Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Shiftkitty 03-27-08, 03:45 PM	I sprung it on them at the start of a new campaign. I told them to create Level 1 PCs and scratch up some normal backgrounds, all from the same kingdom. So I got a priest who just got his vestments, a common thug, a farmboy, and a school teacher. After a little hemming and hawing and setting the mood for these four disparate people, they began discussing how their characters might know each other. I cut them off and told them I had it covered. They looked to me eagerly, and I said "Congratulations, you've all been drafted!" Into the King's Service they went, :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: ! (Yeah, that's kind what they looked like.) They were speechless, jaws agape, until one, an old hippy, said "I went through the 60's narrowly avoiding the draftboard only to have my number called up by a make-believe king?!?" So, how about it? What have you sent from left field, either as DM or PC?
Bloodsoul 03-27-08, 04:08 PM	Two instances that I can think of. Had a Lv16 sorceress kill a Lv30 necromancer spell with Finger of Death. DC was 25. His Fort (I later learned) was a 21, and "he rolled a 3! XD". He didn't think FoD would work. I didn't think it would work, either, but I for whatever reason I decided not to chuck another Fireball at him. Different DM this time, and the result wasn't as pleasant. We were trapped in an illusionary world and the only way out was by touching a map; didn't know that at the time, however, so when I saw a comrade touch the map and dissapear I assumed, "okay, touching the map's a bad thing", so I lit it on fire instead. Killed all those that were still trapped. A shame that I lacked the intelligence and wisdom that my barbarian possessed.
ramzca 03-27-08, 04:16 PM	The group I was DMing for got trapped in a 'Endless Library'; which one of their sorcerers created as a plane. Cutting a long story short, a fighter in the party freaked out when books started attacking them, so he lit them on fire... which spread... quickly. The wizard kept telling him not to use fire, and nearly popped a blood vessel when the library went to flames.
PenderGrass 03-27-08, 05:01 PM	Too many things to choose from, here are a few: 1. Attacked by a gargantuan can of SPAM 2. "Ranger Orcs" - from back in the day of 1st edition when classes on monsters was unheard of (an orc was an orc was an orc...) 3. A devil the size of a moon attacking them from outerspace 4. A smack-talking leprechaun that had them all afraid until finally one of them got fed up and splattered him with a single blow (that one surprised me more than anyone else as I thought for sure they wouldn't dare attack him) Plus many more decades of both me and my players being surprised by the most outlandish happenings. :dragon: *****
Fenrir_Greyback 03-27-08, 06:15 PM	I was DMing on this one, and our party went up against some orcs. Well, there was this commander guy, who came in right at the end. I called him "The Big MJ" The big Michael Jackson guy danced into combat (Think scary movie three) And released his backhand slaps of moonwalking fury. After knocking our ranger out, he promptly did another thing worthy of Michael Jackson which must be mentioned only on the mature boards. The look on the guys face was classic...
PrinceOfTheVoid 03-27-08, 06:29 PM	I was DM and in a particularly bad mood from the previous session in my friend's game. (We swtiched places every week) So his L15 party opens a door. INVISIBLE 12 HEADED LERNEAN CRYO HYDRA! Spams its breath (and NO ONE had resistance to cold) They all fail their saves and die, except for the fighter, who winds up with like 3 hp.
EscherEnigma 03-27-08, 06:42 PM	yeah... hydras that have a breath weapon on each head, when they can *all* use the breath weapon at teh same time... are rather mean. As for me... DM has a big bad evil demon thing, looks all impressive, is kicking our ass. So the wizard says "screw it, it'll probably make it's save, but why not?" and casts phantasmal killer. the DM rolled really low on *both* saves... Hrm... another time I was playing a rather... strange character. Fiend of Possession from the Fiend Folio. At her level, she could possess just about anything, including sections of ceiling and floors. For the most part I didn't go overboard, because I was trying this out and didn't want to seriously overpower the rest of the group before I'd had my fun with it. But after a long session had already gone long and the party was fighting a pair of vampires that we simply could not scratch (seriously... our fighter couldn't hit the vamp's AC, the rogue felt useless, and they were making any save we could force) I finally said "enough is enough" possessed the ceiling of the cave we were in, and "let go" of the rest of the ceiling. Splat goes the vamps. The next week I wasn't a player anymore.
Edymnion 03-27-08, 06:44 PM	The look on the rogue's player's face after I hit him with what has become my favorite trap. Brief setup, the party was raiding the compound of someone who was, well, lets just say to call him paranoid would be like saying Hitler was ambitious. Basically a reason to have a dungeon full of traps. Earlier in the same game (but not the same session) I put a thing of gold out that was easy to get to, and very obviously trapped with something absurdly simple to get around. Basically the "Hey guys, stuff in here is going to be trapped up the yin-yang!" warning. So, they easily get the gold, and when they run back to town find out it's fake, worthless. Okay, so they're back at the trapped compound again, get through more traps, and they find another chest. Rogue searches diligently for traps, doesn't find any. That should have been his tip off that something was very wrong, since this NPC trapped EVERYTHING. So, he opens up the chest and sees it full of gold. Thinking it might be fake again, the player declares that the rogue bites a coin to make sure its real. The coins were covered in contact poison, and the rogue just freaking took a bite out of one. I couldn't keep a straight face, and when I could finally tell the player why I was laughing my ass off, the series of looks on his face damn near killed me. From confusion to being mad that he didn't think to check the treasure itself to the lightbulb going on when he realized what "contact poison on the thing you just stuck in your mouth" meant.
Mad_Jack 03-28-08, 12:35 AM	There's been a murder, and a few serious "accidents" lately among some of the important merchant families, obviously involving stealth and magic. All signs point to a team of hired assassins. The party's getting too close, and somebody needs to slow down their investigation. The party's chasing a shadowy cloaked figure through the back alleys of the city.... They woke up just before dawn to find this figure in their rooms, digging through their stuff, and it jumped out the second-story window before they could lay hands on it. None of them have armor on - I told them, "You each have time to grab one weapon on your way out the door...". It's now an hour later, the sun's come up, and they've split up because there's several ways this person could have gone. The lady paladin was the one who finally caught a glimpse of the cloaked figure turning a corner and hauled a$$ after it. After a hell of a chase, she runs out of the alley into the main street, looks both ways and, not seeing the bad guy, is about to say something mildly un-paladin-like when somebody yells and a horse comes screaming down the street at full gallop, headed right for a woman who has the hood of her cloak up and apparently doesn't see the horse. The paladin, of course, takes a running dive and tackles the lady to the ground. So I go into a long, tense second-by-second multiple-dice-rolling description of the action as she charges out into the street, dropping her sword to the ground as she launches herself into harm's way. Of course, she saved the woman in the cloak. As the paladin picks herself up and looks to see if the woman is okay, I tell her that she suddenly realizes that the cloak of the "woman" in her arms matches the cloak she's been seeing little flashes of turning corners all night. She feels a sharp pain in her gut as the hood of the cloak falls back, and the man she's been chasing smiles and says "Oh, everything's just perfect." with an evil grin on his face. I then rolled the damage for the shortsword he sneak-attacked her with. :OMG! (So now she's lying in the street in her nightclothes bleeding, basically wearing nothing but a t-shirt, and the guy leans over with a wicked gleam in his eye and kisses her on the lips before chuckling and running off. She had a few minutes to chew it over before the party found her lying there in the street swearing to herself, and she was decidedly "unamused". By the time they finally caught this guy, more than half the party had been "got", but they kept falling into his traps - he stabbed the paladin, framed the rogue, set the wizard's spellbook on fire (well, a copy of it, anyway...he stole the real one), and almost got the cleric burned at the stake for heresy. :D At his execution, the paladin kissed him on the lips and sucker-punched him in the gut before they hanged him. Oh, and did I mention this guy wasn't even a BBEG, just one of his minions? )
FearzThug 03-28-08, 01:51 AM	At his execution, the paladin kissed him on the lips and sucker-punched him in the gut before they hanged him. Oh, and did I mention this guy wasn't even a BBEG, just one of his minions? ) A suckerpunch right before the execution. Thats pretty lame for a Paladin
Mad_Jack 03-28-08, 03:41 AM	A suckerpunch right before the execution. Thats pretty lame for a Paladin No, that's good roleplaying for a paladin of a god of justice, and exactly what the character would have done according to her personality.... Hell, I gave her 20 bonus xp for it because it was the best scene of the session - the other players clapped and cheered when she did it.
ramzca 03-28-08, 08:11 AM	The look on the rogue's player's face after I hit him with what has become my favorite trap. Brief setup, the party was raiding the compound of someone who was, well, lets just say to call him paranoid would be like saying Hitler was ambitious. Basically a reason to have a dungeon full of traps. Earlier in the same game (but not the same session) I put a thing of gold out that was easy to get to, and very obviously trapped with something absurdly simple to get around. Basically the "Hey guys, stuff in here is going to be trapped up the yin-yang!" warning. So, they easily get the gold, and when they run back to town find out it's fake, worthless. Okay, so they're back at the trapped compound again, get through more traps, and they find another chest. Rogue searches diligently for traps, doesn't find any. That should have been his tip off that something was very wrong, since this NPC trapped EVERYTHING. So, he opens up the chest and sees it full of gold. Thinking it might be fake again, the player declares that the rogue bites a coin to make sure its real. The coins were covered in contact poison, and the rogue just freaking took a bite out of one. I couldn't keep a straight face, and when I could finally tell the player why I was laughing my ass off, the series of looks on his face damn near killed me. From confusion to being mad that he didn't think to check the treasure itself to the lightbulb going on when he realized what "contact poison on the thing you just stuck in your mouth" meant. :rofl:
McPoyo 03-28-08, 08:40 AM	I critical hit a cr 39 dragon with a vorpal scimitar once, back in 3.0. I was half his CR in level. The DM just sat there in shock for about 10 minutes. First round of combat.
Edymnion 03-28-08, 11:50 AM	I critical hit a cr 39 dragon with a vorpal scimitar once, back in 3.0. I was half his CR in level. The DM just sat there in shock for about 10 minutes. First round of combat.Least you didn't get any xp for that. Or you shouldn't have, anyway.
McPoyo 03-28-08, 01:16 PM	No, but it made the DM hit his head on the shower wall and knock tiles loose out of frustration. It was amazing to watch :)
Dark Stryke 03-28-08, 01:26 PM	No, but it made the DM hit his head on the shower wall and knock tiles loose out of frustration. It was amazing to watch :) Where the heck were you guys playing?:uh-huh:
Shadowshimmer 03-28-08, 02:08 PM	The time the Gnome Barbarian pulled out his Vorpal sword in the pitch black room that the party was in fighting the Drow Weapons master and the party would keep banging into each other. The party was shouting for the Gnome to put away his Vorpal but he didn't listen and guess what he rolled, a 20. Well the shock on the DMs face and all of the players was clearly evident. After the shock, the expression on each player's face was pure fear that their character just got decapitated.
cacheek 03-28-08, 05:27 PM	Okay, here's mine. Keep in mind we were all still learning to play 3.x. I'm a level 3 ranger at the time and my DM (also my brother-in-law) gives me this exploding arrow that does 5d8 and kills on critical (consider this also a lesson in not giving puny characters WMDs!). It's the end of the campaign and he puts down a colossal red dragon beside an army of monsters (The dragon wasn't supposed to fight, it was there for a story element only). I get this arrow and point it at the dragon, which of course makes it angry. The DM says, "The dragon engulfs air." I say, "I'm shooting this exploding arrow into the dragon's mouth." DM looks at me funny and says, "Fine, by I'd best see 100 on your accuracy check and three 20s in a row." What the hell, I think, I'll be Mr. Crispy in a half a sec. I made all the rolls! Talk about a shock and awe moment! The DM sits there a minute and says, "The dragon's head explodes." And, we go on to save the day. What an interesting moment in my gaming life.
themocaw 03-28-08, 05:49 PM	So it's near the end of the night, past 10pm, everyone's getting a bit tired and thinking of going home. The DM tells us, "You guys are getting close to the explosive finale. Wanna wrap it up and then go home?" We said sure. So we wind up in front of the Great Rift, basically a tear in the fabric of time that everything gets sucked into. Our characters - a bard, a fighter, and a druid - arrive and find their goal (the macguffin) sitting inside the ribcage of a dragon skeleton. Because it was so close to the Rift, we decided the safe thing to do would be for my bard to tie a rope around her waist, climb over to the dragon, and grab the macguffin. This bard, by the way, had recently angered her god Verge (the heavy-metal god of thunder) who had sent an angel down to watch over her and make sure she would finish her divine quest without screwing around too much. So my bard gets there, grabs the macguffin, starts climbing out, and then, of course, the dragon skeleton gets up and starts attacking her. She decides to sacrifice herself to complete the mission: throws the object to the fighter, cuts the rope, and gets ready to get eaten. That's when the angel drops down in front of her, spreading its metallic wings. Smiling grimly at her, he conjures an item from under his wings and hands it to her. It's a greataxe with five strings running down the haft, and it can be played like a guitar. He tells her, "Verge is proud." And then the fighter runs up next to me, sets to receive charge, and draws his sword. "Let's do this," he says. I grab the guitar from the angel, sling it, and activate my divine power that Verge gave me: Song of Destruction, which deals 1d12 sonic damage to all enemies in range. The DM grins, says, "I was waiting for this!" He puts on Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson. The fight starts, and it's GREAT. I'm back there wailing away on the guitar. The fighter and the angel are holding the line. The druid is laying down spells, and then he's got an earth elemental running around with the macguffin and drawing the dragon away from me: turns out the dragon wants it back. He turns his back on me. I say, "I'm gonna try to run up its back." I've tried this a couple of times before, but every time I botched my rolls. I grab my dice and roll my climb and balance checks. 19. 20. My bard races up the dragon's back, screaming like a heavy metal harpy. She runs up to the top of its head, reverses the guitar, and slams its axe head down on the dragon's head. I roll to hit. 20. Confirm the critical. Nearly maximum damage. The dragon drops. The table erupts in cheering. Then the DM grins and says, "That wasn't the explosive finale, guys. . ." :OMG!
Bloodsoul 03-28-08, 07:45 PM	Where the heck were you guys playing?:uh-huh: Every DM's gotta have their thrown! :D
Shiftkitty 03-28-08, 09:39 PM	I just found the notes from a soliloquy delivered by a rogue who had goten his STR knocked down to zero by a shadow. He was starting to turn into a shadow himself, he had three rounds to go. His partner, the cleric, took the next go and delivered a critical killing blow to the shadow. The fighter and wizard wrapped up their combat with a greenspawn and came over to see about their friends. The cleric had cast Restoration to get the rogue's STR back up. What the heck, he was standing right next to him. The wizard, a very curious sort, asked what it was like to start turning into a shadow. What followed was completely ad lib: I felt like I was vanishing. I mean, my mind was there, but I felt like my body was fading into nothingness. I kept thinking about Julia and the plans we'd made and how they were never gonna happen now. I lost all sensation save sight and sound. Then I saw you guys, still fighting, still moving, still feeling, still shouting, STILL ALIVE!!! And how I hated you for it. I loathed you. I despised you. I wanted nothing more than to suck the very life force from your bodies. Some small part of me cried out that it wasn't your fault, that this was simply the fortunes of war. That part was getting smaller and smaller, and was soon replaced by an all-consuming hatred for life and all things living, things that dared live on, mocking me for the life I'd had... and lost. [turns to the cleric]Even as you laid your hands on me, how I longed to drain your life force, your entity, and draw it into myself that I might once again experience life, even if only for a brief, fleeting moment. But as my vitality returned, the small, saner part of me got bigger and bigger. I was not draining your life force. I was borrowing some of its energy to boost mine back into me. My soul howled with joy as it found its footing again! And now, now that I live again, I can only wonder about the shadow that attacked me. Who do you suppose it was? It was a hell of an improv piece, and the player was going through the weak gestures of a man who has just been taken apart on the ethereal level and put back together. His voice dynamic was awesome, and his speech left us with the question of the undead. They were once living. Who were they? Our resident artist hastily sketched an oscar award while we applauded. The rogue's player followed up with the "You like me! You really, really like me!" bit.
NecroticBanana 03-29-08, 11:37 PM	I just found the notes from a soliloquy delivered by a rogue who had goten his STR knocked down to zero by a shadow. He was starting to turn into a shadow himself, he had three rounds to go. His partner, the cleric, took the next go and delivered a critical killing blow to the shadow. The fighter and wizard wrapped up their combat with a greenspawn and came over to see about their friends. The cleric had cast Restoration to get the rogue's STR back up. What the heck, he was standing right next to him. The wizard, a very curious sort, asked what it was like to start turning into a shadow. What followed was completely ad lib: It was a hell of an improv piece, and the player was going through the weak gestures of a man who has just been taken apart on the ethereal level and put back together. His voice dynamic was awesome, and his speech left us with the question of the undead. They were once living. Who were they? Our resident artist hastily sketched an oscar award while we applauded. The rogue's player followed up with the "You like me! You really, really like me!" bit. WOW! that is a masterpiece of fine roleplaying.
Shiftkitty 03-30-08, 09:14 PM	It was pretty amazing. Up until then, I had never wondered why most undead were evil. We never considered that an undead, especially an incorporeal one, might be craving the experience of life and the five tactile senses like a junkie craving his drug, and be willing to do anything to get it. He really put it into perspective for us!
JimProfit 03-30-08, 10:51 PM	3. A devil the size of a moon attacking them from outerspace That made eye my eyes widen and go "oh snap". Not exactly freaking out, but mind you ussualy I look like Ben Stein.
jimbo7987 03-31-08, 09:43 AM	Okay, here's mine. Keep in mind we were all still learning to play 3.x. I'm a level 3 ranger at the time and my DM (also my brother-in-law) gives me this exploding arrow that does 5d8 and kills on critical (consider this also a lesson in not giving puny characters WMDs!). It's the end of the campaign and he puts down a colossal red dragon beside an army of monsters (The dragon wasn't supposed to fight, it was there for a story element only). I get this arrow and point it at the dragon, which of course makes it angry. The DM says, "The dragon engulfs air." I say, "I'm shooting this exploding arrow into the dragon's mouth." DM looks at me funny and says, "Fine, by I'd best see 100 on your accuracy check and three 20s in a row." What the hell, I think, I'll be Mr. Crispy in a half a sec. I made all the rolls! Talk about a shock and awe moment! The DM sits there a minute and says, "The dragon's head explodes." And, we go on to save the day. What an interesting moment in my gaming life. That is unbelievable.
Trei 03-31-08, 02:40 PM	Setup: My Assassin belongs to a very powerful guild to which he is unquestionably loyal. However, there are sepratists within the guild. My assassin met a very skilled mercenary (so precise with her killing skill he assumed she was an assassin as well), and was told in private that she belonged to the same guild. Several days down the road, my assassin learns that all along, she is a sepratist, had killed her entire family, and was planning to kill the heir to the guild throne. (Lofty goals for another PC, but, we RPed it nonetheless). So my assassin lays a trap (took a lot of work, so I won't bore you all), and the pieces fell together nicely, so he had her right where he wanted her: asleep at a separate inn from the rest of the party. He poisoned her in her sleep so that she would be too weak to fight back, and then woke her up by MOSTLY cutting her head off. He had smeared ashes across his face and was wearing the battle-worn armor of her dead brother. "You killed your family. You betrayed the Guild. Therefore, this is not an assassination. This is murder." And my assassin promptly finished the job, roughly hacking her head off. The player of her character was utterly SHOCKED that I had managed to figure things out so quickly AND kill her so easily (she really would have defeated me had I faced her any other way.) And then the rest of us got a shock when, the next morning, she was back, pale, and had a long fresh scar on her neck and her flesh was branded with the symbol of her god. So that session was a two-fer, in terms of jawdroppage.
Ikeman04 03-31-08, 08:15 PM	I had a player who was dumb and impulsive. He suffers from CRPG Syndrome. The party was all level one, and he was playing a Rogue, I think. He wanted to play a Psion, but I didn't want psionics in this game, becuase I had built my world with quite a degree of detail, none of which included psionics. We had been discussing this problem throughout the day and I eventually broke down and told him that if he died, his next character could be a Psion. Later that day, we were gaming and he'd been doing all kinds of stupid stuff("Is there corn growing in the field? I pull out a stalk and bury a gold piece under it. And I mark it with a flag."), just stuff that went nowhere and wasted time. People started getting fed up with what he was doing and told him so. He declared in a loud voice, "Well, if nobody likes me, I'm gonna kill myself." I said, "Okay, you're dead. Roll up a new character." He thought I was kidding becuase I assumed he wasn't, and I wanted to stop things like this from happening in the future. when I clarified that I was as serious as a heart-attack, he just had a priceless look on his face, something like this::eek:, but that was not to be the best one of the session. Later still, he finishes his character sheet and proudly asks when he can join in. I tell him he can when it's appropriate in the story, which would be after tyhe other two players make it to the tomb they were sent to investigate, return from said tomb, tell the villagers what they found, and proceeded to a larger town. If his face was great before, it was perfect now. I feel that this :OMG! sums up his face great.
pintslayer 03-31-08, 10:13 PM	First. Post. Ever. I play once a month with some fellow nerds from high school. 2E, if that tells you how long ago I went to high school. :) Anyway, last Saturday night, one of them was sick and couldn't attend. Martian Death Flu or something. I'm the DM, so I told everyone, "Come anyway, I'll roll up some characters, you can pick out of a hat, and I'll have an adventure all ready for you." I made some fairly powerful characters, around tenth level or so, and stocked the dungeon with monsters that would give them a good fight, but never put them in any real danger of being vanquished. Until the end. The final monster was a red dragon, and it wailed on them. A couple of good gouts of dragon breath and everyone was dead; everyone except one young lady who normally plays an Elven thief, but on this night, thanks to the luck of the draw, was a big burly cannon-fodder-type fighter. Her character had a sword that helped her regenerate hit points, which kept her going, along with some timely saving throws. She also had a Death Dealer, a dagger that kills with a natural 20. After winning what I was sure would be the last roll for initiative (she was down to 5hp, and the dragon was down to 3) she looks at me and says, "Does the Death Dealer work on dragons?" "Sure does," I replied, "You just have to roll a 20." 20:OMG! She made it look easy...
MacrossSD 04-03-08, 02:26 PM	It was one of my first D&D games since high school. A tournament in Eugene Oregon. Well, I was playing a bard, and as one of my random magic items, the DM issued me a Coat of Many Things. Along with it were two patched for iron doors. Well, we proceeded through the dungeon at a fair clip, till we came to a door with a number of keys protruding from it, and a riddle written upon. As the DM's describing the door, I say "I take a door patch off my coat and place it on the wall next to the door." "Congratulations, you have a small alcove that you can't get through." "OK, I take my other patch and place it right ON the door..." At that point, the table broke up for a few minutes as the DM's face turned a number of interesting shades not normally found in nature. I though he was going to have a heart attack! He turned immediately to commiserate with another DM running a tourney game there about how this $%^# party ruined his puzzle trap ... We never did find out what it was SUPPOSED to do... :rofl: :dancin: :evillaugh
Shiftkitty 04-03-08, 03:06 PM	LOL! The best laid plans of mice, men and dungeonmasters...!
DungeonOverlord 04-04-08, 12:18 AM	Mine came for my time as a DM: I had peppered the city I'd built with rumours of all sorts of crazy things, from cults to dopplegangers, some true and some not. One rumour my PC's heard was that there was a dragon living in the mountains close by that had been sleeping for nearly a millenia. Being the treasure-greedy players, figuring it was a dragon's hoard unguarded, they had decided it was high time (at 14th lv no less) to go invesitgate. After some preperation, including dragon bane weapons, protection vs elements, and also some stealth equipement too, they head into the mountains to find where this dragon was hiding (after several divination spells were foiled, which should have tipped them off that something was wrong. But they figured the dragon had it's back covered). They eventually found their way into the catacombs and, after quite an adventure, worked their way through the black depths of this mountain to chance upon what appears to be the dragon. Well it was not, what it actually was, was the lair of the Tarrasque (Sleeping Tarrasque included)...so as I begin to describe what they see, some of the players eyes do that "hmmm...that doesn't sound like a dragon...and where have I heard this before..." look. Then it slowly begins to dawn on them what was, lying in all it's glory, right at their feet. And, of course, just as they realize this, they see an eye open up. That was the end of those adventurers. Note that normally I don't TPK but I had built the rumour eons past and at that time decided what it was, figuring if the PC's go after it I'll either give them a hint or something. Well everything I tried to hint at they just took it to be a really ferocious dragon, lol.
McPoyo 04-04-08, 09:15 AM	Winnage I'm gonna have to do this now.
Authw8 04-05-08, 03:31 PM	Back in one of the first games I DMed (I was around 12yo at the time), I had devised a clever encounter for my players. It consisted of a massive anti-grav chamber with a dragon in it. At the bottom of the chamber was a button that, unbeknownst to the players, reversed the dragon's digestive system. The path to victory here was to shove something up the dragon's "derriere," then hit the switch, dealing massive damage as whatever it was was forced through the dragon quickly and painfully. At the beginning of the encounter, one PC (a cleric named Strimbleduck) made a succesful spot check to see the switch. This player immediately kicked off the wall and headed for the switch. Another PC (a paladin named Bill) kicked off a wall, and ended up directly behind the dragon. On his next turn, he says that he kicks off the wall with his longsword held out, aiming directly for the dragon's "derriere." Let me remind you at this point that the players didn't know what the button does. The paladin hit the dragon, and his sword ended up several feet inside the dragon. The cleric had reached the switch, and decided to find out what it does. I informed the players that Bill had been sucked up into the dragon, and ejected in multiple small bits from his mouth. The guy playing Bill started screaming, "NO! NOT BILL!" while myself and the other players proceeded to laugh long and hard.
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-07-08, 10:24 AM	It was a Cyberpunk 2020 game. My PC was a Netrunner named Silver Angel (real name Megan thorne). She had been violent before, as her chosen profession ocassionally necessited, but much preferred to ass-:censored: people though her 'running skills (which were, in fact, "mad"). She'd found a young girl who has be brutalized and, after getting her to hospital, set out trying to find the person responsible. She maintains her normal cool demeanor while pursuing her investigation, eventually learning that the kid was beaten and violated by a local gang leader/pimp. So Meg hops in Betty - a cherry '67 Shelby GT 500, her pride-and-joy - looking for some of these gangers and eventually spies a group walking down the street. Now this is not an exact transcript, but the gist is there: Me: Meg guns it and cranks the wheel, plowing the car into the gangers and crushing them against the wall. She jumps out, hops on the hood and surveys the carnage. Did any of them live? DM: …err, yeah, a couple of them… Me: I pull my pistol and spatter the brains of all but one of them against the wall. I then stick the blood-spattered barrel in the last gangers mouth and ask him if he wants to tell me where The Boss is. DM:…uh, yeah. After you pull the gun out he manages to croak out the location through a haze of pain. Me: I thank him and then shove an m67 in his mouth - if it doesn't quite fit I hammer it though his teeth with the butt of my pistol. DM:…umm… Me: Then I pull the pin and walk away. DM: What about Betty? Me: :censored: it. It's just a car. >boom< All at table: :eek: What threw everyone is that it all seemed so completely out of character for her, and it was based on what had happened to that point, but it was entirely in-character for her reaction to this situation. She had a major "soft spot" for kids, especially young girl street-kids, which was tied directly to her back story, but that is best left for another thread. Best character I ever played.
Kallionastiryne 04-07-08, 10:51 AM	The wizard in our party(Level 10 Human)'s face was hillarious when his farmillier (don't know how to spell it) died.
BruteSquad01 04-07-08, 11:20 AM	Two words that will get any PC's attention, especially when they're walking peacefully through the hills: "FLAME STRIKE!" Most of them thought it was a joke, and chuckled a bit, until I started rolling dice. "Are you serious?" They said. "Oh, yes! 47 damage serious." The guy I hit now had 3 hit points remaining, and everyone started to get really worried for some reason. I let them have a round to get into positions and try to figure out where it came from, and then... "FLAME STRIKE!" Heh heh... good times!
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-07-08, 11:33 AM	Every DM's gotta have their thrown! :D Huh? :confused:
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-07-08, 11:36 AM	It was a hell of an improv piece, and the player was going through the weak gestures of a man who has just been taken apart on the ethereal level and put back together. His voice dynamic was awesome, and his speech left us with the question of the undead. They were once living. Who were they? Nice. See, that's the kind of stuff that does :eek: for me, not just strings of lucky die-rolls.
twad 04-07-08, 02:14 PM	There's been a murder, and a few serious "accidents" lately among some of the important merchant families, obviously involving stealth and magic. All signs point to a team of hired assassins. The party's getting too close, and somebody needs to slow down their investigation. The party's chasing a shadowy cloaked figure through the back alleys of the city.... They woke up just before dawn to find this figure in their rooms, digging through their stuff, and it jumped out the second-story window before they could lay hands on it. None of them have armor on - I told them, "You each have time to grab one weapon on your way out the door...". It's now an hour later, the sun's come up, and they've split up because there's several ways this person could have gone. The lady paladin was the one who finally caught a glimpse of the cloaked figure turning a corner and hauled a$$ after it. After a hell of a chase, she runs out of the alley into the main street, looks both ways and, not seeing the bad guy, is about to say something mildly un-paladin-like when somebody yells and a horse comes screaming down the street at full gallop, headed right for a woman who has the hood of her cloak up and apparently doesn't see the horse. The paladin, of course, takes a running dive and tackles the lady to the ground. So I go into a long, tense second-by-second multiple-dice-rolling description of the action as she charges out into the street, dropping her sword to the ground as she launches herself into harm's way. Of course, she saved the woman in the cloak. As the paladin picks herself up and looks to see if the woman is okay, I tell her that she suddenly realizes that the cloak of the "woman" in her arms matches the cloak she's been seeing little flashes of turning corners all night. She feels a sharp pain in her gut as the hood of the cloak falls back, and the man she's been chasing smiles and says "Oh, everything's just perfect." with an evil grin on his face. I then rolled the damage for the shortsword he sneak-attacked her with. :OMG! (So now she's lying in the street in her nightclothes bleeding, basically wearing nothing but a t-shirt, and the guy leans over with a wicked gleam in his eye and kisses her on the lips before chuckling and running off. She had a few minutes to chew it over before the party found her lying there in the street swearing to herself, and she was decidedly "unamused". By the time they finally caught this guy, more than half the party had been "got", but they kept falling into his traps - he stabbed the paladin, framed the rogue, set the wizard's spellbook on fire (well, a copy of it, anyway...he stole the real one), and almost got the cleric burned at the stake for heresy. :D At his execution, the paladin kissed him on the lips and sucker-punched him in the gut before they hanged him. Oh, and did I mention this guy wasn't even a BBEG, just one of his minions? ) Hillarious! Brilliant!
Jo_Pistachio 04-07-08, 02:39 PM	Me: I activate my bomb. The radius is 2.7 * 10^102 light years, the damage is 3.6 * 10^107 d6 and the reflex DC is 12. Did I mention I have evasion? DM: :(
AnimeSniper 04-07-08, 06:30 PM	When my Paladin was attacked by an adult red dragon and I got caught in its mouth. well my character had a DM sanctioned weapon that another character created and long story short my character fired the double barrel magically imbued shells down its throat killing it, and then me when we hit the ground and the jaws closed down on my Paladin. My paladin was eviscerated in too little clumps but thankfully for the true res spell of our party cleric. My reaction was speechlessness, then I literally slapped my forward because I forgot about being in the air and then I cursed in made up words at the DM and Red Dragons. My character now has a slight phobia/kill them all attitude towards Red dragons.
paulharries 04-07-08, 08:28 PM	Hi Two in same game. Sunday afternoon, at end of a convention, and we managed to get a friendly GM to run a game of Living Greyhawk for us. Short notice & he's only had about an hour to read the scenario. 1) Big brawl scene (dwarves vs humans) setup to pose moral decision during diplomatic mission. Ends round one when Cleric (me) casts Calm Emotions. GM (rightly) asked if spell prepared - showed him my notes. Scenario hadn't included this option. 2) Later same scenario, big fight vs some large monsters in a cavern. Cleric (me) rolls to hit for Scorching Ray. GM bit surprised. More surprised when I rolled second time & told him "Practiced Spellcaster, Warmage"! Cheers Paul H
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-09-08, 09:40 AM	Big brawl scene (dwarves vs humans) setup to pose moral decision during diplomatic mission. Ends round one when Cleric (me) casts Calm Emotions. GM (rightly) asked if spell prepared - showed him my notes. Scenario hadn't included this option. Reminds me of one where the tables were turned on me as a DM. The PCs had to recover an item which the owner had lent to a museum to keep safe. I had planned out the museum heist as a centerpiece of the adventure complete with guards, security systems, guard animals, escape routes, and a grand-finale battle involving antique siege engines vs. a huge golem. I had the whole museum mapped out, the contents of every case itemized, the guard patrols worked out to the second (including pee-breaks and nipping out for a smoke), everything. It was gonna be brilliant. As the moment approaches one of the players says "Why don't we just ask for the item?" to which I believe my response was "Hur…wha". "Sure," he says, "We have the item's owner* and Antoinette (the party mage) can cast Charm Person on the curator too just to be sure. Can't see why they wouldn't just give it back." Sadly, I couldn't see why he wouldn't give it back either. :( *They needed him in order to discover the item's location in the first place.
DTFarstar 04-09-08, 12:48 PM	I would have to say my favorite or at least most memorable shocked look resulted from me playing an Incantatrix right after they came out in 3E. I forget what level we were, mid-teens I believe. Anyway, we walked into a room in the rear of a dungeon and we had been fighting undead and humans all throughout so we just expected more of the same. Lo and behold there was a freaking Balor sitting on a throne in the rear of the room. The Balor had apparently had time to set up for us and got a surprise round. Recognizing me as a mage of some sort and thus dangerous and low on the fortitude he uses implosion against me. I roll the exact number I need to survive and then we roll intiative. I go, then the Balor, and then everyone else. On my turn, I take his spell that requires concentration from him with the Seize Concentration Incantatrix ability. His turn, he hits us all with a fear effect of some sort and everyone else fails the save and has to run on their turn. My turn again, I use his implosion against him and he fails the save. So, I go chasing after the party carrying a little ball of collapsed Balor matter trying to get them to stop running. The look on my DMs face when I killed the boss of the dungeon with his own spell was just priceless. My character kept the little ball of condensed Balor matter on his bookshelf in his portable hole(library) till I had to retire him later. He liked to play catch with it with his son. Chris
DKase 04-10-08, 02:57 AM	Heh reminds me of this one thing... I was playing through the SC adventure path with 3.0 rules at the time. I played a bard, bearing all the criticism in stride. Towards the end of the the first adventure a beholder and some other high level baddie pop out to cause a little mayhem to our piddling PC party. I pull out a scroll of fly and begin flying upwards, the DM probably thought I was high tailing it so he had the villains ignore me and engage the players in some 'Out of my way peon' type banter. Little did he know that I had purchased the Song and Silence books and had a little idea in mind with the spell 'Summon Instrument.' At the time, it summoned any instrument the player was proficient with, not just anything that could fit in one's hands. Guess what perform skill I decided to choose? Keyboards! The first casting was a Pipe Organ, I dropped it from about 200' up and roll one hell of a lot of damage. The DM rolls for save and lets out a groan and a grimace that had 'failed save' written all over it, but then announces proudly that the villain had a Stoneskin spell up and was still alive, and declares initiative. Guess who wins? Next casting, a piano! Once again I roll an insane amount of damage. DM grumbles and removes his villains from play, cheers and merriment were had for everyone else. Afterwards the DM read up on the spell and declared I couldn't use it again untill I paid off the some 10,000 gp to replace the destroyed instruments (even had a pill poof out when I tried), but if you ask me, it was definetly worth it to squish the hell out of a Beholder! Good times with broken 3.0 summonings!
cwyton 04-10-08, 07:46 AM	In a game one players Lizard character is in a temple to the beast god - the altar requires a save or else he succumbs to his bestial urges to rend and rip apart anything around him, unconscious beside him is another party member's character - a human - his favoured enemy. He rolls a 1 to save, his bestial urges overcoming him so he jumps on his party member rolls a twenty, followed by a twenty followed by a twenty. The lizard's player motions using his fingers as a toothpick, makes a comment about how tasty the human was, as the humans player sits there with a shellshocked look on his face.
NightHawkFalconis 04-11-08, 01:15 AM	You all get my stamp of approval *STAMP* I've got a story or three to add, as well. One time, several years ago, I ran a campaign where the characters were infiltrating a city of ice elves. To cut a long story short, a player and I (both of us male) ended up roleplaying an odd lesbian encounter until I asked him, "Well, are you going to kill her or not?" He was playing a male assassin, disguised as another character's disguise... yah. Anyway, he nat 20s the strike against the queen of the ice elves, and she (a level 30) nat 1s the save. I went O.o Last year, I was in a campaign and our DM threw a Nalfeshnee at us (CR 14). We were level 13 or so, but we were horribly underequipped (I had +1 armor, a +1 buckler and a +1 rapier, plus a bunch of trinkets... little else). Well, our wizard at the time stepped up on the first round of combat after rolling highest for initiative. He casts Disintegrate on it. First he rolls a 20 to hit. Then he confirms the critical. Then he overcomes the demon's SR, which he had to roll a 15 or so to do. Then the Nalfeshnee fails its Fort save against the spell, which it had to roll a 3 to beat. So our resident wizard picked up 26 d6s and rolled them twice, for a total of 176 damage. Nalfeshnees have 175 hp :D Our DM almost had to get surgery to put his jaw back on. Most recently (not even a week ago), three of us (actually, more like two) took out a legion of enemies (150-200 ish). At the time, we were level 7 and came up with a plan involving scrolls of Breath of the Jungle (SC), Owl's Wisdom, and Poison Vines (SC). And lots of DR-overcoming arrows. I basically ****** off a bunch of patrols in the city we were in (it had been invaded by fiendish wolves and werewolves) and herded them to our killzone. When our druid cast Poison Vines and caught nearly all of them with the poison, it was all over. And, when we were done, we Mass Burrow-ed away, leaving no trail to follow. More, we knew the enemies used poison that they were immune to, so we all Delay Poison-ed ourselves, then detoxed with Neutralize Poison after getting back to our base of operations :) DM stared at us for a minute, but that wasn't his best look. We had told him we had several contingency plans mapped out (in fact, this one was Plan B, but Plan A was intended to fail anyway). We still haven't told him the details (in case we need to use these tactics in the future), but we told him we'd be drowning the enemies... without water (summon elementite swarm). And if that failed, we'd resort to paying an NPC cleric to summon a bunch of angels for us (we had quite a haul to do that with, too). He's still scratching his head as to our drowning plan. Wonderfulness.
Aeriese 04-11-08, 03:05 AM	In a recent session, our party was on a quest on the first layer of the Abyss. We became involved in a tournament involving melee cage matches, an archery contest and a joust. My friend's fighter and my ranger faced off in the cage and after I knocked him out, I declared to the demonic audience that the fighter was my f***toy and tied him up, carrying him out of the cage and getting a huge applause from the demons. I made this bluff so that I wouldn't have to finish him off. The DM laughed until he was almost crying and the player that played as the fighter just gaped at me. I got some extra exp that night :D
DarthWyyrlok 04-13-08, 03:41 PM	1. My friends Dwarven Fighter, in Battle Plate, tries to hide from an enemy. To make it better, the Wizard charged the guy. 2. Same player, same Dwarf, is knocked prone and has an attacker standing over him with a halberd, ready action to spear him if he stands. On his turn, he stands! But it got better; after combat, with him still lying prone with a halberd in his chest, my character pulled it out...slowly.... All the other players got angry, but it was in keeping with my guys personality. 3. Same player, Feral Human this time. INT 8 or something like that. Evil campaign, we're fighting an Eladrin we had summoned for a dark ritual. He wins initiative and tries to ask it where it came from! 4. Later that campaign, PCs lvl 7. Lvl 15 Rakshasa Sorceror casts a twinned, maximised, empowered, exagerated fireball with lightning and unholy lattices. (Some of those metamagic feats are from third-party books) Basically did over 60 damage to our NPC escort, who soaked it, after fighting said mage's Stone Golem guard. He was a lvl 15 Vampire, and had over 180 hp and fast healing.
Kala2000 04-13-08, 03:55 PM	I critical hit a cr 39 dragon with a vorpal scimitar once, back in 3.0. I was half his CR in level. The DM just sat there in shock for about 10 minutes. First round of combat. Least you didn't get any xp for that. Or you shouldn't have, anyway. Care to explain why he shouldn't gain any exp for that ?
Kala2000 04-13-08, 03:56 PM	double do thing
MacrossSD 04-14-08, 12:45 PM	Another one happened in our game this past Saturday: We were down in Undermountain, facing off against an Elder Orb and a Death Tyrant. My cleric of Tymora had been previously given a mace that on a natural 20, can turn its target to stone. Well, he was hit by a 80 hp-or-half beam from the beholder, made his save and was dropped to 4 HP "I'm going up and attacking it with my speciual mace." This did not shock the other PCs, as they've seen the cleric wade in to many situations where death is a strong likelyhood, always trusting that luck would keep him alive (other than one occasion, it has, in fact!). He gets up in the Elder Orb's face, saves against anoter nasty ray (fortunately one that does no damage on a successful save)watches the EO disintigrate the party's fighter, and then proceeds to swing his mace. I couldn't bear to see what number came up (dreading a natural 1). It came up 20. My near-dead cleric of Tymora had turned a Elder Orb to stone! Everyone's jaws dropped. :D
Clem-Da-Squig 04-14-08, 11:35 PM	Another one happened in our game this past Saturday: We were down in Undermountain, facing off against an Elder Orb and a Death Tyrant. My cleric of Tymora had been previously given a mace that on a natural 20, can turn its target to stone. Well, he was hit by a 80 hp-or-half beam from the beholder, made his save and was dropped to 4 HP "I'm going up and attacking it with my speciual mace." This did not shock the other PCs, as they've seen the cleric wade in to many situations where death is a strong likelyhood, always trusting that luck would keep him alive (other than one occasion, it has, in fact!). He gets up in the Elder Orb's face, saves against anoter nasty ray (fortunately one that does no damage on a successful save)watches the EO disintigrate the party's fighter, and then proceeds to swing his mace. I couldn't bear to see what number came up (dreading a natural 1). It came up 20. My near-dead cleric of Tymora had turned a Elder Orb to stone! Everyone's jaws dropped. :D What about the Death Tyrant? *On edge of seat*
CaptainPicard 04-14-08, 11:49 PM	Recently, my Crusader attempted to make a heroic sacrifice by staving off a large raiding party of goblins and ogres and other nasty things so that the other PCs had a chance to escape. Mainly due to dumb luck, but also I guess an underestimation of the power of Crusader's Strike and the Martial Spirit stance, I won the fight. The look on the DM's face was priceless.
MacrossSD 04-16-08, 02:07 PM	What about the Death Tyrant? *On edge of seat* He was dealt with easily after our other cleric cast Halt Undead on it and it failed its saving throw.
dndlocke 04-16-08, 03:10 PM	I was playing last thursday evening, we run a late game, I was a human wizard, 9th, we got a 9th rogue/assassin mix, and a 11th fighter tank. The dm was portraying the current cities assassins guild leader, since magic was all banned in the city mages were rare if non-existant, I came from the far north where such a rule wasn't there. Either way, the dm (assassin leader) asked me to make him 168 true sight lenses. I said holy crap do you know the xp burn plus gp cost of that? hes like don't worry I'll give you some peons you can drain their life force to use for em. I said sure, since me being CE and greedy I agreed to this. I did the math and charged him dmg price of 17million give or take, between my feats I took, it cost me 6, or so, 17/2 = base craft price, plus 25% off due to artisan feat from eberron, plus 10% off due to arcane craftsman character concept from quint wizard 1 or 2. so either way, Our party now has 10 or so million lol, talk abit jaw dropping, which we then purchased the current continent and I sacraficed half the peoples souls to bane for amusement. The rest formed a resistance group which met my uber spells of 3.5million boosted death.
necrolugosi 07-22-08, 03:11 PM	Back in the day of AD&D about 15 years ago when I was still in high school I went to visit a friend who had went off to college. Since I knew he was DM'ing I brought my 3rd level bard with. I cant remember the dungeon but it was a big old box set (perhaps undermountain). The party had been playing in this dungeon for at least a month and I got there for the weekend long session that would have them facing the final big bad vampire boss. Well part way through this vampire carnage The Bard being only lvl 3 developed an inferiority complex partying with lvl 12 types. So what he did was collect loot sell what he could and gamble with the party just so he could get enough silver to weaponsmith his own silver stake. This was an underpowered character who kept trying so hard to contribute to the party who by getting more and more curageous and disregarding his own safety only to have to be raised by the parties cleric over and over again. Of curse a character who is willing to run up and take all 2-3 hits they can may contribute by distracting the baddies. Anyway after all weekend of slugging through the vampires layer and the killing of minions we reach the vampire lord. Well the vampire totaly ignores The Bard because The Bard can't touch the vampire. Slowely at first and then more quickly after the cleric goes down whole party except the bard and one other character gets whiped out. Of course The Bard has low inetiative so he goes last and he uses a turn to pull out the silver stake. Top of the next round starts vampire kills of last party member The Bard is 50ft away from the vampire. I want to say that the DM could have avoided all this with in the rules but he figured the chances where so low he would allow the hail mary. I decide the only hope to avoid the TPK is to throw the silver steak at the vampire make it a called shot for the vampires heart. My friend laughed knowing it was over up until I rolled a natural 20.
TMH213 07-22-08, 11:46 PM	I have a few to offer. I'm pretty sure both of them go against DND completely (especially the second one). We just started playing and the DM was somewhat new, so the idea of "dieing" was very harsh. One of the first times we played 3e, we had a party of 4. We were probably level 3 or 4. I was a cleric and the others were a rogue, ranger, and wizard. The rogue was the kind of guy that always got in the middle of battle despite having so little hitpoints. He would often do crazy tumble checks to see if he could get some sort of an advantage against the monsters we were facing (like tumbling past an orc to flank him). During one encounter, he finally got what he had coming to him. I don't remember what we were going against, but it was something big. The monster got a critical hit and the rogue went down. It killed him instantly. I had prepared Cure Serious Wounds the round before, and I was positioned behind the rogue. When the DM said the creature had smashed the rogue so hard that he went flying back, dieing instantly, I asked the DM if I would be able to save him since he effectively crashed/landed into my hands. The DM was impressed with my plea and I turned out saving his life. The rogue went from complete surprise that he died, to sheer gratitude that I saved him. Another time was when my party and I were being escorted by these two NPC's. We suspected the NPC's were bad (which they weren't), and being the new DND players we were, all we had in mind was "Let's kill them and steal their stuff." So, when our DM was busy looking for something in the other room, we all huddled together and decided it would be a great idea to poison the NPC's. We didn't know you had to tell the DM everything you did, so we kept it secret and innocently offered the NPC's a pint of ale. The DM, acting surprised yet happy that we were now roleplaying(something we never did) accepted the drink and said "They both drink heartily and thank you for your generosity!" After he did that, all of us were red in the face and burst out in laughter after we screamed "THOSE WERE POISONED!" The DM was at first very shocked yet we could see the anger building up very quickly. It was a hilarious moment because while the DM was yelling at us for breaking the rules, a couple of us were rolling on the floor laughing, one was listening to the DM, and the other was just asking "what's on the bodies?"
1 ton ghost 07-24-08, 12:58 PM	-Old school campaign; laying siege to castle of villain, but we're getting our asses handed to us despite our pressing, daily assaults. This guy can hold out indefinetly (undead minions) and we're pressed for time (plot device 'x'), he's using recon magics and attacking our lines w/ impunity from the invulnerability of his castle (Anti-Magic Shell, etc. over all of it). Siege weapons are nearly useless, assuming we can even get in range, etc. Then it hit me. Shrink the boulders (capatpult shot), hits Shell, ka-pow. DM was pi$$ed for all his hard work, he was his own undoing. -Party effectively split in 1/2 via portculis trap, both sides engaged on enemy's (Dread Necro) terrain (home field advantage, traps, secret spots, choice cover, etc) w/ multiple undead minions via Corpse Grafter and Desecration (means, they're very tough to fight). All hurt badly, 1-sided. Party caster is a Necropolitan (plain vanilla undead PC Wzd) himself, villain suddenly learns this, Rebukes him into submission. Dog pile on him. Beginning of the end, cleric is paralyzed about to be coup de graced too, G/f's tank and party face man getting overwhelmed on other 1/2 of trap, no chance of escape or withdrawl, let alone healing. However, party scoundrel (Rog/Asn), nowhere to be seen (waiting Invisibly) not sure if he should flee, etc. as party is facing a TPK. Everyone is getting pi$$ed, "Jon, when are you gonna' engage, we're dying here." Jon (scoundrel): "I've been undetected right?" "Yeah", I concur. Thinking, 1 sneak attack might hurt me, but I'm gonna' hand you your head in a second; your Will/Fort is pitiful and I'm maxed out now, barely touched my daily grimoire, got mad cover & AC, etc. Jon: "Ok, I'm attacking villain" (who is about to close the deal and wipe out these hapless PCs. "Oh, it's been 3 rnds (study enemy) and I've been fairly near him too, so, uh, that's a Death Attack in addition to Sneak Attack, right?" Rolls, hits villain, becomes visible = knows he's gonna' get killed next. Me: Damn, well, ok, but I still got a killer Fort Save against it. *rolls 1* Dread Necro dies instantly, all his undead go uncontrolled some attack normal (living) henchmen, concentrated spells end, chaos ensues, etc. Total reversal of fortune from 1 d20 toss... -Ripped of from Robotika (nice graphic novel btw). After harrowing, long ass recovery mission to get item 'x' and deliver it to their sovereign who has led them to believe it will empower the kingdom, save, the day, etc., he thanks them, and ads it to his jewelry claiming, "It will be the choice piece to my collection and make put me in the limelight of the gala coming up." The belle of the ball, etc for a bunch of petty nobles. In short, he was an effete, vain bastard, he just bluffed them into thinking this incredible plot device would actually matter in that it was justification for crossing the continenet, going through Hell, etc. to get it. Despite pay and XP, they were completely outraged but powerless to protest.
annoyinglizardvoice 07-24-08, 07:23 PM	When DMing: I let a player play an orc. I let a player "carjack" a dragon. When playing a one-off, comedy crossover game: Munchkin 1: My (mini-maxed, powergamed) paladin is str18, wields ...... and carries ............. magic items. Munchkin 2: My cleric has .......... (uber-killy-death-spells), us two will well pwn you. Me: My old Buffy character's str translates at about 24, all the cold iron inside him make him immune to death affects and mind-altering stuff, and dampen most other magic and he's not minimaxed, he's actually a character to be roleplayed! Them: oh.......
Mr_Seth 07-27-08, 12:10 AM	This one isn't mine; it's a legend that has been passed down from gamer to gamer around the lunch tables at Merced College. There once was a gamer named Bill - he still hangs around there, plays Magic all afternoon - who was a 1st edition Cleric. His party kinda laughed at him when he decided to ready Create Food & Water as his only spells, but hey, he was a new player. They went with it... and besides, they had enough muscle to pull the first level newbie out of the fire if he got into deep trouble. Well, things took a sharp downhill turn for the party, when early in the evening they encountered a young red dragon. And - le gasp! - Bill's cleric decided to go out and face the thing. Alone. The rest of the party figured that he was insane at this point, ducking and covering and waiting for the inevitable crunchy doom. Bill then cast both of his uses of Create Water. Inside the dragon's lungs. The rules were open about it, and it was easy to interpret his action as legal under the early rules. The dragon immediately drowned as his lungs filled with 20 gallons of water, and Bill's cleric got all the XP for the encounter... as he was the only one that faced the beast. You can imagine the looks he got.
RealmsRunner 07-30-08, 07:31 PM	A few months ago, my players were sloshing through a mire, looking for a den of giants that had absconded with a bunch of their gear. On the way to this mire, the PCs had happened by a couple of frightened farm girls who said that they had seen a huge green dragon soaring over the edge of the mire, clutching a few cows in its claws. Well, after a few hours of wading through the swamp, and a brief encounter with a benevolent Walking Plant, they run into a beautiful woman who is lounging comfortably on a dry patch of land. She looks like Rita Hayworth, and smokes like Rita Hayworth; the kind of woman who makes a cigarette look downright tasty, even though you know it's not. So this woman starts asking the PCs why they are traipsing around the swamp, getting all dirty. As the PCs start telling the woman their tale of tracking giants and dragons (apparently trying to impress her), the woman takes a long, seductive drag on her cigarette, and coolly blows out green smoke that smells kinda like a hotel swimming pool. The look on the thief/mage's face as he was the first to realize was extremely amusing, and the look on the rest of their faces as the thief/mage said "She's the dragon you idiots..." was priceless. They talked their way out of it, only just barely keeping the dwarf from becoming lunch.
Dragonflame 07-30-08, 10:03 PM	At my Origins 2008 Eberron 3.5 Gaming round. Went something like this: Dramatis Personae Ben Halstead, Mrel, Dwarven Artificer2/Fighter 3 Corey, Halden Roriath, Human Fighter 4/ Cleric 1 Ms. Jackie Scollon, Crest, Warforged Fighter 5 Marino, Rave Cracyl, Paladin 4 / Inquisitor 1 Rich?, Human Ranger 5 ?, Cravan Deneith, Fighter 4 / Dragonmarked Heir 1 Prologue For some reason, Eberron games seem to move slower than other games... Perhaps it is just the introduction to the setting. Eberron is a rich setting, with volumes of detail. Three of the six players at the table had never played in Eberron before, and the game began in the City of Towers, Sharn. Even with the time expended in describing the Eberron setting, and the city of Sharn, it turned out to be an interesting gaming round. Note to GM: Need to make 3+ sets of handouts for convention gaming rounds to speed up the introduction. Dragon Towers, Globe Information Agency The players immediately went to interview Kava Veldaren at the Globe Information Agency in the Red Dragon Tower of the Dragon Towers District of Sharn. They found out that Kava is the lead suspect in the murder of Aana Windwright, secretary to a renowned adventurer Jorlan Saanid. The adventurer Jorlan Saanid is missing, and is also wanted for questioning. They agree to Kava's employment offer to locate the killer (She feels it isn't Jorlan Saanid, and she knows she didn't do it), and the players travel to the site of the murder where they seek clues to the origins of the killer. The players come away with one vital clue, a serrated blade was used as the murder weapon. From there they travel the markets and pick up feather fall tokens, additional magic, supplies, and equipment with the advance provided by Kava, then return to the Globe Information Agency to ask Kava some more questions. She informs them she suspects a House Tarkanen aristocrat Alax D'Tarkanen, and she wants the players to pick him up so she can question him. At that time a reinforced group of the Sharn watch shows up and arrests Kava for the murder of Aana Windwright. Kava then asks the players to find the real killer, and get evidence to clear her. The Players are left in the agency to solve the real crime on their own.... A routine search of the agency, and the last known haunts of the aristocrat Alax D'Tarkanen turns up nothing. Lower Dura The players then do a bit of background research and gather information on house Tarkanen and learn that the Tarkanens are well known in Sharn as hired Assassins and Thieves. They also learn that a rival organized crime clan, the Boromars recently ended an extended street war with the Tarkanens. The players know of several Boromar clan haunts in Lower Dura, and travel there to see if they can get a lead on Alax D'Tarkanen At a Boromar safe house entrance, the players meet a female halfling Cadesh, whom they question concerning Alax D'Tarkanen. After some extended negotiations with offers, and counter-offers being made, Cadesh tells them where they can travel to to locate Alax D'Tarkanen. She directs the players to the Darkwater Inn, located in the lower cliffs beneath Sharn, and behind Sharn's waterfront distict. GM's Note: Mrel, you lost your bag of holding here, to Cadesh, not in the dungeon to the orcs at the Darkwater Tavern as you originally suspected...Cadesh was an expert pickpocket, and successfully lifted your bag while the negotiations were underway, heh...heh...heh... The Darkwater Inn At the Docks, the players travel into the cliff side along an underground river a short distance and cross a bridge to find a dark Inn. Looking around, they observe Orcs, with a Great Orc bartender named AshelKhan. They get a round of drinks and inquire where they can find Alax D'Tarkanen, however the Orcs are less than friendly, and provide no useful information for the players, however they do agree to summon their tribal leader for a parley. The Players go outside into the cavern and wait by the subterrannean river bridge. The leader of the Darguul Shaarat, Shvara, shows up alone, with only his companion Bobcat a short time later. Shvara informs the players that The Inn is owned by the Tarkanens, and that it is a parley ground for any wishing to negotiate or trade with the Darguul Shaarat, and has been that way for generations. He informs them Alax is nearby, and will forward a request on the players behalf to a negotiate. The Orcs show up escorting Alax D'Tarkanen, in numbers, and the party Paladin implores the Tarkanen noble to turn himself in. Alax admits to murdering the secretary as part of a contract, but refuses to return to Sharn to stand trial. The players seeing they are outnumbered, gracefully withdraw from the Tarkanen stronghold retiring without incident. The Daggerwatch The players then return to the heights of Sharn where they travel to the Daggerwatch, the stronghold of the Sharn Watch garrision and negotiate for the release of Kava Valdaran based on testimony they provide to the Sharn Watch. Kava was clearly framed, but who framed her is still a mystery. The players did get paid even though they didn't return with Alax, but they did get Kava set free, and the Global Information Agency, one of the best Inquisitor Agencies in Sharn, is now indebted to the players. Epilogue A successful Introductory round for Eberron! Many thanks to the veteran players for helping to introduce the new players to Eberron. It escapes me why the party allowed the Paladin to negotiate with the Bad Guys in the bad guy stronghold, though it was interesting to watch, what with the Paladin agreeing to a white-flag parley and having the BBG show up to negotiate. It was only after negotiations were underway that the Paladin realized that it was Alax D'Tarkanan. Look on the Paladins face when he realized he had his target and had agreed not to use weapons for the duration of the Parley, priceless. Odds the GM gives the party to successfully fight the Darghuul Shaarat Warband and capture Alax D'Tarkanen 50/50. You guys had the action dice, and the party was heavy with fighters. It would have been an interesting battle! Thanks again, for a great gaming round!
Lord_Shonus 07-31-08, 03:06 PM	Me (DM): You are in a blacksmith shop. THe room is about 20' by 30', with weapon racks along the walls and set into a counter at the back of the shop. An oak door is set into the back wall. Me (Blacksmith) What can I get ye? Points the Elf: (THe player spent 45 minutes trying to thing of a name, so we called him Points.) "A longsword and a quiver of arrows." Me (BS) "75 gold pieces, please." PtE "That's way too much." Me (BS) "The king took all me swords. THere's a war on, you know." PTe's Player "So, you can;t change the price. You have to cahrge what the Player's handbook says to charge. Me (DM) I cange change anything I need to. I'm the DM. PtE's player "No you can't, you have to follow the rules. Me (DM) (Showing DMG) "It says right here that I have the final word, regardless of what a rulebook says." PtE's Player "Bullsh*t" Me (DM) (Picking up d300) "Roll a reflex save" PtE's player rolls a 20 Me (DM), "You succeed on your save, allowing you to look up and notice the metor heading for your face. It hits and does 245 damage. You die. Miraculously, noobody else is hurt."
celestialkin 07-31-08, 03:36 PM	This actually happened last Saturday: My Silver Dragon Vampire PC got a few Minions of the Skull (see Libris Mortis) after getting exposed to the public. That night he chose to take the 22 Comeliness score (my answer to the Charisma =/= physical beauty issue. BoEF has some uses after all!) human, and the warforged "pleasure unit" to his bed that night. Since dragons can breed with anything, I rolled the impregnation % for a dragon (again Boef). All four of their faces were priceless when the next morning the warforged "pleasure unit" comes walking in with a small-sized metallic egg. I then laughed when the warforged paragon (another PC) picks him up by the neck Roger Rabbit style. It got better. The human rolled a 100% on her role. I rolled a d12. There are now a dozen Half-Human/Half-Vampire+Silver Dragons on the way. Again, that player's expression was priceless.
celestialkin 07-31-08, 03:41 PM	Me (DM): You are in a blacksmith shop. THe room is about 20' by 30', with weapon racks along the walls and set into a counter at the back of the shop. An oak door is set into the back wall. Me (Blacksmith) What can I get ye? Points the Elf: (THe player spent 45 minutes trying to thing of a name, so we called him Points.) "A longsword and a quiver of arrows." Me (BS) "75 gold pieces, please." PtE "That's way too much." Me (BS) "The king took all me swords. THere's a war on, you know." PTe's Player "So, you can;t change the price. You have to cahrge what the Player's handbook says to charge. Me (DM) I cange change anything I need to. I'm the DM. PtE's player "No you can't, you have to follow the rules. Me (DM) (Showing DMG) "It says right here that I have the final word, regardless of what a rulebook says." PtE's Player "Bullsh*t" Me (DM) (Picking up d300) "Roll a reflex save" PtE's player rolls a 20 Me (DM), "You succeed on your save, allowing you to look up and notice the metor heading for your face. It hits and does 245 damage. You die. Miraculously, noobody else is hurt." :rofl:
Keyes2004 07-31-08, 04:43 PM	I was playing a faithcaster in a friend's campaign. At one point, his DMPC was absolutely destroying an enemy camp in a psionic rage which the DM had invented, when my character ended the rage prematurely with a calm emotions spell. The only reason the spell worked was because his character rolled a 1 on the will save. the DM's original plan to kill the overpowered end-boss with his DMPC was foiled and his campaign is now going in a completely different direction because of the lucky roll.
celestialkin 07-31-08, 04:51 PM	I was playing a faithcaster in a friend's campaign. At one point, his DMPC was absolutely destroying an enemy camp in a psionic rage which the DM had invented, when my character ended the rage prematurely with a calm emotions spell. The only reason the spell worked was because his character rolled a 1 on the will save. the DM's original plan to kill the overpowered end-boss with his DMPC was foiled and his campaign is now going in a completely different direction because of the lucky roll. Wait, that is brilliant on so many levels. BBEG: "I shall destroy this world and everything in it! I shall get my revenge! I despise all living things!!!" *Player casts Clam Emotions* BBEG: " You know what? I think I'll take up pottery instead, and find a good therapist."
jorner 08-06-08, 11:12 AM	Wait, that is brilliant on so many levels. BBEG: "I shall destroy this world and everything in it! I shall get my revenge! I despise all living things!!!" *Player casts Clam Emotions* BBEG: " You know what? I think I'll take up pottery instead, and find a good therapist." :rofl:
M-bark 08-06-08, 02:37 PM	Calm Emotions: proof that seemingly harmless and totally non-overpowered spells still can be damn usefull.
Shiftkitty 08-10-08, 05:32 PM	WE just finished up KotS. Here's how it ended, and I think my players are expecting me to do something, I'm just not sure how to do it without making it too easy. Kalarel had moved to the rear of the Magic Circle, and the rogue narrowly missed getting dragged into the abyss after being hit to within 1 hp of dead and gone. The quick-thinking cleric dragged him out of the way, expending everything he had to get his ally to safety and stabilize him. The wizard was hitting from a distance, using Flaming Sphere as his main source of attack. The wight had been knocked into the pit and the skeletons finally went down after what seemed forever (damn that Magic Circle!), and only Kalarel was left to hit the PCs with whatever he had at his disposal. Enter Ronin, the fighter. Earlier in the module, when Ronin heard Sir Keegan's story, he was the one who convinced Sir Keegan that the party was there for the cause of Good. The player considered the manner of Sir Keegan's death, sealing himself inside his own tomb and starving to death, a slow, agonizing way to go. He roleplayed it that the story impressed Ronin so much that Ronin took up Sir Keegan's sword to avenge him and his honor. Even though he had a lower score with a longsword over a great sword, he continued to use Sir Keegan's blade to battle the forces of evil within the keep. In the final room, it was obvious that Kalarel wasn't going to go down without taking a few of the party with him. Everyone was below bloodied and out of surges (or else on death's door, like the rogue). Ronin charged. He hit Kalarel with a Bull Rush and pushed him one square back toward the portal and, thusly, out of the circle. With the Flaming Sphere right beside him and taking the damage at the start of each turn, as well as Kalarel's attacks, Ronin kept pushing and pushing until the thing in the portal grabbed Kalarel and pulled him the rest of the way in... taking Ronin with him. (Gotta love Grabs.) Ronin got one last hit in on Kalarel before they both went hurdling into oblivion, declaring as he struck (a nat 20 to boot!) "This is for Sir Keegan and his family!" The rest of the players, who had all been yelling at him to break off his attack before he got sucked in, were just staring at him. I finally broke the stunned silence by saying "Wow." What else could I say? I thought for sure he'd break the grab and be bragging in a tavern that night. Now I don't know whether to regard this as a properly heroic demise for a well-played, driven character and have the player roll up a new PC of the appropriate level for the next module, or if I should let him be alive on the other side and create a properly levelled rescue mission (maybe Orcus is busy toying with the high priest who failed him and plans to get to Ronin later). I asked the player how he felt, and he's letting me decide.
Lord_Shonus 08-11-08, 01:19 AM	Me (DM): At the end of the tunnel, you find three chests. Who opens which chest?*" Yucca: "I'll take the middle. Wow!, this is a shiny sword." Points: "I found 100 platinum coins!" Sasquatch: "I got a rock!?!" *The sword was a telepathic, semi-intelligent artifact, while the rock was actually a Cursed Rock, which bound itself to the first person to open the chest. (while walking further into the dungeon) Sasquatch: "This bites. Points, share the wealth." Points: "Hell no. Go play with your rock." Me (DM): "Make a reflex save" All three roll (DC 18) Yucca rolled a 19 Sasquatch rolled a 18 Points rolled a 1 Me (DM): You hear a sharp click beneath your feet. Sasquatch and Yucca leap to safety as the floor falls open under Points. You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole." Points: "Get me out of here!" Sasquatch: "It'll cost you ten platinum." Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "Hell no!" Sasquatch: "Twenty" Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "Are you mad!?" Sasquatch: "Thirty" Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "Fine! Just get me out of here!" Sasquatch: "Give me the money first." Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "WHAT!?" Sasquatch: "Forty" Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points throws the platinum to Sasquatch, and sasquatch catches him. Sasquatch hits hikm over the head with the rock.
thecrazedcow 08-11-08, 02:13 AM	I was playing in a 2nd edition game and a gnome illusionist in a party who needed to be teleported to a elven town in a hurry. So we enlisted the service of a powerfull mage. I offered the mage a gambit, we didnt have enough gold to offord his services, but we would give it all to him if I couldnt guess the card he picked from a deck. If I could, then he would teleport us free of charge. The NPC mage made specific arrangements so that no lie could be spoken, and that both parties were held accountable for their word to the letter. He picked his card, and put it back into the deck, then shuffled, I pulled the first card and asked is this your card? He answered no and began to take our gold. I then pulled the next card and asked "is this your card?" He looked at me puzzled. "You never meantioned anything about limiting my guesses"
celestialkin 08-11-08, 08:40 AM	Me (DM): At the end of the tunnel, you find three chests. Who opens which chest?*" Yucca: "I'll take the middle. Wow!, this is a shiny sword." Points: "I found 100 platinum coins!" Sasquatch: "I got a rock!?!" *The sword was a telepathic, semi-intelligent artifact, while the rock was actually a Cursed Rock, which bound itself to the first person to open the chest. (while walking further into the dungeon) Sasquatch: "This bites. Points, share the wealth." Points: "Hell no. Go play with your rock." Me (DM): "Make a reflex save" All three roll (DC 18) Yucca rolled a 19 Sasquatch rolled a 18 Points rolled a 1 Me (DM): You hear a sharp click beneath your feet. Sasquatch and Yucca leap to safety as the floor falls open under Points. You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole." Points: "Get me out of here!" Sasquatch: "It'll cost you ten platinum." Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "Hell no!" Sasquatch: "Twenty" Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "Are you mad!?" Sasquatch: "Thirty" Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "Fine! Just get me out of here!" Sasquatch: "Give me the money first." Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points: "WHAT!?" Sasquatch: "Forty" Me: "You hear a strange 'Bztz' sound. Points falls from the ceiling into the hole. " Points throws the platinum to Sasquatch, and sasquatch catches him. Sasquatch hits hikm over the head with the rock. Wow. I loved that three chests and one being a cursed rock while the other two are great idea. Can I please steal it? :D Also, did you stat out that curse? I was playing in a 2nd edition game and a gnome illusionist in a party who needed to be teleported to a elven town in a hurry. So we enlisted the service of a powerfull mage. I offered the mage a gambit, we didnt have enough gold to offord his services, but we would give it all to him if I couldnt guess the card he picked from a deck. If I could, then he would teleport us free of charge. The NPC mage made specific arrangements so that no lie could be spoken, and that both parties were held accountable for their word to the letter. He picked his card, and put it back into the deck, then shuffled, I pulled the first card and asked is this your card? He answered no and began to take our gold. I then pulled the next card and asked "is this your card?" He looked at me puzzled. "You never meantioned anything about limiting my guesses" Damn that was clever. Did the DM let you get away with it?
Lord_Shonus 08-11-08, 06:58 PM	Go ahead and use it. I simply treated the rock as an artifact that can be destroyed by hitting it with the sword.
celestialkin 08-12-08, 03:40 AM	Go ahead and use it. I simply treated the rock as an artifact that can be destroyed by hitting it with the sword. Thank you! I can't wait to try it out. By the way, did they figure it out? If so, how long did it take them?
ChaoticGood 08-12-08, 04:43 AM	At my Origins 2008 Eberron 3.5 Gaming round. I was in that game! It was quite good... a party full of fighters nad yet, we did not initiate a single combat. Great roleplaying all around! GM's Note: Mrel, you lost your bag of holding here, to Cadesh, not in the dungeon to the orcs at the Darkwater Tavern as you originally suspected...Cadesh was an expert pickpocket, and successfully lifted your bag while the negotiations were underway, heh...heh...heh... Ahh, silly thief! That bag was empty! You're not supposed to steal a bag of holding until it's full of loot! :rofl: It escapes me why the party allowed the Paladin to negotiate with the Bad Guys in the bad guy stronghold, though it was interesting to watch, what with the Paladin agreeing to a white-flag parley and having the BBG show up to negotiate. It was only after negotiations were underway that the Paladin realized that it was Alax D'Tarkanan. Look on the Paladins face when he realized he had his target and had agreed not to use weapons for the duration of the Parley, priceless. Agreed, it was a great moment! For my part, I sat back and let the Paladin negotiate because he was just so into it that I wanted to see where he would go with it. Despite the language barrier (English was clearly not his first language), he was a great player and I'd be more than happy to game with him again! :) As for my own story, also from an Eberron game: My characters had liberated an elementalbound sand skiff from some bad guys in the deserts of the Silln Highlands. Only Dalel, the Gnome Inquisitive, had the skill to operate it, using Diplomacy checks to coax the elemental into following orders. They were later attacked by a sand dragon, which burst out of the sand near their skiff and scattered the party. Dalel, not having much in the way of combat skills, hid behind the skiff until the dragon was engaged in combat with the party's more martial characters. He then snuck aboard the skiff and drove it away! First look of shock, from the players, as they believe that he is abandoning them! On his next turn, Dalel pulls the skiff around, pointing it at the dragon! Second look of shock, from me (the DM), as I realize that he's going to ram the dragon with an 80,000 gp magic item... The party's Kalshtar Psion, running low on hit points, tries to fly away, and the dragon follows him - a convenient excuse for me to try to avoid the dragon's impending injury-by-ramming. (I ad hoc ruled - in my head, mind you - that it would deal 8d6 damage if it hit... which is fairly significant even against a Large dragon.) Third look of shock, again from me, as the party's Elven Ranger pulls out a feather token (tree) and announces, "I ready an action to throw this under the skiff as it goes by!" Now, this is just crazy. The Inquisitive is going to charge towards the dragon in his skiff, and the Ranger is planning to launch the skiff into the air with a feather token. I decide to allow it. The Ranger makes a ranged attack against the square (AC 10 + 4 circumstance, still not difficult), and the Inquisitive makes an untrained Profession (Pilot) (DC 20) to steer the skiff on it's unusual course. Finally, the Inquisitive makes a ranged touch attack roll against the dragon... Final look of shock, from the entire party, as the Inquisitive rolls a natural 20. He finished the round with a perfectly-timed Jump check to leap off the skiff a moment before impact, plunging the skiff through the dragon's chest in mid-air! BEST. ENCOUNTER. EVER. In fact, I wish that I had just ended the campaign right there. Simply put, I never could top that encounter. In fact, I still can't. :king:
thecrazedcow 08-13-08, 02:43 AM	Damn that was clever. Did the DM let you get away with it? Well the mage who I made the deal with, was bound by the very words I caught him in. The DM promptly took a break to laugh his ass off. Long live Ping Fuzzlecutter the gnomish illusionist!
AntonDresden 08-13-08, 02:57 AM	Me (DM): The boulder is roaring toward you, you can run back down the hallway and try to make it to the door, or you can try to hastily climb up the wall. What do you do? Asyrian (Rogue): I drop my portable hole on the ground and jump in. Me: I don't think you declared that was easily reachable, it should be in your pack somewhere...but (seeing his facial expression) I'll allow a %75 chance you can perform the action before the boulder hits you. Asyrian: Oh my god you're not going to believe it! 75 on the nuts! Me: Ok, I guess you can perform the action, in fact, since you got it right on, you have more than enough time to spare so no dex check required. Asyrian: Sweet, I'll wait for the boulder to pass over the hole then pop out. Me: So...um...what did you do with that bag of holding Dentin gave you? Priceless