Adventuring Party Saved By Flour and Other Oddities [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adventuring Party Saved By Flour and Other Oddities [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Berzerker_prime
10-23-05, 11:48 PM As we all know, GMs do their best to try and kill... er... I mean, challenge our characters. Many times, this can force the players to have to think up some very creative ways of doing things.

All too often, we hear about PCs doing dumb things and getting killed for it. This thread is dedicated to all those dumb-at-the-time ideas that actually panned out and saved the PCs. Was it silly and absolutely the dumbest thing you could possibly do and worked anyway? Was it a miracle of bardic proportions that wouldn't have worked if not for that crit roll? Give me your tales, dear friends!

My contribution happened just this afternoon.

It was an Undermountain mini-crawl with the express purpose of blowing off steam (the characters have been somewhat... well... okay a LOT angst-ridden of late). Four of the five PCs participated including Amarthir the Elven wizard, Ghan the Dwarven fighter, Junior the Human monk, and my character, Hadoriel the Elven ranger. Our Bard we left behind to gather supplies for our next road trip (and because the player couldn't make it).

Into the Yawning Portal they went and the mini-crawl commenced. Things were going quite well. Some Orcs met a very satisfying and dismembered end and they didn't get lost. They went around in a circle just once, but thanks to the Ranger's chalk marks, they realized it right away.

All it all, everything was going swimmingly. At least, until the room with the zone of non-magic. The monk could no longer treat his fists as deadly weapons, the Dwarf lost any and all effectiveness his one level of cleric had, and the wizard... well, he was completely useless. The only one who didn't have a headache and wasn't terribly worried was the Ranger who doesn't use magic at all. She reveled in that, but I digress.

All of a sudden, one of the nearby stone columns turns into a stone creature. Battle ensues. The Dwarf gets in a few good hits with his axe, the monk darn near breaks his hand, the wizard runs from the room like the little sissy he is when he can't use magic, and the ranger succeeds in little more than making sparks on the thing's skin with her sword.

Seeing the wizard running like a pansy, the creature decides that he is a likely target for splutting. So it goes after him and lo and behold, the battle moves out into a corridor where everyone's magic returns.

Not that it helped much. The Dwarf was too busy trying to get in any damage at all on the thing, the monk had by this time lost most of his hit points and had been forced to retreat, and the wizard didn't have anything useful in his repetoir, like "transmute stone to dead stuff." The ranger was, of course, still utterly baffled as to what she could possibly do, forget magic.

Until she realized that she was carrying two one-pound sacks of flour for no apparent reason. So, in a fit of desperation, trying to give the party any advantage she possibly could, she tossed one of the sacks at the creature's head. It missed, but luckily, as a level 6 ranger, she gets two attacks. The second sack landed square in the creature's face, blinding it and taking away its dex and lowering both its AC and attack bonuses.

And then it was pile on the stone creature as it flailed around blindly. The lowered ABs actually saved the Dwarf from getting hit with a crit, which probably would have killed the Dwarf. The party then went about a manual casting of "transmute stone creature to rubble pile" and that was that.

So... Adventuring Party Saved By Flour!

:D

Berz.
theAlastorian
10-24-05, 01:54 PM We have a four year ongoing campaign that is typically very serious in tone. However, one late night, we ran across a stash of items that contained a load of scrolls. Obviously the DM had to let us know which spells were contained therein, but with the last scroll he ran out of ideas and so gave me something that (he thought) would be absolutely useless and silly. It was a scroll of "Transmute Rock to Pudding". Later that same night, our characters were in a palace that was mostly destroyed with us in it, and in the aftermath we were attacked by a hundred-legged rock monster. The DM had statted this thing out like whoa and it was supposed to be a serious challenge for us. On it's first turn it attacks a member of the party and critically fails. *Flip!* right onto it's back, hundred legs a-kicking. My turn is next, so I pull the scroll and cast the silly spell. It fails the fort horribly and becomes a puddle of pudding right there, first round, second turn. Sheer beauty. *grin*
Myrkul Lives Again
10-24-05, 04:43 PM Back in AD&D days... my friend ran a mini crawl with evil pcs that would be used for a later campaign. I made an anti-paladin inquisitor of Xvim named Cecil, there was Anatol the mad priest of Malar (lots of clashing already), and a random fighter named Draf (I think?). Anyways, the crawl was loaded with traps and the fighter was the man for the job. The Malarite threatened to skin him if he didn't walk first and the Xvimlar refused to let either of them have a shot at his back (nice group, huh?). Well a few traps later, and the fighter was peppered with crossbow quarrels (I think he lost some strength), was the receiver of a critical from a flaming burst trap (with the chart, so he lost his arm), and then failed a necromantic spell that ripped his skeleton out and became an intelligent undead. Well his skeleton ran away, and the Malarite and the Xvimlar were determined to see it through. The very next room held a chandalier of lightning bolts with a pattern in the floor tiles for "safe spots." So we went back, grabbed the fighter's now dead flesh, and dragged it across the floor to find the live tiles...
Mookie37
10-25-05, 08:00 PM Salt.
One of my best freinds always has his PC's cary around salt, one pound in a block form and one pound in a poweder.
He uses it for seasoning and "in case of witches".
In the seccond campaign I ran he was chased up a tree by a panther-beast of malar. He dumped the entire pound of powdered salt into the creatures eyes and blinded it, then ran like the wind and got his Paladin and Barbarian freinds.
And people say that salt is bad for you.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Berzerker_prime 10-23-05, 11:48 PM	As we all know, GMs do their best to try and kill... er... I mean, challenge our characters. Many times, this can force the players to have to think up some very creative ways of doing things. All too often, we hear about PCs doing dumb things and getting killed for it. This thread is dedicated to all those dumb-at-the-time ideas that actually panned out and saved the PCs. Was it silly and absolutely the dumbest thing you could possibly do and worked anyway? Was it a miracle of bardic proportions that wouldn't have worked if not for that crit roll? Give me your tales, dear friends! My contribution happened just this afternoon. It was an Undermountain mini-crawl with the express purpose of blowing off steam (the characters have been somewhat... well... okay a LOT angst-ridden of late). Four of the five PCs participated including Amarthir the Elven wizard, Ghan the Dwarven fighter, Junior the Human monk, and my character, Hadoriel the Elven ranger. Our Bard we left behind to gather supplies for our next road trip (and because the player couldn't make it). Into the Yawning Portal they went and the mini-crawl commenced. Things were going quite well. Some Orcs met a very satisfying and dismembered end and they didn't get lost. They went around in a circle just once, but thanks to the Ranger's chalk marks, they realized it right away. All it all, everything was going swimmingly. At least, until the room with the zone of non-magic. The monk could no longer treat his fists as deadly weapons, the Dwarf lost any and all effectiveness his one level of cleric had, and the wizard... well, he was completely useless. The only one who didn't have a headache and wasn't terribly worried was the Ranger who doesn't use magic at all. She reveled in that, but I digress. All of a sudden, one of the nearby stone columns turns into a stone creature. Battle ensues. The Dwarf gets in a few good hits with his axe, the monk darn near breaks his hand, the wizard runs from the room like the little sissy he is when he can't use magic, and the ranger succeeds in little more than making sparks on the thing's skin with her sword. Seeing the wizard running like a pansy, the creature decides that he is a likely target for splutting. So it goes after him and lo and behold, the battle moves out into a corridor where everyone's magic returns. Not that it helped much. The Dwarf was too busy trying to get in any damage at all on the thing, the monk had by this time lost most of his hit points and had been forced to retreat, and the wizard didn't have anything useful in his repetoir, like "transmute stone to dead stuff." The ranger was, of course, still utterly baffled as to what she could possibly do, forget magic. Until she realized that she was carrying two one-pound sacks of flour for no apparent reason. So, in a fit of desperation, trying to give the party any advantage she possibly could, she tossed one of the sacks at the creature's head. It missed, but luckily, as a level 6 ranger, she gets two attacks. The second sack landed square in the creature's face, blinding it and taking away its dex and lowering both its AC and attack bonuses. And then it was pile on the stone creature as it flailed around blindly. The lowered ABs actually saved the Dwarf from getting hit with a crit, which probably would have killed the Dwarf. The party then went about a manual casting of "transmute stone creature to rubble pile" and that was that. So... Adventuring Party Saved By Flour! :D Berz.
theAlastorian 10-24-05, 01:54 PM	We have a four year ongoing campaign that is typically very serious in tone. However, one late night, we ran across a stash of items that contained a load of scrolls. Obviously the DM had to let us know which spells were contained therein, but with the last scroll he ran out of ideas and so gave me something that (he thought) would be absolutely useless and silly. It was a scroll of "Transmute Rock to Pudding". Later that same night, our characters were in a palace that was mostly destroyed with us in it, and in the aftermath we were attacked by a hundred-legged rock monster. The DM had statted this thing out like whoa and it was supposed to be a serious challenge for us. On it's first turn it attacks a member of the party and critically fails. Flip! right onto it's back, hundred legs a-kicking. My turn is next, so I pull the scroll and cast the silly spell. It fails the fort horribly and becomes a puddle of pudding right there, first round, second turn. Sheer beauty. grin
Myrkul Lives Again 10-24-05, 04:43 PM	Back in AD&D days... my friend ran a mini crawl with evil pcs that would be used for a later campaign. I made an anti-paladin inquisitor of Xvim named Cecil, there was Anatol the mad priest of Malar (lots of clashing already), and a random fighter named Draf (I think?). Anyways, the crawl was loaded with traps and the fighter was the man for the job. The Malarite threatened to skin him if he didn't walk first and the Xvimlar refused to let either of them have a shot at his back (nice group, huh?). Well a few traps later, and the fighter was peppered with crossbow quarrels (I think he lost some strength), was the receiver of a critical from a flaming burst trap (with the chart, so he lost his arm), and then failed a necromantic spell that ripped his skeleton out and became an intelligent undead. Well his skeleton ran away, and the Malarite and the Xvimlar were determined to see it through. The very next room held a chandalier of lightning bolts with a pattern in the floor tiles for "safe spots." So we went back, grabbed the fighter's now dead flesh, and dragged it across the floor to find the live tiles...
Mookie37 10-25-05, 08:00 PM	Salt. One of my best freinds always has his PC's cary around salt, one pound in a block form and one pound in a poweder. He uses it for seasoning and "in case of witches". In the seccond campaign I ran he was chased up a tree by a panther-beast of malar. He dumped the entire pound of powdered salt into the creatures eyes and blinded it, then ran like the wind and got his Paladin and Barbarian freinds. And people say that salt is bad for you.