It's not exactly a river crossing, but it's the closest I have.
3.5 homebrew campaign, very kingmakerish, heavily influenced by Heroes of Battle. Our party was the joint power behind the throne of an island kingdom.
I was playing a druid, at somewhere around level 14. We were standing on the shore when we saw 3 ships coming in loaded with mercenaries from the mainland to attack our island nation. I turned into a seagull, flew out over the 3 ships and summoned some huge water elementals. Got lucky on the roll and summoned 3 of them. They sucked the ships down killing all aboard. I flew back to the party, turned back into a gnome and said, "Well, that takes care of that."
My next statement (out of character) was, "So, do I have to share the xp for defeating them?"
How did it go badly? It went badly for everyone on board the ships.
Fantastic Maps: The Low River To qualify for your chance to win tell us about a river crossings in your campaign that have gone badly :)
I almost drown in a river on a childhood vacation, but I can't recall a bad river crossing in a campaign.
Underdark adventure I was DMing. Cavalier, full plate, fast moving underground river. You do the math, lol.
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I ran a high-level adventure where the heroes discover the normal ford crossing has been replaced by a bridge of ice, guarded by dozens of frost giants and icy-blooded ogres. It was supposed to be an epic battle where the PCs got to take on 9-10 giants each, with orges basically acting as terrain.
My wife's 18th level druid ambushed the bridge, and was the only thing to move in the surprise round. She hit the entire bridge with a fire storm, widened with her own metamagic and maximized with a rod. Then her initiative was so high, she did it again the next round before anyone else moved. And that killed every single thing I had planned for the night's entertainment.
The players all thought it was so cool I had set up such an easy encounter for them to see just how powerful they had become... and I faked the rest of the night's encounters.
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Not a campaign or even an rpg, but in the late 80's we had two groups square off, in very Rorke's Drift fashion.
We had 124 red coated Collonial riffle men miniatures square of against 700 Zulu tribesmen. Except unlike the heroes of Rorke's Drift, the 'engagement' with the most awarded Victorian Crosses in history, our troops got wholesale massacred by the Zulus.
In our defense, the British Collonials did not roll bad dice rolls after bad dice rolls.
Nor did we have the benefit of Michael Cain.
I can just imagine Steve going "Oh, so that's why it hasn't sold so well..." :)
There's a problematic river crossing in The Gift, Curse of the Golden Spear: Part 1. Without spoiling everything, when the party tries to cross a bridge, it turns out to have been sabotaged and they fall into the river. Of course a crocodile is waiting down below in a fast moving small river - now it's chaos!
I'm sure there are many published adventures with dangerous river crossings in them - if you're one of those who've never encountered a dangerous river crossing, check out The Gift, to see what it's all about.
GP
I can just imagine Steve going "Oh, so that's why it hasn't sold so well..." :)Lol.
I had a couple bad river crossings on oregon trail, does that count?
Depends on if you had dysentery?
City of Seven Spears the guy in heavy plate used fly so he could avoid the bridges on the way to the city and ended up causing the party to
A Dm I played under back in High School had an idea to put us into a setting where our actions would occasionally manifest, and come back to haunt us (think carnival funhouse mirrors, on acid, while having a nightmare). After saving a small hamlet from the classic generic threat of the week (a group of bandits/brigands), we found ourselves facing "ourselves" when we tried to take the bridge out of town. Apparently, since our thief had had a moment of weakness in an earlier game session, the DM had created an alternate "us" who had followed a different path of decisions that eventually led this alternate group of PC's to this town to exact revenge for the hiring of a band of mercenaries who had slayed their men....yeah, hijinx ensued..
Steven? Is this still running?
I'll be taking over unofficially for a bit. No promises on actual stuff, and it will be on the forums only, but I will keep a list of "winners" and send it on. Steve is on a necessary vacation.
Question will appear in a bit.
I've been looking at the Luckbringer lately. There's something about a character that can stand perfectly still, but cause rocks to fall that I find really cool.
So for today, the question is: What's the luckiest a character of yours has been? Whether what happened was determined by a luck roll, or just the roll of the dice, let's hear some stories!
Perhaps you rolled three natural 20s in a row against the evil Lich that has 15 more HD than you, slaying him instantly. Maybe it was your character falling down a ledge on a mountain, but the action started a rockslide that took out an army marching on you. Either way, let's hear what happened!
Ok, so there were the seven of us against a lich. I managed to take a lucky sword blow before everyone was paralysed- the priestess, cavalier, wizard, rogue, fighter/rogue and me, the fighter/mage.
The cavalier/druid was the only one unscathed and his four attacks landed.
Not enough to kill the monster- were not for MY blow from before. Lich killed in only one round. Were it not so, the druid would have been paralysed in the next round and all of us would be killed.
Failed a fort save vs food poisoning yesterday, so was too busy for this. But hmm, two posters in two days.
I will post a question later, when the forums are more active.
The Secrets of Divine Channeling is pretty nifty. I especially like the channeling effects, fore runners of variant channeling.
So...the question today is:
What are some stories of games where your party didn't have someone who could heal? Perhaps because no one was playing any of the classes that can heal, or the guy who was playing such a class was dead.
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The Secrets of Divine Channeling is pretty nifty. I especially like the channeling effects, fore runners of variant channeling.
So...the question today is:
What are some stories of games where your party didn't have someone who could heal? Perhaps because no one was playing any of the classes that can heal, or the guy who was playing such a class was dead.
Oh man that's something I could totally use for my wis 7 cleric (he casts no spells, but has a maxed out CHA and a slew of channeling feats to make up for it.
I primarily DM and I never have any rule other than, don't play the same class you played last game and unless they're really really different in builds don't play the same class as another player. As such this happens fairly often. My favorite was when I was running a two player party through rise of the runelords. I had a sorcerer and a ranger, Sheriff Belor was fighting with them as well, (stated as a 4th level warrior).
The fight was amazing. they had defeated all of the groups but had used up their healing potions and when they got to the fight with the goblin dog commando that's when things took a turn for the worst. Belor got taken down, but had dealt enough damage that the commando was taken down by the ranger (Belor had taken out the dog first figuring that'd weaken the commando), the problem was that the ranger had to stabilize Belor and so he got swarmed by the remaining goblins. At which point he was hurt badly so instead of fighting back he grabbed Belor and ran him towards a nearby building, propping the door shut. This left the sorcerer dealing with three goblins. He managed to use his final spell to kill one of them, but then he had to retreat, he started to run, but the goblins caught up with him. They took him down which caused the ranger to have to leave the building grab the sorcerer (taking even more damage to AoOs) and get back inside. Then he had to stabilize the sorcerer at a penalty because he was also making opposed strength checks to hold the door (also at a penalty), the goblins tried to force their way in for three turns (the third attempt to stabilize succeeded because he rolled an 18) but lost interest and started to wander off, the remaining hero decided to just wait it out inside the building with his whopping 2 HP left. So I let him.
Let's hear some more stories people! :)
All of one response! Noted.
Since #30 Haunts for Objects just won a best supplement reward, that'll be the focus for today (or until I remember to check back here).
Haunts are like traps that require positive energy to destroy, rather than the Disable Device. Have you used haunts against your players?
If you're primarily a player, how would you use them against players?
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If you're primarily a player, how would you use them against players?
Primarily a GM, you mean?
It would be interesting if a mid-level undead-friendly evil cleric figured out a version of create undead that could actually create a haunt.
He could arrange for people to die in particularly gruesome ways, and be thought a serial killer or whatever, but actually be setting up the situations necessary to create a series of haunts that do specific things he wants done, to fulfill some larger plan. The fact that a bunch of innocent people have to be lured to specific places (where he wants the haunt positioned) and killed in exactingly precise ways (to trigger the sort of haunt-effect he's looking for) would just be icing.
The actual scheme? Perhaps the captain of the guard is a hated foe / childhood rival / whatever, and the bad-guy is arranging the haunts to inflict their effects / curses on him, as he investigates the crime-scenes, and the fact that the townsfolk are increasingly scared of the gruesome and spectacular murders going on, and expressing doubt in his ability to protect them, is just extra goodness, as far as the evil dude is concerned. If the adventurers are the ones tasked to deal with the haunts and the investigation, then perhaps the evil dude is targetting one or more of them.
Perhaps there's something buried in the town, and clues to finding it are near these locations, and the bad-guy wants to focus serious investigations on these areas, so that the party will unwittingly help him to uncover those secrets (basically using the murder-haunts to lead the party to locks he can't open or runes he can't decipher or traps he can't get past, and leaving clues for them to find them and bypass them). In this latter case, he'll likely *be* the captain of the guard or someone else helpful and at the scene, to be able to also benefit from any information the party uncovers during the investigation (or be scrying on them, or watching them in crow form from a nearby rooftop, or something similar).
That line was to give players something to answer. The previous sentence was for GMs, but it was in the paragraph above.
I do recall you saying that you won't be thinking until mid January!
I like that idea though. It's quite cool!
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so does that mean I won for that day? cause I could really use that supplement :). Holidays man, this is my first day back on these boards since my last post.
I've run rise of the runelords against several parties and every time, I've loved the results of the haunts. Having a player that gets attacked by a manticore that no-one else sees is a surefire way to make the group paranoid. Oh and having a party member slit his own throat and die. The players immediately left the house and tried unsuccessfully to burn it to the ground.
I'm actually not sure if these are official since Steve is on vacation, so I can make no promises whatsoever.
I have heard of that house quite a few times. It's what made me ask this question!
I'm actually not sure if these are official since Steve is on vacation, so I can make no promises whatsoever.
I have heard of that house quite a few times. It's what made me ask this question!
This is my official stamp of approval, I want to thank Will for taking over while I am on vacation (I return on Thursday the 29th).
Steve Russell
Rite Publishing
ShadowcatX, Bardess, and lastknightleft, can you e-mail me? The address is this alias's name at gmail.com
dang it, got busy with stuff and missed a few days on the this thread, going to have to start checking back in more often
dang it, got busy with stuff and missed a few days on the this thread, going to have to start checking back in more often
Well, answer the question then!
Probably too late for this story, but I'll tell it for everyone's amusement.
Game I was running, monster campaign. Consisting of :
1 Kobold Marshall in Full Adamantine Plate
1 Centaur Fighter in mithral barding
1 Bugbear Rogue in Elven Chain
1 Poisondusk Nude Lizardfolk Scout/Warlock
1 Half-Dragon Half-Giant Paladin
The five are traversing the wilderness, when they come across a handfull of owlbears who roar and charge them. There is a river between the two. Well, not really a river, more of a stream. A 10 foot wide stream. There's a fallen log across it. So they race toward it, to cut off the access point. The centaur get's the highest initative, and grabs the bugbear and the kobold, and runs up to the log and drops them directly next to the stream. He doesn't pay too much attention to the map, and realizes after the fact that he's dropped the Kobold on a pile of stones and rubble making it difficult terrain.
Bugbear makes his reflex save to land upright on the soggy bank. On the other side of the centaur, the kobold (did I mention he's in full plate? And has a 10 dex?) horribly fails his role (something like a 2), and tumbles forward into the stream. Random roll to see how deep it is (1d4 + 1). Five foot deep it is. So he's at the bottom of the stream, in 50lbs of armor, with a 12 strength, and a -6 swim check.
The owlbears, being large, completely ignore the log and slog into the five foot of water in the stream (except for one who wants the centaur). One ends up standing next to the kobold, who now can't try to climb out without provoking. He tries, provokes, get's hit, and his movement stops. With him still at the bottom of the stream. Holding his breath, and wounded.
The battle ensues, with the kobold having to hold his breath and go full defense at the bottom of the stream, to avoid being killed by the owlbear. Eventually, one of the owlbears goes down. Random roll for direction of fall (he was standing on the log to get at the centaur). Plop. Kobold is now at the bottom of the stream, being pushed into the mud by the corpse of the owlbear.
To add insult to injury, another owlbear adjusts to attack the centaur, and now he's at the bottom of the stream, with an owlbear corpse on him, and another owlbear standing on that owlbear's corpse.
Fast forward 5 more rounds of combat. The centaur is down. The paladin is down (and thus the healer). The bugbear is down. This leaves the poisondusk lizardfolk to move TWO owlbears off the kobold, all by himself, to get him out of the mud. Did I mention the lizardfolk dumped his strength, and had only a 6 strength?
Fast forward 5 more rounds of checks to move the bodies. Kobold get's drug out by the lizardfolk. He's at negative 6 hp. Lizardfolk digs the cure light wounds wand off the kobold (who'd not let him have it due to the lizardfolk being a bit flighty) and the lizardfolk uses UMD to heal up the Paladin. Everyone else had stabilized already.
That is quite the story!
Well, answer the question then!
What are some stories of games where your party didn't have someone who could heal? Perhaps because no one was playing any of the classes that can heal, or the guy who was playing such a class was dead.
I was running game for a group of friends that had always enjoyed badgering and harassing each other constantly, so when they sat down to roll up some one off characters for the evening's game (as our regular campaign was on hold), our typical cleric of the group started getting the regular taunts of being the group's "band-aid". Tired of hearing it, and always having to play field medic, he rolled up a dwarven thief for the evening, and didn't bother to tell them. Even better, he asked me not to inform the group, and allow them to believe they had a cleric with them, as the rogue's backstory had him hiding in a local temple posing as a traveling priest, trying to avoid the local law for a robbery they wished to talk to him about. Every time he had to "heal" anyone within the group he would go through the motions of "casting", and rolling for regained hit points, only to have me tell him that he had again failed to heal a party member. The group took this as a sign that his God was displeased with either him, or the group's actions, and began trying to atone by leaving offerings of treasure at various points on their journey, one character went so far as to ask the rogue to guide him in conversion and prayer to his God, hoping that bringing a new convert to the faith would atone for whatever wrong had been done, and thereby get their "cleric" back his healing magics. By the end of the night the entire group was in horrible shape, two dead, one barely holding on. The Dwarf had come through it banged up, but alive, and tied the group to their horses, robbed them of their belongings and sent the horses towards town, turning his in the other direction. It took everything I had to make it to the end without laughing my head off, but the payout in the look on the group's face when they realized they had been had was worth it.
I got nothing to add for a great story about haunts unfortunately.
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@KTFish, great story!
@Cheapy, mail sent, let me know if you had it.
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Well, to destroy haunts, you need a caster able to use positive energy. With that in mind, for the next... 6 hours people without stories of haunts can answer the No Healer question as well.
Now I need to think of a question not so close to the previous one, Hmmm.
One more hour for this question!
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That question is over! KTFish, and you e-mail me? Same address as above. You won the #30 Haunts for Objects. Which judging from reviews of other like books, you might have. So, just e-mail me which book you'd like if you have it already.
Next item is #30 Not So Mundane Items!
Today's question: What's your favorite non-Big 6 wondrous item, and why? This could be a homebrew item that a GM made, or one of the ones listed. No spells-in-a-can though! Something interesting, like the Pipes of the Sewers, or the Apparatus of the Crab.
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Portable hole. It's always had creative uses in my group. My favorite being when they lined it in chainmail, filled it full of water and put an undead pirahna swarm in it. Set it up and cover it somehow (magic and mundane usually). Have someone be stealthed/invisible nearby. Get the enemy to trip into it, then the stealthed guy closes it. Even if they don't need to breathe, the pirahnas go to town.
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Do cursed items count? My favorite was a helm of opposite alignment. I carried it in my backpack for the entirety of a two year campaign and at the end I flopped it on the head of the BBEG. The GM had to pause game and leave the room to calm down. But he manned up, closed himself away in the bedroom for an hour, and rewrote the ending so that it was still pretty darn epic.
If that doesn't count then I'll say the homebrew hourglass that stopped time for fifteen seconds, which is what I used to gain the freedom of getting the helm on him.
Pair of items I made for a player in my games. The first was Spurs of the Knight, which used Summon Mount to summon a horse on demand when you clicked your heels together. It was great because the Knight kept getting his horse cut out from under him. SO every time it died, he'd click his heels together, and summon a new one (the old one always faded away when that happened).
Then the second item was Spurs of the Phantom, which summoned up a phantom steed instead, but worked the same way (click your heels and insta steed).
Both took the boot slot.
I know I can't win - being a Rite freelancer myself, but Dark Mistress challenged me to create this:
The Unrelenting Fruitcake Haunt CR 18
XP 20,600
CE haunt
Caster Level 18
Notice Perception DC 30, to notice a sickly sweet smell emanating from the fruitcake.
hp 100; Trigger touch; Reset 1/year at Christmas time.
Effect if fruitcake is removed from it's packaging, once it is touched it causes excruciating pain and massive necrotic damage, that if it kills you, your internal organs are drawn into the fruitcake and you rise as a Christmas mummy, as spell canopic conversion*.
Destruction move fruitcake into a sealed mailing package and ship to a different relative.
* Pathfinder: Osirion Land of the Pharaohs
[Canopic Conversion, targets those touching the fruitcake, effect the target takes 18d6 damage, if they die, their internal organs are pulled into the fruitcake itself working as a canopic jar, and 1d4 rounds later revives as an undead with the Osirion Mummy Template.]