God-Modding is something that far too many role players do, and it can be very frustrating to combat a God-Modder. I feel your pain. But the question isn't only if the opponent is God-Modding, but are you as well?
God-Modding is the umbrella that three categories are under:
1. Auto-Hitting
2. Auto-Dodging
3. Auto-Blocking (also called Auto-Parry or Auto-Deflect)
1. Auto-Hitting is one of the most infamous tools of God-Modding altogether. Auto-Hitting is the common name for "Automatically Hitting", which is pretty self explanatory. That is when you post your reply saying what you do, but you explain it as it just automatically hits the person. And that is God-Modding. How is it, do you ask? Let's take a close look at wording really quickly.
If you say something like: "Punches your nose and breaks it, then kicks you in the gut and while you're falling back I slice your throat with my sword, cutting your head off" then that is God-Modding. Fail to see how? Take a close look at the wording. In that post you just said you automatically punched their nose, resulting in it breaking. You also said you automatically kicked them in the gut, which caused your opponent in falling back. Then, on top of that, you also said you just automatically cut their throat, and as a result their head was lopped off. That is the very definition of Auto-Hitting.
So now you're wondering, how do I stop myself from doing that? Well, again, it's all in the wording. Taking the same wording of the last example, instead of wording it like that you can use simple words like "at", "towards", "aiming to(/for)", etc. This lets your opponent know what you are trying to do, so they can properly respond. So, instead you say something like this:
"Throws a punch at your nose with enough force to break it, and if contact is made I follow up with a kick at your gut, which if landed would cause you to stumble back. If successful, while you stumble back I slice at your neck in an attempt to cut your head off."
That is a lot better, as it is all saying what would happen, without Auto-Hitting. Wording is key, as you can now tell. Maybe you're thinking "It sounds like a lot of work trying to not God-Mod". And you're right. It is a lot of work. But if you're going to Combat Role Play, you must do it, or nobody will get anywhere. And, you only get ONE attack per turn, people. You can't do twelve attacks in one post. Seriously.
2. Auto-Dodging is pretty self explanatory as well. If you automatically can dodge something, for whatever reason, you are probably god-modding. However, this is often confused with Auto-Blocking, since they are both defensive forms of God-Modding. Using the first example for Auto-Hitting, say the person attacks you with:
"Throws a punch at your nose with enough force to break it, and if contact is made I follow up with a kick at your gut, which if landed would cause you to stumble back. If successful, while you stumble back I slice at your neck in an attempt to cut your head off."
An Auto-Dodge response would be something like: "teleports out of the way the second you throw your fist at me". Teleportation is by far one of the most common means of Auto-Dodging. I myself view instant teleportation as god-modding in itself, whereas if you must charge up to teleport, that I can understand. So how do you respond to that in a dodging manner that isn't god-modding? Simple. Instead you can reply with:
"Ducks head to the side so your punch misses my face, and as you throw the kick I step to the outside of the kick as you raise your foot, and due to my position changing, your slice misses me as well."
Since you dodged their first attack, which would have successfully let them do the followup attacks if it had landed, you are then allowed to dodge the other hits so long as you do it reasonably. If there is no way you could dodge it, and you do, that is also Auto-Dodging. Say the opponent holds a gun to you point blank, the barrel of the gun pressed against your head, and you just say "ducks below the bullet", that is Auto-Dodging because bullets are faster than muscles, and since it was held to your head, touching it, there is no way you could've dodged it. Similarly, if your character is in the air and you are not able to fly/move around in the air freely, if you're falling through the air and someone throws an attack at you, it would be quite hard to dodge it. Try jumping on a trampoline and have someone kick you as you fall from one of your jumps and see just how effectively you can dodge it. You won't, I promise you. But that is not to say you cannot block it, which brings us to our next form of God-Modding.
3. Auto-Blocking is again, just as it states, you are automatically blocking. This just means if you shouldn't have been able to block something, and you do, then you are God-Modding. For example, if two people are fighting you and one of them punches at your face and one of them kicks you from behind at the exact same time, you're either going to take the punch and spin to block the kick, or you're going to take the kick but block the punch. There would be no way to block both unless your character is a mutant with arms sprouting out from its back. But that does not mean you cannot block both at all. Say your character has the power to create barriers of light that stops physical force upon contact with the barrier, you could make a barrier behind you so the kick doesn't hit you, while you're still blocking the punch accordingly. However, that opens the possibility that you may think "I can just open a barrier whenever I want". No, because that's Mary Sue/Gary Sue tactics. You have to limit what you can to do realistic means, so maybe you can only open a barrier every ten seconds, and it fades from one hit or something. But if you can just open one at any given time with just a thought, you have to try again.
God-Modding also has a few variations in name, depending on the group if they follow this format--or anything similar. So, all in all, wording is the biggest key to avoiding god-modding. And that is God-Modding Explained.
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