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This was one of the coolest moments I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in a game, and it reminds me of why I love this hobby so very much. It was fun enough that I had to create a profile here just to say how much I love Paizo’s work and that I hope they take some small amount of pleasuring in hearing these stories.
So, I know that most everyone else has probably graduated beyond “The Skinsaw Murders” by now, but my group got waylaid by me finishing up my degree, and we’re only now getting to carry on. And let me preface this story by saying that our party is not combat-optimized. We consist of two Clerics (one of whom never actually fights), a rogue/sorcerer (myself), and a warblade (from Book of Nine Swords).
Our adventuring party, which I have nicknamed Damage Control Inc, much to the chagrin of my fellow party members, was wrapping up the grisly murders around Margnimar, and had followed the corrupt judge’s ravens to an all-too-inhabited clocktower. Damage Control Inc very regularly gets its collective butt kicked, and have made an art out of retreating amidst a hail of alchemist fire, caltrops, and Obscuring Mist. Tonight was no different. By the time we reached the top of the tower, we were battered, out of alchemy, and almost out of spells. That’s when we discovered the secret hideaway in the attic and decided to start looting before whatever owned it came home.
But it was already home. It was a lamia cultist with more spells than sense, and she cut through most of our remaining hit points in one round. There was some leaping around and plenty of flashing blades, but the only ones taking hits were us. All too soon, one cleric goes down for the count, and the second one bolts, leaving only a bleeding gypsy and fatigued warblade to tackle our snakey hostess. The Lamia wormed her way into the center of the room, so she could hit us both at once with her reach and finish it in the next round.
That’s when we suddenly realized that, just above our heads, supported only by rotting timbers, was a 1,000-pound block of angel-shape salvation!
The gypsy starts jumping around, drawing the Lamia’s attacks of opportunity and keeping her in one place, while the Warblade jockeys into position, leaps, and swings with his flail!
CRUNCH!
Everything went quiet for a few, painful seconds, and then everybody looked up as the wood started groaning. The a half-ton of onyx pain came crashing to the floor below, not only pinning the Lamia, but inflicting enough damage to pound through the wooden floor, dropping them both (and ourselves too, but for the grace of a Reflex save) into the machine room below, inflicting more damage and breaking through that rotting floor as well, sending the Lamia plunging sixty mildewy feet to the flagstones below.
The really beautiful part of this story is this: Our cult leader was almost at full hit points when she dropped. The damage from the statue and the fall didn’t kill her. Rolling a natural “1” on her save vs. massive damage, however, did.
We were hugging and cheering for fifteen minutes over that one, and everyone got something great to remember the night by. Our warblade picked up a new signature weapon, my gypsy called “preemptive dibs” on (ie: stole) her jewelry. Our bold cleric got some new scars and armor, and our cowardly cleric got a boot-shaped stain in his robs.
It was the best adventure ever.
Our monk disarmed Xanesha and critical-ed her with her own weapon. (Two natural 20s in a roll...) It was amazing - course this was about 20 rounds into combat.
I have to say awesome as well. Letting players use ingenuity to handle an otherwise difficult or impossible situation is all about what GMing is about! The more inventive my players are, the more I tend to rewards them for their sheer creativity.
Good shot!
pretty cool turnout. I'd love to know the GM's mechanic to 'sunder' the statue just in case I have to adjudicate something similar.
I believe it is called "not letting the rules get in the way of good storytelling."
Or sometimes "rewarding player ingenuity."
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pretty cool turnout. I'd love to know the GM's mechanic to 'sunder' the statue just in case I have to adjudicate something similar.
He just checked out the hit points for a wooden beam in the PHB, actually. Our Warblade had an attack saved up that would carve right past hardness and do an extra die or two of damage (I don't have a Book of Nine Swords, so I'm not 100% sure what it was). Without the beam, he ruled that the roof couldn't support the statue. He was even nice enough to give the Lamia a reflex save.
I guess most of it was just fudging the rules a bit, but cinematically, it was too cool not to.
I believe it is called "not letting the rules get in the way of good storytelling."Or sometimes "rewarding player ingenuity."
Roger that!! Now, how do you tactfully remind your DM of that...? :)
I believe it is called "not letting the rules get in the way of good storytelling."Or sometimes "rewarding player ingenuity."
Roger that!! Now, how do you tactfully remind your DM of that...? :)
Since I am the DM, I remind myself of that often. :P
Splendid stuff,
I feel slightly joyous and yet slightly upset that yet another Xanesha has gone - alas alas for my poor misunderstood lamia, may she join Aldern and never find rest.
The proof of the pudding is in the playing and it's great to hear your fun session went to so well.
Huzzah, and an extra huzzah for your cunning.
Rich
Too cool Immora and well done! Think your party can keep up it's lucky streak through Hook Mountain, though? }:)
Letting players use ingenuity to handle an otherwise difficult or impossible situation is all about what GMing is about! The more inventive my players are, the more I tend to rewards them for their sheer creativity.
I totally agree. Sometimes you just have to say "Damn the rules, that's awesome!"
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That was awesome! As I read your tale, I was visualizing the lamia matriach flailing her arms and tail like the Alien Queen in Aliens, at the end when she gets sucked out into space. Replace the robot exoskeleton with a massive angel statue, and add gravity. Voila! Fantastic image.
In my case my group barely managed to hold on, losing most of their hit points before the fighter scored a critical, then was promptly speared and dropped by the lamia. The cleric also fell before the wizard got some lucky rolls and really, really hurt the lamia. She retreated, and went invisible as she flew off. What she didn't know is that the group had managed to do research on her before they met her. They were ready for invisibility, well the wizard was anyway. As an elf, he could shoot a bow, and he had made flame arrows for the ranger archer. He borrowed the ranger's magical bow, took one of those flame arrows, got a great roll (again) and dropped her from the sky. She plummeted to the ground, too. Cool way to end that story.
P.S. My players *hate* it when a villain manages to escape. Heh. For example, the flesh golem guardian escaped. They know I bring many of them back for revenge.
We're going to have to start working harder to use the environment to compensate for our lackluster offensive abilities.
And thus paralleling the history of successful guerilla movements. :)
Also, while you lament your groups weaker combat abilities, what are your strengths? :) How can these abilities be applied to the problems you are encountering?
We're going to have to start working harder to use the environment to compensate for our lackluster offensive abilities.And thus paralleling the history of successful guerilla movements.
ROFL!!
Sometimes you just have to say "Damn the rules, that's awesome!"
My players have done that to me a time or two. Free "You get to live pass" because it's a damn fine idea and you impressed the GM.
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Too cool Immora and well done! Think your party can keep up it's lucky streak through Hook Mountain, though? }:)
I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I'm honestly pretty worried. My gypsy is built to inflict status effects: She's got improved strips and a handful of illusion and enchament spells. We've already been chatting with the locals and know there have been problems with ogres, which are going to be largely immune to anything I can dish out. Here's to hoping our Cleric/Fighter can turn around her unlucky sie rolling streak.
And I just have to add between this lamia and Nualia, you guys at Paizo are bastards!
Also, while you lament your groups weaker combat abilities, what are your strengths? :) How can these abilities be applied to the problems you are encountering?
Well, our Warblade actually is an impressive fighter, and our cleric of Serenrae (my woefully moral and FAR less attractive twin sister) is theoretically a great fighter, but luck always seems to conspire against her. Luckily, she shares the family obsession with fire, and it's hard to miss with fire.. Our cleric of Calistria is, well... special. I don't want to say "he's a lover, not a fighter," because he's not much of a lover, either, but he's usually pretty good about keeping us healed when he isn't running and screaming. He is a real bookworm type, though, and my sister tells me that's valuable. All I really know for certain is that he doesn't carry large sums of money on his person, and that always chaffes me.
As for myself, my own non-combat abilities are vast and impressive. My silver tongue, my keen intellect, my fast hands; they've really been the driving force that keeps these poor saps alive. And do any of them appreciate it? No. Well, lucky for both them and myself that they let me handle the accounting, not to mention storage of all the unspeakably evil artifacts we find.
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I would say they are also the driving force that gets us in trouble. I could tell stories. Stories that would make Mom proud. Well of you.
Anyway, yeah, we're a little short on combat power and hp. It's our single greatest tactical weakness. Hopefully we can get a few things to help with that. Luckily, I like fire and so does my goddess. ^_^
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if you're playing a bard and a cleric, may i recommend "Leadership"
decent charisma and good social skills, plus area-affecting buff spells means that even a lower level damage dealer can be quite effective.
OR....
play "Operation get behind the warblade"
everyone goes all sneaky sneaky, warblade says "come and get me" to the big baddies, then you all jump them from concealment/illusion/invis/etc
overwhelming force on a small scale, just be sure to keep an escape vector in mind
-t
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I would say they are also the driving force that gets us in trouble. I could tell stories. Stories that would make Mom proud. Well of you.
Anyway, yeah, we're a little short on combat power and hp. It's our single greatest tactical weakness. Hopefully we can get a few things to help with that. Luckily, I like fire and so does my goddess. ^_^
Hey! Butt out! I was having a nice conversation with these people about MY brilliant leadership. Go start your own thread about orphans or knitting or knitting for orphans, or whatever it is you goody-goody types talk about.
Obviously you ladies are enjoying the game. Hilarious that you're posting in character.
For Hook Mountain I would suggest hit and run or hit and hide tactics.
A cleric of Calistria can't be exalted...can they? (Isn't Calistria CN?) I assume he doesn't have Vow of Poverty.
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Obviously you ladies are enjoying the game. Hilarious that you're posting in character.
For Hook Mountain I would suggest hit and run or hit and hide tactics.
A cleric of Calistria can't be exalted...can they? (Isn't Calistria CN?) I assume he doesn't have Vow of Poverty.
No, no vow of poverty. Just cheap. The poor sod gives most of his money to THE CHURCH. Can you believe that? Perfectly good gold, and he's just giving it away. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Calistria's work (big fan), but a god's got a lot more money than any human. Better that he hangs on to it himself, where enterprising teammates can help him decide what to do with it.
I shouldn't even get into what we had to go through on or latest caper. I mean, sure I walked out of the mayor's little swore with much nicer jewelry than when I went in, but while we were there, my good-for-everything sister volunteers us all for a milk run to some middle-of-nowhere hick-town to check in on, get this: a FORTRESS full of SOLDIERS.
If all's good up there, then it's the easiest 300 gold I ever made, aside from that summer in Korvosa. But things are never all good for us. (Ammora and her little sparkle-god over there see to that). And if things aren't all good, well, what are we supposed to do against whatever could take out a FORTRESS full of SOLDIERS?We're even less qualified for this job than we were for goblin genecide or homicide detecting.
Oy. I know that back when I promised Gramma (on her deathbed) that I wouldn't let anyone kill Ammora, she was specifically talking about Mom or Dad, but I still can't let her wander off. Not that it isn't tempting at times, but I guess people with those weird mental conditions need looking after even if they are the most annoying.
On the brighter side, after getting to Turtle-Bum (or whatever the heck they call it) we bumped into some yokel named Rule who spilled the beans about a burned-burn barge casino. Sounds like it may be loaded down with cash, not to mention some clues to the Thasillonian City of Gold, since Rule did a lousy job of hiding his sihedron tattoo. Lucky for me he talks in his sleep. Unluckily for me, he doesn't carry much cash. I think I can divert our group to check out the wreckage first if I can just convince them there might be orphans trapped inside. They're suckers for hard-luck cases.
For some reason when you say FORTRESS full of SOLDIERS I hear someone yelling about living in a VAN down by the RIVER!
Since I am the DM, I remind myself of that often. :P
I believe it is called "not letting the rules get in the way of good storytelling."Or sometimes "rewarding player ingenuity."
Roger that!! Now, how do you tactfully remind your DM of that...? :)
ditto
well done. inspiring storytelling is our goal as well.
I am GM on our path, and we left the game in a classic Buffy/TV season ending 2 parter. Part 2 is this coming thursday.
The party actually Flew up to the top of the tower (IronBriar spilled the details), and SURPRISED Xanesha. She dimension doored out and they chased her back to the Lumber mill where she learned that her cult had been decimated.
Final Scene: the party of five is decending towards the Human appearing Xanesha (Major image) on the roof of the Lumber Mill when the Lamia form is revealed to them for the first time in a mirror image form. Yes. THREE Lamias flying up to meet them, all with a rather large spear as a weapons, while the human Xanesha begins to cast again...
To Be Continued...
Man, Xanesha got away from us not once but twice; our final showdown with her wasn't until halfway through Stone Giants. At the tower, we fled in disarray, later we thought we had her twice but she'd port away.
I switched Xanesha and the one in Hook Mountain, as someone had suggested. Xanesha could not dimension door away because the party's front man had a silence cast on him before they even opened the door to Xanesha's area. Because of Silent Spell, Xanesha could cast the rest of her spells, so it was a tough fight, but I did not have the fun of Xanesha being a recurring villian.
Our Xanesha encounter was also pretty wild and cinematic. The party had a good detailed description of her powers thanks to an interrogated Ironbriar, so they did a Dispel Magic and Silence rote as soon as they hit the tower rooftop. That did not prevent her from stoning the monk (though she could not toss her off the roof, as she got meleed pretty quickly). In the end she resorted to flight and magic missile fire (fortunately the party had an archer and a bard good at using wands) until the cleric of Desna dimension-stepped herself and the fighter on top of the lamia. Maybe it kinda oversteps the rules of teleportation, but it was damn cinematic, so I let it go. They stabbed her to death in an awkward flight around the tower and they all started plummeting. Having a bard who chose Feather Fall for his spell list saved the day (well, not for Xanesha).
That's, of course, with the PF Alpha 3 rules. Even with 6 PCs, that lamia was a killer (3 characters down).
well done. inspiring storytelling is our goal as well.
I am GM on our path, and we left the game in a classic Buffy/TV season ending 2 parter. Part 2 is this coming thursday.
The party actually Flew up to the top of the tower (IronBriar spilled the details), and SURPRISED Xanesha. She dimension doored out and they chased her back to the Lumber mill where she learned that her cult had been decimated.
Final Scene: the party of five is decending towards the Human appearing Xanesha (Major image) on the roof of the Lumber Mill when the Lamia form is revealed to them for the first time in a mirror image form. Yes. THREE Lamias flying up to meet them, all with a rather large spear as a weapons, while the human Xanesha begins to cast again...
To Be Continued...
Just a follow up.
Xanesha dropped 2 players (killing the Cleric of Desna) and then was dispatched as she attempted to Dimension Door via an attack of opportunity by our fighter. He rolled a critical 20. Then the same to confirm. drew from the Critical Hit deck. and got Decapitation. classic.
