In my experiences, every time someone does something incredibly bold like that, they get mad their actions have consequences. I think some people really just want a DM to roll with their shenanigans all the time.

I've been uninvited from a few groups for exactly this.

I got to play D&D in my first meaningful multi-session way this year. I loved how much I got tossed around for trying to use tricks and the like instead of combat. We also did a one-shot of Alien. I crashed the ship right away, failing like 5 roles to ease the damage, and then in our first encounter died to shrapnel while hiding in a bush. A player left early so I took theirs over and was the only player to die at all, and twice. I love a DM who isn't pushing me to fail but also isn't going to have the NPCs take logical steps. It was some of the most fun I've had.

Oh most definitely. I don't want my players to fail (if I can help it) and generally try to reward creative thinking, but also want their victories to be earned and not just fudged rolls or suddenly dumb NPCs. I think where the line gets crossed is when they're doing actions their character would *never* do, or they're trying to poke holes in the set without a clear goal. I usually ask additional questions to see what they expect to happen (in case they are playing 4D chess), but sometimes they're just trying to cause chaos, in which case I got to pull them aside and give them the talk.

New Player: "My Wizard casts fireball targeting the king!" Me: "Actually that doesn't happen y-" NP: "Did a hidden wizard cast counter spell! I can-" Me: "No I just won't let you do that. Try to ruin our game again and I'll ban you from the discord." Np: "Oh."

If it's a brand new character to the group, why is the group even getting involved? Let the psycho attack the guards and die.

If someone committed suicide by guard in front of me I'd probably be pretty disturbed too tbf

In one of my old groups, I'd usually verify the player and I understood each other , and they understood the likely consequences. Like, "You can shoot her, but remember this is her club, with her friends , and she's a vampire so she probably won't die. But if you want to roll, it's at -4 from her Celerity you've seen her use." One player was always like "you never let me do anything!" I was like you _can_ do it, but I don't want you to be surprised and mad if there are consequences. Another player, by contrast, would listen to me clarify what was likely to happen, and be like "cool bro let's do it.". We still talk about the time his character jumped out a 20 story window to save his friend's girlfriend. Great player. Took a lot of damage, as warned, but lived.

This is why I’ve never played. I know I’d just be irritating testing the waters seeing what I could get away with

DM warnings, for me, are always a sign that I'm about to do something I haven't thought through enough, or that I've thought through TOO MUCH TO STOP NOW That is to say, an essential part of the experience

A similar thing happened which led a player to tell me after the - heated - session was over: "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at your character." Our group split after that.

This is more annoying not because of the nonsense but because it has a huge chance of ruining a lot of prep from the dm

I like rp games like everyone is Jon because the games are so disposable and the point kinda is to just get fucky with it. No prep, no commitment, all improv

This is my kinda thing _but_, can I be _John_?

I realized after a moment that they simply meant "everyone in the castle attacks you", but my first thought was of the castle itself rising up as a mecha like Alexander from FF9. ...could you have a castle mimic?

A powerful summoner should have no issue binding enough mimics to make up for each brick, stone and interior detail of a castle, only needing to conjure some slimes for mortar and elementals for lightning, heat, AC (air and ice for summer, air and fire for winter) plus enough water elementals to have running plumbing. Just a matter of time and focus Just a bit heavy on the initiative tracking, but the castle would probably not need any extra guards

'Are you sure your character would do that? They know it's basically suicide.'

I would go with Permanency and Enlarge or Giantism spells. Just need a single absolutely enormous mimic.

"These enemies attack and initiate as a group, taking a 5% penalty to calculated damage to account for missed hits in the group"