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With all the "what do your players do to drive you crazy" threads about, I thought it would be good to start a fun player's appreciation thread.
What are some of the cool things your players have done that just made your day.
Obviously, I will start:
1) The players were evil soldiers (~12 level) sent to kidnap a rival king's daughter for a forced marriage. They were told to make it public, so the enemy kingdom would know the terror.
They spend a month integrating themselves around the city in preparation for the princess's visit via boat. As she stepped off the boat, the Cleric summoned a giant shark, the Druid had already wildshaped into a giant shark, and both were in the water under the docks. As she stepped off her ship, the invisible fighter bull rushed her off the dock into the water. The summoned Shark snapped her up (unharmed) and swam as fast as it could as the cleric jumped in. The Druid had summoned another shark, which snapped up the Cleric and followed. The fighter just followed the princess into the water and the druid-shark snagged him and took off as well heading to where the Mage and another Fighter waiting a bit away.
The evil Ranger of the group had stayed behind to help them incase the dock plan failed (to help them fight out). He appeared out of the crowd and announced he was good enough to track sharks in the water and jumped into a longboat, calling for some guards and good people of the kingdom to join him! Some guards and citizens jumped in and rowed after the sharks.
As other boats launched, the Ranger's boat was way out in front, and a few minutes later was heading to shore (by the rest of the party, with the now unconscious prisoner). The Ranger stood up in the boat and proudly announced that he knew the sharks went this way. One of the guards looked around, and seeing no sharks said, "how do you know?" And this next line was classic. The player squinted his eyes and with an evil sneer said "because of the blood in the water", took his sword and slaughtered everyone on the boat. They got away for the moment with their prize.
I told them beforehand if they came up with a decent sounding plan, I wouldn't get in the way, but they would have to make the appropriate rolls and such. They pulled it off beautifully and even now 10+ years later "because of the blood in the water" makes me smile.
2) A good party this time. They had a Fighter, a Monk, a Paladin, a Cleric, a Sorcerer, and a Rogue (all ~15th level). However, only the Sorc had any distance attacks. So near a cliff-side waterfall, they finally cornered the BBEG and had him at a disadvantage. He summoned his ace in the hole...his big ass green dragon. The dragon slaughtered the sorcerer first round and then while hovering starts breathing on them, while the rest of the party tried to figure out what to do. The Monk player asked how far the Dragon was from the waterfall, and I said about 50 feet. Suddenly the Monk takes off towards the waterfall. He climbed up the cliff to the top, which was about 150' up. Meanwhile the party was fighting defensively, which basically means they were dealing 0 damage to the dragon and absorbing lots of damage and taunting from the BBEG.
The Monk player says, "I would like to make a running long jump off the cliff to the dragon." I say "um...okay, that is like a DC 50 jump...maybe 55 to be sure". Then he says, "Cool. Then I want to hit it with a stunning fist." Everyone looks at him, and starts smiling. Someone says that if he misses, they are going to die.
The Monk take a running leap off the side of the cliff clearing the distance to the dragon and rolls a stunning fist attack, hits, and the dragon fails its save and crashes to the ground. The party absolutely destroyed the dragon before it could get back into the air.
Needless to say, the BBEG ran like a little girl.
So, what about your stories?
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We had an established game, AD&D 2E, and one of the PCs died horribly to a red widow (he ALWAYS had to go to the brothel when we hit a town /sigh). He had 3 weeks to prepare a new character, and failed to do so. Upon arriving at the session, he informs us that he hadn't rolled a new character. He instead would like to play a paladin he had played in a different game under a different GM. We were all lvl 10 and 11, but this character was level 14. We all pretty much said let him play, the GM gave a cursory glance to the character sheet, and allowed the Paladin to join us.
We had traveled out of the Underdark to a more neutral city, and before we left, the GM asked "Is there ANYTHING else you want to do here before you leave?". The new Paladin character is all of a sudden all about going to sell his "+4 Holy Plate Mail". Sez he, "I get more benefits from the +5 Banded Mail of Fire Resistance that I also have!" We sit there agog as the GM and he argue for 10 minutes about how he could have BOTH of those sets of armor, amid all the OTHER gear he was toting around. This was an armor kingdoms would go to war for, and he was trying to sell it for the platinum piece price listed in the PHB.
The argument rages, and finally in the interest of getting the game underway, the GM suddenly kowtows and lets him sell it for the ridiculous amount of platinum. He DID make the PC put it in chests and buy a drayage and team to carry it in, plus hire a drover to pilot said landbarge across the hills and such.
A few moments into the game, the PC with incredible wealth leaves the room to go pee, and the GM turns to us and whispers conspiratorially "Whosoever steals this plat and hides it from him will get 1xp for each platinum piece of it."
Therein ensued a variety of means both fair and foul to get control of the wagon the chests were in. The PC, and thus the Paladin were instantly suspicious of the entire party.
One of the other PCs, a gnome illusionist, didn't try anything. Indeed, he seemed particularly unimpressed by the entire preceedings. Until later that evening around the PC campfire....when suddenly, after many many nights in game and 10 levels, offering to take first watch. See, he had NEVER taken watch before ("A wizard has to get his rest!" he would remind us whenever it came up) and every head in the game turned to face this quiet, unusual request. The Paladin PC, ever weary of the attempts at his wealth, started to protest..."BUT BUT BUT YOU NEVER TAKE WATCH!" until the GM, with a wicked gleam informs the PC that THIS paladin had never grouped with these PCs, and had no reason to distrust them. The PCs settled down to sleep, while the Gnome Illusionist set about patrolling around camp. Once the others were asleep, he began laying about with all his spell might...first by casting Sleep on his unsuspecting party members. After driving the cart/wagon into the woods and using a wand of "DIG" to bury it, horses and all, he crept back to camp, then took a small frying pan and gave himself a nice wallop alongside the head. Then he really laid out some spells...cantrips to lightly blow the wind in the faces of his sleeping companions, ghost sounds of horses clattering away, Minor Creations showing the cart and the horses running away, a whole plethora of detailed and creative illusions showing the wagon disappearing into the night. He burned his entire repertoire preparing for the best show of his career. Using rope and some deft skill use, he tied himself to a tree, and then, dropping the Sleep effect and screaming at the top of his lungs, while enacting the illusions and noises along with it, he proceeded to wake the entire party.
They woke to the sounds of rushing hooves, shouting and yipping of various bandits, the breeze of the fleeing thieves blowing soil and dust around, the cracks of the whips driving his team into the woods. Throwing on his armor, the Paladin PC chased off after his treasure, sword waving. After several hundred feet, when the illusions wore out, he was left standing all alone.
The GM strictly enforced Player knowledge and PC knowledge, and the Paladin failed 2 of his disbelieve rolls. To him, bandits snuck into camp, beat up the poor Gnome, tied him to a tree, and stole his plat. Livid, he demanded we forego the quest we were on and go claim back his money. We refused...he was welcome to join us and play, or he was welcome to go off chasing phantoms.
That was the last time we gamed with that character.
Once I had a wild shaped druid chasing a mechanical spider contraption with a demon avatar inside.
They were all struggling inside of a sewer so there wasnt much space, think railroad tunnel small with this thing like the train.
It sprouted two large claw things off of its back to fight the PCs while they attempted to climb up the back and in while it was moving very quickly.
One of the PCs ran over the top, instead of climbing in the back and stabbed through the wind shield with his scythe right into the heart of the driver who fell forward on the accelerator.
As the ship speeded up the demon avatar dropped two delayed fireballs to blow up the contraption (alchemical gases powered it) and teleported to safety.
The druids animal companion swallowed the fireball whole, and it exploded, saving the rest of the party from the impending doom.
Just one off the top of my head :)
Steal a Dragon.
Not from a Dragon. They stole THE Dragon.
Steal a Dragon.
Not from a Dragon. They stole THE Dragon.
This is not exceptable! PLEASE EXPLAIN!
This is not exceptable! PLEASE EXPLAIN!Steal a Dragon.
Not from a Dragon. They stole THE Dragon.
It was an epic solo adventure of a Rogue/Ninja/Cheesy Epic PrC in 3.X. The party had a quest of retrieve and awake a group of ancient dragons, and one of them was dreaming in a jar owned by the Grand Vizier of the Efreet.
He went to the city of brass and alterned social skills, RPG and stealth to find a way to become friend of a noble female Efreeti, becoming termporarily her servant. Then betrayed her, avoided direct contact with the Vizier and his direct minions, and manage to slip into the Treasure palace.
Yadda yadda, epic challenges and traps, managed to awake the dragon from his dream and dealed to make him "stay quiet" into the Jar until their return in the material plane.
The player still remebers his adventure as the best he had with me as a GM because it felt like a fairy tale, an epic tale and he used 100% of his PCs, 120% I dare to say :)
(Reprint)
Most of my favorite memories are little gems:
Just a couple of gems...
The party had just finished a very successful raid and spoiled a major hobgoblin attack. The barbarian is in town drinking like a beast, suddenly his player stands up, looks down and yells, "Where are my pants?!?!" The entire group rolled with laughter. It only go funnier as the hobgoblins kicked off their own raid... our big hitter was drunk and half naked-putting his greataxe into many hobbie's heads :D
One of the party's rogue (we had two) had snuck on board the villain's escape boat (Scourge of the Slavelords!) and rather than *fight* with the Drow Cleric, he tackled her off of the ship. Before they hit the water, she stabbed the rogue and he failed his save against the sleep poison... The cleric sinks like the chainmail clad stone that she is, the rogue is half floating, sleeping a few feet under the surface. The party's druid realizes the rogue has been underwater for a long time, and she dives in to save him. SHe drags his body back to the pier and resuciatates him. His first vision after his near death experience is the druid (a pretty little read-head) sopping wet, his head in her lap. He immediatley decides, "This is the girl for me!" The tragedy? She wants nothing to do with him--his reputation as a womanizer precedes him ;)
GNOME
This is not exceptable! PLEASE EXPLAIN!Steal a Dragon.
Not from a Dragon. They stole THE Dragon.
It was an epic solo adventure of a Rogue/Ninja/Cheesy Epic PrC in 3.X. The party had a quest of retrieve and awake a group of ancient dragons, and one of them was dreaming in a jar owned by the Grand Vizier of the Efreet.
He went to the city of brass and alterned social skills, RPG and stealth to find a way to become friend of a noble female Efreeti, becoming termporarily her servant. Then betrayed her, avoided direct contact with the Vizier and his direct minions, and manage to slip into the Treasure palace.
Yadda yadda, epic challenges and traps, managed to awake the dragon from his dream and dealed to make him "stay quiet" into the Jar until their return in the material plane.
The player still remebers his adventure as the best he had with me as a GM because it felt like a fairy tale, an epic tale and he used 100% of his PCs, 120% I dare to say :)
parmesian? gorgonzola? cheddar...swiss..
SOO MUCH CHEEZEEEEEEEEEE
but seriously thats awesome haha good story :)
I haven't been DMing very long, and our games are low level, quasi-low-magic (I just don't run magic shops is all). But a couple of sessions ago the PCs were leaving the deep, dark center of an enchanted forest and ran across some elves who had set up the cliche "toll road" scam. I initiated dialog as the party grew near on their horses. and the party rogue suddenly held up his hand (OOC).
"Are they armed?" he asked. "They have weapons, but they are not drawn." I replied. There was a brief pause as he glanced down at his character sheet and he rolled a d20... "Shooting him with my crossbow..." Nat 20.
"Roll to confirm." Nat 20. "Roll again." 18.
Max damage. Dropped the bandit on the spot. I just had the other two flee. XD It was too badass. They walked on and never said a word. I wish there was more awesome stuff I could talk about but this has probably been the pinnacle. :/
parmesian? gorgonzola? cheddar...swiss..
SOO MUCH CHEEZEEEEEEEEEE
but seriously thats awesome haha good story :)
Actually, the Cheese in PrC and items simply allowed him to not be istantly recognized by divinations and similar high level stuff.
This ALLOWED all the things above, didn't make them easy. One could learn something about high level play, I dare to say...
parmesian? gorgonzola? cheddar...swiss..
SOO MUCH CHEEZEEEEEEEEEE
but seriously thats awesome haha good story :)
Actually, the Cheese in PrC and items simply allowed him to not be istantly recognized by divinations and similar high level stuff.
This ALLOWED all the things above, didn't make them easy. One could learn something about high level play, I dare to say...
probably, I dont typically play high level games.
I didnt mean there was anything wrong with your cheese or that it was overly cheesy I was just making a joke. I apologize.
We, a human sorcerer, a human wizard, a half orc barbarian, a human cleric, a human paladin, a halfling rogue and a dwarf bard. We were using 3.5 rules and were into the low epics (21-22 or so). We were in Greyhawk and were going after one of those iconic wizard boys in their tower for some reason I've now forgotten.
We fought through armies of this and that and finally found the location of, and journeyed To the tower. it was some 12 odd levels high with a 25-30 level mage inside who had lived life of so many years all the age of our group couldn't combine to match his. As we stood trying to figure out how to get him out and alive without we, ourselves, dying.. the Half-orc pulls out nothing else but an old relic we had found. It was a alteration of the old "monkey's paw" idea except that the more yuo used it the more yuo wanted to use it, until you became obsessed with it. It had, that we knew of, some 3 uses of a "super wish". None of us had dared to use it and had indeed forgotten about it completely.
We all stared at the half-orc barbarian in amazement as he held it high and spoke aloud "I wish the tower were cut in half, at a bias" (or some such, it was some years ago).
We all looked at him.
Then at the DM.
Then at him again.
And the DM described the tower, about halfway up, sliding off its base and into rubble below..
It was perfectly climactic, and anti-climactic, and probably the most "perfect" wish any of us had ever done.
-S
I didnt mean there was anything wrong with your cheese or that it was overly cheesy I was just making a joke. I apologize.
I intended no offense. :)
And I used the word cheese first. Because, working or not, Epic games are inherently cheesy ;)
Above, I was just referring to a recent thread about high level games and how they change.
I didnt mean there was anything wrong with your cheese or that it was overly cheesy I was just making a joke. I apologize.
I intended no offense. :)
And I used the word cheese first. Because, working or not, Epic games are inherently cheesy ;)
Above, I was just referring to a recent thread about high level games and how they change.
amen to that.
I am running a game currently with four tarrasques (varients, there is another thread for it). If that isnt all the cheese in france I dont know what is.
My first time DMing was a 3rd edition, prefab adventure for first level characters. I forget the name of the adventure but it involved the party entering an underground fortress overrun by kobolds and plant type creatures. The first door they came to had a pit trap in front of it that the party of 3 gnomes sprang on the way in.
The next game we had two more members join the party (two half orcs, one druid the other barbarian). They entered the dungeon the same way the first 3 members did and stopped outside the trapped door.
The three gnome PCs stood on one side and challenged the 2 newcomer half orcs as they approached. Some poorly chosen responses were given and the party of three felt the need to threaten the PCs outside.
"Were coming in there to kill all the evil little people inside!" says the half orc barbarian
"Don’t come in! We have a ballista!" bluffs the gnome rogue. Bluff roll: 2.
"hahaha tricksey little one!" says the barbarian. "I'm coming in!"
the gnome rogue quickly declares he is holding action for the orc to jump across the pit. The orc predictably jumps and the rogue declares and attack with his short spear. Rolls. Nat 20. oh crap. Confirm... another nat 20! oh CRAP! The group collectively holds their breath as the player of the orc consults his character sheet after damage is rolled.
"I’m dead" declares the player. crap.
I tell the other orc outside that as the orc jumps across the pit into the dark room beyond, he is smashed backward by a massive attack on the other side. The orc falls out of the room with the short spear protruding from his chest... Immediately the gnome fighter in the group gets a smile on his face. We all look at him curiously and he yells in character: "RELOAD!" and raps his sword pommel on his shield mimicking the "clack clack clack clack" sound of a ballista reloading.
The player of the remaining orc looks at me and says "I run away"
The two players made two new characters that later entered the party. They were impressed with the gnome's story about how they defeated the band of evil orcs that tried to raid the dungeon they were in.
To this day, following devastating critical hits the party will yell "RELOAD!" and giggle.
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In no particular order:
(1) 2nd Edition gnome rogue is on a ledge about 30' above a blue dragon fighting the rest of the party. Takes a flying leap off, sword aimed at the dragon, asks if he'll get backstab (sneak attack) damage... (why not, I said)
(2) Wizard broke a staff of the magi to save the party during an aerial fight with an avatar of Tiamat (and survived!)
(3) In 2nd edition, Slavelords, player "charmed" the medusa and convinced her to walk thru all the nicely laid ambushes, turning many fine combatants to stone. When she broke the charm, our fighter aimed a bow, eyes closed, declared he was going to hit, and of course got a natural 20 (before the days of concealment) to finish her.
(4) Anytime the players try to get a Raise Dead type spell for an NPC.
(2) Wizard broke a staff of the magi to save the party during an aerial fight with an avatar of Tiamat (and survived!)
Wow.. it happened! Kudos to your wizard player.. I wonder if mine could have the b***s to do it :P
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We'd just gotten done with killing a nice large group of Minotaurs and decided to rest. Upon a successful rest period, we woke up and exited the room (into the room where we'd left the bodies) and more minotaurs were there. The fighter grabs his greatsword and immediately spouts out, "How many of you do I have to kill before you get the point?" About a second later, our rogue rolls a Nat20 on a Bluff check against the minotaurs to convince them that their brethren attacked each other over a game of dice.
Rogue - "You guys are NOT going to believe what happened."
I have to admit. I was impressed.
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Another time, after finally making it into a town after a few months travel, the group enters the tavern and leaves their magically animated Stone Horse outside with all the gear. The bartender asks if they want the horse watered and very nonchalantly, our fighter replies, "Nah, he's stone. He'll be alright." Make note this was a very small village.
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Finally, that same rogue bluffed an Efreet. 'nuff said.
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Playing Hackmaster (modified 2ed). After a successful adventure the party (NE elven fighter/thief, CN human wild mage, LE gnomeling thief, LE human monk) returned to the nearest large city and I ask them what magic items they would like to look for.
The fighter thief role playing that his character probably did not have any real knowledge of magic items gives a list of items that he would like to the CN wild mage. With things on it like "A ring that makes me invisible," and "a sword that burns," ect. and way down at the bottom of the list is "A lucky rock."
So as the mages player reads the list I see his eyes brighten and a cruel smile appear. After a bit he gets me alone and tells me he would like to cast magical aura (or what ever the spell is that gives a false magical aura to an item) on a rock. And I say "umm...ok."
After we return to the game table he tells the fighter that he couldn't find any of the other items he was looking for but he had found the lucky rock he needed but it will cost him 20,000gp (the PHB price for a luckstone in that system)
It took about 7 months for the fighters player to figure out that he had been screwed by the mage (and in-game the character still doesn't know)
even though those characters have long since been retired to this day every time the groups goes shopping the wildmage's player makes sure to announce that there are plenty of "lucky rocks" for sale.
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dont know if this qualifies but....
I played in a campaign a long time ago - early 90's I think
we all played Drow characters & after 12 months of playing we met a vampire which after some dialogue & agreed on doing a quest for him. The vampire then took my character aside and asked if I would agree to become a vampire & help him out - I agreed on condition I kept my independance & he helped me conceal that I was a vampire - he did - a bottle of freshness (usually used for water) I used to store blood
a ring of warmth so I would show as a warm creature since we had infravision
and a way to cover up my attacks when I needed
after I was transformed I joined the group & the DM passed 2 notes - 1 to me & 1 to another player we both read the note & then looked at each other & said we need to talk
we went out to the balacony in RL & he said so your a vampire - I said yes & you are apparently a dragon!!
we always took watch together & hunted together - I drank the blood of the victims (keeping some if I needed to) & he ate the body. we kept the knowledge from the party for the rest of the campaign until the end when we turned on the party & revealed our true forms
the party was so shocked the GM played it that way allowing our characters to score 2 rounds of combat before the party could react - we easily won !!!
I think the look on each others faces & the comments on the balcony were the most impressive & coolest thing that has happened to me still to this day
good stuff about the a paladin and his gear
LoL. That was funny.
"I have a speech prepared, let me talk to the oracle."
Barbarian calmly strides up, politely opens the door to the temple, approaches to the oracle, straightens his cloak, dusts himself off, clears his throat, and declares:
"I'll bathe in your blood, you loathesome @#$%*!"
lol
One of the PC's in my old WEG Star Wars game secretly hired Boba Fett to track down another of the PC's. He then told the "target" that he'd just found out that a Bounty had been placed on him, and that they "had to run, now!"
This, of course, helped me out because it allowed me to get the PC's into strange places and stranger situations, all the while having them wonder how Fett had found them "this time."
So eventually, they're on a resort world (A planet made of beaches? Oh, George Lucas, you and your mono-terrain planetary bodies), and out of the surf comes Boba Fett, covered in kelp and tiny crustaceans. The PC's, unarmed and unarmored, freak out and start running hither and yon. Fett uses his grapple line, grabs the target, and drags him down to the surf.
Whereupon he opens a small box, hands the exquisitely wrapped package to the target, and sings (through his helmet speaker) "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you. We escaped the Death Star, thanks for being on my crew. You're the greatest, old buddy." Fett turns to the PC who hired him, holds out his hand, and waits for his payment.
The reaction from the players (all of whom but the one who did the hiring weren't in the know) was priceless.
1st edition D&D,demonweb pits-final encounter
mage was out of spells and afraid to melee, rumaged through his sack and decided to throw 2 vials of holy water..not knowing Lolth was highly vulnerable..
rolled a 20 to hit on one and then rolled 35 points of damage (out of max 36) and as she only starts with 66 hp and was already wounded..killed..
We had just converted to 3.0 and were playing a homebrew adventure. At one point we found ourselves going after a lich that was leading an army of orcs. The orc army was camped on the plains for the night so we decided to start at the edges and take out as much of the army as we could before going for the lich. The first building we came across was pretty small, easily enough for a fireball to fill up. My rogue grabs the door while the party wizard prepares his delayed blast fireball. Next round I throw open the door and in goes the fireball then I slam the door shut and we dive to the ground a few feet away. The next round we hear the thump of the fireball going off in the building.
Needless to say, the DM was a bit bemused as he described to us what we saw when we opened the door to check the damage. One lone orc burned to a cinder sitting on the toilet in the camp outhouse.
Perhaps not the nicest thing...
I was in a 2nd edition game with a rogue/wizard and another player had found a gemstone he thought might be magic. He asked me to examine it. I did - it held three wishes. Heh. I examined it a bit more. "Hmm, this is a tough one. I sure wish I was smarter. Lets see. No, that won't work. I wish I was a more powerful wizard. If I were, I'm sure I'd figure this out in no time." I had him by me a drink, finished it, then returned to examining his gem. "My friend, this gem has a failing enchantment on it, it was being enchanted, but the process was never completed, it would have been added to a pommel of a sword to make it a frost brand. I wish my sword was a frostbrand. Oh well, here's your gem. Sorry it doesn't do anything."
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A party I was running in a thieves guild vs assasin guild plot, had the most distinct Gnome Bard I've ever played with. The other members of the party included a pyromaniac evocation specialist elf, and a rogue/fighter who was a member of the thieves guild. The elf and the theif were both pretty much nuetral unless the elf could burn something, or the thief could make a profit with acceptable risk. The Bard was very much a "heroine".
The plot that the pcs were involved in delt with the Assasins Guild attempting the absorb the Thieves Guild. Due Bard's Idealism, the party was attempting to infiltrate the assassins guild and try to get a list of operative or valuable plans to the thieves guild.
Needless to say, they get caught. How? The Bard carries herself like a paladin in shiny armor and weapons, the literaly rolled will saves to against his pyromania, and the rogue was caught in the middle. The party was very much about character concepts, and used the mechanics geared toward making themselves more interesting, not optimal.
Enter the holding cell. The rogue figures that after the party is interrogated, they are going to be killed, unless they have something useful to offer the other guild. The Bard...really hates the idea of any sort of imprisonment or slavery uses message to tell the rogue she has a plan. She uses disguise self to look as much like a battered human child as possible. She has a plan to distract the gaurd long enough that they'll distracted long enough for the rogue to make a move.
As GM I had planned that the Assassins guild was going to offer the group to work as double agents.
The Bard asks to make a perception check and a sense motive. The first to see if the man comming in was the one who captured the party, and the second was to look cage how compassionate he looked at her. He wasn't the guy, and he looked sympathetic to her child disguise.
When he unlocked her cell door, she has her character cover and make a bluff check. Her check being...
"Are you going to beat me like he did?"
I dropped my pencil and jaw and break game for a moment. I ask her "Why would you do that?". Obviously I'm in awe...or at least quite dumbstruck. She rationalized to me not even skipping a beat.
"assassins are usually evil, at least good people think killing for money is evil. Guys who beat children are more evil. If this guy turns on the gaurd, then he's redeemable and I don't have to kill him. If he doesn't then I'm sure he's flatfooted to the child about to choke him to death with the garrote improvised from the manacles she's wearing."
I stare at her in disbelief as does the player of the elf. The rogue is grinning like a madman. Then she finishes.
"Besides it's not like he's innocent".
The gaurd ended up being killed by the new guy. The rogue killed the new guy, and after they recovered their weapons and gear, proceeded to burn this assassins guild hide out to the ground.
I'm not sure if her rationalization counts as metagamming, but I've played several games with this group and to this day it I still feel stunned by that move. It is still one of the best examples of how much I enjoy playing with people who really get into character. Outside of Game the player doesn't act like her character at all, but in game she really carries a game through her reactions and rationals when in her "personas". I miss that group.
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As a DM:
3.0 game, large party, including an Elf Fighter/Arcane Archer.
RP-wise, this character (Althon) had espoused a fear/healthy respect of Dragons throughout the game.The player had read the entris in the MM...these were NOT the wimpy Dragons of earlier eds.
fast Forward to encounter far into the campaign, Lvl 11 or 12.
Inside an old volcano in a foreboding jungle, a Green Dragon ambushes the party, from Invisibility, no less. Thoroughly trouncing the party, as he is winging round and round a central column, attacking every 3rd round or so (Allowing him to reactivate the Ring on 'off' rounds.
Althon had taken up a position under an overhang, scared...
He was injured, had shot the Dragon several times, and knew (OofChar)
that it was near death. In fact, with the while party screaming 'Take the Shot!' as he pondered a finishing arrow (It was down to 3HP...) True Strike already cast, he declared that he didn't think that Althon had it in him. He looked at me and asked what the DC for a 'nerves check' might be. I set one at 18 or so, based on his constant paranoia of becoming Dragon-Chow. he rolled, failed and didn't take the shot.
Out of Game, it was an easy auto-kill, In-Game, he played his character as he had been playing him for over a year. Great Role-Player, that guy.
He now lives in Oregon (I am in San Francisco), and when he came to Gencon a few years back, the coupe of guys from the old 3.0 game got to scream 'Take the Shot! Why didn't you just take the damned shot!?!' as we regaled the newer guys with the old story. He smiled and said 'Man, you don't know, Althon just lost his nerve... unless you've had a Dragon staring you in the face like that, you just don't know...'
Funny Quote from the encounter
Rogue (Who had been pestering me for a Ring of Invis for a while:
"That damned Dragon has MY RING!!!'
Funny Anti-Climactic Moment as scene unfolds
I have Mussorgsky's 'Night On Bald Mountain' playing...you know, the Fantasia Demon-Music.
I pull out the HUGE Niddhogg Dragon, a massive Ral Partha thing, with gigantic wings...which, promptly fall off, along with the head.
Rogue's player says 'Well, that's THAT, then, where's the Loot...'
Er, guess I should have Pinned the thing first.
-Uriel
Our Fighter were mind controlled by the BBEG, he seperated the group, so only the Druid & Fighter were in one small corridor. After a few dodges, the druid decided to cast a spell, but...
she enlarged the fighter, so the fighter was stuck at the corridor, damn nice move. :)
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One cropped up recently. Spoilered for those running Council of Thieves.
In the Hagwood, the party had managed to lure the gigantic death beetle towards the camp. Then, the Summoner smiled and cast Greater Invisibility on it. So, instead of a giant, armoured killing machine rampaging through the camp and causing havoc, you have an INVISIBLE, giant, armoured killing machine rampaging through the camp. I felt obliged to give them bonus victory points for that.
Another one, also in the Council of Thieves game, was a side-encoutner I threw in. The party had blinded but not destroyed an erinyes and she sent an assassin devil after them at night. Specifically after the paladin/bard who'd blinded her. So, after they'd defeated the devil, still in their nightclothes, I hasten to add, and where the Summoner hadn't even got out of bed, jusst cast Summon Monster for air elementals and sent them down the corridor, they returned to their rooms, the paladin holding her shield in front of her and looking death at all the male PCs. The next day, as theey were coming down stairs for breakfast, the summoner, who had been played as a bit of a rake, was saying "I wasn't the bad bot this time, how did that happen? And there was trouble, in a beautiful women's bedroom, and I wasn't even there. Why was that I wonder?" After the paladin glared broadswords at him, he responded, "Ah, that's right, they had sweords. Now I remember why."
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This one just happened a couple of months ago:
The group I am DMing for, at the time 6 15th level characters, were trapped on a primordial island located within a demi-plane.
As they were exploring, they managed to awaken two very unfriendly opponents. The first was a primordial earth elemental from the Epic Level Handbook (basically a walking mountain). They discovered, after several fruitless attacks, that it was nearly impossible to kill, but seemed to lose interest in them whenever they stopped trying to blast it. Thus, they survived the encounter by simply leaving the elemental alone.
Some time later, they were exploring an enormous cave at the bottom of a valley, and inside they found the sleeping Tarrasque. The slumbering beast was facing an enormous archway covered in magical script that kept flashing to different places. Clearly, this is the gate through which the Tarrasque would enter the material plane when it began its eating binge.
The party decided that they needed to trap the Tarrasque on the demi-plane, so they started tinkering with the archway, trying to cancel its magic, destroy it, or at least shut it down. They succeded, but, this unfortunately, woke the Tarrasque. It was not happy.
The party fled from the cave, with an angry Tarrasque in pursuit. They tried to fight it for about two rounds, before they realized that they weren't going to be able to do enough damage to kill it.
Finally, they got a brilliant idea. They goaded the Tarrasque into chasing them towards the primordial earth elemental. The Tarrasque chased them, crashing headlong into the walking mountain. The elemental responded by smashing its colossal fists down on the Tarrasque over and over.
Eventually, even the Tarrasque's epic damage reduction could not withstand that amount of punishment. The Tarrasque could no longer fight back, but its crazy regeneration made it impossible for the elemental to kill it. The two creatures were at a stalemate. The Tarrasque would regenerate enough to attack the elemental, then the elemental would slam it back into severe begative hit points. The Tarrasque would regenerate again and attack again, and the cycle would repeat.
Eventually, even the Tarrasque's epic damage reduction could not withstand that amount of punishment. The Tarrasque could no longer fight back, but its crazy regeneration made it impossible for the elemental to kill it. The two creatures were at a stalemate. The Tarrasque would regenerate enough to...
Heh. Reminds me of the one truly epic game I ran (I want to say 30th level?) PCs were an elven Cleric, a human Fighter/Samurai, a wood giant Ranger, and a Pixie Sorcerer.
One of the first creatures they fought was a fully advanced fiendish Tarrasque. Pixie (natural invisibility) flew up to it and cast irresistible dance on it (back when it was still attributed to poor Otto). Beat the Tarrasque's SR.
And suddenly there was a giant tarrasque getting jiggy with it. (I believe they then opened a planar rift and basically bull rushed it through, while it was still dancing away.)
Maybe not the coolest thing, but definitely one of the funniest images we've had.
For coolest I think I'll have to go with one of the greatest characters ever played: Edge, an elven Barbarian/Forsaker. This dude was practically invincible. Once the party was fighting a roc, its fly-by attacks throwing a wrench upon the party's usual ginzu tactics. So Edge grabs a harpoon he happened to have, tied a rope to the end, threw it at the roc, grappled it, and climbed up the rope trailing through the skies. He then rode up to the back of the roc and stabbed it until the roc died, then rode the crashing corpse to the ground.
It took Edge a couple of minutes to recover from that one with his fast healing, but he definitely walked away.
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This is an amazing thread! I love hearing cool anecdotes from other players about their truly memorable experiences. This one actually made me laugh:
Perhaps not the nicest thing...I was in a 2nd edition game with a rogue/wizard and another player had found a gemstone he thought might be magic. He asked me to examine it. I did - it held three wishes. Heh. I examined it a bit more. "Hmm, this is a tough one. I sure wish I was smarter. Lets see. No, that won't work. I wish I was a more powerful wizard. If I were, I'm sure I'd figure this out in no time." I had him by me a drink, finished it, then returned to examining his gem. "My friend, this gem has a failing enchantment on it, it was being enchanted, but the process was never completed, it would have been added to a pommel of a sword to make it a frost brand. I wish my sword was a frostbrand. Oh well, here's your gem. Sorry it doesn't do anything."
Awesome!
Usually when I play a caster take on the profession scribe and/or if allowed lawyer.
In the campaign we were in. Through use of clever planning, a flying goblin and a spider climb; our party captured a Djinn. The GM had aparently been looking forward to use wishes to mess with our characters.
Then djinn made no effort to show that it had no intention of cooperating with our characters. So the party, sans myself huddle up to discuss how to use the wishes to further our goals. The GM figures that my character is ready to wish. He has the djinni aproach my character.
"You look like you have the mind to speak for these simpletons, will you wish for them?" to be fair, my character was indeed smarter and much cleaner than the rest of the party. Considering the party consisted of a Paladin, Ranger, Scout, and my Cleric.
"Yes but first I need to draft something", this stopped the party chatter, and the DM.
"Draft?"
"Yes, I need to know the DC of writing my wishes in a the form of a contract that will be most beneficial to my companions."
Stumbling at my idea. The GM retorted.
"You don't have the knowledge have the the culture and laws of the Djinn"
Being smug and slightly expecting such a developement. "For my first wish Djinn I want you to summon me an up to date manifesto of all the legal code from your noble family. Then I caste Comprehend Langauges", so my character studies Genie legal code for a week, while the other players wait. They were more veteran than I, and wanted to see what I had come up with. The GM suprised, relents and figures DCs would be based on the Djinn's wisdom check. Poor guy rolled a total 14. My profession check came out at a total 32.
My second wish was for him to through the contract wishin for a ring of three wishes and when released from my service an unlimited vowe of nonreprisal.
The third wish was for him to stay on our plane for one month as my party's guest. Which gave the Ranger and the Scout time to plan his second capture.
Because of that, my GM has a house rule of no profession lawers, notoraries, or clerics of the knowledge domain.
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A moment of semi-hilarity. The Paladin in my group is playing out a Blade of Mercy character. We started Kingmaker and the first encounter with the bandits there. Surprise round. Paladin is first act. He goes to non-lethal the guy with his Falcata. Crits. Confirms, 33 damage to the lead guy. Non-lethaled the guy to death.
i am a cleric of Cayden Cailean, my buddy a "paladin" of cayden (caviler), we were fighting some demonic creature. i used tough of good on the "paladin" and said "cayden says to smite him", so he threw his shield and double handed his sword and cleaved his head in twain (crit strike!!!) not big in actual combat, but in theatrics.....maaaaaaaaaan
A moment of semi-hilarity. The Paladin in my group is playing out a Blade of Mercy character. We started Kingmaker and the first encounter with the bandits there. Surprise round. Paladin is first act. He goes to non-lethal the guy with his Falcata. Crits. Confirms, 33 damage to the lead guy. Non-lethaled the guy to death.
It must be the module, one of my players threw an axe at that same exact guy and critted for 18 or so, dropping him instantly. Bandits surrender immediately, party immediately declares all bandits in this area worthless.
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A moment of semi-hilarity. The Paladin in my group is playing out a Blade of Mercy character. We started Kingmaker and the first encounter with the bandits there. Surprise round. Paladin is first act. He goes to non-lethal the guy with his Falcata. Crits. Confirms, 33 damage to the lead guy. Non-lethaled the guy to death.It must be the module, one of my players threw an axe at that same exact guy and critted for 18 or so, dropping him instantly. Bandits surrender immediately, party immediately declares all bandits in this area worthless.
Must be.
Showed up on time.
My players recently stole the Gold of El Dorado from an evil temple built inside the belly of The Tarrasque, which was being held in stasis beneath Machu Picchu by an evil priest who drank its blood to stay immortal. They got it out by timestopping past the guards and gating it all to a temporary demiplane before the adamantine golem could stop them.
Is there any way to favorite an entire thread?
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I a little side adventure for some of my group to give them a little more xp. They ended up getting attacked by some thieves and one character, who had just gotten a new Bag of Tricks and just couldn't wait to try it out, was able to summon a rhino with his Bag of Tricks on the first try. His Rhino then proceeded to kill the thieves and destroy the building they were in. The owner of said building was furious and refused to pay them any reward for stopping the thieves so they threaten him with the rhino until he coughed up the cash.
And when I ran a game of We Be Goblins at Gen Con 2011 there was a 9 or 10 year old boy playing with his dad. I think he played the perfect goblin. During the goblin feast and the dares he was the one who was able to ride Squealy Nord, and because of this he thought he could ride anything and everything.
Giant spider "I want to ride it!"
Dog "I want to ride it!"
Giant frog "I want to ride it!"
Horse "I want to ride it!"
"What kind of goblin are you?"
"One that rides on things."
Was playing a improv one shot with my younger step brother he played a lvl1 human Magus. He went down into a 4ft tunnel after a quick fight at a deadend with the goblin he was chasing. a large bat swarm was disturbed they attacked him in a 3/4ft area he decided to cast burning hands I warn him its going to back fire he does it anyways rolls max damage and kills the bat swarm and gets out of it alive with 1 HP. His cheesy line "Fire!"
Nothing super but it was my first time running anything and his first time playing so I was impressed with how he handled it.