So this just happened in my last session

>Preparing a homebrew setting with a new system for months after divorcing from D&D
>Do a Mutants and Masterminds short game on the meanwhile
>Put One Punch Man music and op's just for fun
>Player asks me if the entire reason why I wanted to run the game was OPM
>Get within a week from the game, all players ready for the character creation session
>Start talking about Dark Souls because I just started playing DS3 two days ago
>Same player asks me if the entire reason as to why I spent months homebrewing rules and preparing a story is because of Dark Souls 3, a game I just started playing earlier this week

Like, I'm not trying to be an original person and all that, but it's not like my DMing desires are bound to just my flavor of the month

It's probably because he's that way. Has he shown any mannerisms like that? Making characters after whatever he's interested in at the moment?

Or he's just a nosy fuck.

>looks tasty
unless they flubbed a perception roll you're an awful DM

>Be player
>Acquire dust of indeterminate providence
>Snort it immediately because LOL so funny, without any research of any kind
>Man he's such a shit DM right guys?

How can she slap?

>"You see a wax apple. It looks tasty"
>I eat it
>"...You start vomiting the wax."
>WTF BUT IT LOOKED TASTY SHIT GM

If you snort an unknown powder because it "looks tasty" and die, you got what you deserved.

>bringing out-of-game shit into the game

CANCER
A
N
CANCER
E
R

>That last kid
'Why is everyone screaming' 'ow' 'I forgot to fall down'

Hardly. It's a single, minor mistake that has an entire character killed off. If you think they "deserved" it then you're an autismal That DM.

>"You enter the bioterrorists' lair and find plastic bags filled with white powder."
>I snort it lol, how high do I get?
>"...You just snorted anthrax. Your character will die."
>WTF FROM SUCH A SMALL MISTAKE AUTISMO GEE-EM LOLOLOL

The GM should have said something along the lines of
>*Rolls cleric's save behind screen*
>While cutting lines with your holy symbol you feel an intense pain in your thumb.
>Upon examination it appears the orange dust drew out a lot of moisture from your thumb.

If a player makes a silly decision, have them make an Intelligence or Wisdom check. If they pass, drop a hint that this may not be a good idea (or a bigger hint if you already dropped one before).

>I want to snort this orange powder.
>>Make an intelligence check
>I got a 10
>>Your character remembers a time in his apprenticeship where his master told him an important lesson. "In this world there is a lot of dangerous things. So don't snort unknown orange powder because it might kill you in horrifically painful ways."

>...I snort it!
>>Wait what!?
>I snort it!

I would expect a cleric to be raisin dead.

>>Okay. You just snorted enough dry dust to mummify an elephant. Your cleric is dead and it's all your fault.

>WOW SHIT GM I'LL MEMEARROW YOU ON TG EKS DEE

>Did the cleric's body turn to powder?
>I kind of want to snort it.

I can't stop watching. Its just so hypnotic and beatiful

Is your first response to seeing a powder that looks delicious "I should snort that"?

Player foolishness aside I do gotta agree that unless he snorted the whole thing that instant death is bullshit.

To be fair, it would dessicate his sinus and brains first.

Instant death is because that cleric prevented any possible way for him to NOT die from that. He administered magic dust that, when thrown into water, instantly destroys up to 100 gallons. Also this stuff is in amounts that are comparable to a marble. Even if he only snorted 10% of the dust that's still ten gallons of water instantly gone from the wind pipe, face, and lungs. If this adult cleric weighs about 200lbs then around 60% of this is water. Water weighs 8.53 lbs per gallon. That's about 14 gallons total. He just removed about 70% of the water in his body. A loss of that much water would be instantly lethal, or a CON save in the seventies.

>or a CON save in the seventies.
But muh nat 20!

You didn't roll a nat 20. I saw the dice and you rolled a 13.

how does a powder look delicious, anyway

The color reminds you of orange juice.

>It's what the cleric would have wanted, really.

Fun Dip

Were I a merciful DM, I would've had the cleric merely affected by a Blight spell, since it's description has some things in common with what you've described.

...

>single, minor mistake
How can you even begin to conclude that? Personally I probably wouldn't have described it as tasty looking, but even so snorting the powder is obviously retarded. I might favor the player with an "Are you sure you want to do that?' but I absolutely will not spare them the logical death that would follow if they went through with it.

this, or powdered sugar, or cocoa

sounds like another Oglaf strip

>It's a single, minor mistake
What does a major mistake look like by that standard?
>"There is a large pit carved into the bedrock, filled with some unidentified neon green liquid. You can't see how deep it is."
>"I jump into the pit. I do a cannonball."
>*rolls dice* "You take 250 acid damage. You can try to grab the edge but your hands will be all that's left of you. As for the splash-"
>"What! How was I supoosed to know that would kill me! I'm going to post a thread on Veeky Forums and then everyone will see how mean you are!"

Youre all missing the real point, how the fuck dust look tasty?

Like i get pixie sticks and shit, but we know its candy or the concept of candy when we first try it.

>THIS RANDOM ORANGE POWDER IN THIS OLD MOLDY ASS GNOLL FECES ENCRUSTED DUNGEON LOOKS TASTY

No... no it doesnt.

Sounds like your Cleric and DM both kinda suck.

Already shared but still relevant

>Be me, cadaveric dude actively seeking to become a lich in a setting where they aren't a thing
>DM makes us find "wish cubes" that turn into whatever we want
>Allows us to meta on our third ones, as we went nice and story-related on the first ones even though we knew what they did
>I ask for something that is would transform what it touches into "more than death"
>I recieve a flask of obsidian with some horrible liquid inside
>Me: "I drink it"
>DM "r...really ?"
>Me (not taking the hint): "Yeah !
>DM+friend be like "errr you really wanna drink that ? It doesn't seem cool, dude"
>Me (STILL not taking the hint) "I drink it"
>DM "roll a bravery (I don't remember the exact stat, déso Sora) test to see if you can force yourself to do it
>I roll and succeed
>I drink the thing
>I become a pool of black bile.
>DM+friend have looks of "eh, told you so"
>Still not a lich
>my friend resurrects me as a new PC, burning his own wish
>What a shit DM, right ?

Yeah, I've been kinda dumb on that time, but thinking about it, my conclusion is that it was ok for the character, as it was his chance or never to become a lich. Better start a new PC that fits better in the setting I ended up making a close range crossbow sharpshooter that has some points in acrobatics and everything else as a dump stat in this setting where almost everything but low level automatons can OS you. I never learn.

Tang. Everyone knows that Tang is great and has never been associated with things going horribly fucking wrong.

I'm paranoid anytime the DM willingly offers something in the area
>oh theres this berry bu--
No
>This random character you just met offers you food/drink do--
Not going to eat it nope
EVERYTHING is trapped and almost every interaction I've had that was willingly offered had something bad happen as a result even if it was mundane, in this world everything is actively trying to kill me

Oh yeah, he's done plenty of characters like it. I didn't really mind it, honestly, I just found it pretty funny

>entire fucking party has universal digestion or cast iron stomach IV or a HT score of like 16 or Metabolic Resistance out the wazoo and just tank-eat EVERYTHING to scrape up benefits and prestige and to satiate their absurd gluttony and various natures

I am a GM and I am scared for my life

Pretty much this. Should have at least been a fort save or a wisdom check for the player to even know if its a good idea.

Here's what a good dm would have done
>Cleric PC: "I snort the dust"
>DM: make a wisdom check
>Cleric *passes*
>DM: You dont think its a very good idea to snort a random powder
>Cleric "fuck it, I snort it anyway"
>DM: Roll me a fort save
>Cleric *Fails*
>DM: The cleric begins to writhe in agony and his face begins to shrivel, what do the rest of you want to do?
>Some other PC *attempts to save the cleric*
etc. etc.

The cleric can still die, just make sure he knew he fucked up, and give him some saves before he dies.

Also this, a minor mistake shouldn't usually get a PC killed. Disasters dont just happen, they're a chain of failures. Like getting lost in Sigil and then failing to make your way out of a maze.

DM should have described it as looking desiccated and as if it was sucking all the moisture out of the surrounding area.

I could understand this, but I doubt OPs story took place in a desiccation dust facility.
PCs dont usually try to get themselves killed. If the cleric sensed danger, he wouldn't have gone full retard. In the even, going full retard shouldn't really have got him killed, but hey, if you're playing short disposable campaigns, who cares who dies, just get him to roll a new PC.

Personally I like campaigns were you have time to develop a character over a period of years, and have some kind of control over your life. the Shit DM bells would be ringing if I died from snorting some random dust without any fort save or a wisdom check to see if it was a good idea.

Sugar is a white powder. Sugar is tasty. If you find a white powder, and assume it looks tasty (because it looks like sugar), and decide to snort it (because that's totally what normal people do), and it turns out to be anthrax, then you deserve to die for being so fucking retarded in so many ways.

"BANAAAAAAAAAAANNGNGNGNGGHGG" - a six foot dog

>characters npc best friend is crying in his arms after harrowing events.
That's pretty fucking gay

>describe only obvious features of unknown powder
>person decides to ingest random bag of stuff found in a box somewhere
>surprise it's not fucking edible

Are you that retarded for real? Are you actually able to function in society without snorting laundry soap and drinking bleach because they look as if they're "completely safe"?

Is your tard-wrangler nearby?

I know someone who works in the resturant buisness. He has this powder confusion issues daily.

>be me
>play recklessly
>get punished
>Capitalize greentext and whine about GM not babying players

>GM's need to now do wisdom rolls every time a players makes an idiotic decision
JFC, just let them be retards, let them die horribly, and let them immediately roll up another level 1 PC. You'll be amazed how fast your players learn when actually challenged and punished when they fuck up. I swear you spineless cucks are running tables at a nursery home the way you talk about your players.

>be me, DM also a roll20 fag
>players just cleared out a 3 story warehouse from a mob boss
>copy and pasted the same level outline 3 times with different walls
>accidentally also copy stairs, so there's fourth story
>they try to investigate it
>one of the lights on the stairs was red, jokingly say that it's a red room developing cat pictures
>players spend the rest of the session trying to trace the cat pictures all across town
Welp.
I guess now it's a mystery about the case of the mysterious cat photos.

Just make them buy the common sense advantage

>DM should have described it as looking desiccated and as if it was sucking all the moisture out of the surrounding area.
You're retarded. You drink an unlabelled potion in an evil wizards lab, you're probably going to get poisoned or killed on the spot. The GM isn't required to say "The potion looks ominous. Bad vibes are coming your way." It's your job as a player to play within reason, and if you don't bother, you suffer the logical consequences of your actions.

>PCs dont usually try to get themselves killed
They still manage to, though. The only time the GM should step in and ask, "are you sure you want to that?" is if there's a miscommunication between what the PC can obviously see and what the player thinks he can see - e.g. mistaking a 150 feet deep crevice for a 4 ft deep ditch and wanting to 'hop down'. This is not the case here. The player could've taken a closer examination of the powder, he could've tested it on something, given it to a henchman, or just bottled it and taken it into town to be identified. Instead he got himself killed like a fucking retard, hopefully next time he'll have learned his lesson and actually exercise a little caution and self-preservation.

Skills, feats, proficiencies, etc. were a mistake. learn to play an RPG.

>>players spend the rest of the session trying to trace the cat pictures all across town

I lold

lol

What are you playing?
WoD?
You could salvage that into a curse of the pharao kind of thing.

>roll up another level 1 PC
sure, if you're playing at lvl 1 all the time, who cares.

I guess a smart player would never make it past lvl 1 anyway.

You've never had those paper tubes filled with delicious powder that you tear open and try your hardest to pour directly into your mouth but wind up failing miserably because it all goes either directly into your nose or down your shirt collar?

You meant a dumb player would never make it past lvl 1?

DM failed pretty badly. Shouldn't have described the dust as tasty if he didn't want the PCs to ingest it.

A fort save or a wisdom check could have made the situation more survivable. Its pretty easy as the DM to let your players survive when they make a simple mistake, especially when you alluded that a certain object might be "tasty" for example. Could have changed the situation from a campaign-ruining event to a bit of a laugh as the PCs attempt to feed the cleric milk as he keeps absorbing it.

DM always has the final say, if you want to kill off players for random mistakes, your loss. You will become "that DM"

Usually you want PC deaths to be either completely known to the PCs beforehand ("you probably wont survive if you do X suicidal thing", or during some epic combat. Disasters should be a chain of failures, not a single failure.

Its a combination of a partially retarded PC and a fully retarded DM

If something is tasty, you don't snort it. Fuckin inhale a pizza, why not?

This and only this.

If a DM tells me that dust looks tasty, I call him a faggot and tell him to try again. That's the weakest DMing I've ever heard of.

Maybe most of it gets caught in his (inert) mucus?

>Be Paladin of Aroden named Dredd.
>DM is a scrub who never played w40k.
>DM made a campaign based on kingdom Hearts, despite the party saying "oh, hell no"
>mfw I make my Warcry "For the God Emperor of mankind" and he doesn't bat an Eyelid.
>Heartless-expy show up, and I yell out "Daemons! By his will I shall cut you down!"
>DM wonders why everyone is laughing.
>We manage to last 4 weeks before I get the nudge from the party.
>I declare the party is to be called the "Ordo Malleus" by the authority of the God-Emperor.
>DM wonders why everyone is laughing.
>Make it through the magical kingdom, take a level in Inquisitor, have max charisma and wisdom.
>Inquisitor Dredd.
>Agrabah is ruled by half-orc warrior caste...
>Mfw I tell the princess "dead or alive, you're comming with me"
>DM wonders why everyone is laughing.
>I give a Rousing speech, declaring Exterminatus on the non-human population.
>Roll at disadvantage: Nat 20 and Nat 20 to order the human population to aid in the clense.
>Needless to say the party had some laughs...

You sound like you're deep on the spectrum.

My thoughts: if the player didn't ask about the dust or try any insight or intelligence shit on the dust, also assuming the dm already decided what the dust was before hand(like any good dm should do), that's totally on the player and he should die or have an extremely small chance of survival through maybe some element of the environment. Maybe the others drown him in a nearby stream and have to resuscitate him, or some such shit, idk3

>Be Half-orc named "Lead"
>Because it's a heavy metal.
>Plays a lightning-enchanted indestructable Lute.

My Face When every attack is called a 'hit single"

Also the dust could look "tasty" because "magic" Anyone care for a bite of snow white's apple?

Autists everywhere...

What is wrong with you damn man this is why modern D&D is so bad.
>Get a save for every retarded decision the player makes
I prefer OPs method because instead of relying on their stats the player learns to play like an actual rational actor and don't do random retarded shit because their stats will save them.

>shit that never happened

fucking epic

That is entirely too forgiving. Actions should have consequences, otherwise you're not playing a game, you're just RPing with your friends. There's nothing wrong with that, if that's the stated goal, but if you're trying to play DnD you have to allow your players to fail, especially when they do egregiously stupid things.

Disasters dont just happen, they're a chain of failures.

Its fine to be forgiving around some random dust. You can be less forgiving around 1000 ft pits, Roks, liches etc. where the players knowing they're in danger and to be careful.

If you know your PC is retarded and likes to do random things, try to teach them to be less retarded in non-lethal ways.

OP is still pretty poor DM, what did he expect when he said the dust looked tasty. He should have at least described it as dry and foul smelling. Even then it probably shouldn't have been fatal if snorted.

But hey, if they're playing a one shot with lvl 1 characters, who cares, the DM can lolrandom kill people left and right all he likes.

The DM was being just as lolrandom as the PC in OPs situation.

Are we DMing for retarded children now?

>DM describes powder
>PC snorts it

i hate critical role so much

>Be a non-combative Paladin.
>

Don't we all..?

>disarsters don't just happen
Except they do. How the fuck do you think it's reasonable to try and snort ANYTHING in a Gnoll dungeon? Are you by any chance actually retarded? Are you DMing for kids?

There is literally nothing wrong with describing some orange dust as looking tasty. Orange the color is literally named after oranges the fruit.

There is literally everything wrong with "hurr I snort it". Instant death is a fitting consequence for stupidity like that.

Epic my dude! I LOL'ed at this! Do you mind if I screenshot this to share on r/Veeky Forums?

not op, but public post is public
just post link here?

Why would anyone not just ask for a cardboard box that can be whatever I want it to be?

op
do it faggot!

This. It's not necessarily bad DMing, just fucking stupid and lame.
>You come across a weirdly colored wall. The stones look tasty.
It comes out of nowhere and looks like you WANT your players to lick that shit.
(Of course it doesn't mean your players aren't complete idiots for doing that, but still.)

A good DM would have punished the player for this minor mistake in a non-fatal way.

Have the clerics face cave in and be disfigured for life, have him lose constitution permanently. You shouldn't really kill a player if they do 1 random thing, unless that thing is something they knew would kill them like jumping off a cliff.

Granted snorting random powder isn't the smartest thing to do, sometimes as DM you have to realize one of your players is retarded, or is roleplaying someone who likes to randomly test themselves. You need to be able to scale things so the adventure can continue.

Being killed, the cleric character wont learn anything from the experiencem, and likely the player wont learn anything either. Being disfigured for life, losing CON and CHA permanantly and having to live with it for the rest of the campaign, now that will teach a player. Rolling a new character because the DM decided to randomly kill you for a single dumb mistake doesn't really teach you much.

>Instant death is a fitting consequence for stupidity like that.
A single small mistake like snorting a random powder that looked tasty isn't worthy of death.
Like I said above, you can punish a player in non-fatal ways and it will be much more effective. There are things far worse than death, like lifelong disfigurement and disability. It would also be hilarious if the Cleric was thirsty for the rest of his life and suffered chronic drymouth at all times. A good DM would take the situation and make it iconic, instead of "welp, you made 1 mistake, you're dead".

No... the DM is the retarded child in OPs situation

>DM is retarded for punishing stupid, hasty decisions
>DM should have just given a simple modifier for snorting the super-dehydration dust

You're the kind that would drink orange colored bleach, aren't you?

Cheeto dust my man

The big question is whether OP asked "are you sure" or something to that effect. If he did, it's a fair game. If he didn't, having the character die for a brainfart seems a bit too harsh.

Granted, there's like 90% that the player would've immediately said "yes" anyway, but at that point it's entirely his own fault.