Greil9's page

Just happened to me in the game that just ended. We were attacking a bandit lair, but the bandits kicked over a table to get in better cover against ranged attacks. However I realize this is a chance, not a hindrance.

Me: "I charge at the table, trying to slam it on them."

*Rolls 18+4 STR check*
*1d6+STR damage with max roll and they're all prone*

Me: "You didn't provide yourselves cover, you provided me a bigger weapon to hit you with"

Suplex a train!
Succesfully grapple a creature at least 2 size categories larger than you.

Suplex the world!
Succesfully grapple a creature at least 3 size categories larger than you.

Ain't no kill like overkill
Deal damage to creature equal to or greater than twice it's maximum hitpoints. The creature must have at least 4 hit dice.

Princes of the Universe
Attain immortality

There can be only one!
Kill a supposedly immortal being

I tend to make a three structure backstory: youth, call to action and their current situation.

One thing that tends to happen in all my character backstories is the major event that turns them into adventuring. For one it was being imprisoned on false charges and quest for justice/vengeance. For another it was being tasked by his monk master to travel the world to find the answer to a question given to him as a final test. For my latest one it was finding out his father, presumed to be dead at seas, had been seen recently.

I also tend to somewhat define their moral standing with one question: how readily would they kill another sapient non-evil being (non-evil as in demon, devil etc)? Some have no qualms about it, others do it in self-defense and one wouldn't do it even in self-defense.

This form can easily swift if the GM has the backstories revolve around the campaign story, like when all our characters were adoptive brothers from the same village.

Was the singing really necessary?
Help your party members get 50 succesful rolls that succeed by the margin of your bardic performance.

"Don't press me"? I'm pressing it.
Activate a trap by activating a switch or lever in plain sight.

Leeroyyyy...
Start combat while the rest of the party is discussing strategy or buffing up.

Morphing time!
Have the entire party use some form of shapeshifting ability or spell at the same time.

"Ok. Let's dance!"
Defeat a long-time rival NPC in single combat.

"This yours?"
Defeat an enemy with his own weapon.

"In my defense, it did kill him."
Kill an enemy with a spell that also damages an ally.

"Well, when you put it that way"
Talk the BBEG out of his evil ways.

"We'll double it"
Get a mercenary off your party by paying him more than the one who sent him.

"Pick a card, any card"
Obtain the Deck of Many Things.

"Round two"
Defeat an opponent who has already defeated you once before.

"Wait, where's the **** is the Serpent Ring?!"
Lose a critical plot McGuffin and don't realize it until the very end.

"Ever heard of Murphy's law?"
Fail 5 successive saving throws, skill checks or attack rolls by rolling a 5 or lower.

"Sexy shoeless god of war"
Kill 150 hostile NPCs in a single encounter with no healing items or any form of help from other party members or NPCs.

"Found a trap. It's in my spleen now."
Fall victim to 5 different traps in the same dungeon after a failed perception check.

"Style is everything"
Spend at least 300 gold on items meant just for the looks.

"Run? Run. Run!!!"
Succesfully escape a creature whose CR is at least double your party's average level (minimum CR7).

"Jack-of-all-trades, master of none"
Put levels into at least 4 different classes.

"Get away from he you B****!"
Deffeat an enemy with an attack of opporturnity triggered by it trying to coup de grace a member of your party.

"Just this once, everybody lives!"
Have no player character or non-evil NPC die at any point during the course of the campaign.

"Finishing move"
Defeat the BBEG with a critical hit while using either a feat or class ability for the attack or with a spell critical.

"Fair play is overrated"
Defeat a boss character at least partially with trickery.

This one happened in our last session of Cyberpunk 2020. We had tracked a guy who sells some certain combat drugs to an apartment and secured other exits while one of our big musclemen went to the frotn door. After knocking, conversation went as follows

"Would you like to let Jesus into your house?"

"No, go away."

"Well then, would you like to let your door into your house*

Then he proceeded to kick the door in with his cyberlegs.

Greil9 wrote:

...I got into a duel with an Aldori swordlord who ... considered me too weak to kill, but saw the potential in me and told me to get stronger before challenging him again.

... when we finally crossed paths again ... it made me feel like an utter badass when I landed the killing blow ...

Did your character think about sparing the guy who'd let him live when first they'd met?

My intention was to leave him alive since my character wanted to face him again someday and bore no grudge. However, I dealt too much damage with my final blow (Think I critted for the finisher) and he fell with no chance to heal him. Also the Swordlord was getting old and wanted to die in a battle, even having left a letter in his coat for me in case he lost. Both men went into battle as equals knowing the risk of death.

Also he left me alive back then since he could do it without any danger. He only hit me with the pommel and was never under any risk since my sword was already in pieces. Even if it wasn't I could only hit him with a nat 20 at the time. In the last battle either side taking it easy would insure a loss. I even tried just disarming him several times as a nonlethal way to end the battle, but his CMD was clearly too high since I never succeeded.

So while I wanted to leave him alive, GM had pretty much planned he'd die there.

If it's a long campaign, I want to start beign relatively good, but shown that it's a big world out there and I'm a big fish in a small pond. Over the course of the game, I'll rise up to be at or above the levels of those who I once feared/admired.

Like last campaign my character was one of the best swordsmen in his town and he was confident in his skills, but maybe 2 or 3 sessions in I got into a duel with an Aldori swordlord who completely wiped the floor with me. I couldn't even land one blow before he shattered my scimitar. I did manage one lucky 20 on a trip attempt to the surprise of everyone, even the swordlord, but he still beat me without taking even a single point of damage. He considered me too weak to kill, but saw the potential in me and told me to get stronger before challenging him again.

It was 2nd to last session when we finally crossed paths again. There was another boss with him him, but both me and the swordlord agreed to not get involved in that fight so we could have a fair duel at full strength (I was confident the rest of my party could take the boss on and likely would have sprung at the fight if any of them were in mortal danger). After a fairly lengthy duel, it made me feel like an utter badass when I landed the killing blow to him and nicely capped off my characters arc for that story. It didn't feel awesome since I was stronger than him, it felt awesome since I had grown enough to deffeat the one who previously took me out with no effort.

I'd do this: Ask each party member something personal about myself they don't know. He reads my thoughts and gets the answer to a question he's not supposed to have it for, I get the answer to who it is.