Need help building against a killer DM who sorta cheats

[Firehelm]

Background- we are only allowed players handbooks one and two. No expanded anything and no book three.
I am only in this campaign because my partner is there.

So I've come across a bit of a problem.
We have a cheaty unfair killer DM. By that I mean he allows some people do or take things expressly prohibited to the group, he uses house rules on a number of things, when I asked for clarification on said house rules I was promptly executed, as in full hp after a long rest all powers available, and I was killed outright. Past the point of a death save, not that I even got to take am action of any kind for that to matter but still. Oh and that was at lv one. And as soon as they killed me and should have ripped the rest of the party to shreds they lost all tactical sense, started moving to provoke opportunity attacks, no longer attacked the same target, attacked things other that what had marked them..... etc garbage.
He sets the dc of searches and knowledge checks at whoever rolled the second highest ie a 4 as the highest roll give the same knowledge as a 30. Yes both have happened and pulling a 30 at lv one should give a lot of information on the common monster (he never gives weakness/resistance or anything beyond keywords).
He also likes really hi reflex. The lowest reflex dc monster we have had was a 16. It was a suit of armor with a movement speed of two.... pretty slow I would think....

Anyway actual Question- what is the most broken low level (currently were lv 1 doubt this will go beyond five) thing I can build from only ph1&2?

I don't like asking for a breaker but if the DM thinks it's appropriate to Insta kill me for asking for clarification on his house rules, thinks it's fine to toss a couple level 13 monsters at a party of level ones to do it and then have them basically attack trees after killing me so they don't kill the party I have no remorse.

[Highfeather]

To keep it short, there's no proper way to win from a DM ingame that cheats. He can find a 'no you don't' for anything you try to pull. "There was a hidden enemy next to you so now you're provoking an opportunity attack. Crit, 200 damage, you're dead."

With just PHB1 & 2 and at level 1, there's really nothing. There might be interesting stuff a bit later -if- you're not playing with errata, but even zone abuse won't get up and running fast enough against a DM that wants you dead.

As I'm sure more people will reply here, the best course of action is to convince your partner to go do something with you that's actually fun. Shouldn't be too much of a issue I hope, considering the DM's openly being a **** for no good reason.

[MwaO]

This is a 'btw, I don't want you here' type of response. You're not going to win with this kind of person, so I'd make it clear to your partner that it wasn't fun for you.

[Dimers]

If you're determined to stay in the game (which I recommend against) -- get saintly on him, out of character. Turn the other cheek. Help him enjoy killing off your characters. See what you can do to make his heart sing. It'd be better for you than unwinnable strife. Better for him, too, but that shouldn't be a reason to avoid it.

[Beoric]

Lets separate the wheat from the chaff.

Playing favourites among your players (which is what I think you are saying) is not ok and easily grounds for leaving the group.

Killing a character to punish a player is not ok.

Using houserules is ok. Not explaining them well is not great, but not a mortal sin. Be careful to differentiate making houserules from trying to improvise a way to adjudicate an action on the fly. The latter is acceptable but requires some skill and experience to do effectively and can piss of players if done inconsistently.

I wouldn't want to make any assumptions about why his monsters have relatively high reflex defenses without being in the room. Sometimes your DM doesn't build monsters the way you would.

Trying to build your characters or otherwise do things to "beat" the DM is also not ok, and is a fight you will always lose in the end.

In the end, if you are not enjoying the game with this DM, don't play in his game. You can find other things to do with your partner if it comes to that.

[Firehelm]

Thank you all for the responses. DM and I have talked and resolved things(I think/hope), and my partner was convinced that we can leave in two months. If there is a way to close a thread this is a good candidate since my querry is no longer relevant.

[noob]

I am glad you and your gm could solve this.
I have met a lot of threads like that and often it does not ends that much well.

[emeraldstreak]

Best guide against cheating DMs