OK, this might not be a popular opinion around here, but maybe your cleric screwed up enough to lose his powers... maybe.
Here is the thing, you are a cleric of Desna - a goddess who's domains include Liberation. Freeing prisoners is your jam. Taking risks to free prisoners in the middle of a road trip is what your goddess is all about. Freeing that prisoner should have been your top priority in that situation.
With that said, laying down your weapons, (or really your holy symbol) would be the WORST thing you could do in that situation. That would just be stupid. Also trusting that enemy would be something no wise person would seriously consider.
In other words, you did the right thing not trusting the enemy or laying down your weapons, but you should have attempted to free the prisoner with everything at your disposal.
There is some other stuff about AD&D being different, but I'm already late for work, so that will have to wait for another time.
I had freed every other prisoner in the campaign. Even some that ended up being succubi.
I had freed every other prisoner in the campaign. Even some that ended up being succubi.
Did that particular event happen in Magnimar? That sounds like a module I know well. If your DM is adding in module content here and there, then that may be why none of us recognize the scenario you described as being from book 6 of Runelords. So perhaps the DM wasn't lying or mistaken about what was "in the book," he may have been using a different book wedged in.
That said, I agree with most of the others that this is, at best, a case of disproportionate retribution, and at worst what is, in bird culture, a dick move.
I think I freed the succubi in the main Rune Lord forge area. Where there is a big central chamber and 7 branches off, one for each rune lord or type of sin magic.
We did fight some lamia in Magnimar. I got push a mook off the top of the tower! The main lamia escaped, showed up in the most recent scenario, and escaped again!
I wonder if that's what drew his ire? I can get a little bored with just causing more and more damage and having the biggest numbers, so I try to think outside the box when I can. Why fight a guy for 3 rounds when I can push him off a cliff or lock him in a cell in round? It's also why I tend to be a support character. For whatever reason, I like using the contagion spell to grant an opponent vulnerability to all damage types rather than casting harm to drop the opponent to 1 hp. I really enjoy the teamwork emphasis of most RPGs. I like how each character is different, but works together for a common goal.
I thought there was something that replaced pally features with blackguards stufff but its been so long since I played 5e. Or am I mixing editions?
Well, taking into account that there is no Blackguard in 5th edition then yes, you are probably mixing up editions.
Breaking the tenants of the paladin's oath either forces the character to pick another class or select oathbreaker paladin option that is in DMG (I think).
So, I'm supposed to DM the next campaign, and I'm not sure if I trust "Evil DM" to be a player in that campaign, now.
Any suggestions?
Sort it out with him privately before the game. There isn't any way to resolve it without talking it through, in my opinion.
I'd be willing to bet he has no idea how you felt about it all (we all generally tend to remember disputes in ways which show ourselves in a good light).
You could throw some misfortunes upon his character such as having a bucket of monster bait fall on him and later have the monsters gang up on him. You could also find out what types of characters he likes (divine, mages, rouges, fighter-men) and disallow some options.
I'm trying to NOT be petty.
That being said, he wants to play a "sky pirate" swashbuckler so he might end up with an eyepatch, a pegleg, and at least one hook....
Maybe some gold teeth that are always being stolen.
We play 5th Ed., so no BAB, Panache, etc.
There IS disadvantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws....
And he could lose Cunning Action and Sneak Attack...
:-P
You could make his stat generation method 3d6 Straight down.
The campaign takes place on a clocktower in a city on top of a beanstalk growing out of a floating continent. It's JUST balconies you can jump off of! LOL!
Based on the other examples of previous campaigns you've experienced quite a number of dick manoeuvres from this GM. It would almost seem like he's been targeting you (based on your recounts).
My 2 cents is that GMs will often target Clerics because they readily break the challenges GMs have setup in their prepared story points.
*Whole party takes heavy damage from a trap: CHANNEL
*Accidentally put on cursed equipment: REMOVE CURSE
*Lose a limb: REGENERATE
*Rogue incapacitated: FIND TRAPS
*Death: RESURRECTION.
The list goes on.
I've had my holy symbol stolen before, which was an obvious move to clip my wings. It was annoying but I went along with it, which unfortunately ended up with one of my party members getting killed because no one else could heal.
Any updates?
Not only was your dm being a dick, he was also breaking the rules. The only falling mechanic in 5e is when a paladin "willfully violates his or her oath and shows no sign of repentance". Clerics are under no such oath and have no falling mechanics associated with them. Even if your dm decided to apply the paladin rules to your character he was still breaking the rules and being unnecessarily harsh, your character would not only have had to break the tenants of their god but also do it on purpose and they would have to show no sign of repentance for that act. Even after all that they would not lose a level for this, they would either choose a new class or take whatever the cleric equivalent of an oathbreaker is (death cleric I would assume).
That kind of behaviour is not cool, you cannot just break the rules of the game and punish a player for something they had no idea they had to abide by beforehand just for the sake of previous edition legacy. If the dm wanted to bring in the whole divine classes falling thing he should have told anyone considering playing a divine character about that before the game so they could play around that, don't spring houserules on players without their knowledge or consent in general.
How is the game going now? Is he behaving himself as a player? I'm interested to find out.
Adrastus
No updates. We're scheduled to play again next Sunday, but the DM is the only one to not confirm.
No updates. We're scheduled to play again next Sunday, but the DM is the only one to not confirm.
Dan, I don't mean to say you should gloat or anything, but if one guy who disagrees with your play style sits out a campaign you're going to run for your regular play group, that not a bad thing is it? Given everything you've said here, it sounds like you're going to do a great job.
Forget that guy!! :P
Yeah, I figure I can endure one more session with him as DM.
The weird thing is, 90% of the campaign I will be running is based on ideas of what the DM wanted to play in. The whole campaign would have been totally different without his input.
And he'll probably miss it.
Oh, well.
Not my problem.
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Update: I got my level back!
After an epic battle against Karzaug, 2 wizards, a blue dragon, a rune giant, and 4 storm giant wardens, we dumped Karzaug in the Rune Well, it blew up, and the healing soul energy restored my lost level.
No one died permanently, but the poor barbarian got trapped in a forcecage around round 4 and we had no way to release him during the fight, so the poor player had to sit there and watch for like 3 hours of real time, poor guy.
It looked like it was going to be a TPK several times (thank Desna for evasion!), and the wizard died-died from the opening salvo meteor swarm (the DM's favorite spell ever!), but was revivified by my dwarf cleric after the rogue fed me a potion. Got to use my scroll of mass heal in round 2.
(5th Edition dead-dead is negative your hit point maximum, not negative your Constitution score, so that shows you what 24d6 can do!)
I think the eldritch knight went negative at one point, too, and the ranger got feebleminded around round 8 or 9.
Karzaug use a scroll of time stop to cast prismatic sphere, globe of invulnerability, and dimension door something at one point.
The ranger used his Horn of Valhalla to summon a dozen berserkers who grappled the minion wizards and jumped into the molten gold, so that was pretty clutch. That ranger is a real lifesaver!
The barbarian used his Cloak of the Mountebank in round 1 to harass Karzaug, so the blue dragon focused on him, he dropped to 1 hit point a few times (one using his half-orc ability, once using Resilient Rage for being a barbarian), then jumped on the dragon's back, harassed him enough to get forcecaged, which ruined his fun, but let him not die.
The wizard used telekinesis to grapple Karzaug and dunk him in the Rune Well.
The rogue critted with a sneak attack with a dominant weapon, so she did 1d6+7d6+6d10+1d6+7d6+6d10+6 for 137 damage, forcing Karzaug to fail a DC 63 Constitution saving throw to maintain the Concentration of his Globe of Invulnerability. This allowed the wizard to TK Karzaug.
So it was pretty epic, everyone got to shine.