What’s a player to a god, what’s a god to a DM, what’s a DM to a nat 20
this is funny but I’m going to be a Joke Ruiner here in hopes that this might be useful to anybody looking to run a D&d game sometime for the first time.
A natural 20 always ‘succeeds’ but does not always do what the player intended to do. If a player attempts to do something Impossible, then a Natural 20 cannot make it possible, instead, have the Outcome of their Attempt be helpful in an obvious way, without being necessarily a magical Super thing. Greg the ranger attempts to climb an 80 foot smooth marble wall with no handholds? Greg is level two? Greg does not climb that wall with a Natural 20, however, while looking for good handholds Greg spies an important clue reflected in the mirror-like surface of the wall, perhaps finding a secret catch to open a hidden door in the wall granting the party entrance to the dungeon?
Even though Greg didn’t search for the door, his incredible Luck granted him the opportunity to succeed anyways. Because that’s what a Natural 20 is. It’s Luck. A lucky swing catches an opponent off guard, even if they’re a seasoned fighter. No amount of luck will allow Susan the 1st level barbarian to shoot the God of War in the eye, but if she is Lucky enough, then he’ll be amused and impressed by her brash valor, and grant her a boon or a gift, rather than be insulted by her attack.
Keep in mind that a Natural 20 should align with what is best for the player, not necessarily what the player wants. If a player rolls a 20 while attempting to do something you know will end badly for them? Take advantage of your knowledge and have their roll instead indicate that not only does their attempt fail, it does so in a way that alerts the player to the danger of their attempt.
For example, they try to shoot a guard under the assumption he’s alone and it will be a sneaky quiet attack? Have the shot miss in such a way that the guard tells his friends just around the corner to “knock off all that racket, some of us still have jobs to do tonight!”
This kind of thing helps create a believable, consistent world for your players. Something that has rules and laws of physics of it’s own, even if those physics are a bit more fast and loose with thermodynamics than ours are. If a Natural 20 Always Works, then the world quickly loses credibility, because in that world, not only can literally Anything Happen, it has a 5% chance to do so All the Time
A world like that doesn’t really make much sense, and wouldn’t look at all like our world, and is therefore really hard for players to get attached to.
This is really good. I’d just like to add that you also have the option of just saying “That’s not going to work.” So many tales of DM woe could be averted by just being aware that the DM can not let the players roll dice in the first place.
For a little background, my players were buying robes to sneak into the bowels of this temple. The temple in it’s infinite greed sells identical red robes for newcomers in town in a shop. We have a gnomish rogue and a dragonborn barbarian going in, the dragonborn is doing what he does best, kidnap (that’s another story). The other characters are outside the shop.
Rogue, OOC: I walk into the store and look for robes.
Me: Ya know what, roll investigation.
Rogue, OOC: …I got a three
Me, now regretting my choices: Ah, okay, so you look around and see no robes, however you do see many large gowns.
Rogue, OOC: I would like to go up to the shopkeep and ask about robes.
Me: The shopkeep gestures behind you from under his heavy scarlet robes, whispering like the wind, “they’re behind you”.
Rogue: No they aren’t! Those are dresses! *rolls to convince*
Me: *rolls a 1 to save*
Me: …you manage to convince the shopkeep that these are in fact, not robes, but heavy gowns. He is now on the floor, holding his head, occasionally whimpering “they’re not robes?”
Setup, We had been running a long term homebrew campaign and a friend of ours brought in a new player who turned out to be a pain in and out of character by looting everything while we all battled the bosses then bluffed his way out.
Just after a boss fight, Me to DM(ooc): So just for clarification true resurrection only needs the smallest organic particle right?
DM: Umm yeah??
ME: Anything like a toenail, Hair or such?
DM again: Yeah..why
ME: Because this guy is pissing me off in and out of game and his character is wearing dragonscale armor with at least several chromatic breeds.
DM: still puzzled then a look of shock.
Me in character: I cast true resurrection on (characters) armor.
Player: rolls 1 on saving throw, 6 dragons immediately erupt from his body while I flee the scene.
some stupid ideas for dnd characters while i fight depression and boredom:
half elf, half tabaxi, full asshole
demon pretending to be a tiefling
doppelganger who took over someone’s life but had no idea they were an adventurer or into shady shit and is having a lot of trouble with trying to keep his identity up
some more:
monk that is DEFINITELY not saitama from opm but beefier
orc bard with low charisma and gets very nervous around cute people
someone who doesn’t have a tragic backstory. their parents are alive and well, they write to them all the time about their adventures, and their parents support their adventuring and send them things they might need
low intelligence wizard
low intelligence female barbarian whos just here for a good time
a cleric or warlock who’s married to their patron and very in love
warlock whose patron is their parent and they’re basically studying abroad on the human plane
a ranger whose companion is actually the ranger, but their bodies got switched
If you wanna use one of these lmk and send me updates on them
A human who’s from a family of tieflings. Someone in the family made a deal with a demon and the magic got weirded out so much it turned them human.
a druid who is just poison ivy, or dresses just like her
Dragonborn who look like crocodiles and speak with a southern accent
Shardmind or warforged who speaks like GLaDOS
Gunslinger dragonborn, but instead of using a gun, they shoot bullets from their mouth in a breath attack
A bard who uses an omatone
A timid human who looks like ur run of the mill wizard or librarian, but turns out to be a barbarian. All their rage comes from thinking about people who’ve bullied him or thinking about library late fees
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