Demand to be able to port in a race/class/concept from a totally different system.
Demand to play a Tengu. In Cheliax.
Oh, oh. Or there was the time that I was running a Buffy game and the guy who played the Watcher couldn't stop whining about how he didn't have enough skill points to be really smart and still, I am not making this up, solo vampires with a claymore. (The sword, not the explosive device.)
Speaking of other systems, I've got one word for you: Diablerie.
Steal things from other PCs.
Plant stolen items on other PCs, on important NPCs, hidden in the vaults of local temples, thieves' guilds, etc.
Ruthlessly blackmail important NPCs DISGUISED AS OTHER PCs.
Scry on other PCs during downtime, sell their embarrassing secrets to NPC gossips.
Etc.
If caught, deny and flee, returning during the night to punish the rat who sold you out.
That... actually sounds pretty hilarious!
With the right group and a GM that doesn't mind a lot of silliness, that'd make for one of those campaigns that will be immortalized by constant retellings throughout the ages.
Well, yah... but how often does one find the right group?
:(
Sad Badger is sad.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Keep a secret from the party Paladin, then reveal it at a time when it is least favorable.
"why would allying with the red dragon be bad. I mean, we've talked about allying with the PIT!" -said by me to the paladin in my last game. We had to put the Paladin down like a rabid dog after that.
Edit: A. Paladin's responce was "WHAAAAAT" in total shock.
B. I thought the player knew. We had been talking about it for over a year. Apparently he was never in one of those discussions.
Currently doing the "paladin secret" one. He's a Pharasman who doesn't know the guy who's been helping us is a vampire.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"No matter how evil the kobolds are, they have a right to be there, and the dwarves are just wrong." [Best spoken while wearing tie-dye and carrying posterboard on a stick.]
I actually agree with the tie-dye dude.
No matter how evil someone is at heart, if they aren't making trouble, you don't have the right to murder them. That's like going on a killing spree and attacking politicians, oil CEOs and Bill Gates--it's still kind of a bad thing. And those guys actually are making trouble. ;DEDIT: I love the idea of offhandedly mentioning to the paladin evil acts you've committed and then remembering that the paladin didn't actually know about them. Classic. XD
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
'Make the Paladin fall' is for newbs.
'Make the Cleric fall' is for journeymen.
'Make the Druid fall' is for truly elite.
But
'Make the Rogue fall' is for the true mastah, be inventive, make it happen!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"No matter how evil the kobolds are, they have a right to be there, and the dwarves are just wrong." [Best spoken while wearing tie-dye and carrying posterboard on a stick.]I actually agree with the tie-dye dude.
No matter how evil someone is at heart, if they aren't making trouble, you don't have the right to murder them. That's like going on a killing spree and attacking politicians, oil CEOs and Bill Gates--it's still kind of a bad thing. And those guys actually are making trouble. ;DEDIT: I love the idea of offhandedly mentioning to the paladin evil acts you've committed and then remembering that the paladin didn't actually know about them. Classic. XD
It was the second time I've had to put down one of that player's Paladins after he attacked.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've never played a paladin, and I play with a group that hates the idea of them, so I haven't played in a group with one either. Perhaps it's inexperience, but it seems that a paladin who attacks his party because they've done something evil isn't choosing the most intelligent option. Were I playing a crusader type, I'd be keeping in mind that only with those who can't be saved (either because there is no time to do so, the situation prevents it, or they are simply irredeemable) would combat be justified. If my own party revealed themselves as doing evil stuff, I'd see it more as 'anakin skywalker falling into the dark side.' There would be plenty of opportunities to reason with him and try to re-convert him along the way. It would take a lot for me to decide that death is the only option for a traveling companion that (presumably) I've befriended, trusted, and relied upon in battle.
There are plenty of ways to not sit idly by while your friends commit evil acts. When talking them out of it fails, try interposing yourself physically, restrain them, or even do non-lethal damage to 'knock them out until they regain their senses.' Are you sure they aren't being controlled in some way? Blackmailed into self-destruction? The ways of evil are insidious and clever.
At absolute worst, leave the party to find reinforcements (like a church or the city guard) so that your friends can stand trial for their actions. If you are restrained or prevented, wait until you reach town and turn them in while accepting punishment for your own inability to stop them.
Any paladin that I played who had to resort to violence would either be intolerant in the extreme, or his Int and Wis would have be very low and his entire personality played as the dumb but well meaning patsy.
Show up late, then don't tell anyone until you're packing up to leave an hour later that you have to get up early for work.
|
Well, it looks like my previous comment is on its way to being one of the most faved posts on the site.
God knows what the response would have been, if I'd added 'drinking his special, lactose-free milk, eating his special gluten-free cereals, complaining they tasted funny, and clogging his toilet'... LOL
|
Well, it looks like my previous comment is on its way to being one of the most faved posts on the site.
God knows what the response would have been, if I'd added 'drinking his special, lactose-free milk, eating his special gluten-free cereals, complaining they tasted funny, and clogging his toilet'... LOL
16 as a most faved? Please, I got more than that last week.. :)
Show up late, then don't tell anyone until you're packing up to leave an hour later that you have to get up early for work.
And let me add not having your character sheet updated to that.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've never played a paladin, and I play with a group that hates the idea of them, so I haven't played in a group with one either. Perhaps it's inexperience, but it seems that a paladin who attacks his party because they've done something evil isn't choosing the most intelligent option.
I agree with you there, and believe that biding one's time for the stronger denouement, after the miscreant has served their use, should be an option. If they take a few more of the Evil Overlord's minions out, and die before the end credits, then problem solved. Intervention averted. Why start a confrontation, in the middle of nowhere, against greater numbers? When you can wait till you're being debriefed in the safety of the Temple, among your allies?
But if you've got the sort of GM, who has a permanent boner for punishing paladins, he may declare that anything less than immediate lethal combat is grounds for a Fall.
So you have to weigh the player's actions against that context.
|
|
16 as a most faved? Please, I got more than that last week.. :)
I did say 'one of', and you had a head start. :)
Hmmn, keep track of differences in rulings, but never bring them up to the GM, just make sure you report any "bias" in the most-irksome spin possible to the PCs -- separately, of course.
Toss on a little extra "I want that" in the division of treasure, hopefully so that one or more of the PCs start recalling "biased judgment" during the last few games as good reason to make a squall about treasure and WBL variations.
Sit back with popcorn, watch flaming meltdown.
TL;DR,
Why you'd want to watch a gaming group have to deal with all this is beyond me... if I run into a group that makes me want to broil them, I just go find another group...
But I've watched enough groups go stellar to have noted some of the hows and whys. YMMV
|
|
Refuse the premise of your GM's game.
There is always two ways of going about any problem. No matter how linear the adventure, there is always a second way to do it. If you have a dungeon with a bad guy in side, you don't have to go in and kill him. You can just collapse the tunnel.
Things I have done:
Show up at the dungeon entrance with 1,000 gallons of oil and a torch.
When the party is ordered to surrender all weapons or die, refuse. Win the resulting fight as the sole survivor.
Cast fireball in a 10x10 room. Several times.
Buy LOTS of animals. Kill them all and raise a personal army.
Cast animate dead on deceased party members before they can be raised. Bonus points for Paladins.
Accidently eat glass tokens instead of Skittles: spray them across the map afterwards. (more than once)
Show up to a game in armor with real weapons. Demonstrate your characters actions.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
If you can't play the resource management game at level 1, then when can you play it? Why even have a waterskin on the equipment list?Who still puts a waterskin on their equipment list? Live in the now, man.
I do
Waterskin, iron rations, chalk, quills, ink, parchment, map case. bedroll, candles, soap.
Every character, every time.
|
|
16 as a most faved? Please, I got more than that last week.. :)I did say 'one of', and you had a head start. :)
My personal best is 30. :)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
My record is 36, from the Ultimate Equipment request blog.
Talk about overwhelming support for a re-design!
Hey this favorites record thing is fun. We should have a new thread. I am also lazy.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
My record is 36, from the Ultimate Equipment request blog.
Talk about overwhelming support for a re-design!
Now 37 :)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Now 37 :)My record is 36, from the Ultimate Equipment request blog.
Talk about overwhelming support for a re-design!
Ha! 38 by the time I checked again. That wasn't my intention :( but I'll take it! :)
Here! Have a spinoff thread!
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Do we need to hand you boys a ruler for this contest?
:p
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I haven't done this but buy a gazebo.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I almost derailed a whole campaing by asking if I could play an Aasimar.
I almost derailed a whole campaing by asking if I could play an Aasimar.
Was it an Evil game? Or does your circle just hate Aasimar that much? No one has a problem with them here.
For some strange reason they were decried as way overpowered and completely unacceptable. Whats ironic was that the reason I was considering one was the party was a bunch of WIIFM's and I was looking for a way to get a 'good guy' in and unite them up.
The old 3.X players in the group just say no, not sure why the hate, but they keep getting called 'too good' (as in materially better than other races)
I argued the toss and it dodn't go well, it was almost a packing up the box of dice moment. I let it go. but the fact is, I almost derailed a campaign by suggesting it.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I haven't done this but buy a gazebo.
I used a treehouse on the party.
It WAS in a Treant though.
Heaps funny when the party wondered why tehy didn't see it with their perception checks. I pointed out that not only did I tell them the tree was there with a house in it, I drew the giant tree for them on the map.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
As regards OP....
Talk about all session about all the things you're going to do once you hit X City. Make sure that you've given the GM an extremely clear impression you're going to spend a lot of time there and prepare for the bigger challenges beyond.
Wait for the GM to spend a month working on the city and designing challenges there, making sure you can find (with some effort and work) the treasure you need to deal with the enemies beyond the city, fleshing out NPCs, creating allies and enemies and writing up information for them to find, and create multiple threads for how they can find these things.
Then have your PCs show up to the city, talk to two people, and then decide to leave, heading straight for the big challenges. Ignore the GM when she points out that this is your last chance to really prep for the challenges you're heading toward
And THEN, and this is the most important part, b$#+% and whine constantly about your not having enough equipment or allies to deal with the challenges you knowingly and willingly walked into early. Also, make particularly frequent references to the fact that your party is well below WBL for your level, but make as little effort as possible to search for treasure or explore any area you're in, in detail, citing any possible risk as "too dangerous" even though you're an 18th level party that even entirely naked you would in fact be a force to be reckoned with. (And stupid me, I took into account their relative lack of equipment and lowered the CRs of many of the fights.)
No, while I love my players to death (and they are perfectly able to read this post), this is probably one of the things I will never forgive them for. Not that they derailed the story, because when they don't do that I'm surprised, but that they set me up, first, and then complained about their lack of preparation like it was my fault.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I haven't done this but buy a gazebo.
|
* Create a group without anyone who can heal. Also work if you do not have warriors or arcane casters
That depends on the group. My group HATES having anyone be a healbot so if nobody rolls up a healer, we house rule super cheap wands/potions of healing to pick up the slack.
Healing blows. It's the dullest thing you can do in combat. Don't shoehorn anybody into that role.
Also seconded on the Aasimar hate. I don't think they're overpowered, but the flavor of the race begs for Mary Sues. (Same issue with Tieflings)
I agree that healing is dull. If you make a 'healbot', he better have some interesting roleplaying to make up for it. Maybe, just as in the stereotype, he begrudges the rest of the party for getting injured so often. :P
Didn't that drive the Paladin completely nuts? Taking -4 on his attacks to get past that Cleric must have sucked :(
Thats very kind of you :)
* Create a group without anyone who can heal. Also work if you do not have warriors or arcane casters
Actually I ran one campaign where the ultimate party formation (after some people joined then left) had no arcane casters--party was ranger, fighter/rogue/shadowdancer, paladin, and cleric. It actually worked fine. I didn't even adjust for CR or anything and they mowed through stuff--mind the campaign involved a lot of close quarters stuff. Certainly there were some things that were more challenging because they didn't have an arcanist, but not impossible by any means.
A sequel to that campaign had its ultimate formation as a ranged ranger/wizard/arcane archer, fighter/rogue/shadowdancer, fighter/sorcerer/eldritch knight, and cleric (different from the first cleric). It was basically a lightly armored group of skirmishers with a lot of magic but no tanks whatsoever. That also worked, although they did learn the hard way once that bashing in the front door to a fortress wasn't a good idea for their party make up.
The only reason why it's harder to go without healers is that without magic healing, it takes forever to recover damage. Which is realistic, but slows the game down. But even then there's a lot of characters who have SOME way of healing, even if it's not the ideal divine caster, so it's less likely you'll end up with a party with no healing in it whatsoever.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This one is horrible.
Get drunk and drill a hole in the bottom of your pirate ship.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I set the ship our party was aboard on fire once. It burned to the waterline, basically leaving us with a smokey raft.