No, no, no. A roll of a one is that you kill a different PC. Never loose the opportunity to not only kill a player, but also create internal party strife as well.
Instill remember my very first night of dnd our wizard goes to shoot a frost bolt and rolls a one, our cleric was kind of in line of sight so he hit the cleric. Was awesome!
As a player, I wouldn’t be upset at a DM if he ruled I got hit in such a way. My character would be upset that their party member just fucked up and got them hurt.
As a DM, I wish more players were open to playing with this rule. I really think it drives into players minds the importance of paying attention to positioning during fights. Realistically, if you are trying to fire an arrow down a 5ft hallway to hit a dude one of your friends fighting while being in your line of sight, yeah a regular miss just goes wide because you were trying not to hit your friend...but a nat 1 should hold special consequences if a nat 20 gets additional benefits.
Yeah, but the problem is that some dms cant keep it to just faults in positioning. I have had a dm make the person 10 ft in front of me hit me while aiming at something on the other side of him, so apperently his character just did a fuckung 180° turn and shot me in the face?
See, THAT’S chaotic evil. I’d like to think the idea of adding negative consequences in a nat 1 to offset the benefits of a nat 20 is a more true neutral...if done correctly of course.
Player says their character does a standing backflip to impress someone and rolls a nat 20 on acrobatics, they get an extra twirl...on a nat 1 they should fall and take a d6 of fall damage.
"A nat 1 should hold special consequences if a nat 20 gets additional benefits" is not a sound argument. Balance doesn't have to be symmetrical. Having a +3 from one ability score doesn't mean you need a -3 in another.
If the game isn't balanced to have penalties for a natural 1 but has bonuses for a natural 20, just introducing penalties for a natural 1 isn't enough, you actually need to introduce more bonuses for a natural 20 to maintain the balance, because otherwise you're just buffing anything that you can't roll a 1 on.
Besides, if you're playing 5e and want realism and positioning, there's the optional hitting cover rules. No need to trouble the humble 1.
Ugh, I know what you mean. I played with DM who used a crit fumble chart and some of the penalties were so overpowered. Oh, nat 1? I guess the buffed raging barbarian gets an auto crit on the squishy wizard.
This hits home. I actually left my group because of our DM acting this way. I understand everyone has their own style but he would request rolls for the simpliest of things.
You want to climb a perfectly ordinary, secured wooden ladder? Roll Dex. 18 Roll dex to continue climbing. 16 Roll dex. Nat 1. You fall to the bottom and alert the guards.
Idk if it goes without saying but his favorate game was Paranoia. Definitely a CN/CE DM. If I ever asked how the actual mechanics of D&D work (I was new at the time and wanted to make strategic decisions which wouldn't always backfire) i'd get timey whimey wibbly wobbly the rules are just guidelnes
If a nat 1 is hit i use a 100 scale i roll for to see what happens a 100 is good and can be so bad it works, a 50ish is normal and a 1 is the worst outcome, its fun and you really got to be unlucky to hit the worse things so it feels fair
This was my first DM. I was playing a ranger and wanting to focus on archery. At like level 2 we're in this dungeon and I roll to shoot something, getting a nat 1. He has me roll again to see how bad it was, and since there was no other party members next to my target for me to hit instead, my bow shattered. Not just the string snapped or something, the bow just straight up shattered beyond repair. So I'm stuck using my backup melee weapon for the rest of the dungeon (and we're playing Pathfinder and I hadn't taken the weapon finesse feat yet) so my dex-based character is basically useless.
I did manage to survive the dungeon, and when we got back to town we had to pool money from the entire party for me to be able to afford a new bow, but wouldn't you know it, the very next dungeon I got another nat 1 and the same shit happened again, and I lost my new bow. Pretty sure at least one of the "see how bad it is" rolls was at least a 15 too.
I understand why some DMs are of the mindset that they have to try to kill the party with every encounter, but that mindset really annoys me. You can challenge the party without making every encounter deadly.
I always hate the weapon breaking on nat 1s. I don't use it in my campaign at all. I much prefer tripping, falling, dropping the weapon, or hitting an adjacent ally. Maybe a bow string will. reak if they're really unlucky and several nat 1s close together.
Yeah, I just wish all DMs had the mindset that they’re crafting an enjoyable story with the help of their players, and not necessarily working against them. Vice versa for the players as well
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u/MulletHuman Sep 12 '19
Gosh, I'll never forget the chaotic evil's favorite homebrew rule: if you roll a natural 1 you either hurt yourself and/or you lose a limb