what is your singlemost favorite encounter one on one in D&D, so far mine was with my 2nd edition Sylvan Elf Berserker (natural 19 strength, 6 ft 180 something pounds 6th level). In a friendly boxing match I knocked out a hill giant. This was the most emotionally rewarding pc feat I've ever had. I've had plenty of good times as a player, but for my pc, this was probably the proudest moment.
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Mine was in a Spelljammer campaign from many years ago. I had a drow fighter wielding (sigh, yes I know it's pathetic) two swords. We were in a face off with a vampire and his minions. One of the PCs got charmed and attacked another PC. The remaining party members took on the minion while my character went straight for the big boss man. I fought him to a standstill, then watched in pleasure as the DM had the Mists drag his bloodsucking ass into Ravenloft.
Funny as hell...
This one time, back in 1st edition, I played a ranger and one of my friends played a cavalier. We were looking for an artifact of some sort guarded by a giant beast (home-made monster). Anyway, the DM wanted us to steal the artifact from the creature and then was planning to get the monster to follow us back to civilisation and wreak havoc on our town. But me and my friend were going there with the idea to slay the beast and take it’s treasure.
The DM tried to convince us that this wasn’t a good idea, cause we were impossibly outmatched and stealth was a better solution... But, like true heroes, we did not change our plans. That really made the DM angry. So he wanted to teach us a lesson. The battle lasted three rounds. The creature was unscathed, I was heavily damaged and my cavalier friend almost died. I actually had to drag his unconscious body to a safe area to rethink our strategy. The DM was now mocking us, telling us we should of used stealth, that his plan was better, and that we were idiots.
Well, we came up with another nutty plan. I was to climb on top of the cave entrance, while my companion lured the beast. Then I was to attack the beast from above using a poisoned dagger I had kept from a previous adventure (only one dose left). The DM yelled and cursed at us, now telling us that we would most certainly die. But we went forward with the plan anyway.
I climb up to the top of the cave entrance and wait patiently, while the cavalier goes inside to nag the creature. Moments later, the cavalier comes running out with the creature hot on his tail. I declare that my character makes a suicide jump and attack the creature when it passes beneath me. The DM says with a grin “You’ll need a natural 20 to succeed”. I gulped and roll the die. Wouldn’t you know it… A CRITICAL HIT!! Me and my friend screamed and jumped for joy as the DM gazed upon the die with a look of disgust.
The DM now turns to us and says “Well, he still has to make his saving throw vs. poison.” He then laughed... “The poison is too weak for such a big monster. The only way for it to fail the save, would be for the creature to roll a natural 1”. We now became deathly quiet and awaited the roll of the die by the DM...
HE ROLLED A 1!!!
He swore, threw the dice, tore up his sheets and made us leave his house... And that was the end a that campaign.
But what an ending it was. Lol
Ultradan
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Mine was in a Spelljammer campaign from many years ago. I had a drow fighter wielding (sigh, yes I know it's pathetic) two swords. We were in a face off with a vampire and his minions. One of the PCs got charmed and attacked another PC. The remaining party members took on the minion while my character went straight for the big boss man. I fought him to a standstill, then watched in pleasure as the DM had the Mists drag his bloodsucking ass into Ravenloft.
"Hello, my name is Aberzombie, and I'm a Drizzaholic."
"Hello Aberzombie!!!"Sall good, man. I think my first 5 characters were punched from the Conan mould. Probly my last 5 too, can't remember.
Sadly I have a terrible memory. But my current character a barbarian/bear warrior/warshaper back when he was just a wee barbarian (I think level 7 or so). I forget where we were (remember bad memory) be we are on the SCAP. We were attacked by a red dragon ( a large or huge one). He was fly by attacking us so we were having a hard time with him. The party wizard cast enlarge person on me (I am normally size large) and I waited for its next attack. As it flew by I leap into the air (thank you Booots of Striding and Springing) and grabbed it by the the wings. I tactkled it to the ground and pinned it. The party made short work of it after that.
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Mine was in a Spelljammer campaign from many years ago. I had a drow fighter wielding (sigh, yes I know it's pathetic) two swords. We were in a face off with a vampire and his minions. One of the PCs got charmed and attacked another PC. The remaining party members took on the minion while my character went straight for the big boss man. I fought him to a standstill, then watched in pleasure as the DM had the Mists drag his bloodsucking ass into Ravenloft."Hello, my name is Aberzombie, and I'm a Drizzaholic."
"Hello Aberzombie!!!"
Sall good, man. I think my first 5 characters were punched from the Conan mould. Probly my last 5 too, can't remember.
But I've been sean and clober for about 10 campaigns now....hic
Director of Sales
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Sadly I have a terrible memory. But my current character a barbarian/bear warrior/warshaper back when he was just a wee barbarian (I think level 7 or so). I forget where we were (remember bad memory) be we are on the SCAP. We were attacked by a red dragon ( a large or huge one). He was fly by attacking us so we were having a hard time with him. The party wizard cast enlarge person on me (I am normally size large) and I waited for its next attack. As it flew by I leap into the air (thank you Booots of Striding and Springing) and grabbed it by the the wings. I tactkled it to the ground and pinned it. The party made short work of it after that.
In that battle, my party *inadvertantly* took out that Large Red Dragon with an enraged, out-of-control, Airwalking elephant that we had been using as a pack/riding animal. There really is something beautiful having the PCs sit back and helplessly watch as a large dragon gets trampled to death in mid-air by a huge elephant.
Geeze...there have been a few, both as a player, and as a DM, and not strictly D&D.
As a player, Star Wars d20, saving a fellow PC from being shot by another PC by using my force powers to crush his blaster. (It was a tense situation.)
As a player, Rifts, ley-line walker, using the ley line to "overload" the bad guy (and saving the rest of the party).
As a player, GURPS, werebear gun-bunny, loading up with the dual Pancor Jackhammers and proceeding to clear the way for the rest of the party. Managed to arrange my traits/disadvantages to the point where I could wield said Pancors while in a hybrid form. :D (Such a fun character. I usually play the smarty-pants type, so Freyja was quite the departure for me. Wasn't very smart, but was really strong and loved potstickers.)
As a DM...heh. There have been a few, but it has to be when two of my players, who were in a previous campaign of mine, couldn't do anything as they found out that their previous two characters from the older campaign, were in trouble and needed the current party's help.
"So where they at?"
Me (as an NPC): "The Shadowlands."
Looks of abject horror on the two players' faces. They look at each other and Player 1 says, "Dude, we can't say ANYTHING! Tebryn and Thayghen don't know a damn thing about the Shadowlands!"
Player 2: "I know, but WE know!"
Player 1: "Crap!" Switches back to character. "Shadowlands? Psh. Whatever. We'll have them back to their families in a week."
I have 2 events, that are remember around the table where I play. One I get praise for the brings laughter and derision.
Laughter and derision: Playing in rolemaster game as a ranger the party was cornered by the constabulary(corrupt). So we decided to just knock them out and run for it. I rolled 100 (I flick my sword from the ground with my foot and catch it)which put me the critical table them proceeded to roll 100 again nothing but a complete beheading.( so much for the knock out)
Praise: Party enters room full of mohrgs (12), Cleric(me) gets initiative casts mass heal, mohrgs reduced to 4hp and party fully healed. DM shakes head, not at all happy.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Another 2e moment: we're playing a game with two players and the DM. I've got a brd3, the other guy has a ftr3. Our opponent, is a rakshasa. There's no way on earth we can take the thing in a fair fight, and we don't have access to the bless spell. Luckily, we have a bag of holding, and we all know what happens when you pop a bag of holding...
The ftr distracts the rakshasa, and my bard pulls the bag over its head. We roll intitiative for the next round. I beat the rakshasa and stab the bag with my dagger. His head ends up in the astral plane. The remainder of his body stays on the prime.
^^^^ hehe, I remember some of them 2e tricks!
As a player - recently, our group is in a fight with a deathknight. We be getting whooped on good. My PC (polearm tripmonkey type) gets a trip in and deathknight is prone. Our very team-centric group exploits this and within 2 rounds, deathknight is wondering how things went so bad.
Deathknight is prone, restricted space limits him to attempting to stand in the square he is prone in. Results in AoOs from barbarian, my PC with yet antoher trip and then elven wizard with his net attack. Deathknight, on his turn, is even lower on HP, still prone and now entagled from wizard's net. Our cleric goes off and mass cures us and does yet more damage to deathknight. It is now our turn again!
Best DM moment recently - high level game, players fall into the well-laid plans of rakshasa baddy. Basically a quickend/maximized fireball in a suprise round with a magic missile to boot, highest intiative, chucks a time stop, buff's up for 4 rounds, players act for one round and try to gain a tactical advantage, rakshasa casts disjunction and says "What y'all gonna do now?".
A retreat was ordered and executed by the PCs.
My players were a wee bit more careful after that one. I started to feel bad later though and set them up with new gear and allowed them to comeback before the Rakshasa had time to recoup from just blowing his daily spellcasting wad.
In 2e I played a Dwarf fighter/thief who had the juggle skill. We were in a tavern and I ordered 4 beers, then drank them. Then I started juggling the empty tankards. DM ruled that I had to roll con or lower on d20 or become drunk. I kept ordering more beer and having the serving girl pour it down my throat and toss the empty into the juggling ring. After about 8 or 9 I became drunk, which resulted in a dex - number of beers consumed roll to continue juggling. Also, con or lower or pass out. I had to roll low 2 times after each beer! After the 16th beer, I had to roll a 1 or fail the juggle. A 1, I was the god of juggling. Then I rolled a 20 and passed out, immediately. Twelve years later, people still talk about the greedy dwarf who could juggle drunk. Not a major victory, but great fun, and tons of role play XP.
WM
I kept ordering more beer and having the serving girl pour it down my throat and toss the empty into the juggling ring. After about 8 or 9 I became drunk, which resulted in a dex - number of beers consumed roll to continue juggling. Also, con or lower or pass out. I had to roll low 2 times after each beer! After the 16th beer, I had to roll a 1 or fail the juggle. A 1, I was the god of juggling. Then I rolled a 20 and passed out, immediately. Twelve years later, people still talk about the greedy dwarf who could juggle drunk. Not a major victory, but great fun, and tons of role play XP.
WM
A couple of questions, what was your con and dex? How many beers, and how many tankards juggled at once?
Star Trek RPG by FASA...I was playing a Klingon captain who had been captured by renegade Klingons known as the IKS (Imperial Klingon States). These renegade Klingons, being rebels, were considered less than birdshit on the bottom of a Romulan's shoe by true Klingons, but my character pretended to honor them and they agreed to give him a chance to escape.
The head bad guy Klingon released my character into a 500 acre hunting "playground" for him and his cronies. Armed with nothing but a dagger, my character fought and killed numerous creatures before finally slicing up the main bad guy and securing an escape.
Betrayal followed, and my character and his skeleton crew (played by the other players) had to fight their way to their battle damaged battle cruiser being kept in a rudimentary space dock, spacewalk under fire to undo the holding clamps and perform emergency repairs on the impulse engines while holding off a determined enemy attack.
Finally free, our cruiser limped out of spacedock on low impulse power while a whole platoon's worth of hand disruptors set on overload blew up the enemy docks behind us.
Unable to reach home space, we had to play "derelict" to sucker in some Orion pirates, who beamed aboard to take possession of the salvaged D-7 battlecruiser. Outnumbered 4 to 1, my character and our crew defeated the Orions and took possession of their vessel, rigging up a tow warp field to bring our D-7 battlecruiser "IKV Havoc" back home to Klingon space.
Distrusted by Imperial security, my character was under perpetual suspicion by the Empire for years afterwards, suspected of having made a "deal" with the rebels. His D-7 repaired, my character and crew was assigned to ever increasingly dangerous missions in far outer space. We succeeded at them all and my character ended up winning seven consecutive knife duels for his honor against rival Klingon house assassins and noble challengers.
The final session of that campaign ended with my character gloriously burning up in a heated space battle with two Romulan battleships. At the time, he had won command of his own squadron of D-7's, had his own little backwater planet, and had ensured his clan's independence and continued lineage. One of the other players in the group finished and won the battle and we continued to play, with him as the new captain and my new character taking on the role as squadron security officer. This campaign was so much fun one of the players drove in from 400 miles away every month for weekend marathon gaming sessions.
Okay, so the one encounter I enjoyed the most was the escape from the IKS dock and the hunt that preceded it. If you know the FASA Star Trek system, you know how unbelievably deadly the game's combat system is. I couldn't believe how lucky my dice rolling was. The GM that ran this masterful campaign is married to one of the ladies that plays in my D&D campaign, but he no longer actively games or has any interest in running a game. It's a loss to role-playing IMO, for no one does Star Trek better than him.
The funny thing is that I'm not really a trekkie...
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Director of Narrative
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Back in the 2nd Ed days I was playing this roguish bard who was a packrat. He'd pick up all sorts of mundane things throughout the party's travels. He had a certain penchant for tools and was pretty crafty. The haversack helped him carry all this stuff. ( I think at the time I was in a big rut with magic and wanted to play a character who used mundane methods to solve big problems.)
Anyway, the party had been fighting a vampire and his minions in this abandoned castle and had defeated everything except the head vampire who just before dawn had went gaseous and fled to his coffin. The DM, who knows why, had the vampire's coffin in a tower in the center of the castle complex. My character climbed up at dawn, making all of his climb checks for the whole 100ft, then used a hand drill to pop a few holes in the timber roof of the tower. From the holes he used a small saw to make a larger hole for his good saw and began to work most of the day cutting a large hole in the tower where the setting sun would shine down where the coffin was. About the time the sun was setting and the beams of last light were being cast acros the coffin he used the same tools, plus giving his crowbar to the fighter who had joined him by them to open the coffin, and *poof* problem solved.
Death by tools.
MY Dwarven fighter in 2nd Edition had Hillgiants strength thanks to the lovely deck of manythings. On an expidition into the Harrowing peeks of Frostcraig , Our group ran across a hill giant Fort.
Being the Strapping young lads we were we decided to try and raid this little camp. "There cant be more then 10 of them"
THere were many more then ten. As we were fleeing the giants they begain to pelt us with boulders.
Great i thought i have a giants strength ill return fire.
I tried to catch one of said boulders. My dm didnt agree. I dont have the size of a giant so i cant catch like a giant.
Great he tells me now.
I did catch the boulder. As it send me tumbling down the mountain pass. Moral of the story is..... Giants throw big rocks!
MY Dwarven fighter in 2nd Edition had Hillgiants strength thanks to the lovely deck of manythings. On an expidition into the Harrowing peeks of Frostcraig , Our group ran across a hill giant Fort.
Being the Strapping young lads we were we decided to try and raid this little camp. "There cant be more then 10 of them"
THere were many more then ten. As we were fleeing the giants they begain to pelt us with boulders.
Great i thought i have a giants strength ill return fire.
I tried to catch one of said boulders. My dm didnt agree. I dont have the size of a giant so i cant catch like a giant.
Great he tells me now.I did catch the boulder. As it send me tumbling down the mountain pass. Moral of the story is..... Giants throw big rocks!
simply hilarious. (arguably my elf was too short to go toe to toe with a hill giant, but some how the 3-4 foot gap was breached for a succession of blows that lead to a knockout)
Back in the 2nd Ed days I was playing this roguish bard who was a packrat. He'd pick up all sorts of mundane things throughout the party's travels. He had a certain penchant for tools and was pretty crafty. The haversack helped him carry all this stuff. ( I think at the time I was in a big rut with magic and wanted to play a character who used mundane methods to solve big problems.)
Anyway, the party had been fighting a vampire and his minions in this abandoned castle and had defeated everything except the head vampire who just before dawn had went gaseous and fled to his coffin. The DM, who knows why, had the vampire's coffin in a tower in the center of the castle complex. My character climbed up at dawn, making all of his climb checks for the whole 100ft, then used a hand drill to pop a few holes in the timber roof of the tower. From the holes he used a small saw to make a larger hole for his good saw and began to work most of the day cutting a large hole in the tower where the setting sun would shine down where the coffin was. About the time the sun was setting and the beams of last light were being cast acros the coffin he used the same tools, plus giving his crowbar to the fighter who had joined him by them to open the coffin, and *poof* problem solved.
Death by tools.
"Death by Tools," awesome.
Back in the 2nd Ed days I was playing this roguish bard who was a packrat. He'd pick up all sorts of mundane things throughout the party's travels. He had a certain penchant for tools and was pretty crafty. The haversack helped him carry all this stuff. ( I think at the time I was in a big rut with magic and wanted to play a character who used mundane methods to solve big problems.)
Anyway, the party had been fighting a vampire and his minions in this abandoned castle and had defeated everything except the head vampire who just before dawn had went gaseous and fled to his coffin. The DM, who knows why, had the vampire's coffin in a tower in the center of the castle complex. My character climbed up at dawn, making all of his climb checks for the whole 100ft, then used a hand drill to pop a few holes in the timber roof of the tower. From the holes he used a small saw to make a larger hole for his good saw and began to work most of the day cutting a large hole in the tower where the setting sun would shine down where the coffin was. About the time the sun was setting and the beams of last light were being cast acros the coffin he used the same tools, plus giving his crowbar to the fighter who had joined him by them to open the coffin, and *poof* problem solved.
Death by tools.
This also reminds me of the time I had my High Elf War Wizard (a fighter/mage combo for 2e), and simply used unseen servant to drag a long rope across a plain at dusk to trip up a group of riders...I miss Drammar A'land. I like it when my characters have cool names. Dekmer Isavar- the halfling who thinks he's a dwarf...complete with footman's pick, and penchant for drinking...without a magnificient con bonus. (2nd edition/1st Ed hybrd, multiclass Fighter/Magic User.) Proudest moment with Dekmer is probably when I used my Mountaineering skill to deftly avoid the spears thrown by goblins...I really should have died in that encounter, but I used my nonweapon proficiency to help beat the odds. The character had a lot of fun drawbacks like being allergic to bovine scent, phobia minotaur, being a light sleeper, having a powerful enemy: A Minotaur master...so despite this all my character did kill a minotaur, with the help of several dwarves.
Right now I'm playing a 3.5 edition elven Fighter/Urban Ranger named Veon Valadon...funniest thing is I'm going for more of a Suburban Ranger due to the campaign setting...he's a nobleman with land in the countryside. I've had proud moments with my +3 composite longbow, but so far nothing has really stuck out as particularly awesome. one of the other characters (a couple actually) tried to make my character eat Dog, it's a longer story, but suffice to say my elf adamantly refused. Now if I'd been the NON-revised verson of an Urban Ranger, there'd be a strong possibility of me taking on a dog as an animal companion (while I already have a horse). It was hard enough for my character to kill a couple wild dogs in self-defense...I'd hardly want to eat any...no matter if it scored an 80 on taste or not. *Which it did.
A couple of questions, what was your con and dex? How many beers, and how many tankards juggled at once?
15 con, 16 dex (4d6 arrange to taste.) I drank 16 tankards of beer and juggled all the empties. Because of the house rule of dex - beers to keep juggling I would have had to roll a zero to juggle the 17th. DM basically said that 16 was my drunken max. Didn't matter tho, because I passed out immediately after the 16th tankard went into the juggle.
I tried this trick a few times after that and could never juggle more than 9 or 10.
He swore, threw the dice, tore up his sheets and made us leave his house... And that was the end a that campaign.
You're probably better off that way, with a cheesed*ck DM like that, Ultradan.
An Excellent idea for a post. Where do I begin...
Two come to mind. The first was what is known between my comrades and I as THE Hackfest, where in 2nd Edition: WGR1 (Castle) Greyhawk Ruins, our group of 6 PC's (known as the 'Walking Death Machine', went up against 72 Lizard KINGS, all with max HP. All of our characters were fighters, rogues, and 1 cleric without any area of affect spells. It took about 8 hours to complete the insane bloodbath which ended in victory, but with multiple characters unconscious and buried under bloody lizard king corpses. The second was in the Return to the Tomb of Horrors where my character battled the Lord Exultant Molian champion, and won when simultaneous hits put me at -5 and him at -10 or more.
An Excellent idea for a post. Where do I begin...
Two come to mind. The first was what is known between my comrades and I as THE Hackfest, where in 2nd Edition: WGR1 (Castle) Greyhawk Ruins, our group of 6 PC's (known as the 'Walking Death Machine', went up against 72 Lizard KINGS, all with max HP. All of our characters were fighters, rogues, and 1 cleric without any area of affect spells. It took about 8 hours to complete the insane bloodbath which ended in victory, but with multiple characters unconscious and buried under bloody lizard king corpses. The second was in the Return to the Tomb of Horrors where my character battled the Lord Exultant Molian champion, and won when simultaneous hits put me at -5 and him at -10 or more.
I won a 2e mage duel with my halfling Dekmer (a multiclass figher/mu at almost 5th level) duked it out with a guy who could cast fly and was a 6th level caster specializing in no specific school, so he had mastery of the air and my sorry ass, finally he tried to finish me off with an overcharged lightning bolt (which didn't finish me off, but what is important is what happened AFTER he cast it) when it caused a magical firef+!+ball that engulfed me and the dumbass who caused it (overloading magical staffs is bad) I was reduced to...dead, but he was reduced to deader. They rezed me (at the cost of one point of constitution) and they let him be...dead. Considering the destruction he caused to the training area by the magical firef##*ball which was caused by overloading my staff, which overloaded HIS staff when it blew...I took quarter damage of 109, he took the whole thing I think.) Despite dying, I technically won. Unfortunately this was the last time I've been able to game with Dekmer, my dm is in the process of permanently moving to California, I need to get him to give us one last session, I'd even let him bring on the Minotaur master I have some beef with due to family concerns.
Favorite DM moment: My son's party captured some bad guys sent by an evil assassins guild to waylay them in their camp at night. Next morning, party is preparing to leave camp with prisoners. The female bard/assassin insists she has to go answer nature's call--the party sends two female members to keep an eye on her while she's squatting in the ravine behind the cactus bushes. She convinces them to free her hands so she can do her business properly, promptly fascinates them and sends one haring off on a wild goose chase with suggestion, makes herself invisible, uses ghost sound to throw off the pursuing party members, then doubles back to camp, frees her comrade, and steals back their horses and makes a getaway. Needless to say, my son was both wroth with anger and impressed with my clever use of bard spells and abilities when he figured out exactly what had happened.
My son's favorite PC feat: his party has a battle by the shore of a subterranean lake. They win, but the drow priestess and her lieutenant escape by coracle to a nearby island. The bridge to the island is collapsed, and the far end guarded by Troglodyte sentries. Before the priestess reaches the sentries, Veena and Kintana (half-elf sorcerer and elf fighter) smear ashes from the campfire all over their faces and hands, feign being chased by Bodgar (dwarf ranger) and Peruhain (human bard). They run out of the darkness on the far side of the bridge, Bodgar and Peruhain chasing them and firing crossbow bolts over their heads. They make their bluff check to fool the Trogs, get to the top of the bridge, and catch the Trogs flat footed with a barrage of arrows and spells. Then they swing a grappling hook to the other side of the broken bridge, climb up on the far side just as the priestess and lieutenant are coming up to investigate. Kintana (3rd level fighter) rolls to his feet and takes the priestess (4th level cleric) in the eye (crit, near max damage, she goes from +13 to -10 HP in one shot). The lieutenant is knocked unconscious a round later by a Melf's acid arrow. This was the second adventure in a series of three where Kintana the Foundling shot the BBEG spellcaster through the eye with an arrow to save the party's bacon, and of course his fame as an archer has been spread far an wide by the silver-tongued bard Peruhain ever since.
There were several other memorable encounters in that dungeon--like when the party (now 4th level average) somehow managed to take out the Ogre Mage they were supposed to run away from. In the final encounter they were cornered in a battlemented watch station by the subterranean lake, besieged by 60 angry hobgoblins with a troll, a direwolf, and led by a tough 8th level fighter. They had sent a message by Quall's Feather Token asking Peruhain to pick them up (they had found a magical drow-built sloop, which Peruhain was captaining for the Dwarf king who had hired them, who wanted to make an amphibious assault on a Trog village across the lake). As the hobgoblins approached, the party prayed Peruhain would arrive soon. The party somehow managed to hold the watchtower for about fifteen rounds, knocking the troll off the battlements and nearly incinerating him in a makeshift fire trap they had set below. Verganda Oakarrow (wild elf barbarian armed with a glaive) kept the dire wolf at bay, manning a makeshift barricade in the stairwell. Limochou (monk) pushed the hobgoblin chief's ladder off the wall just as he got to the top. When the troll escaped the fire trap and started climbing the walls again, it looked like it was all over. That was when Peruhain finally arrived, holding the tiller of the Tarantula and shouting a brave battle song, with a cohort of strong but battleweary dwarves fresh from the assault on the trog village on her decks. Peruhain's dwarves leaped onto the dock and threw two mooring lines on the bollards before they advanced to meet the onrushing hobgoblins. The party, seeing their rescue at hand shouted for joy. Veena cast fly on himself and Fremrak (dwarf cleric), who made it to the Tarantula with only an arrow wound or two. Limochou ran for the water, dove in, and swam 100 feet to come up on the far side of the sloop and be pulled up by the crew. Kintana and Vergandha had to fight their way through, and they barely made it. Finally, with the party and all the surviving dwarves back aboard, Peruhain ordered the lines cut, but the troll and the hobgoblin chief leaped aboard as they were casting off, while the hobgoblins kept up a murderous hail of arrow fire. With Limochou, Veena, and Kintana lying bleeding on the deck, and Peruhain badly wounded, Fremrak hit the Hobgoblin chief in the face with his warhammer, knocking him unconscious and into the water, and Vergandha managed to pry the troll's hands off the rail. The Tarantula's bow caught the current, and Peruhain steered her through the mouth of the tunnel leading to the open lake and freedom. Took about 8 hours to run this battle, but it was probably the most memorable battle in the whole campaign.
Favorite DM moment: My son's party captured some bad guys sent by an evil assassins guild to waylay them in their camp at night. Next morning, party is preparing to leave camp with prisoners. The female bard/assassin insists she has to go answer nature's call--the party sends two female members to keep an eye on her while she's squatting in the ravine behind the cactus bushes. She convinces them to free her hands so she can do her business properly, promptly fascinates them and sends one haring off on a wild goose chase with suggestion, makes herself invisible, uses ghost sound to throw off the pursuing party members, then doubles back to camp, frees her comrade, and steals back their horses and makes a getaway. Needless to say, my son was both wroth with anger and impressed with my clever use of bard spells and abilities when he figured out exactly what had happened.
My son's favorite PC feat: his party has a battle by the shore of a subterranean lake. They win, but the drow priestess and her lieutenant escape by coracle to a nearby island. The bridge to the island is collapsed, and the far end guarded by Troglodyte sentries. Before the priestess reaches the sentries, Veena and Kintana (half-elf sorcerer and elf fighter) smear ashes from the campfire all over their faces and hands, feign being chased by Bodgar (dwarf ranger) and Peruhain (human bard). They run out of the darkness on the far side of the bridge, Bodgar and Peruhain chasing them and firing crossbow bolts over their heads. They make their bluff check to fool the Trogs, get to the top of the bridge, and catch the Trogs flat footed with a barrage of arrows and spells. Then they swing a grappling hook to the other side of the broken bridge, climb up on the far side just as the priestess and lieutenant are coming up to investigate. Kintana (3rd level fighter) rolls to his feet and takes the priestess (4th level cleric) in the eye (crit, near max damage, she goes from +13 to -10 HP in one shot). The lieutenant is knocked unconscious a...
sounds like you run a fun campaign for your son and the other members of the party. brilliant escape and fantastically tough battles.
This thread is a great reminder that the PCs and the PCs alone should be the focal point of any adventure, and at every encounter they should feel the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.
This thread is a great reminder that the PCs and the PCs alone should be the focal point of any adventure, and at every encounter they should feel the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.
speaking of the thrill of victory, my Fighter 2/revised Urban Ranger 2 elf, Veon Valadon had some of that recently...
now I'm proud of my halberd charge on my warhorse Valois...I did 22 damage and literally pierced a crossbowman in half "hyah"'d and intimidated the rest of the firing group to flee in one action...but the real rewarding experience of that session had nothing to do with combat, well almost.
See we stopped our keelboat off a second time (first time we were attacked by brigands which, as demonstrated by my critical halberd charge, was easily routed) and Gosbeck soldiers (Gosbeck is a duchy under the control of our king of Middleton) walk up, shoot off some spells before we can do anything- Mindfog & hold person. (they had wands) and turn our prisoner (a guy "employed by the lady and mother of the Duke of Gosbeck" so to speak) into a fish...not knowing this is what happened but hearing the splash, my character jumps in the river IN CHAINMAIL and begins searching for Artemis Milborrow, our captive. I didn't roll a spot check to see if my manacles were still on the boat or not, so I believed that he character was STILL manacled and STILL in a coma from our wacky coma causing Holy Grail. After three roundtime minutes of searching and occassionally FAILING my swim checks (I had +3 str and like 2 ranks in swim) we figure out he's a big fish in the river and start pursuing it. Out of game time this takes about an hour or more, in game it probably still takes close to half an hour, but here's the run down. we catch him, once...and he gets away because of a bad roll on tossing the fish into the boat. the fish fights back eventually knocking out our cleric (The guy who tortured Artemis creatively- see my post in the "Cleric Question- stop me if you've heard this one" thread) but right before that happens I grab up my saddlebag on the shore, jump in...missing the fish, but on my next turn I roll a NATURAL twenty on my touch attack which in our campaign makes it a natural 30 +applicative bonuses...ensnaring the fish in the saddlebag- making my opposed grapple check- and quickly closing it. Please note that my fishingnet, thoughtfully purchased before, was destroyed by a friendly fireball which destroyed our cart and supply of alcohol which I had every intention of selling, so really the whole incident could have been avoided if the net wasn't destroyed or if I had a certain feat called CAREFUL PLANNER (which basically gives you a damn good chance of already having an item which you require within a certain price range). (the fireball also roasted our draft horses, which I could have saved with my handle animal skill, but "doh" I didn't...)
So, I triumphantly caught a fish with human intelligence that spent an hour of out of game time toying with us...note that fish (I think he was a catfish) are slimy and have incredible dex...we had to beat an 18 on our touch attacks.
I'll add another one since it just happened last game. We are currently in the World's Largest Dungeon (it's not very good IMO). I am playing a sorcerer who is a fanatic for languages and books (in fact he just switched into the Dracolexi PrC from Races of Dragon). He has been going crazy being trapped in this dungeon and has only found a few old journals to keep him preoccupied. The group then finds a room that looks fairly clean with a huge bookshelf in it. I start heading for it when the group stops me and feels that something is out of place. The ranger fires an arrow into one of the bookshelves. It begins to bleed as the whole thing starts to lumber towards us. I win intiative where I make the statement, "I've been book blue-balled" followed by an acid fireball at the thing. It is considerably wounded and swings one of it's psuedopods at me (it's a huge Mimic). With a flourish and an exaggerate hand gesture I yell out "Denied" as a dragon wing shaped wall of force protects me (Wings of COver spell from Races of Dragons). The group finished it before it could attack again. I'm sure this was also made funnies by the fact that I was medicated (for a Kidney stone) so I really did yell out "Denied" and I'm told the hand gestures that went along with it was impressive. It must have been since we didn't stop laughing for like ten minutes.
My very first character in a D&D campaign, Glim the Glorious, was a halfling fighter/thief who, in his back story, had tried but failed to become a mage -- with highly annoying results.
While travelling in Ravenloft (the DM had us doing one of the "Grand Conjunction" adventures), my character was attacked by a ghost and scared right out of his body. Being in Ravenloft, there was no proper place for his soul to go but into his possessed dagger -- which had been possessed by a demon trying to get into our world. After a much longer than expected psionic battle, Glim was defeated, and the Demon controlled my soul. When the party resurrected me later, then, it was not my soul, but the demon's that occupied my physical body. But for grins, the DM had me play the demon occupying my body as if I was slightly darker and more chaotic than before as a result of yet another death/resurrection.
Segue now to the culmination of the campaign: we'd made a powerful enemy of a great red dragon, Pyre, who had come after us on a vendetta. Our party knew when and where Pyre would be coming, so we laid an ambush. The battle was a touch-and-go affair for the party until my DM passed me the obligatory "crumpled note" that said, "Cast a death spell".
So Glim backed away from the dragon and started an incantation -- I even made up words as I went along! -- and a blast of necromantic energy shot from Glim's hands into the dragon's head, and destroyed it. Our mages shouted with glee, "Oh, COOL! Glim just cast a Death spell!"
Count it down with me . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .
"Holy crap!!! GLIM cast a DEATH SPELL!!" There was a new enemy on the battlefield.
The DM nearly fell out of his chair at the reaction of the entire party as, horrified, they finally realized (two YEARS after my original possession) just why Glim had become so much more chaotic.
But Glim had, almost single-handedly, slain an ancient red dragon! 8^D
Ok ok I got one. I had a level 15 rogue who had a tumble of 20 and a balance of 11 and a jump of 13. One day my Rogue who is a evil, greedy, cocky thief that is traveling with a good druid, fighter/wizard and, ranger because they make good money were walking down a valley when they saw a giant owl with some type of evil creature on its back charging them. My thief looks at this and laughs and charges the giant owl with his silk rope out. The whole table looks at me and goes WHAT? You’re charging the giant owl? My character sprints, the owl soars and they are about to collide when I tell the DM I want to swing on the neck of the owl and throw my self in the saddle and he said I would need a 20! What! Whatever I roll. The table gets silent and I roll what do you know a 20! So the owl turns up toward the sky before any of my group can do anything and my character is fighting a demon or something on his own while completely vertical. I want to kick him off I say to the DM the DM goes he is tied in the saddle you would have to cut it off. (by the way I’m sitting on the saddle to) so my character rolls a rope check makes it around the owls neck ties his arm to the rope while taking heavy damage from the demon and becoming a speck in the sky to his companions I then swing out of the saddle and towards the belly of the owl to make a one hit call shot on the loops holding the saddle. The DM says another 20. I roll again. The dice clanks 20!!!!!!!!! Whoo hooooo my group sees a demon falling from the sky hit the ground and die right in front of them then they see this rogue land on the owl and tell it to fly away wow that was Hauns (the rogue) greatest day of his life I think. (Favorite character that’s why my name is Haun on this website lol and I have a picture of a hooded guy)
My very first character in a D&D campaign, Glim the Glorious, was a halfling fighter/thief who, in his back story, had tried but failed to become a mage -- with highly annoying results.
While travelling in Ravenloft (the DM had us doing one of the "Grand Conjunction" adventures), my character was attacked by a ghost and scared right out of his body. Being in Ravenloft, there was no proper place for his soul to go but into his possessed dagger -- which had been possessed by a demon trying to get into our world. After a much longer than expected psionic battle, Glim was defeated, and the Demon controlled my soul. When the party resurrected me later, then, it was not my soul, but the demon's that occupied my physical body. But for grins, the DM had me play the demon occupying my body as if I was slightly darker and more chaotic than before as a result of yet another death/resurrection.
Segue now to the culmination of the campaign: we'd made a powerful enemy of a great red dragon, Pyre, who had come after us on a vendetta. Our party knew when and where Pyre would be coming, so we laid an ambush. The battle was a touch-and-go affair for the party until my DM passed me the obligatory "crumpled note" that said, "Cast a death spell".
So Glim backed away from the dragon and started an incantation -- I even made up words as I went along! -- and a blast of necromantic energy shot from Glim's hands into the dragon's head, and destroyed it. Our mages shouted with glee, "Oh, COOL! Glim just cast a Death spell!"
Count it down with me . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .
"Holy crap!!! GLIM cast a DEATH SPELL!!" There was a new enemy on the battlefield.
The DM nearly fell out of his chair at the reaction of the entire party as, horrified, they finally realized (two YEARS after my original possession) just why Glim had become so much more chaotic.
But Glim had, almost single-handedly, slain an ancient red dragon! 8^D
I've gots ta know...
What did your party DO after they realized you were possessed by a demon...if they realized that?
My favorite story of all time! This was one of the early 3rd ed pregenerated adventurers. We were running out of time for the day's game. The party had somehow ended up slipping into the enemy stronghold. The rogue decided to scout ahead, and due to magical aid ended up quite a ways head of the party. She found a door that had an ominous red light peeking out from underneath it. Originally I wanted this to be the hook for the next session, but she makes a few spectacular rolls and soundlessly opens the door and peeks inside. She discovered the two major villians- a vrock and an evil druidess- in passionate congrex, with the evil light eminating from underneath the sheets. I ruled that they were way too absorbed with each other to notice the thief. Needless to say the entire party was surprised by what she found, but the thief was hungry for the xp. She drew her bow, fired off a shot- and rolled a natural 20.
She hit the glowing red light(which naturally went out).
The vrock was impaled in someplace unpleasant.
I found this hook to be MUCH better than "what's behind door number one?"
Sadly I have a terrible memory. But my current character a barbarian/bear warrior/warshaper back when he was just a wee barbarian (I think level 7 or so). I forget where we were (remember bad memory) be we are on the SCAP. We were attacked by a red dragon ( a large or huge one). He was fly by attacking us so we were having a hard time with him. The party wizard cast enlarge person on me (I am normally size large) and I waited for its next attack. As it flew by I leap into the air (thank you Booots of Striding and Springing) and grabbed it by the the wings. I tactkled it to the ground and pinned it. The party made short work of it after that.
god, what grapple bonus did you have?
You mean, after they all changed their underwear? 8^D
Well, things happened so fast after that (and it was nearly a decade ago), I'm still a little hazy on the *precise* details, but . . .
After the DM finally recovered his composure, our danpiru mage cast "detect evil". Of course, Glim was the brightest object in the universe (now that the dragon was dead), and the dagger was the second brightest (in all the years of my possession, they'd never bothered to include Glim in any detect evil scans!).
Now that Glim's "secret identity" had been revealed, the Demon took full control, and lashed out with as much power as he could muster through an untrained physical body. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), I rolled crap for initiative, so everybody else got to go first -- even so, it was pretty dicey. Glim became the instant center of attention for the entire rest of the party, and a barrage of physical, arcane, divine, and psionic attacks slammed into me.
Most important to the eventual resolution were the psionic attacks of Wittier, the player/character who was my best friend (both in and out of game).
First, and most importantly, they physically separated me from the cursed dagger (not only was it the demon's way into the world, but also the only possible escape) -- Wittier psionically heated the metal of the dagger until Glim could no longer stand the pain, then the mage teleported it out of my grasp and over the side of the cliff into the ocean below.
All the while, Glim was dealing with physical and magical attacks from the others. Needing the dagger, Glim launched himself after it, still being bombarded with attacks. As I hit the water, the psionicist made my body think the water was concentrated acid. At this point, the demon bailed out of the body and returned to the dagger. The body went limp, and everything went dark.
The next thing "I" knew, Glim woke up in a bed in a temple in the main hometown. The dagger, with the demon, was gone, and I never saw it again. Gone, too, was Wittier, who left the party, disappeared, and was never heard from again. Having just undergone my third or fourth resurrection, Glim decided that it was time to hang up the adventuring spurs -- he accepted an offer from the King to a position as Royal Historian, settled down with a busty halfling maid, and made little halflings (quarterlings?). And that ended the campaign of the "League of Rorik's Cup".
In a later campaign run by one of the other players in the party for a different group, she decided to reunite Glim and the possessed dagger, some 75-90 years after the battle against Pyre. One of the members of her party had somehow managed to acquire an enchanted dagger, and then she cobbled up some excuse for them to visit the Royal Historian, Glim. Now at a very advanced age (pretty close to eleventy-one), Glim was regaling them with some historical info, when he spotted the dagger in the hands of the new owner. Similar to Gollum and the Ring of Power from LotR, Glim NEEDED that dagger in the worst way, and in the process of trying to regain possession, suffered a heart attack and died.
This new party is now suffering a vendetta as Glim's family seeks retribution for having slain the scion of the Rootmanse family!!!
My very first character in a D&D campaign, Glim the Glorious, was a halfling fighter/thief who, in his back story, had tried but failed to become a mage -- with highly annoying results.
<snip>
But Glim had, almost single-handedly, slain an ancient red dragon! 8^D
I've gots ta know...
What did your party DO...
Sadly I have a terrible memory. But my current character a barbarian/bear warrior/warshaper back when he was just a wee barbarian (I think level 7 or so). I forget where we were (remember bad memory) be we are on the SCAP. We were attacked by a red dragon ( a large or huge one). He was fly by attacking us so we were having a hard time with him. The party wizard cast enlarge person on me (I am normally size large) and I waited for its next attack. As it flew by I leap into the air (thank you Booots of Striding and Springing) and grabbed it by the the wings. I tactkled it to the ground and pinned it. The party made short work of it after that.god, what grapple bonus did you have?
I can't remember exactly, since I can't remember what level it was at. My base attack was probably 10, I had a 24 strength (I was raging), I have improved Grapple, I was huge size and because I was a Bear Clan barbarian I got a +4 to grapple when raging. So I would guess that it was somewhere around 33. Although now at 16th level and able to change into a bear, it is somewhere around 42.
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I don't know if this counts (it's not for me) but way back in late 80's I DMed a game with the usual suspects and a first timer who played a first level Thief. I had a horde of kobolds, goblins and such attack en masse and the experienced players all decided to climb up a large oak on a hillock to survive with arrows and such. Well the newbie Thief climbed up too but then decided that since they were just goblins and kobolds and such (they each died after 1 hit) he would jump down off the tree to the swarm and fight with his short sword.
So, 6 4th lvl experienced players in a tree,
50 or so goblins and kobolds plus
1 1st lvl thief on the ground.
And the bastard lived!!! try as I might I couldn't manage to kill that d*@!ed Thief. I kept rolling crappy for the 1 HD swarm and he kept rolling 18's, 19's, and 20's.
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One moment that I never tire of retelling happened when I DM'ed in Ravenloft.
It was at GenconUK in a darkened room with candles for atmosphere. Five of the players were from Wales, firm friends and they spent the four hours joking about the other nerdy gamer. He took it in good spirit despite them ignoring his good ideas.
The final encounter took place in a large gothic church where the party were surrounded by undead. Each of the welshmen turned to the one cleric - the nerd. In the background I had some chanting going on and it was getting on everyone's nerves.
Then the cleric picked up his dice saying he would turn the undead. At that point I told him quietly but firmly he was going to fail.
"You are far from home. You have had no god to call on and no chance. Your dice will let him down and the undead would tear you all apart."
I swear the look on his face was precious. I'd got him. He looked down at his dice and he just knew it wouldn't work. Then sure enough the room went quiet, the dice rolled and came up... 4.
All the players looked at me in fear. That moment was pure Ravenloft.
Of Course all the players survived and escaped but I'll never forget spooking a player.
An Excellent idea for a post. Where do I begin...
Two come to mind. The first was what is known between my comrades and I as THE Hackfest, where in 2nd Edition: WGR1 (Castle) Greyhawk Ruins, our group of 6 PC's (known as the 'Walking Death Machine', went up against 72 Lizard KINGS, all with max HP. All of our characters were fighters, rogues, and 1 cleric without any area of affect spells. It took about 8 hours to complete the insane bloodbath which ended in victory, but with multiple characters unconscious and buried under bloody lizard king corpses. The second was in the Return to the Tomb of Horrors where my character battled the Lord Exultant Molian champion, and won when simultaneous hits put me at -5 and him at -10 or more.
Allen, it figures you still remember that bloodbath. It was immensely fun to GM you through it though. The resultant carnage probably still has congealing pools of gore in the bottom-most floors of the cleaned-out castle after all these years.
*Eats another leg from his favorite useless critterbeastie.*
My personal favorite one-on-one D&D encounter dates back to 1st edition AD&D.
My trusty middling-level (7th level if I recall correctly) thief decides (with his remarkably low Wisdom score) to sneak into the big castle with the permanent lights on to score himself some swag. Needless to say, he got caught by the magic-user, who promptly performed some kind of experimental transmogrification on the hapless thief.
The problem with his little experiment was, upon regaining coherence, said thief realized he was now a green slime about the size of a small bowl of jello, in a bowl on a chest of drawers in an unoccupied room. A bit of experimentation later, everything the green slime thief could devour got devoured. Said thief, retaining his thiefly skills, slimed his way via Hide in Shadows and Move Silently out of the chamber, down into the midden (cleaning the midden out rather literally) out into the moat. The moat became rather clean. *In this case, every hp of victim devoured became more of my own hp.* Cue to the drawbridge, where in the crafty thief slimes his way onto the underside of said drawbridge, eats all but about a half-inch or so of the wood and settles in the shade under the drawbridge a bit under the top of the water. The inevitable alarm sounds, the mage's mighty knights sally forth across the (normally) sturdy drawbridge ... and supply the green slime thief with a couple hundred total additional hit points. Slithering back up the midden, I patiently waited for the mage's kiester to literally make an appearance. Sure enough, he (and more importantly, his kiester) did, intent on relieving some of the stress from the day. Sadly, however, he did not have a prayer dealing with a green slime backstab, died horribly along with all of his remaining mini-onions and hangars on.
The GM summarily retired my character into a home-brewed (or Judges' Guild, I'm not sure) Dungeon of Death as a " monster of honor ".
This would still rate as my favorite single-player series of actions in D&D, in spite of the nearly 20 years since then.
Good times, good times ....
My personal favorite one-on-one D&D encounter dates back to 1st edition AD&D.
My trusty middling-level (7th level if I recall correctly) thief decides (with his remarkably low Wisdom score) to sneak into the big castle with the permanent lights on to score himself some swag. Needless to say, he got caught by the magic-user, who promptly performed some kind of experimental transmogrification on the hapless thief.
The problem with his little experiment was, upon regaining coherence, said thief realized he was now a green slime about the size of a small bowl of jello, in a bowl on a chest of drawers in an unoccupied room. A bit of experimentation later, everything the green slime thief could devour got devoured. Said thief, retaining his thiefly skills, slimed his way via Hide in Shadows and Move Silently out of the chamber, down into the midden (cleaning the midden out rather literally) out into the moat. The moat became rather clean. *In this case, every hp of victim devoured became more of my own hp.* Cue to the drawbridge, where in the crafty thief slimes his way onto the underside of said drawbridge, eats all but about a half-inch or so of the wood and settles in the shade under the drawbridge a bit under the top of the water. The inevitable alarm sounds, the mage's mighty knights sally forth across the (normally) sturdy drawbridge ... and supply the green slime thief with a couple hundred total additional hit points. Slithering back up the midden, I patiently waited for the mage's kiester to literally make an appearance. Sure enough, he (and more importantly, his kiester) did, intent on relieving some of the stress from the day. Sadly, however, he did not have a prayer dealing with a green slime backstab, died horribly along with all of his remaining mini-onions and hangars on.
The GM summarily retired my character into a home-brewed (or Judges' Guild, I'm not sure) Dungeon of Death as a " monster of honor ".
This would still rate as my favorite single-player series of actions in D&D, in spite of...
Hilarious.
I can barely believe that you sent 72 lizard KINGS at a party...but I'm sure they were prepared...right? That must of been a logistical Nightmare, 8 hours? Jeez.
I'll try to keep my longest fight sequence under 4-6 for fear of not being able to do it in one session.
That said, I do plan on breaking that numerical barrier with Yuan-Ti possibly mixed with other serpentine races. The question is, do the players and a hearty group of Deathwarden Dwarves and Deathwarden Dwarf Chanters face off in that mighty bloodbath last or do they face the epic level True Necromancer last? (I guess we'll see)
Oh, the Lizard Kings didn't come looking for them, the Walking Death Machine strolled on in, told 'em to " roll intitiative and get to dyin'! " and proceeded to gleefully butcher the entire tribe. Granted, the PCs took a mite more of a buttwhippin' than they'd become accustomed to in the dungeon up to that point. They were prepared, more or less. I don't recall any actual deaths on the part of the PCs either ...
Remember, there are plenty of times " way back when " if the group wandered down the wrong corridor in a dungeon, they all became classified as SPFR's (Self-Propelled Field Rations) rather than Adventurers in a hurry. Lost many an un-named character that way, usually 'cause some other player got lost and fled down a different corridor other than the one we had hacked our way through to get into the bowels of whatever was stomping on us at that moment.
Oh, the Lizard Kings didn't come looking for them, the Walking Death Machine strolled on in, told 'em to " roll intitiative and get to dyin'! " and proceeded to gleefully butcher the entire tribe. Granted, the PCs took a mite more of a buttwhippin' than they'd become accustomed to in the dungeon up to that point. They were prepared, more or less. I don't recall any actual deaths on the part of the PCs either ...
Remember, there are plenty of times " way back when " if the group wandered down the wrong corridor in a dungeon, they all became classified as SPFR's (Self-Propelled Field Rations) rather than Adventurers in a hurry. Lost many an un-named character that way, usually 'cause some other player got lost and fled down a different corridor other than the one we had hacked our way through to get into the bowels of whatever was stomping on us at that moment.
Heh, it figures, well I guess that's why they were called the "Walking Death Machine"
a tribe of plain ol' lizard folk would have probably met a more one-sided end, I'll have to throw in the odd Lizard King in my final Serpentine battle. (Oh, I'll use Yuan-Ti, plain ol' Lizard folk and Lizard Kings in considerable quantitites)
Oh, the Lizard Kings didn't come looking for them, the Walking Death Machine strolled on in, told 'em to " roll intitiative and get to dyin'! " and proceeded to gleefully butcher the entire tribe. Granted, the PCs took a mite more of a buttwhippin' than they'd become accustomed to in the dungeon up to that point. They were prepared, more or less. I don't recall any actual deaths on the part of the PCs either ...
Remember, there are plenty of times " way back when " if the group wandered down the wrong corridor in a dungeon, they all became classified as SPFR's (Self-Propelled Field Rations) rather than Adventurers in a hurry. Lost many an un-named character that way, usually 'cause some other player got lost and fled down a different corridor other than the one we had hacked our way through to get into the bowels of whatever was stomping on us at that moment.
Heh, it figures, well I guess that's why they were called the "Walking Death Machine"
a tribe of plain ol' lizard folk would have probably met a more one-sided end, I'll have to throw in the odd Lizard King in my final Serpentine battle. (Oh, I'll use Yuan-Ti, plain ol' Lizard folk and Lizard Kings in considerable quantitites)
It amazed me that the module had an entire tribe comprised of Lizard Kings camped out in the bowels of the place. Having already GM'ed the Walking Death Machine for a considerable amount of time prior, I was already in the habit of maxxing out the baddies' hit points to give them an actual run for the money. That inadvertently became one of the most memorable fights in many years, before or since ... well ... asides from devouring every living thing in a mage's stronghold solo ...
It amazed me that the module had an entire tribe comprised of Lizard Kings camped out in the bowels of the place. Having already GM'ed the Walking Death Machine for a considerable amount of time prior, I was already in the habit of maxxing out the baddies' hit points to give them an actual run for the money. That inadvertently became one of the most memorable fights in many years, before or since ... well ... asides from devouring every living thing in a mage's stronghold solo ...Oh, the Lizard Kings didn't come looking for them, the Walking Death Machine strolled on in, told 'em to " roll intitiative and get to dyin'! " and proceeded to gleefully butcher the entire tribe. Granted, the PCs took a mite more of a buttwhippin' than they'd become accustomed to in the dungeon up to that point. They were prepared, more or less. I don't recall any actual deaths on the part of the PCs either ...
Remember, there are plenty of times " way back when " if the group wandered down the wrong corridor in a dungeon, they all became classified as SPFR's (Self-Propelled Field Rations) rather than Adventurers in a hurry. Lost many an un-named character that way, usually 'cause some other player got lost and fled down a different corridor other than the one we had hacked our way through to get into the bowels of whatever was stomping on us at that moment.
Heh, it figures, well I guess that's why they were called the "Walking Death Machine"
a tribe of plain ol' lizard folk would have probably met a more one-sided end, I'll have to throw in the odd Lizard King in my final Serpentine battle. (Oh, I'll use Yuan-Ti, plain ol' Lizard folk and Lizard Kings in considerable quantitites)
Devouring EVERY living thing? Do tell more.
It amazed me that the module had an entire tribe comprised of Lizard Kings camped out in the bowels of the place. Having already GM'ed the Walking Death Machine for a considerable amount of time prior, I was already in the habit of maxxing out the baddies' hit points to give them an actual run for the money. That inadvertently became one of the most memorable fights in many years, before or since ... well ... asides from devouring every living thing in a mage's stronghold solo ...Devouring EVERY living thing? Do tell more.
Ah, that would be the part above where I related the madcap adventures of a 1st edition mid-level thief who became a green slime thanks to the GMs' home-brewed NPC magic-user transmogrifying said thief into a green slime. Who ate every living thing (and anything inanimate that a green slime could eat) in that castle - including the midden, the moat, the water storage, the larder, most of the drawbridge, the horses, livestock, children, small furry lovable animals ... Good times, good times ...
Ah, that would be the part above where I related the madcap adventures of a 1st edition mid-level thief who became a green slime thanks to the GMs' home-brewed NPC magic-user transmogrifying said thief into a green slime. Who ate every living thing (and anything inanimate that a green slime could eat) in that castle - including the midden, the moat, the water storage, the larder, most of the drawbridge, the horses, livestock, children, small furry lovable animals ... Good times, good times ...It amazed me that the module had an entire tribe comprised of Lizard Kings camped out in the bowels of the place. Having already GM'ed the Walking Death Machine for a considerable amount of time prior, I was already in the habit of maxxing out the baddies' hit points to give them an actual run for the money. That inadvertently became one of the most memorable fights in many years, before or since ... well ... asides from devouring every living thing in a mage's stronghold solo ...Devouring EVERY living thing? Do tell more.
Ah yes, how could I forget the green slime?! that was hilarious.
What sort of advice might you give, having run the 72 Lizardkings encounter for a DM considering Lizardfolk encounters as well as a massive assault style encounter?
Ah yes, how could I forget the green slime?! that was hilarious.
What sort of advice might you give, having run the 72 Lizardkings encounter for a DM considering Lizardfolk encounters as well as a massive assault style encounter?
It would depend on the terrain first and foremost. The lizardfolk, going on memory, are at thier most dangerous when they can take advantage of thier very long breath holding and swimming abilities in 3rd edition. Having an appropriate draconic critter buddy wouldn't hurt either - although Lizard Kings go a long, long ways to evening that score.
They'd have at the least Adepts (representing thier Shamans) at thier disposal as well as the usual gamut of rangers (favored enemies often being PC races, especially humans), a druid or two if they don't have adepts, scouts (instead of rogues), perhaps even a draconic bloodlined sorceror. Lots of warrior mooks of course. This is assuming low-level play of course, and is easily rampable for any amount of higher level play.
Since it seems that the intention is for the PCs to confront them on thier home turf (like Saltmarsh, the "U" series from 1st edition), it is very likely that at least one of the lizardfolk has an expert with Craft (Trapmaking). They'll pepper the area with traps intending to channel aggressors into thier preferred combat zones - Rambo : First Blood is a great example to follow.
Lizardfolk, like most other humanoids, use tools and generally work in teams - especially in such a hostile environment as a swamp or other, similar terrain. The worst nightmare of an adventuring party in that environment, in many ways, is an analagous group of lizardfolk "PC types", geared with NPC gear allowances (per the DMG) - representing schwag they've looted off of other adventurer types they've eaten - and roughly built along the lines of the PC group. If the party comprises the "standard 4" classes, thier counterpart lizardfolk could be - for example - a half-dragon barbarian, a druid (with an alligator for an animal companion perhaps, or a constrictor snake perhaps), a draconic bloodlined sorceror and a scout or "wilderness" rogue. I can about guarantee they'll give your PCs a run for the money if you run them as effectively as you know how. Most of the nastiest fights I've run in 3rd edition have been " party vs. party " encounters. Sometimes the PCs win, sometimes the NPCs win, most of the time it comes down to a bloody mutual pyhhric victory.
The massive assault encounter depends heavily on the set up and defensibility of the defenders' positions, the effectiveness of thier perimeter watch and whether or not they stand any chance at all against the PCs in that kind of carnage. Sprinkling in a few spell caster types (adepts, if you look at them closely, are surprisingly effective spell lobbers all things considered) and a few class levelled types can go a long way towards levelling the playing field. Give the adepts craft wondrous item, make the items specifically useable by lizardfolk and voila, they have access to magic weapon and other low-level spells "on demand". Or perhaps the adept has fashioned charged burning hands gauntlets at an appropriate caster level ... say, 5th, for example (to get the maximum oomph out of it).
Presuming the tribe functions as a cooperative entity, directing thier efforts according to thier leadership, they should be readily able to put the PCs through the ringer. They'll also do thier best to send someone or something back to thier higher ups to inform them of the " newest enemies " (your PCs) as thier outlying scouts etc. run into them and probe thier capabilities. They can, for example, work in 3 shifts a day, rotating " crews " to harras and exhaust the PCs, attempting to disrupt thier attempts to rest and regain spells by any means available to them... perhaps by way of larger-scaled inspiration from the teddy bears in Return of the Jedi...
Ah, that would be the part above where I related the madcap adventures of a 1st edition mid-level thief who became a green slime thanks to the GMs' home-brewed NPC magic-user transmogrifying said thief into a green slime. Who ate every living thing (and anything inanimate that a green slime could eat) in that castle - including the midden, the moat, the water storage, the larder, most of the drawbridge, the horses, livestock, children, small furry lovable animals ... Good times, good times ...It amazed me that the module had an entire tribe comprised of Lizard Kings camped out in the bowels of the place. Having already GM'ed the Walking Death Machine for a considerable amount of time prior, I was already in the habit of maxxing out the baddies' hit points to give them an actual run for the money. That inadvertently became one of the most memorable fights in many years, before or since ... well ... asides from devouring every living thing in a mage's stronghold solo ...Devouring EVERY living thing? Do tell more.Ah yes, how could I forget the green slime?! that was hilarious.
What sort of advice might you give, having run the 72 Lizardkings encounter for a DM considering Lizardfolk encounters as well as a massive assault style encounter?
~~shameless bump~~
Worth mentioning: On monday, we were short a player (because of the Giants game, no less) so instead of continuing on with my campaign, I asked my friend Erik to run his low level campaign, which at the moment is taking us through Citadel by the Sea.
We were storming the castle and my Human cleric of Farlanghn is one of the first on the ground after scaling the walls.
I say a prayer to Farlanghn, out loud and charge.
I hit, for max damage. On the following round, I make a five foot adjustment and cast sound burst on the group of orc sergeants coming up to support their fodder for maximum effect (all stunned, 8hp sonic)!!! Praise Farlanghn. The half-orc barbarian/ranger who thinks she's a bear charges up into my vacated square and hits her favored enemy for max damage! and a cleave, that hits his partner for one off from max.
The human barbarian/fighter who moved to engage the sergeants then hits for max damage, cleaving into the other sergeant! The Wizard hits one of the remaining baddies with a crossbow bolt for max damage! while Amon the barbarian finishes the sergeant and I hold animal on the wolf that ran up with the sergeants, and..(dramatic pause)...combat over!... First time a prayer like that, in game worked to such dramatic effect.
punkassjoe, did you ever find the advice above useful ?
If not, lemme know, or something ...