DMs, What is something you say to your players that always makes them nervous?

[@anteaterhi]

I always like saying “It seems like…” and putting some emphasis on “seems”. Really gets them suspicious for no reason

[@petezthegangsta4750]

That’s down right evil…I love it 😈

[@vxicepickxv]

A little paranoia goes a long way.

[@fatalgravity]

That's messed up 🤣

[@koopaking6148]

a good kind of messed up.... it keeps things interesting....

[@dizzydial8081]

There's a recurring enemy across campaigns that always makes an entrance with a heavy smell of sulfur. So "You begin to smell sulfur all around you," is the phrase. This enemy has claimed many a PC.

[@Jfk2Mr]

Is that enemy a manhole full of hydrogen sulfide?

[@dizzydial8081]

@@Jfk2Mr No, it's a minotaur demon with innate fire abilities. Although, one iteration can take that form. It'd be a nice twist

[@arcana6933]

This has the same feel as "The air around you grows colder..."

[@N01inparticular]

I could hear my dm sweating when I asked “Can I put kerosene in this cup of summoning.” New rule was made that it can only be something you can drink, so now it serves as a portable water generator for my shape water cantrip.

[@disableddragonborn]

I mean, you can drink any liquid that doesn't completely destroy your mouth upon contact.

[@Boeira19]

You can drinks anything, some of those things you can only drinks once.

[@elbruces]

I just learned a new one from Brennan Lee Mulligan: "would you say your character is weaker at the elbow or shoulder?"

[@siobhannicolson5566]

another one from mr mulligan from the start of the campaign: "i want you to describe your character (...) with the knowledge your mouth is full of blood" like way to drop us all into the world, man!

[@Alex-wu2sl]

One of my favorite dms has a phrase that freaks everyone out. “I just want you guys to remember I love you.” I adore it.

[@lucarudloff687]

Awwww

[@MisterDiceGuy]

Here is a fun one. Have a pickable locked door. When they open it, they immediately need to make a dex save from an enemy running at them or a trap going off. The next time they go to pick a lock, make them roll a dex save, and then nothing happens. Its only evil because you are playing with emotions.

[@Spirit612]

Or the lock itself is a mimic...

[@MisterDiceGuy]

@@Spirit612 All my players are scared of mimics since I had them open up a chest absolutely full of gold coins. The chest was fine. The gold they started to grab were baby mimics (Treated it like ongoing damage at the start of their turn). Their parents were the suits of armor next to them.

[@takemikazuchij]

My personal favorite in this vein is "you come upon a strong door, with a brass knob and keyhole" "I roll to pick the lock!" *math rock clatter* "27! Does that do it?" "... you hear a solid click come from the lock" "Sweet, I open the door!" "...the door is locked." "Wha-" "Because you locked the door that was already unlocked."

[@fullelement4886]

My DM pulled this on us a couple times, now we open all doors from 10ft back with the arcane trickster's mage hand

[@MisterDiceGuy]

@@fullelement4886 A good decision honestly.

[@scorpioperk1137]

PC: *Picks up potion bottle* “I would like to identify.” DM: *rolls dice*… “Whats your passive perception?” PC: “12?” DM: “roll for animal handling first. At disadvantage.” (And thats how my players learned about baby mimics, aka potion mimics)

[@skell6134]

Bruh,is there a thing which CANT be a mimic ?

[@trickygamer555]

@@skell6134 I mean surely the entire planet can't be a single giant mimic, so yes.

[@skell6134]

@@trickygamer555 Ok,rephrase it,is there atleast a single thing which in any case cant ever be a mimic ?

[@scorpioperk1137]

@@skell6134 It would need to be made of living flesh, so any symbiotic flesh golem armor. is safe. and regarding planet mimic... (looks at stat block for ship mimic and island mimic)... hope its asleep

[@sharkjumpingwalrus6744]

@@skell6134 Mimics try to appear harmless, so you know that mimics won't pretend to be something incredibly dangerous, like a cursed item. Of course, said object is still gonna be a problem, just not a mimic problem.

[@Bentron88]

Silence. That is one thing that makes any player nervous: when the dm remains quiet. Did we make the role? Did we fail? Did we just TPK ourselves because we didn’t we see the glyph of warding? Did we kill the boss and now we have a second phase to deal with? Or is the DM just being silent because he wants a dramatic pause before they reveal that they were just pulling a prank? Silence is the worse…

[@YuainLucky]

I agree. In my case silence either means I rolled a nat 20 or a nat 1, or (not usual) it means I am very mad.

[@matthewnesgoda2498]

"You see a chest in the corner of the room" always my players nervous. My players are all new and have NEVER encountered a mimic before, but kowing they exist is enough for them to meticulously inspect every chest they come across. I'm planning a mimic encounter because of this, but it's the door to the room they enter!

[@killiant.simanek603]

Had a player deal critical damage to a wooden chest full of magical scrolls with a sword, and another with a firebolt cantrip. The whole thing was reduced to ashes. They were supposed to use those scrolls later on in the campaign. They thought it was a mimic.

[@tienshinhan4164]

My players gave up taking the time to investigate every door and chest and just shoot/stab it first to see if it reacts.

[@NobleMETA21]

"you take 38 points of damage" "Half since I passed my save" "That was halved" *Ralph wiggum chuckle "I'm in danger"*

[@arkron81]

I think many people will agree with me that hearing the DM say this is rather unnerving: "The room *SEEMS* empty."

[@DJROCKSTAZ]

Oh, GOD YES! Especially after you roll really low on a perception check.

[@arkron81]

@@DJROCKSTAZ Oh, no. The worst part is when you roll average, like 10-13. On a low roll, you there's gotta be something there. But on an average roll? You have no way of knowing if there's actually nothing there, or if the other bastard rolled high enough on their hide check.

[@Lunasera]

"Did you keep an eye on the leaf duck?" Our GM in our Pathfinder campaign created these ducks that were alchemistic constructs and seemed to be made of leaves and sticks but they were sentient. They were originally intended to be a joke but our rouge decided to buy one. It ate anything plant-based and if it had eaten enough it would lay eggs made of whatever it ate which would hatch ducklings made of whatever the egg was made of. The duck was pure chaos, running off, eating anything green and pissing off various people. One time we were in a dwarven forge, a rather big one with connections to a shrine of Thorum. The duck wrecked havoc on the altar... It only got worse when the blasted beast evolved into a shapeshifting celestial dog that could eat magic!

[@takemikazuchij]

As a DM, when I start asking about characteristics like height and weight, or where people are standing. Different note; I usually instill a sense of dread in my DM when I'm a player by asking "how much does 'X' weigh?" Because he knows some telekinetic f***ery is coming

[@Kikigirl125]

Last Halloween, I ran a horror fairy tale themed one-shot. The players had been introduced to the fae countess and she looked around at everyone. Although they had been invited at her whim, she couldn't seem to remember their names, so she asked one of the players, "May I have your name?" My player, so very, very excited about the character she was playing, gave all her names and titles so proudly and practiced. I then smiled and asked, "Can I see your character sheet?" and proceeded to erase the name. Throughout the rest of the oneshot, if the players ever gave me the proper answer when I asked a question starting with "May I have...?", I'd take that from their sheet. I managed to steal another name and a charisma score that way. Ever since then, "Can I see your character sheet?" and any "May I have...?" questions make my friends immediately start yelling at me.

[@chromacypher8409]

"It appears to be..." "I will allow it, but remember, it can be used against you." and my all time favorite, "when was the last time you checked on...?"

[@CaptRedJack]

"come with me. bring your dice" is pretty much the scariest thing that can be said in our group.

[@user-Tod-The-Toadster]

This one needs context : my pc was casting something that would need a round to take effect but it was a duel. Now he knew that this would kill his opponent so he went " I cast *whatever it was* and then next round kill his ass" I got a nat 20 and knowing that he had 12 health left rolled the dice and looked at him and said...... "you dont kick his ass" he went pale.

[@41217beingbored]

"Oh, don't worry. You do it..." I like to say that (or a variation of that) when a character tries to do something that will blow up in their face, or when they roll decent but still just miss the mark. I remember for Halloween doing a mind palace dungeon crawl where the characters' consciousness was traversing the twisted memories of a dying warrior. Since they weren't in their physical bodies, they could only manifest in the mind what they remembered carrying on them. So of course, all fighters had their weapons and all spellcasters could use only spells they had prepared. In one room, they fell into a forest littered with stone statues frozen in terror. One of the players (noticing that a lot of the statues were looking in the same direction) tried to see if all the statues lined up to form something. So, for fun, I had him roll perception, not for lining up the statues, but to see if he notices my monster of choice. He rolled good but not good enough. "You do see the statues lining up. You also feel something below you." "I look down." "You notice a large snakelike tail wrapping itself around the base of the statue tying your legs to it. There's also the sound of hissing above you." "Um... i... look up?" "As you slowly look up, you see a Medusa over the statue, not noticing you, but looking out for intruders." As soon as i said Medusa, everyone immediately tried to convince me they "remembered" items that could blind or turn its gaze against her. They hadn't even started combat yet. I think I was the first one amongst the DMs i knew to prompt the players to look in their characters backpacks. So, the cleric (along with their seeing eye owl familiar) "remembered" they had a mirror in their pack and rolled high enough to manifest it. Then they said they would have the owl carry the mirror and flash it in front of the Medusa. Solid plan. So, I have them roll for the owl to see if it can do it. And... it botched the roll. I give out a slow "oh no" and roll the dreaded d100. "My owl's only doing a flyby." they quickly tried make sure i knew. "Oh, don't worry. It does it." I said with a grin. "It dives forward lining itself perfectly, but the weight of the mirror is dropping the owl too fast, and as it lifts and swoops up... it accidently smashes the mirror in the Medusa's face. The creature hisses mad as it tightens around the statue and your fellow teammate. Roll for initiative." The rest of the battle was a wild mess but that's a story for another time, maybe.

[@teekomeeko]

"Oh, you touch it? With your bare hand?"

[@steampoweredgamer7016]

I love asking for random Wisdom saves and telling the players nothing regardless of their result. *Because you never know if the Scrying spell worked or not.*

[@Boomspell]

"Does a 200 hit you?" -My DM in an extremely homebrew campaign. We were...level 4-ish.

[@DivingDog0]

"Hold up. What's your passive perception...? Okay, carry on." Anytime. As many times as you want.

[@zacharyyoungblood7013]

The worst thing my dm has said was... nothing. He just rolled dice and looked us in the eyes and smiled.

[@pcalix17]

"Roll a perception check, please." Always the precursor to doom especially when using the word "please".

[@wyvernknight]

"So you guys remember that NPC from last session?"

[@Nintenja889]

“Roll for -blank-.” They roll high and are excited. “Okay. Continue.” Instant fear.

[@SimonClarkstone]

Have someone be scrying on the party. Requires wisdom saves and the party can't tell why.

[@Spirit612]

For my group, it's always a simple line - often said with a malicious grin - that gets them worried. "If that's what you want to do, do it, but are you sure...?" It always comes up every game and they never know if I'm going to do something good or bad.

[@No-XIV-Xion]

"Are you sure?" We've heard this enough in my DND group from every DM that we immediately reconsider

[@ozone20rulez]

"Make me a wisdom save" "Do you say that... *out loud?"* "Make me an Arcana check" "No, [something horrible the part said half jokingly] does not happen. ...Not yet." And my favourite. "That night as the party takes their long rests, you have.... *a dream"*

[@darthremy1802]

“Can u give me a perception check?” Then they roll and I say “okay” and then nothing else…they hate it and honestly I didn’t know I was doing it for the longest time

[@blueshellincident]

I do this all the time but sometimes for only innocuous details. I don’t do it to be evil I simply do it to obscure when I’m doing it for important reasons, but I’m never doing it for *no* reason.

[@donniejefferson9554]

".........good." I usually like to do that after asking if they can hear me roll dice through my mic. I know they can't and I'm not even rolling anything. I just like to cause panic

[@DragonsDungeon]

At this point my players are terrified of long rest, because of dreams. They’ve encountered the BBEG, been summoned to hell, kidnapped by grass - so when they take a long rest, just saying an unconscious persons name gives the heart attacks.

[@lucarudloff687]

Kidnapped by grass???

[@DragonsDungeon]

@@lucarudloff687 I gave them a dream, which in character they have yet to realise was from the Goddess of Nature, but I describe it as the grass around their came gently encasing them and they were pulled under, pulling themselves free in a different forest to witness events that happened. Out of character, they have all referred to is at being kidnapped by grass. Also I had another session yesterday with this same party where a homebrew Aboleth, was toying with their dreams for multiple days on a boat, leading to them slowly hating each other - once more adding to the terror of dreams and long rests.

[@remingtonwright6796]

The charred corpse of the boss they thought they just killed with a massive explosion. Starting standing back up and chuckling...

[@catgoat6471]

My wife and my little sister are two of the players that I just started DMing for. I want to add a little extra in my campaign, waterdeep dragon heist, so while I'm at home I will be looking at me notes for our next session, start laughing maniacally, and type something down. I'm a little chaotic, because of that my wife gets nervous when I laugh.

[@TheTrueBongoKnight]

There's always a laugh to be had at a well timed "click!" or a "please roll dexterity for me?"

[@candlegal10311]

I'm new the Dm I'm playing with likes to teasingly haze his new players as long as it fits in the battles and throws. it's not a phrase he just looks at me and gives me a cheeky grin. I have been swarmed by Psy-rats 3 times in one battle. Now as a fun note my character is terrified of rats. he makes sure i do a rat check every time i enter a new room or place. i then have to roll to see if the rat send my poor girl into a panic or not.

[@copperflame5070]

My favorite line, or word, is 'So', occasionally followed by 'About that'. Almost always followed by an explanation as to why something is going horribly wrong, of course.

[@Salad_Pickle]

"What do you want to do?" They are the hand-hold type of players. But I'm working to expand their horizons ^.^

[@solidsnake9790]

I just say "I'm sorry"

[@danielmcadam2879]

My favourite during a travel session: ". Roll... luck..."

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

PANR has tuned in.

[@Atma_Weapon]

PANR, whats up? good to see you again.

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

@@Atma_Weapon hey big cat! Been a minute, you holding up ok out there? Also, what's up? A ceiling.

[@tylerbeaumier5081]

Your positive notes at the end of every video are truly uplifting and wholesome. Especially after a good laugh or creative chat about others enjoying something I wish I'd have more time to play lately in down time from school. Keep spreading the great stories, killer creativity, and amazing vibes man ❤️ some of us need this in ways we don't even know how to express, but rather feel at the end of the video. I use it in the background of catching up on chores and homework or housework and it helps me unwind and laugh and think about the love for creative roleplay/gameplay about one of my favorite hobbies I hope I'll get to spend more time with when my life's back on better track. Thank you for being a positive entry in the day to day mundanity life can sometimes be. You're truly appreciated even from strangers who just need a relaxing outlet and to hear others joy in a hobby they love even if they can't enjoy it themselves enough in busy times. 🎲

[@8-bitgames321]

Spoiler warning for tomb of annihilation When he says god fetus he is refering to the aposal that aserak is trying to resurrect a aposal is a dead god fetus unborn and created out of hate.

[@DragonKingZero]

Atropal

[@adamhunter1223]

I'm not even playing DND right now and this video gave me anxiety.

[@dudemcduder1628]

“Are you sure?”

[@belowalive5743]

No

[@Chanterla1kuyoma]

another three word response that has about as much weight is, "you can try." after a short pause

[@RebootedTitan]

"I was but not anymore."

[@JamieDies2606]

"ARE YOU SURE?"

[@OMsRandomWriter]

I'm the DM. The thing that sets my players off is when I ask them to roll a dice and then tack on "for no reason". Spoiler: they're about to get ambushed by assassins (no one has rolled high enough to notice someone is following them), and they also almost just summoned an Allip because they know a Fallen Goddess's name and kept saying it. Repeatedly. Edit: I also just laugh. For context, I giggle consistently, a different laught for every mood, because that's how I've always shown emotion. I've explained this to them in session 0, and they still confess that my laughs, particularly my witch cackle, gives them creeps whenever I just randomly do it (often when they figure out a plot point and then dismiss it as not a possibility)

[@7thsealord888]

Head games are always fun. If things are slow when I'm DMing, I roll dice behind my screen and pretend to react (randomly) and take notes for minor things the Players do (or don't do). Sometimes followed up with an extremely random question or two, such as , "How much gold is your character carrying?" "What sort of headwear are you wearing right now?" "What color are your shoes?" "You are still moving normally?" "You are still at the party's rear?" and so on. Having an evil laugh helps. I have a very good one. But, like anything else, you need to avoid overuse.

[@Badartist888]

5:10 I literally had a player do an intimidate/ persuasion check and say "Stop its the IRS" and roll a nat 20. I let it fly at least partially because one character had been failing at deception and it would have gotten them killed if the fight continued.

[@otakubancho6655]

My favorite is I'd like to talk to you about your car's extended warranty!😆😆😆

[@sauce7670]

I dont nessicarily say anything but I play with none of the books on the table their all under my chair until I need to refrence one. (it started as just decrowding my space behind my screen) but after the first few sessions of the players not seeing my books at all and then suddenly slowly reaching under my chair and pulling the monster manual out is surprisingly effective in making my table nervous so its now a staple. Any time I bend over to reach for a book everyone holds their breath to see if its the mob manuals or not lol

[@chromwell7680]

Me: "You don't notice anything out of the ordinary." Them: "We'll sh*t."

[@definitelyacabbagefarmer5996]

A sphinx giving a player a riddle “You have one answer left”

[@lumitsuasmr7403]

the subtle difference between “there’s nothing there” and “you don’t *see* anything” or “it *appears* to be empty” some more favorites: “does a 32 hit?” “did you say that out loud?” “it’s going to take a legendary action” “that *was* halved” “what’s your max hp?/is your max hp less than 100?” (if you understand this one, i am so sorry) *deals an insane amount of damage* “then it’s gonna take a bonus action…” and, of course… “you can certainly try”

[@demogorghon]

Player here: "You notice a dot in the sky that seems to move your way... and gets bigger". First time it was a hag on a broom we made a blood promise at the start of campaign and was dreading the "service" she will ask for. Second time it was a griffin that attacked us during long rest. Third one was a surprise Adult Red Dragon.

[@Dzyntara]

A great one from one of my DMs is "you can certainly try"

[@wallywolf814]

My favorite in my group goes something like this, a person asks a question if they can do something "you can certainly try"

[@instantpurple1282]

"Are you sure?" multiple times. Or my personal favorite: rolling dice whenever they do something stupid or questionable for no other reason but to instill paranoia and fear.

[@josephtownsend2103]

It's not something said, but our DM has a habit forcing her tongue against her teeth when she is excited. How do we know? When she gets excited enough the tip of it starts to poke through her lips. It actually rather cute. But when that tongue comes out we know we are either in for a really good or a really really bad time.

[@swagathan5]

...is that video title card Vinny Vinesauce as Pepe the Frog?

[@sundogfarseer6070]

You are reasonably certain that there are no traps on the chest... You all have backup characters for this campaign right ?

[@PatrickCervantez]

0:41 Talk about getting hot wings.

[@BoredTAK5000]

For me it's clanking of metal when there are Duergar around. When I was a new player we were raiding a Dwarf camp and right at the end of this there was a boss who was like CR 12 we were level 3. This guy crushed our wizard with one attack... still won the fight tho

[@LocalMaple]

1:24 M&M Minis. Use them for pieces, and players can eat them when defeated.

[@MitchT97]

“In the room there is a broom.”

[@TownieFormal]

My favorite one liner from my old DM was just a simple “Well that hits” when rolling for attacks. Just the off chance that the roll was a crit is very off putting 🤣

[@DJROCKSTAZ]

My DM did this to me at times too.

[@knutandersson4606]

*rolls dice* "Alright so let me tell you what happens . . . " "As far as you know." They: *shout in character* Me: *rolls dice* They: *look at me in abject horror* "There's a door." This one might require slight explanation. Whenever I mention a door, they will do anything in their power to circumvent or find out what's on the other side. Asking things like, "can I see below the door" "Is there a keyhole to peep through" "I want to investigate it/roll perception" They cast detect magic, test the hinges and oil them, prepare 5 different held actions for when it opens. I have never bamboozled them with a door.

[@Krak1in]

"You sure you wanna do that?" No matter how confident they were in their plans before, once those words are said my players immediately second guess themselves.

[@jdxanadu872]

My favorite one to use was included in the video but I'm going to share a story where I used it. Ever since the second session I've had an NPC tailing the party and watching them. She was spotted once, during that second session, and in the next one they ran into her in a busy tavern. After this one of the players was convinced she was following them around and at least once per session would roll to see if he could see her. The NPC, a rogue named Kaki, has a high bonus to stealth checks and the player would never roll high enough to see her. So every time he rolled I would tell him, "As far as you can tell Kaki is not following you." The party of course did not like this. Eventually though they found her one last time and convinced her to join them. Another thing I say that makes my players nervous happens out of session. Whenever they start theorizing about things or talking about what they think is going to happen or just things like that, no matter what is said I'll say, "If only you knew how things really are."

[@DBfan106]

I always just say 'Oh cool! THIS is going to be fun!'

[@deadly6studios922]

Easy, “don’t worry guys I made this a balanced encounter this time” What I find fun is when I say “don’t worry guys I purposely made this encounter nearly impossible to win” has the opposite effect

[@danieljohnson9917]

My players know that, for the important NPCs in my campaigns, I often build them as PCs and add unique abilities and tweak the stats as needed. They were fighting a Hexblade in one combat, but they hadn't quite figured that out yet. This Hexblade had Armor of Shadows. You can imagine how many confused, concerned, and frankly terrified looks I got when the Paladin's first attack, a Nat 20, missed. These reactions actually heightened when their next attack hit at a 17 with modifiers.

[@attilareeves3080]

During a part of a long story I made there was a re-acuring monster that you could fight at the end but for most of the time you had to run from and I would usually give them a hint that it's going to show up by saying "the airs getting colder around you" or "the area around you reeks of decay" and every time I said one of the two (even during a different campaign) they tend to get somewhat nervous.

[@Pteryll]

Ok, yes, that laugh is kind of like it, I even laughed the same way I described when you did it.

[@approval8963]

“I have some new ideas for a one shot…”

[@BunniePancake]

LMAO is that Pepe vinny vinesauce in the thumbnail?

[@dreamingwolf7521]

One of my favorites is how concerned I got my players over a "bear" they encountered. Me: And before you is one of the "bears" the locals warned you about. [Vague description of basically, more or less, a bear made of living glass] Players: THATS NOT A BEAR. Needless to say, they nearly died fighting it and they kept its heart, which was later used for a heart transplant with our fighter.

[@flyoutfate7462]

"I need you to trust me here."

[@Meatus4514]

"If you'd like to"/"You are free to try"

[@rosecarlene7275]

“I gotta check something.” (Looks at sheet in fight) “oh.” (Laughter) “Hey, just make me a quick perception check”

[@amandag.6186]

"The IRS has found you" Level 20 party: we fear no man or monster, but that thing... it scares us.

[@hikarifaith4502]

"Alone." For context, a few days ago I started playing in my first ever D&D campaign. We're playing a modified Ghosts of Saltmarsh and most of session 1 was spent investigating a character named Simon Price, who claimed he wanted to sell my character information about her supposedly-dead mother. My party also suspected he may have been connected to a mysterious barrel filled with severed elf arms that appeared at the tavern owned by one of our members that same morning. We traveled to the other tavern in Saltmarsh hoping someone in there had seen or knew where to find Simon Price and were stopped by a guard before we could enter. We tried persuading the guard to let us in, but he wouldn't budge. Small talk didn't work, either. The other party members were thinking of breaking in through one of the windows when I had the idea to drop some information we'd received earlier when we were visited by a royal adjudicator (or whatever they're called). I said to the guard that Simon Price was under suspicion of necromancy. This very clearly unnerved the guard. After he went in and some discussion happened out of earshot inside, the mistress of the tavern came out, requesting that I speak to her inside, alone. The mere use of the word "alone" gave my fellow party members chills, both in character and IRL. Long story short, I got out alive, having somehow been incredibly skilled at leveraging the information I had to get the outcome I was looking for despite getting god-awful rolls the entire session on everything except history and insight checks, and we start our first quest (if you can call it that) next session. TL;DR -- Separating the party induces pure terror

[@Cheshire-Copycat]

"Well yes, you can. BUT it will have consequences..."

[@adamfutch6719]

I have a set of metal dice that I roll very loudly on my kitchen table. Sometimes it's to decide things, sometimes it's just psychological warfare.

[@forestbr34th54]

fucking vinny pepe. Great choice

[@thejanitoroftheneverending1174]

For me I say and that's when you hear it... Often followed by the sound of a music box as they are a big part of the story in our cosmic horror game

[@OfficialLucianoTV]

When my DM says "You know what, fine!" and then proceeds to make us do a saving throw

[@stevenboelke6661]

*Reading a monster's stat sheet in battle* "Oh... oh god, really? Okay, here we go."

[@Phantomsbreath]

"How precisely do you plan to accomplish that?"

[@TheKitsuneOnihane]

The uncertain answers on skill checks are definitely top notch. "*rolls 24*As far as you know there are no traps" "You think it is disarmed" "from what you can tell, it is not cursed" Honorable mention to DM rolls dice then facepalms. My dm buddy will do that and it never, ever goes well. Best case something completely off rails happens. Such as licking an artifact (silly player terrible UMD roll) and a portal to the eternal sands opens up.

[@Lord_Inquisitor_William7391]

"Whats your passive perception again?" "You touch it? Ok." "You still have thing right?" "You shure?"

[@LostFunocity]

My incidents tend to build up. Normally are forgotton and then when the time comes. From me it's " You remember that NPC you a few sessions back?" To which I will look at the player that did said thing. And the party will most likely be "Ohhh no...what did you do?!"

[@siobhannicolson5566]

one thing my dad, an old school dm, did when he was dming was just calmly roll dice and wait to see if the players notice. when they ask, he just said "oh, its nothing, move on". keep in mind my dad would never outright kill characters bc he was a dm during the "dnd is satanism incarnate" era when people were killing themselves over their dead characters, so that was where he got dark :')

[@TransforceMLP]

in a current game I'm in, complete homebrew, I'm playing a Paladin. More focused on pleasing my own God than worrying about the others. my nine intelligence Paladin doesn't really think too much about pilfering a simple ring from a grave. Dumb idea? Yeah, cause my DM followed it up with "Your Godsway had changed." It spooked me so much that my Paladin made it an apologetic offering to an alter to some God within this tomb we were investigating. My DM once again uttered: "Your Godsway has changed."

[@vaulthunterfromterra4053]

4:22 If you’re a DM and your party disrespects your campaign by getting hyper OP too quickly, add YuGiOh monsters to the game. Their damage would be their ATK minus “00” for low power and minus “0” for high power Ex: 2000 ATK -> 20 (low) 200 (high). And their armor class would be their DEF minus “00” or “0” (depending on how much DEF they have) Ex: 1500 DEF & 150 DEF = 15 Armor Class And their hit points would be their combined ATK & DEF with the same rules Ex: Ancient Gear Golem has 3000 ATK & DEF, (total 6000) so it’s hit points would be either 60 or 600. Weather or not you go for high power or low power depends on how OP your players are and weather or not they’re willing to tone it down a bit.

[@vaulthunterfromterra4053]

8:52 Yeah, like that. If they don’t dial it back, 30+ damage really is a low role (compared to 300+)

[@michaelleader633]

"Roll d20!" During times when I'm building tension I am known for getting characters to make phantom rolls that mean nothing but deliver the creep factor nicely. 😆

[@navigatoroftherealms8237]

"It's tax season!" I had a DM who had an intricate economy and EVERY player had to keep tabs on all their assets and side businesses. When it was TAX SEASON they had to suddenly calculate the worth of their houses, ships, drug trafficking (for one party member), and pay a percentage to the King. I could hear their sphincters clench in anguish whenever that time came around again.

[@chromacypher8409]

What order do you you take watch, and do you start a camp fire?

[@13swabra]

One that I didn't realize, but whenever I say something is interesting the party has started preparing for things to go very badly