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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Jul 2005 : 18:58:54
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I have a group of adventures who decided that they wanted to locate, hunt down and slay a dragon... Being the fair DM i am i let them go on with their adventure... I have many times pointed out to them, that i dont hold my hand over them and that their actions very well can kill them if they are not careful. The group found the dragon and engaged it.
The short story is that 1 player and 1 NPC where killed and the remaining 2 down on between 2 and 5 HP before they got some critical hits on the dragon and it had to flee the lair... It will return for them, but my question is for anybody who have experienced players going out on equally optimistic ventures with possibly deadly outcome.
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"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Chosen of Bane
Senior Scribe
USA
552 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jul 2005 : 19:25:40
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I am DMing an evil campaign where the PC's are members of the Zhentarim. They have been searching for a Unicorn horn because they have figured out a way to use it in an alchemical process to make "Holy Sheen", which is like silver sheen but it allows them to fight Demons effectively.
While doing research to try to find out where they could find a unicorn they heard about a very powerful ranger than had a unicorn as a companion and thought they should hunt it down.
The PC's were level 4-5 and the Ranger was a famous adventurer powerful enough to have a Unicorn Companion (she was level 16 but they didn't know that). While on their quest they decided it was going to be too difficult and aborted the mission....thankfully. |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jul 2005 : 20:08:05
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| he he he... That is exactly what i want to hear... Give me more anyone |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Xysma
Master of Realmslore
USA
1089 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2005 : 16:47:08
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| My group was investigating a Red Wizard who had set up shop in a small town in the Great Dale, and was attempting to control trade along the Great Road. To make a long story short, trapped in the wizard's keep, the party gets separated. The druid opens a door and there stands the Red Wizard and his Thayan Knight. The Red Wizard looks up at him in surprise, and says, "What are you doing here?" My player looks at me and says, "I cast summon animal." Five or six rounds later, the Thayan Knight is checking the corpse for any magical items that might interest his master. |
War to slay, not to fight long and glorious.
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2005 : 18:20:54
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| Cool... Some players really choke when they dont have time to think of a proper answer. |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Fletcher
Learned Scribe
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2005 : 23:31:33
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Back in 2nd edition, our gm used what could be considered 3rd edition monsters. Dragons with 200-700 HP, AC's below -6. Giants that had 300 hp and threw small houses at us, had class levels on top of the base giant abilities... Ooof lots of pain... lots of fun.
The party of adventurers i was in decided to become dragon slayers, and we were remarkably effective, we never lost more than 80% of our party in any one encounter with a dragon. Well...until that last Ancient red dragon anyway... 
We ended the career with 5 dead dragons, 7 dead PC's 11 dead NPC's and a very rich church of Lathander, who we kept paying vast sums to to bring back our dead. |
Run faster! The Kobolds are catching up! |
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Fletcher
Learned Scribe
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2005 : 23:37:38
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Lately I have a PC who believes he is the coolest thing since...well...the coolest thing ever. He is currently trying to take on the task of making the world GOOD. You know doing the necessary tasks like finding any trapped evil baddies, freeing them and trying send them back to the plane from whence they came. He wants to break the power base of the cult of the dragon and is planning on taking on a dracolich. He has plans to remove the Zulkir's of Thay....
You get the picture.
I let him do what ever he likes, and he gets to suffer the consequences of his actions...
Losing the lives of close freinds and relatives.
Destroying small towns and villages accidentally.
Starting a firestorm on the docks of Westgate by unlashing multiple fire elementals and asking them to "Hunt down the bad guys dressed like sailors"
Getting banished from his adopted homeland of Cormyr, and kicked out of the war wizards. |
Run faster! The Kobolds are catching up! |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2005 : 12:14:21
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| HA HA HA HA... Cool. There is few things i like better than PC´s with a taste for power. Well... an exagerated taste for power. Usually ends up very destructive for both parts. |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Sir Luther Cromwell
Learned Scribe
Canada
158 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2005 : 21:18:21
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| I bragged to a DM about my godlike AC, saves, and spellresistance once. I have since been the wiser about the powerful creatures embedded in an offended DM mind. |
"At what temperature does a Goblin boil?"
"Any Rakshasa should eat a healthy diet that is high in wood elf, and low in shield Dwarf. One must always watch those cholesterol levels."
"If a Svirfneblin falls in the underdark, does anybody care?" |
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Fletcher
Learned Scribe
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2005 : 23:55:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Faramicos
HA HA HA HA... Cool. There is few things i like better than PC´s with a taste for power. Well... an exagerated taste for power. Usually ends up very destructive for both parts.
Chaos and destruction seem to follow this character like stink to a carrion crawler. He is beginning to get a reputation as a storm crow. Trouble follows where ever he goes, and usually the trouble is of his own making. The poor bugger tries to help, he really does, it is just that his character cannot seem to find a way to follow through. He start things and then gets totally distracted by something else...just like any young elf.
Sorry had to get that dig in.
He has a way of pissing people off by walking in and making it plainly obvious that they are incompetent and can't do anything right. But don't worry he is here to save the day. Not only does he usually go for the overkill, he doesn't stick around for the clean up.
The following is a condensed excerpt from one session. The player speaking to the mayor of the small village.
"I know you lost most of your family, and two thirds of the village were burnt down. I apologize for destroying your water wheel, and your mill, but I killed all four raiding orcs didn't I?"
Practically pouting with his hands on his hips the player continued with the following. "I don't ask for anything but your thanks! Why are you so upset with me for saving your town from the evil orcs? OK...Fine here have some money.... Now dosn't that make everything all better? Why are you so mad? Ah..I see, you are just jealous of me!"
With that he flounced off to do more 'good' around the realms. Pity the next person he tries to help.
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Run faster! The Kobolds are catching up! |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2005 : 15:08:45
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| Sounds like he is about to built himself quite a reputation. If anybody live to tell the tale after meeting his "helping" hand... |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Slash Scarsmith
Acolyte
United Kingdom
8 Posts |
Posted - 22 Aug 2005 : 23:50:30
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I happen to have been a PC in a very optimistic party, a party that needless to say is no more.
Being out saving the world and uniting giant tribes or some such in the Spine of the World, our party came across a cave that was described in a way that indicated a dragon may be inside (large rothe skeletons outside etc.) and being the cocky characters that we were we went straight in thinking that we should be able to take it because we had killed a fairly young white dragon not too long before. So in we go and set off a trap that lets off an enormous roar clearly designed to scare us off. We remained undaunted and just waited around for the dragon to show up and as it later turned out, slaughter the entire party. 5 dead PCs and 1 NPC. This dragon turned out to be a much older red dragon.
A whole new party was in order. |
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Reefy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
892 Posts |
Posted - 23 Aug 2005 : 01:45:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Slash Scarsmith
I happen to have been a PC in a very optimistic party, a party that needless to say is no more.
Being out saving the world and uniting giant tribes or some such in the Spine of the World, our party came across a cave that was described in a way that indicated a dragon may be inside (large rothe skeletons outside etc.) and being the cocky characters that we were we went straight in thinking that we should be able to take it because we had killed a fairly young white dragon not too long before. So in we go and set off a trap that lets off an enormous roar clearly designed to scare us off. We remained undaunted and just waited around for the dragon to show up and as it later turned out, slaughter the entire party. 5 dead PCs and 1 NPC. This dragon turned out to be a much older red dragon.
A whole new party was in order.
Well met, that sounds an awful lot like what happened to the campaign I was, until its abrupt end, DMing. Wait...  |
Life is either daring adventure or nothing. |
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Edain Shadowstar
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 24 Aug 2005 : 09:19:18
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I could tell quite a few stories about less than ideal encounters I've goen through over the years, but for the sake of brevity I will briefly tell of my original party, the Knights of Oerth (sorry about the name Alaundo, but they origianlly pre-dated the publsihed Realms), and their first encounter with a full blown, very old, very angry dragon. Now first you must understand that my old DM was a sadist. He was not the type of DM who holds your hand and treats you fairly or indifferently, he was out to kill us. Now of course, he was also a fiar guy, so he always gave us, in his words, "a sporting chance" in our adventures, or in other words we were usually almost dead with nothing but luck to thank for our survival. Anyways, there we are going into the lair of a Red Dragon, high in the Spine of the World and we come upon our goal, one very nasty great wyrm...and his mate. Now, this would be a good time to point out that Brian the Dungeonmaster is one of those who believes a great wyrm in their lair is basically unkillable. So there we are, eight adventurers squaring off against two very surly red dragons and we are getting our butts handed to us. So with the fighter, paladin and cleric dead, and the rest soon to follow, and two dragons with more than half of their hit point left, they close in for the kill with fangs as opposed to breath. Now, at this point death should be guaranteed, and indeed it almost was, however, seeing to close proximity of our enemies I did the one thing I swore I would never do. I look squarely at Brian, gave him the bird and Edain snapped his staff. Of the Magi.
I'm very proud of that. |
Edain Shadowstar
Archwizard of Rel Astra and Waterdeep
"Mmm…pie…"
- Gaius Solarian, Captain General |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 25 Aug 2005 : 11:44:16
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| HE HE HE HE... Your DM sounds like a challenging guy to play with. Perhaps i am not as experienced in the various magic items, but what effects does it have to break such a staff? Please enlighten me... |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Kamber
Acolyte
South Africa
10 Posts |
Posted - 25 Aug 2005 : 14:22:21
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| In this one campaign I was playing in, I played a Monk who with a couple of levels as a rogue, so in combat I always used to tumble behind foes to get a flanked sneak attack on them and this one time we were all climbing this pile of bodies to get to the secret pasage behind it, I came over second last and the last to come was our half orc priest of Tempus in his full plate armour who slips and causes this huge noise and in the process wakes up the troll hiding amongst the bodies, now our priest is stuck by himself facing a troll and decides he cant do this himself after it rends him on round one so he runs out of the room, myeself and the barbarian in our party give chase to help him as he is pursued by this troll, when we finally catch up I decide to tumble past it to sneak attack it and give the barbarian a flanking bonus whilst also standing between the troll and our injured priest, and for the first time ever I fail my tumble check to get through my opponents area and take an AoO from the troll doing some bad damage, I then attack the creature but on its attack it turns around and rends me! needless to say that monk died very quickly then and there and I learned my lesson about tumbling past enemies in every fight! |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 25 Aug 2005 : 15:37:59
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| The classic type of combat where everything vital goes wrong... It can quickly cause the death of a character... |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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Edain Shadowstar
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 25 Aug 2005 : 21:35:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Faramicos:
Perhaps I am not as experienced in the various magic items, but what effects does it have to break such a staff? Please enlighten me...
Breaking certain magical staves (Staves of the Magi and Staves of Power to be specific) causes a massive magical discharge called a retributive strike. A retributive strike is fueled by the stored magical energy in the staff (i.e. it's charges) and the more magic stored, the greater the damage. Under the rules a retributive strike does eight times the number of charges in the staff of damage to everything within 10 feet of the staff-wielder, six times to everything between 10-20 feet, and four times to everything 20-30 feet. Under 3.5 Edition that means a fully charged staff would do 400 points of damage to anything within ten feet of the caster, reflex saves halves that. After breaking your staff the caster has a fifty-fifty chance of dying or being transported to a random plane, based on a rolls. Its definately a tool of utmost desperation, and one whose actual effectiveness is very specific (i.e. if the enemies are too far away its useless, also it can become rather ineffective at higher levels). At the time with two dragons within twenty feet, an almost fully charged staff (which I did not know at the time, the number of charges in your staff is unknown to the wielder, dangerous because you can recharge it by using it like a rob of absorbtion), and both monsters fairly beaten up it did the job. It also killed all but one of remaining party memebrs and sent me to Baator. |
Edain Shadowstar
Archwizard of Rel Astra and Waterdeep
"Mmm…pie…"
- Gaius Solarian, Captain General |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 01 Sep 2005 : 17:58:59
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| OK... Thanks... Just wondered. But now i can see the logics in not breaking such a thing. |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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The Twin Scimitars
Seeker
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 01 Sep 2005 : 21:35:09
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| When I was younger and less expierenced I went on a rampage and tried to take over the world. I succeeded in taking half of Faerun until I decided my DM's character needed to be eradicated. In a wierd twist of fate and his DMing the Lady of Pain appeared and I was Mazed.... |
Endure, in enduring we grow strong.
-Dak'kon, Planescape Torment |
Edited by - The Twin Scimitars on 01 Sep 2005 21:35:55 |
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Faramicos
Senior Scribe
Denmark
468 Posts |
Posted - 02 Sep 2005 : 13:07:17
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| Sounds like the ultimate optimistic goal to set for a character... If any, that gotta take the price. Impressing that you got to conquer half of it... Which half was it? A little bit curious... How did you do it? |
"When dragons make war, worlds can only tremble in the shadow of angry wings" |
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The Twin Scimitars
Seeker
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2005 : 04:15:53
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| Well we wern't playin the regular FR Rp. We made up our own rules and set them at "reasonable" limits. Taking Faerun wasn't easy I must say. I took the western half from Baldur' Gate to Ten towns and beyond. It was many years ago so I realy dont remember much of it. My major downfall was invading the Underdark. I was forced back to the surface by the Drow and got mad at my DM and thats when I decided his character needed to be eradicated. |
Endure, in enduring we grow strong.
-Dak'kon, Planescape Torment |
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Optimistic adventurers
