I had a dm that hyped up the world he homebrewed saying he had been working on it for nearly 5 years and that every area was fully flushed out and that it would be like an open world adventure game. We started captive on a pirate ship that we took control of and sailed to the mainland where we found ourselves in an empty field. There was nothing to see on the horizon and one player asked if there was a map we could reference. My dm asked if we had cartographer tools which we didn't so we just wandered aimlessly for like 3 sessions with basically nothing happening. We finally hit a small village who of course didn't have a map and the only quest was to collect cockatrice feet for a tiny reward. So we aimlessly wandered again. He also did the roll for literally everything garbage which slowed the game to a crawl and made our actions feel punishing. Terrible experience

This reminds me of a moment with one of my friends I GMed for, but it was kinda in a better context… My friend who was fairly new to dnd asked “can I roll to open the door” I told them they didn’t “need” to roll to open the door but if they wanted to roll for the Lols they could. They rolled a nat 1 They pulled the push door, and then another party member just went through, got a laugh across the group.

If your campaign doesn't have worldbuilding at all, like, all your choices don't matter because they won't change anything, then you're just playing a book

A pet peeve of mine is rolling ability checks, instead of skills. In a campaign, I made my rogue have expertise in Athletics, because I wanted my rogue to be someone that has absolutely no magic but relies instead on his skills and physicality. He is like Batman, nothing magical, no powers, just pure athleticism and brains. But because he is a rogue he has +0 strength. So with expertise in Athletics he has +6. However, every time I want to make something athletic, the DM makes me roll an strength check or Dex check. So my expertise is wasted, I wanted to change it, and I can't because that is something I chose from level 1.... Likewise, when you want to determine something, and specifically say you are going to use history and the DM goes, "Nah roll Intelligence check". When ability checks are overused by DMs, it always feels unjust, like why do we even have proficiencies? It is even worse, for rogues and bards, whose whole thing is to be very skilled individuals.... yet, it is all wasted because it is an ability check. You see the mage being a demi God... but then, you want to shine by doing something skillful... but it is ruined because on the ability you only have +1.

I get wanting a lore reason to start at a higher level, but as a DM I personally feel “I want you guys to be a little stronger out the gate so I can skip to some cooler monsters for encounters” is a valid argument. Plus it’s usually just more fun, the players can actually have a lot of abilities to mess around with right from the start and most of the time they find some way to incorporate their experience into their back story.

"I breathe" "Roll Constitution" *Nat 1* "You suffocate from inhaling regular air....somehow"

The "your argument isn't convincing even though you rolled well" got me. I've literally heard that from a DM lol.

One of the most awkward things about rolling for basically everything is getting a nat 20 on something pointless and dreading what your next important check/save roll will be because you're convinced you've used up your luck on said pointless roll. Though on the flip side being able to say you nat 20'd drinking some soup is amusing.

As a dm who really wants to play other TTRPG, the last one killed me

When writing a campaign, I have a timeline, a list of events that happens, sketching out the skeleton of a plot. Then I have players write up characters, and this becomes the story of what would happen if this group had the starring roles, and figure out how to tie their backgrounds and goals to the plot. I do this because *it is their story.*

The persuasion thing bothers me on both sides. You'll have a player that asks for a roll to persuade, roll good, and think that's permission to give a subpar or counterintuitive argument, like "hey Mr goblin, I actually tasted that lava and it tasted so good" causing the goblin to fling itself into into the pool of lava. Then you'll have a player give a completely logical and persuasive argument but then have a DM ask for a die roll and fail just because RNG.

I feel like that when I take off my headband of intellect

Some of my friends wanted to play the Avatar ttrpg, but when they learned the combat didn't use as much damage or d20 rolls, they started to then work on a 5e conversion and my soul shattered in that moment

0:22 i felt that in a Personal, *PAINFUL* way. i would die if i ever was that unimmersive in a campaign. even in an off day i'm like "Heh, i have some experience dodging blows to the face, and generally to be honest" before moving on

My pet peeve is seeing those videos that are like "Play D&D in this new way LIKE THIS" and it's just hammering and duct taping this system from this other game into 5e *when you can literally just play the other TTRPG.*

And this is why I play Skyrim, props to the dude pulling the witch king of Angmar’s sword on the dm XD

The "purify food and water" one got me as similar happened in a recent session. Encounter starts and one of the enemies is a Barbarian, naturally enters a rage. My character always tries to defuse the situation, so initial cast was "calm emotions". I wasn't trying to bypass the encounter, and I realize that it makes sense that'd do nothing to stop a planned attack, but I'd hoped it would at least halt the rage. The guy fails his save. Nothing happens. "Rage doesn't have to be anger, he has a hige grin on his face: he's *excited*!" THAT STILL ISN'T CALM, I spent a 2nd level spell slot on this and they failed the save, please just let this have some effect, even just a minor inconvenience...

I've always used the Seth Skorkowsky interpretation of CHA/Persuade rolls. Your CHA/Persuade result tells you how well you deliver the argument, not how well the argument will be received by the target. The strength of their argument in relation to the target should set the DC.

a good way to fight the "the argument was bad so you dont convince them" DMs is to make an insight/investigation check to try to come up with some good arguments and then using them in persuasion

2:45 my exact reaction forcing players to roleplay when they're not comfortable or having their irl charisma come into affect is bullshit

honestly, on 2:44, I can definitely relate to the DM here. "My murder-hoboing ways have caught up to me, and I don't like that. Let me talk these guards into betraying their nation to help random bandits they just met escape their just deserves." a few dice rolls later, and BAM! there goes the rest of your planned session. "Oh, wait? You're telling me there's no way these guys would be convinced to let us go? Thanks, GM, glad to know you've nerfed persuasion and therefor my entire character sheet into oblivion!"

1:00 I had a DM like this part, I feel this pain all to much of “you figure it out what to you do in the campaign and I will give you no clues or leads.”

I have no issues with one of my players not wanting to poke the thing as long as they don't actively prevent others from having their fun. Not everyone has fun doing things like that and that's totally okay!

I know Jacob occasionally worries about not being as good as his old days, but I genuinely look foward to every upload he makes in anticipationof what he covers next. Just wanted to say thank you for making such genuinely entertaining content 🖤 hope everythings going well with the kid!

"everyone just poke the thing" literally happened ina pathfinder section where there was a slipperry wall we could climb(but there was other way to go around) and everyone just decided to try to climb the wall,at the end i think me and the warrior managed to climb and it was unironically funny,even when the DM reminded us that we don't heal back to full in long rests we just kept trying to climb it for no reason XD

That Cyberpunk bit at the end sucker punch me it hurt so bad. You know how some people make fun of potter heads and tell them to “read another book” we need to tell 5e players to “play another game” NOT A DIFFERENT EDITION, A whole ass different game

I kinda hate the idea of my character not being allowed to be smarter or a smoother talker than me. They sure as hell can be stronger and WAY more athletic. lol

For me, level one is so much fun. It’s the anxiety of meeting something a little too strong, the openness of having a whole build in front of you, the simplicity of “hey Goblins took over my barn, I’ll pay you to kill them or convince them to leave or something.” Level one is great.

i had a DM who just thought it was the funniest thing to make me specify in which direction i open the door, which required me to then ask "do i see hinges on this side of the door?" and then roll perception to see if there are hinges on this side of the door, then make a strength check to open the door. it was NOT fun, i like to assume my character can handle opening a door. it's not like a trick door, or a magical door, it's just a fecking door. "if you can't remember it your character DEFINITELY can't" that's not fair, for my character that happened like yesterday, for me it was a month ago.

Technically, "I want you to start more powerful and/or with your subclasses" is largely equivalent to "level 1 sucks." IF level 1 didn't suck, then you wouldn't need to start "more powerful." That said, I find level 1 works well for introducing the basics of the game. IT is quite literally, in 5e, designed to be at level 3 before the end of your first dungeon crawl. They're tutorial levels, and you're supposed to get through them fast.

"If you don't remember your character DEFINITELY doesn't remember" last I checked my soldier Molly doesn't have weed induced memory-loss

"Roll to copy the spell to your spell book." "Uh.. I rolled a 3?" "Yeah, you fail and accidentally summon a Fire Elemental that burns up your spell book. Have fun using only cantrips!"

The level 1 thing is interesting tbh, in other systems I've always started at level 1 or the equivalent but in 5e it just feels like levels 1 and 2 are a tutorial more than anything. In theory I like the slow burn vibes of finding your power over the first few sessions, but in practice now I've already done it a couple times I usually just spend those levels wishing I had my level 3 stuff already.

subclasses at level 3 keeps me a good arm's length from levels 1 and 2

Oh my god the part where your acting to tell the other to do a toy bity thing to make the room seem funnier and then the other person dead straight says No is relatable, it’s just an awkward silence after that just because you wanted to be the funny guy.

The ending of a lot of my campaigns tend to be in the "someone would have figured it out eventually" catagory. The stakes come from dealing with the problem before a ton of people get killed or before a more powerful (and less invested) entity just nukes the problem, innocents be dammed.

Literally all of these annoy me too especially rolling for everything even simple tasks 😂

out of all your sketch videos so far, this one might be the most relatable by far- even as a (mostly)game master... why do so many people forget the RPG part of tabletop rpg LOL

Bro is playing DnD with a Sharpie. He has ascended above mortal comprehension and has become a god of DnD.

Love your vids Jacob, you’ve inspired me to become a DM, and given us some great laughs and superb entertainment over the years. Hope you see this and are encouraged to make more vids that are totally “goaded with the sauce”.

I started one of my campaigns at level 3 with a good reason. The party was working for an organization and trained for a few years before the campaign took place

Me: We're starting at level 8, which makes your character basically a special forces soldier in terms of experience. Your backstory needs to reflect how you got that experience and will play a huge role in the campaign. My Bard Player: Yeah, so I found a lute on this dead guy and I like how the strings taste. I wish I was joking.

I think the playing starting at lvl 3 is valid from the standpoint of everyone having their subclass. I also think playing 5e conversions are fine for groups that dont have time to learn a whole new system.

That is the most common face in my party

I am going to half disagree on the first one, only because I think there are a lot of very interesting, compelling, and fun experiences and stories that can be told involving a party that broad strokes doesn’t change the world by existing. That said, those tend to be very perfectly tailored, character-heavy campaigns run by people who really know what they’re doing and the vast majority of the time it sucks

I once had a DM that emphatically believed that any form of endure elements (including items like Winterland Boots) did not prevent taking damage from the hostile environment, because they reasoned that 'existing comfortably' in a hostile environment and 'not taking damage' in a hostile environment are two different things. This unnamed DM deadass thinks that a wondrous item's entire effect is to make your character comfy while they die as-per normal from the heat/cold. I'm sure glad I spend almost 3k gold on boots of Remain Calm and Freeze Anyway.

i usually always start at lvl 3 for two reasons which you did mention: subclasses and backstory. a lot of my friends will have stories for their character where it doesnt make sense for them to be too weak

Starting at lvl 3 cause lvl1 sucks is absolutely valid. Getting your 1st special sub class feature is just a bonus.

There are actually good DM/GM examples of each of these things, well mostly. -Your adventure has small enough stakes that your actions won't destroy or negatively impact the larger world -You punch the NPC but they punch you back. Alternatively, you miss, but the NPC realizes they've offended you and rolls it back -It's a short Campaign or a One off and the DM/GM wants their players to experiment with builds -It's a mystery or investigation story. But actually, if you are going to organize a game night, any self respecting DM/GM should help their players figure this out -Rolling for basic tasks can be used as a way of escalating tension, in that something is wrong with the environment around you. Otherwise lol don't do that -That's just disingenuous and mean spirited of the DM/GM. Just award creative implementation of skills to solve problems -You track HP, but when your party does something really elaborate and clever to best them, you just throw out their remaining HP and declare that they did it and killed the boss -Make a good enough argument before rolling and you don't even have to attempt persuasion. You just pass. Had this occur with a friend of mine who had dumped Charisma the other day -Yeah Idk about this one lol. Outside of pointless damage, I don't get it. -Other Systems exist, but sometimes DMs/GMs just don't have the time to learn a new one. I can sympathize with just wanting to do a homebrew for a nice change of pace. But yeah try other systems. Not everyone can be a good DM/GM.

"We're going to be playing the Cyberpunk 5E conversion" one sentence horror story honestly... Cyberpunk RED Is so so good

"Roll a strength check to see if your grown male tiefling can successfully prevent a small child from breaking your grip" Uh no thanks

"I hit him THIS hard" is something I wanted to do so bad at so many bad tables

One of my pet peaves is rolling skill checks before asking the DM if you can make a roll. Another is deviating from certain subclass rules and reasons why the character is that subclass. One of my party members plays a twilight cleric, whose sole purpose is guarding the innocent from things that go bump in the night. Twice now he's let aberrations hunt down commoners in the streets during his night watch. Setting was the city was under atttack my a monster invasion. He watched them get attacked and eaten at 200 ft out with his 300 ft darkvision. His reason was he wasn't strong enough, didn't want to wake the party and felt it wasn't his job. Rather it was the city guards job. I was like, dude your whole subclass' schtick is to go out into the night and do just that. It boggled my mind why the DM let him continue using his cleric spells when he should have lost his cleric abilities due to failing to perform his duty as his subclass dictates, therefore failing his god. In another city, DM gave him a chance to redeem himself by letting him know he heard a cry for help followed by sounds of fighting and people screaming. He just sat in his rented room and continued to read his book because his backstory said he was a scholar. Running off into the night wasn't his job. 🤦‍♂️ Why pick that subclass in the first place and not the knowledge or arcane cleric domains. Cleric domains are very specific about their purpose and failing the intended purpose means falling out of favor with that god. Still waiting on DM to dish out consequences for his inaction. The only time I consider subclass roles important due to the nature of that subclasses intended purpose.

"If you can't remember it, your character DEFINITELY can't!!" I👏DON'T👏LIVE👏THERE. OBVIOUSLY someone who has actually experienced an event will be more likely to remember it than someone who was just told about it!

2:19 this is why you ask for charisma check *after* player made the statement, so you can set up dc based on how convincing the statement was (or not, if it was ridiculous).

A classic story in my group is how back in college (this is late 1990's) one of the guys was playing Shadowrun with a GM who enforced rolling for mundane things. The character was backing his car out of space in an underground garage, and critically failed his driving roll. (note, he was not rushing, there was no combat happening, nothing violent or distracting of any kind, and he knew how to drive this car.) This resulted in him totaling his car, smashing it backwards into the car of a notorious mobster, and knocking the wind out of himself. By the time he got out of the car, the mobster's goons had shown up to find out what happened to their boss's car. This resulted in a huge firefight, and the PC died. GM's should not enforce rolling for mundane tasks being performed under mundane, normal conditions.

I felt the last one. People that are trying to do starwars, or cyberpunk, or warhammer in DnD, when there is a specially made FITTING System for that Setting. Those people are just confusing.

1:48 Hang on! If you're able to make it safe to eat, even the mold itself would have nutritional value. Sure, you can just rule that purifying anything happens via pyrolysis or something equally destructive but that way nothing would have nutritional value.

The Pathfinder is slowly creeping in. Yeeeessss, goooooood! Release your anger and your journey to the dark side will be COMPLETE!

As a new DM I suffered from over-rolling at the table. Now I have grown and have a tip for the DMs. I will sometimes (but not always) make my players roll for stuff that they know full well is a stupid and disruptive to the general plan of the group/session. Then when they roll very well I can give them the benefit of success and allow some plot impact but when they roll poorly no one is surprised by a mild joke punishment and accepts that the idea really was stupid. Although, I should mention that I play with my siblings and their significant others so there is some catharsis and growth to laughing at/with each other

I like starting at 3 for the subtypes. With the addition of subtypes beyond the base book ones a lot of them have significantly more flavoring, to the point where not having them at the start of the game kinda makes it seem strange. Like just for ascendant dragon monk, a book origin is "A dragon personally took an active role in shaping your inner energy." But that didn't really do anything for you till you wiped out a nearby goblin village, sorry.

That aggressive double thumbs-up hits deep.

Cyberpunk 2022 with copious amounts of content and decades of homebrews exists. DMs: 5e Cyberpunk conversion.

Solutions: 1- Construct a story in which your PCs actions matter 2- Let your players succeed automatically on more things. Especially things that their character is known to be good at. (You don’t have to make the rogue roll to unlock EVERY lock) 3- Making level 1 be fun might take more work but it could be entertaining. This is literally just a personal preference thing. 4- It’s not fun to purposely punish players by withholding information they ought to know. 5- Again, automatically succeeding is often more fun/less tedious. And those “roll for funny” moments should be rare when you all are in the mood to laugh. 6- The “Rule of Cool” helps players use less useful spells in creative and fun ways and you should foster that mentality. 7- Not tracking HP seems to be a personal preference but if you’re not gonna, you gotta make it seem real in the moment. Don’t let the PCs see behind the curtain. 8- It’s okay to let random dice rolls inform the narrative. That could make for a story where even the GM doesn’t know how it’s going to go. More fun. Takes some improv skills. 9- This is literally just a “feel the vibe” thing. Not everyone has your sense of humor and not everyone’s gonna poke the thing. 10- Be willing to learn new RPG’s. Trying to fit every game into 5E might be possible, but it might be a lot more work and not as satisfying. But it’s gonna require people buying the books.

Player: "I have just threatened this man's life and I have expertise in intimidation. Can I please roll to intimidate?" DM: "Nah, he just stares at you nonplussed" Player: "Cool... glad I chose that skill"

Holy shit the "reducing a roll to you do it vs you don't do it" with no elaboration or ceremony absolutely sent me.

"That's not how that spell works" "I'm prepping a different spell" I swear I've swapped Feats or Spells around so many times because the DM won't let me use it for the reason I took it

Ok one caveat, not poking things is perfectly valid. I don't just go around damaging things by poking them nor would I without good reason.

When natural one, not only is a fail, but a critical fail.... even when you have expertise on that skill. Player: I pick the lock with my thieves' tools Player: Natural 1 but I have expertise and +4 dex so that would be an 11.... DM: Well not only did you fail it, but you also break your thieves' tools, lmao. DM: You no longer have thieves' tools and have to buy a new one the next time you are on a town... that is if they sell them, because no honest merchant would sell them.

I guess jacob changed his mind on the "hp tracking" part eh? xD

There was one time my DM got us into this spot where we were in a safe haven with an old druid who was actively protecting the party, when one of the other players revealed their secret of being a bad guy by producing these evil black tendrils to grab and attack the old druid. I was a Bard who had seen plenty of magic based attacks and have become jaded by the experiences (something like 6 Hellish Rebukes for trying to stop some ambushing Wizards I caught out, followed by 2 Cone of Cold spells later in the encounter). In response to this I cast Dispel Magic to prevent to save the old druid who was protecting us from active environmental harm. The DM told me I couldn't and that it'd ruin the campaign, then he capitulated by having the DC set to 30. Based on Dispel Magic's rules, the conjured black tendrils are a twentieth level spell. I failed it obviously and the DM was like, "I would have let you succeed if you rolled a 20." Looking back, this DM relied heavily on improv, railroading, and would typically make one of the players into the heel of jokes and humiliation (just to be "funny/entertaining").

Considering I've currently been feeling frustrated about how one of my GMs is not giving me any liberties to play my character past his "vision" of how the campaign is going, this video feels really cathartic!

My dm makes us say what we want to try to convince someone if we’re trying to persuade or deceive, then we have to roll. I think he adjusts our dc to succeed or something. It makes our RP actually matter somewhat which is kind of nice.

"If you can't remember then your CHARACTER can't remember." was such a Dead Alewives moment, I started looking around for the Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

Don’t force people to poke things they don’t wanna poke.