How do you handle save or die spells as a GM? As a player?
If an encounter ends immediately because a caster popped a Save or die spell ,then no XP and little/no loot is awarded.
>save or die
I had forgotten that this was a thing that exists.
Why did any game designer think this was a good idea?
>Remember, once you start using save-or-dies, so do the monsters.
Alternatively, play a system without them. They're dumb.
>>43096606
As a player:
>Die
>>43096643
>No XP
Kill yourself. You're obviously too inept to be GM.
>>43096606
I either pretend they don't exist or don't even know they exist because I'm still starry-eyed about the hype around the system I'm excited to be DMing, or like a fool, think that this new or spinoff edition of the game fixes all the problems I had with previous editions. I keep this up until the game advances to the point where I'm forced to deal with players having access to the spells, at which point I give them to enemies, and feel guilty over player frustration when their characters either die because of a single failed save or are reduced to sitting on their hands and waiting for the party cleric to fix what the save-or-suck did.
I keep the game going, struggling to pretend that the game is balanced and that save-or-die spells aren't actually all that bad and that they really do have a place in the game. I gradually lose enthusiasm for the game as the levels drag on and more bookkeeping is required and encounters must be designed meticulously and carefully around the characters to the point where a single battle requires a full day off work to plan out, and when the time comes to play out the battle, it ends in three rounds because save-or-die spells once again won the day.
I then struggle with the arduous and frankly dull task of continuing to balance the game around this one type of spell that by all rights should not exist and that the game would be better off without and eventually lose any enthusiasm with the game. I then decide to skip huge chunks of story and bring the PCs right to what I had planned as the end of the game, then toss the books aside and completely freeform the final battle because I'm just so goddamn sick of this fucking game and want to play something that wasn't designed by mouth-breathing retards.
Then, after the game is over, I glare balefully at the books on my shelf every time I walk past and remember how this fucking game almost made me stop running tabletop RPGs altogether.
>>43096606
As a player:
Punch the GM in the face
As a GM:
Sigh, and pull out the big guns.
At the point these work and work reliably in most of the games in which they exist (specifically particular versions of 3.5), death is a short term inconvenience, so they're not that a big deal if they hit the party and they fail the save (treasure will be upped to refund the res cost shortly, or a revivify means it just ate a spell slot from a caster), or if they hit the bad guys, they'll be back later, possibly stronger.
>>43096606
> As a dm.
I do not use them, give monsters some counters if they know what they'll face, like a ring of counterspell, or send waves. Also, i avoid DnD.
>As a Player
MultiClass Paladin 2 + Iron Will + Headband of Charisma + Cloak of Resistance + Readied Action to disrupt. I succeed on a 2. Allies fail on a 15. I can still solo. DM stops using.
>>43096606
Play a game that doesn't have them.
>>43097851
> kobold sorcerer 1 + 2 kobold warriors
> Sleep + coup de grâce
>>43096606
As a DM: Avoid, as they're not fun for PCs. 2 saves and some chance for nondice action to affect it, minimum. If the PCs use them, let word get around so foes are prepared for em and they're not as useful.
As a player: Make the DM cry. Either by using them myself of by making them feel bad for using them against PCs.
I like to use them sparingly as a player.
Most GMs in my experience will play to their audience. If you go nuclear every fight then enemies will too, but if you play for interesting fights then the GM will too.
>As a GM
I avoid using them, mostly by not using D&D.
>As a player
I save or die, clearly.
>>43098102
>>43101726
/thread
>>43101726
/thread this bitch
