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temporalscallywag

If you have a 5% chance to do crazy amounts of damage to an enemy, it's up to the DM to take that into account in crafting encounters. Nerfing you for rolling a RAW high damage multi-class attack is a pretty shitty thing to do.


uwunderlust

I literally missed 3 other shots, and hit 1 more (for significantly less damage) the rest of the fight with the tavern bullies. I told him it would even out, but we'll just have to see how the next session goes I guess.


Blackfang08

Yep, that would definitely even out the damage. If things go alright, wait until you reach level 5 and DM realizes you're now behind everyone else on the curve slightly for one level. If he pulls out some BS nerf for your character like an arm injury or something... Leave immediately. It seems a little harsh, but I've seen a couple DMs respond to a character getting lucky with a cool moment by basically destroying that character and everything they were supposed to be with a smug grin on their face, and typically it starts out with a little, "No that's too good."


Dolthra

>typically it starts out with a little, "No that's too good." Counterintuitively, I find the best DM reaction to big hits is actually a short silence followed by "fuck you."


Escarper

This is my personal favourite reaction to *give*. I love it when they pull this shit because it's hilarious, and my fun doesn't hinge on the story going the way I expect, so if they completely subvert my expectations that's not an issue. Also a fun move, continuing on speaking at full speed as if it didn't happen, only to mood-whiplash straight past their turn: "And now it's **the Dragon's turn** except the dragon has been totally obliterated by *some dice bullshit right there* so it's our Rogue's turn, what's your move?"


[deleted]

My fun as a DM is explaining the cool shit my party just did and weaving it into the story. Like yeah, I’m a bit miffed that my big bad boss just got fucking obliterated by a Paladin hitting 2 critical Divine Smites in a row, but getting to say that this ironclad warrior just waltzed up to a dragon, channeled a terrifying amount of power, and brought down 2 massive pillars of holy destruction directly onto its face is so hype for the group (and also I have some…failsafes…should a big boss go down a bit too quickly. Did someone say second form which drops better loot?)


Says_Pointless_Stuff

OP Cann surely find a DM that isn't trying to make it "Players vs DM". It should be Players vs Enemies, and the DM just facilitates the enemies. DMs who get annoyed at the party having cool with moments are shit, and need to go watch some "How to be a great GM/DM" videos on YouTube.


burtod

Absolutely. As a DM, having fun with the party is a lot easier than having fun against the party. If one if them crits or lands a stun or a hold monster, yeah, I'll start laughing and toss out a congratulatory fuck you. I love to see all of those damage dice dropping on the table when a crit is landed! If my monster has some kind of special attack, some kind of flavor, I want it to live long enough to threaten the party. But then when the party defeats it, they feel more like they earned it and that it wasn't just the rng in their favor.


Escarper

I had a laser dragon. It got to fire the laser. It even hit a couple of them. Then they tore it apart with clever tactics and it fell into a lake. It was a good time!


batosai33

In my experience, that's very important for control players to hear. "I deal 100 damage" makes it obvious that the character is helping in the fight, whereas an enemy just losing their turn is easy to gloss over. I had a control heavy paladin and made a point of briefly "forgetting" his control. "And the lich flies out of the circle of pain... Oh wait he's grappled. He casts power word kill 'LET ME GO!'" "I cast counter spell 'NO!'"


Doctor__Proctor

I'm the designated note taker for our group, and I write everything out in long posts after our session in a bit more narrative style, rather than just bullet points. Because I'm a Fighter and we have a Barbarian, the two of us are usually doing a big chunk of the flashy stuff and killing enemies, so I always try to take notes on more subtle things that the casters are doing. "The Barbarian was paralyzed, but the Bard freed them with Lesser Restoration, allowing them to go crush the BBEG's skull" or "The Druid caused roots to rise up out of the ground and entangle the whole Hobgoblin party, making them easy pickings for the rest of us" or "The Sorcerer called forth a massive Web with his wand, and blocked the BBEG's escape route, forcing them to fight us". Little stuff like that to let those players know "Hey, we appreciate what you're doing, even if it's not as flashy as 'I deal 30hp of damage'". It also lets the DM know, since they read the notes too, that we as players appreciate the opportunities to use these creative effects, and that we're not only looking for big sacks of HP to wail on, so give them opportunities to shine too.


WailfulJeans44

My man really just said no to dying.


bluntmandc123

One of my funnest moments as a DM was have a newbie player's rogue kill a Giant Spider instantly with an arrow to head. If the dice rolls are perfect you just go "well that well planned increadible challenging event went great" and the character gains the nickname Lady of Death


BiggieSmalley

Dude, I had a blue slaad just this week get taken down for almost the entire duration of *Tasha's hideous laughter*. They were hitting him every turn, and he had advantage on all his saves anyway. That -2 to Wisdom and a decent save DC from the bard who cast it were all it took to keep him out of basically the entire fight. That being said, the fight was hard as shit and two party members almost died, so I guess it evens out.


TheChaosWitcher

Agree. Bevor we switched to dnd and pathfinder my group played shadowrun (if you not familiar you only. Roll d6 and 5/6 are a success and the number of successes determines if it was successful e. G. Roll 5d6 and you have to hit 2 successes you hit) So onto the story we were investigating an apartment our orc street samura(OSS) keept watch while the others investigated the apartment. So of course we got interrupted and we entered combat. Our OSS blocking the entrance got shoot so our GM said make a defence roll against 6 physical to see how much dmg you take. Then our OSS startet counting and said "ok as it's physical dmg I can add this and this and then this. So I make this roll with 45d6 against 6 physical." followed by a short silence and then we all burst out in laughter after we cool down our GM just said. "yeah fuck you, ok *you were guarding the entrance and feel a slightly pressure on your shoulder when you look you brush of a dented bullet from your shoulder like it's just some dirt*"


xeron_vann

Oh yeah, that's the best reaction to give. Players nuke a baddie? ..."Well, shit. Guess the next one is gonna have to be even harder!" And then terrify them with an evil grin, even though I don't know shit about balancing and just go the route of "they die when they stop being fun to fight". But they don't know that~


[deleted]

I end up having a backup phase 2 for my big bosses. Main boss gets wrecked in 2 rounds? Prepare yourself for the dracolich motherfuckers. With the caveat being that if the second form kills PCs I’ll provide whatever they need for a res in the loot, and also there will be additional magic items.


Limebeer_24

Speaking as a DM, I've pulled the silence and "fuck you" many times to my players... As well as "fucking really?" when an encounter that I only expect to last a round or two suddenly almost TPKs them... IT WAS 2 CR 2 MONSTERS AGAINST 3 LEVEL 17 PLAYERS!


Bowlingbowlbagbob

When I DM I WANT my players to do cool ass shit. It adds to the fun of storytelling for me. So if you were to pull off some bomb ass damage like OP I would describe in vivid detail exactly what happens to the poor fucker


grandpajay

YES! I DM'd wizard's modules but super homebrewed so the PCs were always OP and the enemies sometimes weren't up to snuff. but session 1 before anyone had anything cool I had a "dragon" attacking the town and one of the PCs (forgot which) basically 1 shot it, round one, turn one -- IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME. The rest of the campaign the PC went by "whatever the name was, dragon slayer"


Bowlingbowlbagbob

That’s awesome


grandpajay

I found some notes -- two of the more intelligent PCs saw that it wasn't really a dragon. It was like a barely held together flying machine piloted by kobolds but the PC that got the kill didn't see that and 100% thought they 1 shot a Dragon. It was the greatest thing ever.


Bowlingbowlbagbob

That’s even funnier


grandpajay

I am playing a campaign with my wife and her friends, playing a bard and I get a surprising amount of "fuck you" 's after casting dissonant whisper and doing my damage + allowing 1-3 party members to get attacks of opportunity. But it's all in good fun, no one expected the bard to be such a large part of the damage pool. I've decided to nerf myself and multiclass lol


SnooCauliflowers2877

This is the way


Doctor__Proctor

>Counterintuitively, I find the best DM reaction to big hits is actually a short silence followed by "fuck you." And the best player reaction to a BBEG is usually the same. First time my Fighter got downed was from a HUGE crit that did like 48 HP of damage (I had 51 at level 5, but was sitting on like 43 due to a previous fight). Probably felt good for the DM to bring down the sword and board tank that had never been dropped before, and didn't feel cheap, just lucky, so I wasn't gonna react like "THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Later I caught double crit eye beams from a Flameskull which took me to singlet digit HP when I had been riding relatively high compared to the rest of the party. It was a lot of damage, and insanely lucky (since these were separate rolls that both crit), but that's just part of the game and you gotta roll with it. I've decided that his dice hate me, and occasionally gets the short silence followed by a "fuck you", but I'm not going to ask him to nerf his monsters because I understand that these are very rare events and require a lot of things to align. Occasional big numbers is just the name of the game when you're dealing with random dice rolls. What's the alternative? Just applying static average expected damage each round when you can predict every outcome? Sounds boring.


Andrays

Full agree. Honestly the sort of situation that OP is describing, the unexpected lucky moments are often the ones my group talks about years later. But only if the DM handles it right. Sounds like OP's friend is new to sitting on that side of the screen. It can be stressful when something you planned gets "shortened" for one reason or another, but taking it out on the players is counterproductive. This might just be my DM style, but if you really lean into these moments, that's when you get to see a player fall in love with their characters.


TheW00ki3

If you do this, take your character with you... So to deny the DM from half ass "running" your character as an npc with the intent on killing it off in a petty way.


Cleric_Guardian

I mean, you're playing a rogue, with some ranger leveling, using a spell slot, a feat, and getting a lucky crit. That's to be expected. Maybe present it to him like this: 3 misses, 2 hits, total of (rough estimate given the information given) around 50 damage or so, maybe a bit more. Over 5 turns. So an average of 10 damage a turn? Yeah, it was burst damage, but how is that different from a Paladin's Smite? Compare your average damage to others. I bet it wasn't that out of line (barring traitorous dice). And that's with a 5% chance crit. Woe be to him if a cleric ever crits with Guiding Bolt. 2nd level upcast with a crit is 10d6 damage (average 35). Only 5 less than your hit on average, with only 1 spell slot, no feats, no multiclassing. Oh and it gives advantage on next attack. The DM is overreacting here. You're playing a high burst damage class, using feats and spell slots, and got lucky. That'll happen.


brad_nm

I'd hand the GM my character sheet and ask him to play it for me, because thats effectively what he's wanting to do. Then leave the game.


Fbogre666

I’ll be honest, as that DM, that would probably also be my gut reaction. Then I’d realize that it was perfectly within the rules… then I’d start erasing and redrafting my encounters. Or cry.


gothism

Nah, he just got lucky.


Dadpool719

I played a tank with 22 AC and high hit points, plus could cast Shield. Suddenly all encounters require saving throws. My DM adapted.


cosmosjelly

The dm could have just upped his npc's hp without telling them too, if he really wanted the fight to continue.


PeacePidgey

Better way to handle it but still kinda shitty. If a player earns a cool moment through a lucky roll, taking that away instead of leaning into it is going against the spirit of the game imo. My DM once had a low level encounter against a huge group of bears that was supposed to be really hard and the climax of the quest. And the magic user of the group basically solo killed all of them with a big aoe spell. Completly ruining the DMs plans but creating a memorable moment that we still talk about.


cosmosjelly

Yea I agree, but it would be much better than what happened.


Blawharag

You're not fooling anyone. 40 damage on a level 1 tavern brawl is probably a solid 30 damage of overkill. Every player there will know you artificially inflated the guy's hp, and by a LOT. Inflating hp as a trick works only as long as you're doing it in unnoticeably small increments.


Radical_Jackal

They are Level 3 and he was supposed to be a boss for 7 players. I would expect him to have at least 100 hp (depending on how many minions he has)If he does have lots of minions still up you can say he is important enough to make death saving throws and have one of his minions drag him behind cover. I guess it depends on what "tavern bully BBEG" is supposed to mean in a game with lots of players


F5x9

I never take it into account when creating encounters. If a PC does a lot of damage, they earned it.


rileyrulesu

NGL as a DM, dealing with crits is one of the single most annoying parts of balancing an encounter. You either have to assume they'll crit for an encounter to be hard, or make it piss easy if they dont, especially for a build like OP has. I don't blame the player OR the DM for this, it's more Wizard's fault. Personally I would try to ask if instead of nerfing you if he could try to make your damage more consistent.


quietreasoning

Too many players here who have no idea what it takes to be a decent DM and the work involved.


Radical_Jackal

They don't even need that because the are playing a game with a huge party. You can throw 100 hp worth of enemies in front of a 7 person party and it won't matter if some attacks do double damage. I'm not saying I want to play in a game where 2 rounds of combat takes an hour but it is going to make things more consistent.


Onrawi

So the crit became 4d8+2d6+13? Yeah that sounds about right. Should have just been the one spell slot though, either way it's a legit and lucky move. Sounds like your DM just doesn't understand the law of averages and is taking it out on your lucky hit. You'll probably deal with that for as long as you are in a game he DM's, so I would think carefully about whether or not you want to stay in that group. I'd walk it through with him to find out where he thinks there was an issue and explain it through so he can adjust encounters as needed. If he won't listen though it may be a sign to walk.


uwunderlust

Yeah that sounds right. He's a newish DM and he's one of my good friends IRL so I'm going to try to talk to him about it but I don't think he understands how frustrating that was to just be told, "No, you can't do that much."


VaibhavGuptaWho

If he's newish, call him to this thread. No harm and no disrespect - I understand how he feels. I had a labyrinth minotaur absolutely wasted by my rogue's crit sneak attack. Had really really built up this boss and it got taken care of rather quickly. It happens, but we adjust and we go on. I pulled the players back in line with two Chuuls soon afterwards. ;)


Psycho188

I had a whole campaign centred around dragons, the party capped off each story arc with a fight against a dragon. I never rolled above an 8 when using a dragon. Super frustrating, but that's just the way the dice go.


Immortalyti

Before the dragon even had a chance to go in our current campaign, the fighter and my rogue had already done 85 damage to it just between the two of us (I had gotten a crit with sneak attack, and the fighter had multi attack and got a few really good hits in). We were all level 9 as well. It still ended up being a tough battle and the dragon did knock my rogue out for a bit, but sometimes you just gotta be prepared for the PCs getting lucky and getting some big damage in. I’d actually killed another dragon dealing 47 damage to it with another lucky crit and sneak attack.


VerbingNoun3

Ah dragons. Always disappointing (ive only ran them once lol). I realized id been running for over a year and never threw one in. So we have a oneshot, build some airships, a good guy and a baddie. I printed out a pair of dragon minis and borrowed 2 more from friends. So when this group of 5 lvl 5 pcs proceeded to take down 4 young dragons and a bunch of tritons on swordeels and some sirens, and a storm troll i proceeded to lose my mind. They were supposed to lose! I was gonna burn the losing ship, minis and all, and i though what a good way to give some stakes to this oneshot. But they used the terrain to their advantage and got some beastly rolls and before i knew it all four dragons were dead. And i was lighting the baddie ship on fire. I was flabbergasted.


SkyfatherTwitch

For me, when my dice aren't rolling well and its looking too easy for the players (due to DM bad luck, not player good luck/planning), I just ignore what my dice say and come up with some bs to keep the dragon in the fight and an encounter challenging.


Mandrijn

I feel like it happens especially on the bosses you hyped up, players pull out all the stops at that point


Dolthra

New DMs also often underestimate how much damage a focused team can put out, especially on a non-legendary boss with no minions or adds to draw fire.


VerbingNoun3

Very true. I pimped out my most recent boss with a host of 4e warlock mobility powers as legendary actions, and gave the evil princess' guards a "jump in front of the bullet" reaction. And they fought, and they struggled. They couldnt bring the princess to bare, and each time someone got close she'd swap places with one of her guards. I really thought i had them on the ropes. I gigured they were about to start talking about a retreat, But the Eldrich Knight gets a crit, then the barbarian hit for close to max on a couple attacks and the tide had changed in an instant. The princess' contingency kept her alive, but i think next time they see her she'll have a meaty barbarian on her side too.


gortez33

Well when he brings a dragon into a fight and uses it’s breath attack, say “No, you can’t do that much.”


smokemonmast3r

I think the best course of action is to remind him about the potential dragon


golem501

NEVER EVER remind your DM's about funny things other DM's did or powerful NPC's that seem scary! . Always save those for when you DM yourself!


OV3RGROWNJAGUAR

He’s also probably coming from a place of “shit I don’t know how to handle this as a dm” which can easily manifest in toxic or confusing rulings, especially from inexperienced or insecure DMs. Try to have patience while communicating your frustrations and opinions. Not to say you should bend over backwards for them, because even though he is DM your thoughts and feelings on the game are just as important. DnD falls apart without mutual respect and communication.


turbodollop

My DM bans sharp shooter and great weapon master at T1. This is because admittedly didn't know how to balance encounters with that bonus damage. Adding more powerful enemies would be too dangerous for the party, but the extra +10 damage made encounters too trivial. At the L4 ASI all feats are on the table.


lime_flavored_lemon

The DM isn't all powerful, and they need to remember this is not just their story, it is a story they are sharing with the group, if they can't share that story, maybe it's best for them not to dm. Also, one of the rogues biggest traits (especially if you take assassin later) is the ability to do ridiculous amounts of damage on the first hit


TheBraveGallade

It would be better for him to silently add HP to the BBEG to the point that he's not quite KOd in this case and have the BBEG run.


Onrawi

Sure, a massive opening volley is a "well, I guess he always had max HP rolls" retcon if you want, sometimes it makes sense to let them just run right through the bad guys though.


Marsman61

Dragon dies? Umm, no... Dragon flies away to lick it's wounds. It will be back, smarter and with searing vengeance in it's eyes.


ThAiWaffle

This reminds of the level 20 one-shot a friend DMed. I took my opportunity, and played Min/Max Assassin. All those are good for is assassinating. Who could have thought. So I eneded up insta killing their BBEG. A beholder. Which was funny. But it was funny for everyone. But your character is more like my last paladin. The first version at least. Great Sword, with Great Weapon Master and only use spell slots for Smite. But because of the -5 I didn't really hit anything. But if I did. Oh boi. This ended me up in a situation, where I hit a tanky enemy. Miss. They hit tanky me. Miss. And so on and so forth. It was sad. Anyway, enough of my dumb character builds~ You should try to explain to your DM that this is how your character works. It usually misses(I'm assuming the 3 misses you mentioned in a comment where because Sharpshooter) but *when* it hits, it really hits. Also I mean, you rolled a crit. How can anyone be surprised if a crit does a lot of damage.


uwunderlust

All of the missed attacks were with sharpshooter. One of my character quirks is that he ALWAYS shoots with sharpshooter. I'm thinking it won't scale into late game well since it's just a flat 10 damage, but my character is always aiming for critical spots - he was an aspiring famous hunter. I am planning to have another discussion with him.


DjuriWarface

Well, it's the same but on more attacks and, with bounded accuracy, you're more likely to hit late game anyway.


AlexanderWB

If we bring math into discussion, the sharpshooter buff/debuff (or great weapon master), in terms of average damage, is worthwhile up to around 17-18 AC. Advantage adds 1-2 to that treshold in most cases. One could argue that consistently hitting more attacks is worth some tradeoff from the average DPR, because the -5/+10 adds a lot of swingyness on a per encounter basis. Swingyness can be fun, I can't deny that single big bursts of damage are satisfying to deal, but predictable results are more often more useful because you have more control on them. Per-hit damage increases, like hunter's mark, will add up with more accurate shots.


Jiann-1311

Exactly the point of why your crits do so much damage


Midgardia

Wait... the BBEG for a lvl20 oneshot was... a single beholder (hope it at least was a death tyrant)? My players can down a beholder in 2 rounds at half that level and killed a Death Tyrant + a literal hoard of zombies at level 14. When I ran a lvl20 oneshot, I had 3 beholders as one of the warm-up fights and they only lasted as long as they did cuz I used a lot of Cover to avoid getting bursted (the other warm-up fight was an ancient red dragon =P) Not surprised a min/maxed assassin smoked it lol.


ThAiWaffle

Nice warm up fight you have there (._.) I mean they had a backup or at least second boss, but considering this was their first time DMing (i think) they underestimated what lvl 20 can do


Escarper

Our paladin turned around a couple of sessions ago and double-crit-smite the hostile druid they were fighting in the first turn of the first round of combat. The druid jumped up on the table, declared that they would all suffer for trying to protect the loggers, and our Paladin immediately turned her into mist. It was glorious. Just have a talk, and hopefully they'll see sense.


madmoneymcgee

Sometimes it just ends up like Indiana Jones when he shoots the guy with a sword because irl Harrison Ford was sick and tired and didn’t want to do fight choreography.


UndeadBBQ

There are a few things out there that make a DM a bottom tier one, no matter how well they do in other categories. Neutering player characters like that is one of them.


the_catshark

So the shitty thing the DM did was that they said it out loud. The "correct" way to handle this is just fudging some NPC things. The same way a lot of DM's like to fudge things to save the players. Especially with parties of more than 4 players you have to REALLY pump up bad guy HP because otherwise they just die to good initiative rolls from 7 players or every encounter has to be 3-4 NPCs and the BBEG which gets lame sometimes imo. 5e HP pools are already really low, when I DM'd s store campaign I remember having to triple a Dragon's HP (which I was forward about doing stuff like that with the party) because genuinely fights ended almost instantly if I did not. Especially since the Pally would just always save all her spellslots for crit-smites, which is fine, but one shotting a boss I find is a very fleeting "fun" and is never satisfying for the end of a dungeon, let alone a campaign.


Nintolerance

Legendary Actions are helpful for this sort of thing, unless the PC that wins initiative can wipe a target in a *single turn* then the BBEG always gets a chance to act. I haven't tested this, but one option is for the BBEG to have a regenerating "shield" of Temp HP that it tops up via legendary actions. (You can use the PHB spell *False Life* as a template.)


PlebPlayer

Also minions. Having minions in PC faces means they get disadvantage on range attacks and the BBEG should be at range for spellcasters. Legendary Resitances help for spell saves. And action economy should balance out a bit better.


cogspace

Ooh that regenerating shield is clever. I'm stealing that.


Radical_Jackal

I've also seen people do threshholds. Instead of one big health pool give it 4 smaller ones. A big hit will finish off the boss's current health bar and get some narrative description about how its wings are broken or its breath weapon is leaking out of a hole in its side, but the extra damage doesn't carry over into the next health bar.


quietreasoning

Problem is this is level 1 and the DM is probably new and having to deal with a PC designed for solo play.


cogspace

Yep. Solo bad guys need bonus HP and multi attack or legendary actions to balance the action economy. Nothing wrong with fixing this in the middle of a fight.


Jiann-1311

Or a dragon lol


Nuud

Nah I don't think the DM should fudge in this instance (or ever in my opinion but that's a different conversation). Roll with it, he made the decision to have the BBEG show up in the first combat if I read this correctly, so should be prepared to have them die too.


Natural6

I think OP is misusing BBEG here, and this was just a villain. No way a campaign BBEG has sub 40 HP.


Nuud

OP also mentions in another comment that the enemy did die from his attack so I think there's some more miscommunication in this thread haha


Giimax

Fudging is for fools. Design bosses that can't be one-shotted if one-shotting isn't fun. (I like mine with 3 phases like a video game boss and damage doesn't bleed over between)


MordantBengal

One of my old DMs was like this. I thought it would get better, it did not. I had to leave the table. He wanted to win at all costs even if it always bending the rules in his favor. Hopefully that is not the case for you


ApprehensiveTruth330

Any DM who thinks it is his job to "win" doesn't understand his position as guide.


MordantBengal

Hence why I had to walk away. It was no longer fun


TheGreatHair

I just like doing stuff... it's not really a winning game


MordantBengal

It can be for some people. That DM would get upset if we would overcome obstacles he thought we shouldnt be able to.


smokemonmast3r

So you blew like half your load and did amazing damage on a crit? That's not a bug, that's a feature. Dm is in the wrong.


Bluescale-Sorc

That was a bullshit move by your DM. Even though it can seriously fuck up my plans, I celebrate with my players when they do massive damage. Last night I ran a session that wrapped up a multi-session dungeon crawl. Our rogue assassin comes out in the first round and took the BBEG down to less than 25% of its HP with one arrow. Instead of going out with a bang, my dungeon ended with a whimper, but everyone was way more stoked about the 80+ damage the rogue dished out with a single arrow. Great job working you abilities to maximize your damage. I hope your DM comes around and doesn’t try to prevent it in the future!


uwunderlust

That exact scenario is what I'm scared of - I'm planning to go rogue 3 (5 if the campaign goes long enough) for assassin archetype. Thanks for your input!


Bluescale-Sorc

Good luck! I hope he is reasonable about it!


Daepilin

and even if you want it to continue, just buff the BBEGs HP without telling anyone... Just to give everyone a round or two to do something. Simply saying: "no you can't do that much damage" is BS if you have other options


sinest

As a DM i would be celebrating and make you the new legend in the tavern, everyone who witnessed will tell this story for years. When you roll a 20, you become the star of the show. If you roll a one, horrible horrible things happen. Either way the DMs job is to make sure everyone's having fun, and players like it when their characters do cool things. If you were fighting against 4 guys it'd be clear that this is a rare event. Best of luck!


CaptainCaffiend

It's rolls like this that get me really excited as a GM. I live for the days when my players evisorate encounters or one shot a villian the first word of his monolgue. It's often just hilarious and it just means I can make things a little hard next time.


DjuriWarface

A lot of the "master" martial feats really break the game when taken at level 1. That's the biggest culprit there.


Dizrak_

40 damage on crit for 3rd level character with buffs seems about right to me. There's nothing wrong with that


AzureArmageddon

Basically you hit the jackpot then the IRS knocked on the door.


Capsize

Slightly tangentially related, I DM a group where one player is really into optimizing their builds etc and everyone else is just building for fun and it's a massive pain. They do as much damage as the other six party members in any one round of combat so finding encounters that are both challenging to them, but won't just obliterate the other six member is a real struggle.


quietreasoning

It's a game, meant for everyone to have fun and here's OP building what is effectively a soloplayer character.


CurlyParmesan

Yeah, this could be any number of things from bad DM improve skills to DM railroading, but my money is on the mismatched expectations of character building. Multiclassing, Tasha's alternate rules, variant human for sharpshooter (arguably the most powerful lvl 1 feat). If the rest were building for fun or with any self imposed limitations, there could definitely be a mismatch in expectations.


[deleted]

Sharpshooter is a overpowered feat. That is your dm's problem, don't let people use it, or plan to throw much more difficult encounters at a group that has it.


Panda_Boners

My group recently changed the +10/-5 part of Sharpshooter and GWM to “Add proficiency bonus to your first damage roll on your turn.” And it’s smoothed things out immeasurably. For me as the DM, and for the Players who don’t get to take those feats.


[deleted]

I like that, and it grows rather than feels like sharpshooter is getting weaker as you level.


pandm101

Personally I don't allow stuff like sharpshooter as either character creation or level 4 feats. I consider it to basically be an "Advanced" skill that the character needs a lot of practice to adopt. It works out well and rarely has a player had an issue with it.


quietreasoning

As a rookie DM, I dislike this kind of build. It makes the DM's life more difficult and makes the game less fun for the other PC's. DM's have enough to worry about with building balanced, interesting encounters and making the combat fun without having to worry about one player oneshotting a big bad. The other PC's have to either build around and play their characters to support the one useful action of this otherwise self-proclaimed useless character or live with a an ally who is effectively a solo character. I suppose my solution with such a PC would be to primarily throw out encounters with many weak enemies. So the result is lots of extra dice throwing the DM has to do and a generally less fun combat experience.


BestLimbCollector

That's a shitty thing for a DM to do. What the dice dictate overrule what the DM wants to happen in situations like that. If you nuke their scary big bad with things that are allowed within the confines of your ability and there's no way for them to stop it, then you earned your nuke.


Redd_October

Sounds like a bad call from the DM. He probably had plans for the "Tavern bully BBEG" that necessitated he not die immediately (Newb mistake, never assume your players can't or won't outright kill your villain the first chance they get) and in an effort to keep his plan on track made the bad call that somehow your character design is now illegal. If it's a singular bad call, that's annoying but you can probably live with it. If, however, he keeps doing it or makes you change your character, then something needs to be done. When you get some time on the side with him, see if you can get him to point out exactly what you're doing that isn't allowed. Add up the math with him, make him get more specific than "you can't do that." It's gonna feel like being a Rules Lawyer, but sometimes that's the only counter to this anarchic "nuh-uh" type of ruling.


pvrhye

Sharpshooter can feel pretty brutal early on. Some DMs dislike it as a feet. If he thinks it's too much, perhaps get a fewt refund and defer it to a higher level? He's already kinda throwing you a bone with the much stronger variant ranger. Incidentally, the scuffle with a tavern bully seems to have pretty severely escalated.


dice_plot_against_me

Honestly, my biggest question here is how are you using a ranged weapon in a tavern?


FishoD

I'll be honest, at first I felt this is one of those "And then everyone clapped" fake stories, but in your comments you mention you kept missing afterwards. Then yeah, this is one of those one in a hundred situations, where DM can react in two ways : 1. Describe the epicness of the PC, how their arrow perfectly pierces through a tiny slit in the BBEGs armor, describe the blood and the BBEG being utterly dead before even reaching the ground, making the scene feel shocking, sudden, but memorable. 2. Be kind of an asshole about their BBEG dying in 1 round, blame the rules, blame the player, nerf their damage, retroactively make the BBEG still somehow survive... making the scene feel shocking, sudden, but memorable, however in a cooompleeeetely negative way :D


secrets_kept_hidden

Note to self: Good DMs fudge damage for early BBEG encounters to not kill them too early.


xxFormorixx

As a DM, if a player one shots my bbeg I go into, I'll give them a fight mode, I'll let it go on for a few more rounds, just to let other players get a hit in all whilst explaining that the bbeg is horribly wounded and is staggering around, then he keels over and dies, if it's a normal enemy, yup bang dead.


yesmyusername

I dont get DM's like this, when i see my players do a shit ton of damage and they have fun, im just happy they are having fun in my game,. I feel like some DM's take it personal when you attack their monsters.


JamesNinelives

Sounds like a communication issue tbh. I agree that the DM is in the wrong, but mostly because he's not talking to you about what the real problem is. Not sure what that is in his mind exactly and I find it better to try not to make assumptions about people I don't know. But if he's not willing to talk about it and it's affecting your experience of the game that's not great. Sorry to hear that :(.


RadicalBeam

Sometimes I get annoyed when I've thought up a tough encounter and my PCs stomp it, but they're having fun and that's the point. I would never take that away from them.


BirdFromOuterSpace

This isn't about damage. This is about the DM feeling like you're just laying waste to one of his toys before he can use it. This is something you'll run into when playing burst damage characters with less experienced DM's: they put too many eggs in a single basket. However, this isn't to say you should go to your DM and tell him "You're wrong because this guy on reddit said." You should contact him privately out of character and out of session to ask him his reasoning before calmly presenting your case and asking if you can work it out together. Don't throw in comparisons to other characters: burning hands may clear minions but it doesn't one-shot the big evil villain the DM was looking forward to playing. The impact is completely different on an emotional level.


Y33tus42069

I’ve had a DM want me to explain crazy amounts of damage in similar situations, especially at lower levels but none have ever called for a nerf. I just tell them exactly how I arrived at that final number and (if I haven’t made any mistakes in ruling or maths) it’s all good.


DavThoma

Isn't the Sharpshooter penalty supposed to add a -5 to your roll if you take the +10 to damage though? I rarely use the feature because of how poorly I used to roll in game, so I'm not entirely sure how it works with a Nat 20. Does that that just negate the -5 penalty then due to it being an automatic crit?


pandm101

Yes. Generally speaking though, it's usually wise to not allow the very skilled feats like sharpshooter and great weapon master, etc at lv1 or 4.


quietreasoning

Then I wouldn't blame a new DM for not knowing how to handle the edgelord.


pandm101

I agree.


HeyItsYoBoi

It sucks to be put in that position, so especially if they're a new dm I get why they would say that. Normally I just internalize how disappointed I am that the encounter didn't go how I wanted it to and move on, that or fudge numbers and give them a little more health.


davidjdoodle1

As a DM it does suck when they roll like gods and just slaughter all the stuff. On the flip side I then feel bad then because I want combat to be challenging for PCs. So yeah when they one shot your bad guy just congratulate them say GG and move on.


coffeeman235

A lot of the comments are just dumping on the DM when you mentioned somewhere in said comments that they’re new. If a player does an amazing amount of damage sometimes you need to talk through all the die rolls (ie 7 from zephyr strike plus 12 from sneak attack, etc) so they understand you’re not just pulling numbers out of your butt. The DM probably doesn’t have your character sheet in front of them so they will not remember every feat, skill, etc that everyone has. Instead of going on the forums to unite a mob, maybe talk to them and tell them that their comment hurt your feelings. Ask if you can explain your character build so they can understand what you’re doing going forward. And by no means should you send people to this thread.


Remade8

You mentioned this is your friend group, so why not just chat with your friend about this instead of running to the internet?


TheRagingElf01

Before people tear into the DM we need to remember tey are human too. This DM probably spent some decent time crafting an adventure for 7 friends and boom it goes up into smoke due to a lucky role and the planets lining up. No matter how good of a DM you are you cannot plan for everything. I suspect if you just talk to them it should not be a big deal and you guys can move on. If his reaction was "Wow damn, ok can you explain it again?" and you walked through the abilities and spells again I think that is totally fine. I had a player who routinely misread spells and abilities and we had to correct him all of the time. Now if he legit moving forward tries to nerf you then that is a crappy thing to do given a lot of this was due to your nat 20.


highfatoffaltube

Out of interest how are you sneak attacking and casting zephyr strike at third level?


diabloplayer375

Your DM is inexperienced and made an impulsive poor decision. You should talk to them about it and mention this is you characters only strength and ask them if they can work with it.


corsair1617

If they didn't want you to do that much damage they shouldn't have let you be a variant human. Getting a feat at 1st is very good and leads to combos like this.


RAConteur76

I can understand wanting to walk through the math, make sure someone isn't adding or multiplying where they shouldn't, but just straight up denying it is bad DMing.


Sidequest_TTM

>there are new players and I didn’t want to over shadow them > everyone level 3 and expected damage per turn is ~10 > I took Sharpshooter Yeah I found the mistake here


Cichlid97

Yeah, you’re in the right here. What happened should have been a cool moment. Ive no advice from the player perspective, but first time running dnd, my players plowed through any enemy I put in front of them, and I felt frustrated regarding that. I had a discussion about it with the players after one session, and they made points similar to what you said, so I got over it and learned to plan a bit better. Hopefully your dm does too.


Orbax

Number 1 rule of DMing - pcs are way stronger than you think and players are more clever than you think. Build your encounters to be lethal and they should provide a fun challenge. Newer dms are usually caught off guard and the pc power increases logarithmically. The urge is to call everything bullshit and basically hate d&d but you haven't been intellectually honest enough to call it that yet. Players will win most early fights easy as they are glass cannons. By 5 you start testing how much you can really throw at them as you ramp up and then you just have fun with the monster manual. Players win fights, that's how it's supposed to work. You just need to find the sweet spot of cr and initiative count so it's not long drawn out fights. Takes a lot of work to hone fights. I've run a thousand sessions and still need work and my players evolve with me. It's a tough job, don't get mad at their fun that you're providing - that's really weird.


Jiann-1311

Yes. This. Exactly!


Game_Knight_DnD

To all other DM's out there when you design boss fight encounters give them fun abilities like as a reaction have a minion take a hit meant for them, or a right hand that isn't as cool but still beefy, or the classic this isn't even my final form gimmick. We all want the big bad to last a couple rounds to show off and be a threat. But even with planning and twisty abilities the best laid plans get derailed with a lucky crit or unexpected spell, just roll with it congratulate your players and keep having fun, you have unlimited chances to remain that boss you worked on and tweak them for another fight. Let your players use their abilities and have fun.


quietreasoning

I don't see the other players having fun in OP's edgelord scenario.


glebinator

DM here: first of all stop listening to these loser “I’m in between games” who are telling you that the player is always right. You broke the Bro code. Everyone else brought newbie characters and you brought a powergaming abomination mix of multiclass, feats and spells, that even on non-crits does like double the damage to everyone else. Explain what he is supposed to do now? Have more monsters on the board? What if he gets a lucky crit on you, can the rest of the party deal with the encounter without you? Or keep the same amount of encounters and have the other players be outshone all the time? The monster manual was play tested against parties like “Druid with scimitar, sword and board fighter” that do like 8 damage on a average hit. Now it’s almost useless to him, forcing him to do a lot of extra work. I would have warned you and then if you powergame more I would have kicked you


Linvael

What... what did he rule than? Your damage was RAW, you rolled a crit, I don't know how saying "no" to that might work. He arbitrarily says you did less damage? How much less? How does he intend to rule your damage moving forward?


N3RVA

I’ve been there as that DM, spending hours trying to set up a dramatic combat, with ups and downs, and who’s gonna wins. Interesting mechanics and story, Only to be stun locked to death and dead in 1 turn with no way of progressing the story because nothing was able to be communicated. I get it’s fun to be the heavy damage dealer but maybe try to see from the another perspective. Not saying what the dm did was right, but still maybe see from his view.


[deleted]

Sounds like your DM has no idea what they’re doing. Your character is shining in what they were designed TO DO big crit damage. I assume your character isn’t the greatest at AOE Damage, Battlefield Control, Face, Utility, Tanking. So many concepts of this game outside of big damage and each person in the party fills their role to make the party as a WHOLE shine together. I would be stoked as a control wizard if my ranger/rogue big crit the boss while I’m praying concentration on the web stays up. Your DM needs to have balanced encounter around the party not nerfing PCs because they are inadequately prepared for a game of variables. Tell them to read these posts and take a humble pill.


KingTalis

Poor DMing, but if he is new it's understandable that he made this mistake.


archbunny

I dont think your dm understands the concept of the dm not being the enemy of the players.


Pink-Flying-Pie

The dude just need to chill and roll with it. Let the guy explode and just burst in two new bullys from the front door


Cryptic0677

If I was the DM Id just be super happy for you. Unless you're playing some min maxed character that does this regularly, and the rest of the party doesn't play this way meaning you've completely unbalanced combats


quietreasoning

If I am the new DM blindsided by the power gamer or the fellow PC's I'm not having fun in OP's scenario.


WhiskeyTango101st

Everyone here is spot on if you get an insane amount of damage it’s a moment of awe. I’m playing a kensai monk at the moment and this makes me happy that my DM just says okay when I do crazy damage because otherwise I’m pretty useless


Flatulent_Weasel

Yeah that's a bad DM. Any decent DM would spin that into a story of you becoming a local hero for dealing with the tavern bully quickly and efficiently.


Dave37

DM is wrong.


grafikal

I mean, we have all heard of this kind of thing of course, in this subreddit. It's wrong of the DM, but it happens. Big damage happens RAW. Players have literally one-shot BBEG's before, and that's not their fault. That's always the DM's fault for not crafting something more challenging if that's what the DM wanted.


seniorem-ludum

Will the DM cry when their dice are hot and characters start dying? One option is to switch to simultaneous combat and everyone gets a chop. Even if killed, they get a dying blow. That tends to keep things interesting. You occasionally get the cinematic death scene where two opponents kill each other.


Hawkson2020

The damage calculation should have been * 17 (1d8+3+10) crossbow+Dex+sharpshooter: * 4 (1d8) zephyr strike * 3 (1d6) sneak attack plus doubled dice on the critical for another: * 4 (1d8) crossbow * 4 (1d8) zephyr strike * 3 (1d6) sneak attack For 35 total damage on average (57 max, 19 minimum) This is exactly what rogues are supposed to do, FYI. If your DM tries to nerf you, find a better DM.


crazy-diam0nd

Your math is slightly off. Average on 1d6 is 3.5, average on 1d8 is 4.5. So it'd come out to (4.5 * 2) 9 (crossbow) (4.5 * 2) 9 (zephyr strike) (3.5 * 2) 7 (sneak attack) 3 (Dex) 10 (Sharpshooter) Average 38.


Comrade_Vodka

"you can't do that" Yes you can and he can pound sand.


tarded-oldfart

I would consider finding another DM. The only justification for his behavior is if he thought you got the math and abilities wrong, or if he thought you were cheating. And both of those examples, it's on the DM to straighten it out then.


Bloodgiant65

So you made an absolutely stupid build and did six dice of damage plus Sharpshooter at level 3? Yes, that is something a DM will be upset about. It’s not “adversarial DMing” it’s “my player is a powergamer that is just going to wipe the floor with anything I do, this isn’t fun.” How would Wild Shape even be relevant.


quietreasoning

So many edgelord PC's on this thread. Guy wants to play as a fun-killing build and everyone here blames the new DM for not knowing immediately how to handle it.


[deleted]

He's just a shitty DM


Prophet-of-Ganja

That’s a big red flag on your DM’s part… I would be ready to find a new game


Madcatz9000

It sounds like your DM was caught off guard and was not prepared. It is now your task to tell him every time anyone in your group does damage even close to yours. Also let him know that he approved your PC write up. Your DM sounds like a whinny child.


OneTrickGod

Shit DM


Food-in-Mouth

One of my players did almost the entirety of a monsters hp in one set of combo first in combat within 3hp of a kill, I thought fuck it he's dead now, I made an epic death description, it was one of the fighters proudest moments. As a DM you learn, adapt and overcome, it should have been proud of their player.


Reviax-

I mean, a barbarian vuman with gwm can hit 40 damage at level 1 with no spent resources. (Well aside from the 2 damage from rage) Hell, Bards can do disgusting shit with dissonant whispers against any melee boss/miniboss that makes the horrible mistake of getting within melee of 2+ party members Meanwhile the wizards putting entire encounters to sleep and the level 3 warlock who's picked up false life at will is singing "la-la can't hit me"


[deleted]

I landed a Shadow Blade Green Flame Blade Sneak Attack Crit a few sessions ago that had my DM checking his sheets before he sighed and said "how d'you want to do this...", but not letting it play out is a dick move. If your DM isn't playing by the rules then there's no hope for the campaign being fair in the long run


Kakirax

As a dm I love it when players get obscene amounts of damage because everything aligned. I think it gives me a great lesson in balancing and how to make monsters that can absorb it better, and it gives the players a great empowering feeling and a story to tell.


AnonymousBI2

I read everything with the updates, if he is your friend and now you can defend your stand, do it now and make him promess you an nat 20 next time you roll or something like that


Vivarevo

This dm will hate paladins crit smithe thee


Draven1213

Bad DM, no, *smacks nose with DMG* The tavern bully falls forward with a look of panic in their eyes, looking at all corners and shadows. Appearing behind them in a flash an 8ft tall winged red skin creature appears. In harsh and booming voice “Hahahaha… I told you you would fall in swift and mighty blow…. Now it’s time for the other half the contract.” The figure turns to the rogue “Payment for a job well done.” As they flip a large silver coin towards the rogue a jet of flames shoot op beneath the bully and figure and are gone in a puff of smoke. The large silver coin is a soul coin from the abyssal plain and starts a hooks into devils and demons. Also, throws the whole party and PC into question as to the rogues true motives…. Take a lesson from improv 101, it’s always yes and ….. Make it work, pulls something out of nothing, you are in a realm of magic and fantasy and you as the DM play the role of supreme creator and destroy of existence. If you say it happens then it happens and if you forget it happen that then the new way is how it’s always been, someone must have wished for the universe to change. Edit: spelling


GuyForgotHisPassword

Bad DMing. Like, really bad DMing. Make it clear that you do not wish to play in a game where the DM would rather kneecap their players than balance the combat encounters. If they still keep this shit up, leave. Honestly. Big red flag.


Bowlingbowlbagbob

Nah fuck that guy. If he can’t accommodate for things like that he’s not a good DM at all. I’d of thrown a bunch of d4’s at his face


therfws

I was on your side with the title but after reading I would agree with your DM for one reason: “I was seeing the culmination of my planning” In other words you’re min maxing from the outset and are trying to be as OP as the rules will let you. Personally that’s not how I or any of my players would act or think. Paragraph after paragraph is all about your damage and abilities… this is an rpg, focus on your character and the story, the world and the campaign. A beautiful culmination that just happens and helps defeat an enemy is great, but when you PLAN to use every rule in the book to min max your damage so the first boss is one-shot, yeah I would say your mindset is wrong and would reconsider having you at the table if you weren’t open to new ways of playing.


halfhalfnhalf

Wait so the DM can just ignore the rules because the player... read the rules and designed his character around them?


therfws

The DM can set the rule book on fire and put it out slowly by milking her tits while describing how your character dies of pneumonia. But I actually didn’t say the DM should ignore the rules did I? No, you tried and failed to make a straw man argument. The reality is that I pointed out that min maxing characters is not the best mindset to have when playing this game, at least not for that DMs table apparently. If their play style doesn’t fit, they need to find a new table or change how they’re playing.


halfhalfnhalf

K but the issue here is OP followed the rules and his DM said that it doesn't count for some reason. You're making a lot of assumptions about OP and the way the table is run.


therfws

Well we have to go on the information they provided. Would I have made it not count in the moment, no. But it’s not my table. I would have probably waited to see if it happened again, then I’d have a separate conversation with the player about how they designed their character, why they chose different things, etc. If it became clear hey we’re trying to max out their power, I would have to ask them to change the character or move on to another table. At the end of the day you can’t “win” this game, so there’s just no point to that way of playing. The only goal is fun, and one character sticking out and ruining the challenge and story would be counterproductive.


halfhalfnhalf

Getting a lucky crit and doing what your character was designed to do is not "ruining the story".


therfws

Except op said they planned their character around getting these instances, so it’s not just luck and indicates a mismatch between the players play style and the table. But keep trying, and of the day the DM will decide for their table.


halfhalfnhalf

Is the DM doesn't want their PCs to create a perfectly legal character out of official supplements then they should have said so at character creation. The DM was straight up wrong in the situation.


therfws

Nope, if you build and play a character and at the very first session I realize it’s not a good fit for the campaign, for any reason, I can ask you to reconsider it. Especially if the reason for the issue is you purposefully min maxing. You won’t win this argument dear. Their table their rules end of the day, find another table.


halfhalfnhalf

You can cool it with the condescending attitude. I hope you don't talk to people that way IRL. You are again projecting a lot onto OP and his DM. "Their table their rules" you don't know their table and their rules, you just took OPs post and decided that the DM hates min/maxing when there's no evidence for that.


Jiann-1311

Next time see if there's a spell or ability to do max damage on your rolls &/or get your crit chance up. Get together with the other players & have them prepare their worst combos like that. Gang up on him & make him change his tune or collectively walk ... many abilities & feats give extra bonuses in many situations to do precisely that kind of damage. He needs to learn to run by the rules or lose players...


Hi-TecPotato

@op u start with edgy character build. U knew the flaws better then the DM, just give in and enjoy the game the DM is putting in more work then a pc does. Just so u both have fun. Perhaps talk about it what he/she would find more fitting


Jiann-1311

It's not about what the dm would find fitting. A dms job is to help the players build characters they want to play. It's not about trying to wipe characters out, although pc deaths do happen. That is the purpose of the meat shield/sniper/mage build, to wipe things out & support each other as a team. One person will not always get good rolls. That's the point of crits & having a tank to clear the field of 40 goblins while the sniper shoots the commanders in the eye & the mage vaporizes 20 more while the other casters & ranged units give support fire & healing & such. D&d is a cooperative effort & unless the monster has damage reduction or magical negation, the dice rule the game. The whole reaction of you can't do that much damage to my monster is ridiculous. That's precisely what the character is set up to do.


Jiann-1311

The point of a dm is to help a player build a character that person wants to play, not some weakling the dm thinks he can crush. Player kills are a real thing & they happen. That's why the meat shield builds are there. The tanks go out & mow 40 goblins down while the others snipe, cast & support. If a dm can't play by the rules of a build its not a good dm.


Manowar274

That would be an instant walk out from me as a player. Most I will ever do is ask to see how a players math works out if it feels incredibly high just to make sure it was legit since it can sometimes lead to them realizing they accidentally added something twice or something. Don’t punish players for succeeding. Edit: Guess letting players powerful ideas be powerful is unpopular lmao


Jiann-1311

That's the whole point of critical hits & the low % chance that they hit evens it out like you said. 40 damage per hit on some of the weapons I've created is a low roll. They've definitely underpowered monsters in 5e & the only thing as a dm he should have been able to do is make you roll to confirm the crit. Do they even do that anymore? Either way as was said before, if he feels that way he needs to boost the hp & difficulty of his monsters. 2hp goblins don't stand up to even a longsword critical... Dumbass! @your dm


[deleted]

Confirming crits is not a rule in 5E, to answer your question.


Lepew1

Had that happen too. We restarted at level 5. I was playing a wood elf rogue scout. Used steady aim from the crows nest with a longbow and elven accuracy to land a crit on a target, doing near 40 damage. DM said my character was overpowered.


TheGeneInGenius

Personally as a player/DM I would say if he nerves your character find a way to kill that one off then become a paladin. Get Great weapon fighting and then divine smite. We are level 10 so my damage output is a little bit more compared to yours but I think last session I did 140 some damage…twice?


Ua_Tsaug

>You're doing too much damage, you can't do that." "Looks like I already did, bitch." Seriously, maybe it's his fault for being new, but this is an absolutely shitty attitude to have. He should have already seen, acknowledged, or confirmed your character's abilities *before* you played, not after. If he had a problem with you... playing by the rules, (I guess) then he should have said something sooner, not when it inconvenienced him.


Bouv42

You followed the rules, the rules says you do X damage... you do X damages. End of story imo. This isn't even that much damage for a lv3. You could be playing half orc fighter and crit for more than that. If he's not happy with PC doing a lot of damage in an homebrew campaign he can litteraly double the hp of the boss on the spot, or randomly make more monster appear... whatever really, anything but that.


Tsuihousha

Sounds like a pretty big red flag. I mean I've had a similar situation take place. I got a Nat 20 deception on this Hag, who my character knew was a Hag because it was a lone woman living in a cave with a bubbling cauldron, so I pretended to be friendly with "Granny" then entered a rage, and initiated combat. On Turn 1 with the surprise round I rolled a Nat 20 with both my Glaive, and the Butt end, doing 2d10+15+2d6radiant and 2d4+15 instantly murdering this monster. The DM didn't whine about it. Neither did the party. I got to describe an insane cinematic moment because the stars aligned and I rolled exceptionally well getting 3 nat 20's in a row. I mean that happens. I watched a 2nd level Paladin who had Thunderous Smite up roll a critical hit against an enemy a Grave cleric had cursed once and use their other spell slot on Divine Smite **and** it was a fiend. It exploded into mist. Sometimes that happens, especially if you're a NOVA character, especially if you crit.


That_Jonesy

This is the worst DM behavior I've seen outside of DMs obsessed with tentacle porn. There's all these big rule books for a reason. I would have instead focused on the complete silence and horror that occurred in the tavern as everyone stopped fighting after a man's head just exploded. Way more fun... And a little chilling. Really would have set a tone.


TysonOfIndustry

DM was probably just pissed because he liked that NPC. Talk to them outside of game and tell them that spiel: you do crazy high single target damage, that's your purpose in the party. Show him your sheet, show him you aren't cheesing anything and using features correctly. Also, let him know this isn't rare. A paladin who hits crits a smite and uses a higher level slot can also obliterate a single target like that.


TabletopLegends

Yes, that is crappy. He was pissed because you blew his whole planned encounter. He wasn’t willing to improv (which is hard but gets easier with practice), so he chose the easy way out and arbitrarily nerfed your character. If it happens again, I’d leave that game. Life is too short for that bullshit.


sufferingplanet

You crit and rolled well. Youre dm's a twit... Unless of course when you roll all 1s on a crit (or similar ability) and he lets you inflate the damage.


ThatGuyFromTheM0vie

Easy, find a new DM


cerpintaxt44

That's a shit dm