>All focus collapses on the Paladin. Soulknife has cut him good, energy bolts start landing along with inflict and the astral construct lumbers over. >Gets cured by the enemy cleric but we are still bursting like hell. I think he finally dies to a construct critical. >Shaper blows his very last PP on another Ego Whip which rolls max damage and reduces the cleric to 0 CHA unconciousness. >End of combat the enemy team is very dead except for their healslut who's not able to fight back. Our team is one totally out of gas Psion, one Psion with maybe a power or two left to her name, a Cleric with a couple low-level spells, and Belkar who's basically at full strength. We're out of gas but didn't really get hurt or threatened with death, much less capture. >GM seriously needs a moment to contemplate WTF just happened and regain composure.
Reading over what I've written I guess it's a bit of 'you had to be there' but the tldr is that we manhandled an encounter that should have just wiped the floor with us thanks to tactics and the unparalleled ability of 3.x Psions to go nuts and spam max power moves if they really have to, and instead of getting captured and having to make a daring escape we took the last survivor of the capture team prisoner and ended up 'marooning' her on the Astral Plane (figuring it would be tough but not impossible for her to get home from there) when we were done asking our own questions.
Liam Lee
tl;dr
Corp VP: "We have your name, address, and the name of your first pet. Cross us and we'll kill you. Me: *Holding fake detonator* DELET THIS
A bit. I went back to DMing not long after that, which got the party back together (I hadn't realized at the time that they were leaving because they were sick of his shit). He's running a D&D 5e game, but we're only two sessions in. It's tough to tell if he's gotten better.
William Jones
Ah, the inverse miracle crit. "WHY CAN'T I ROLL ABOVE A 2?!" Good times.
Good luck with that Adult Black Dragon, user! If you try real hard, he might choke on your bones!
Aiden Perry
Neat, either way. Surprised you didn't just have heal slut heal your party and then kill her. Marooning her on another plane seems like one of those "fates worse than death" deals.
Grayson Barnes
Nah. He meant well, but he was a first-time gm. He fell into the "Me vs. The Players" trap. I did too, my first couple of sessions.
Aiden White
Alright, OP here. Let's breathe a little life back into this thread with a shameless self-bump.
>Be me, different campaign, different GM >Playing through a HEAVILY modified Temple of Elemental Evil, with a fuck-ton of house rules >Playing heal slut/support caster Priest of Hermes. Chaotic Neutral because I can
>Early on in the campaign, buying horses >One of our Blade Singers buys the meanest horse they have >Giant black fucker, has returned five times to town without rider, literally named “The Devil” >Smells of sulfur. Looks directly at all of us at once. Detects Neutral Evil. Not sure what the fuck is up with it >Blade Singer buys it happily >The Devil actually saves our asses once or twice. Kicks down a chained-shut tavern door to let the party save my dumb ass from getting jumped by our rivals >Eventually, Blade Singer leaves the group, Devil reappears with a newbie ranger we brought in >Killed newbie's escorts, agreed to be newbie's pet, possessed a blink dog, then proceeded to appear randomly for the next 8 sessions or so, breathing fire and shit >Pretty cool pet to give the newbie, NotEvenMad.jpg >It does seem to listen in on our conversations even when it's not here, though
>Meanwhile, I'm getting nervous >I'm piecing together everything, why the big bad is fighting with the other big bad, et cetera >Trying to figure out why a NE entity gives a shit about a LE and CE feud >Eventually settle on an eventual “Curse your Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal” moment >Share this with the party, party gets pissed >”Why the fuck would you say that? Do you want to piss off the best member of this party? What the fuck, man?” >Devil appears. Looks at me. Suddenly get visions of hellscape, then back where I was. Devil still looking at me >I shrug, say “I'm not wrong, here, but I'm out voted,” and we proceed
Brandon Green
>Two sessions later, we've just rested up from a fight. Devil's been quiet. I'm suspicious, get a piece of paper, put a glyph of warding aimed at Evil Outsiders on it, OK it with the DM, he isn't paying much attention >Also prep a mundane message on it. I have a plan >Turned out I was fucking lucky I got paranoid when I did >Devil shows up in blink dog form after rest, informs us that since we don't want him with us, we would have to fight him to prove we could handle ourselves >Strike down my form, and I'll leave you be. >Party tries to throw me under the bus. “No, no, it was all OP! He's the only one who doubted you!” >I even point out I was unanimously voted down >Too bad. You all act as a team, or you die as a team >Attacks. Rogue and Ranger refuse to fight him, stand in the corner with their weapons away, hoping he'll spare them >Take some harsh damage from fire-breathing blink dog, but manage to kill it >FinalFantasyVictory.mp4 >Wait, why are we still in initiative? >NopeChuckTesta.gif >Shows back up with most powerful enemy in the general area. Forget its name, but we called it the super beholder >Had a death ray eye (that only worked once, because GM didn't want us calling TOO much foul on his TPK) >Also force push, cause light harm, Acid Arrow, and anti-magic beam out of his main eye. Fucking neato >First round, Ranger gets teleported away (still don't know what the fuck, he left soon after) and rogue is death ray's target >”How's not being with me working out for you now, bitch?” >Fighting hard, pretty sure GM buffed the monster's HP hard core >Party falling, I keep getting targeted by Anti-magic ray so I can't just bring them back up >Berserker is fucking its day up, forcing it to choose between holding the rest of the party at bay, or holding him at bay >Eventually Berserker falls. Everyone is in negs except me and our other blade singer >The Devil offers us surrender
Ryder Green
>”When I win, I'm going to resurrect your comrades. The only difference is whether you experience death first or not.” >”And if we win?” >”Then obviously you don't need my help, and I'll leave them dead.” >Blade Singers are oath-bound to defend elves, half our party are elves, he surrenders >Fuck that, I'm not compromising myself, but I have a plan >”Alright, Devil, I'm not surrendering, but I'm not an idiot. I'm going to drop a note on the ground. Deliver it to Blade Singer after I die, but DO NOT READ IT. It's for his eyes alone.” >Devil agrees. Rips out my intestines with his teeth >Delivers the note to Blade Singer. Player looks at the note, looks up at me >”DUDE! I thought we were having a moment there! What the fuck, man?! We were cool!” >DM curious, Blade Singer refuses to show it >Specifies the beholder extends an eye stalk over to look at the note >I cackle, Blade Singer sighs and hands the note over
>On the bottom was the note to the Blade Singer >”Blade Singer, I ask that you be the casket-bearer at my funeral. I'd like that you could let me down one last time.” >At the top of the note: >”I thought I told you not to read this?” >GLYPH OF WARDING.
>Glyph goes off. Electrical Damage, which I knew the Blade Singer had crazy resistances to >Blade Singer saves. The Devil doesn't >23 damage. The Devil had 13 left. >Devil goes down. CURSE MY SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL, MOTHERFUCKER! >Get dragged off with the rest of the party to go get Resurrected. Don't hear from the Devil again
And that's the story of how I found out that the pen IS mightier than the sword.
