maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
|
Post by maxinstuff on Nov 16, 2016 13:15:35 GMT -8
Had a PC's dalliance with a barmaid turn out to be his evil estranged sister in disguise - hey, I'm a big fan of Excalibur . . . Morgan and Arthur = Mordred (pretty epic). But there is an entire thread about this event. Aaron Love that story. Nothing wrong with that ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
|
|
|
Post by ilina on Nov 16, 2016 14:03:05 GMT -8
Yikes! That is... really mean. Were they ever able to buy back or replace their gear? Was the desert trip some form of penance? Probably because they didn't put their stats in suboptimal allocation. there was a Mcguffin they needed in some old desert temple. and yes, they were able to replace their gear over time. but they had nobody with any kind of healing ability and were too greedy to hire a hireling to heal them. at least it was better than them rolling fortitude saves against heatstroke for walking in the desert while covered from head to toe in hot metal. it wasn't so much penance, as much as they were hoarding hundreds of potions for months and during the time they were unarmored, i gave them a bonus to their fortitude saves against the heat, instead of the massive penalty i would have given them for wearing their plate if they still had it. the guys were too lazy to buy a some beasts a burden, a driver and a wagon to haul their loot as well as guards for their stuff, and were literally a group of 7 fighters and an evoker wizard who only prepared flashy attack spells.
|
|
|
Post by Kainguru on Nov 16, 2016 14:25:50 GMT -8
Well, in Traveller, is having one PC's estranged son crew under the pirate captain that is another character's sworn enemy count as a dick move? Because when they got the jump on them at port, the argument about what kind of grenade to toss into their airlock as the door closed was god damned hilarious To be fair there was an argument about every grenade type tossed . . . thank god neurotoxin wasn't part of our vocabulary then . . . Aaron
|
|
|
Post by ilina on Nov 16, 2016 15:14:09 GMT -8
my problem with the 7 fighters and the wizard wasn't that they were minmaxed. my problem was that the eight of them constantly sought to start fights everywhere they went and was focused exclusively on dealing damage and collecting loot. i think none of the fighters had any decent ability to use a ranged weapon, even back when they had them, either way, they were all about their generic magetouched falchions and in a race to be cool. i included a unique magic falchion that was cursed by the greedy soul who died fighting to get it.
the Wizard took the Falchion to identify it. i told him, "The Sword Craves Flesh." and had the wizard roll a will save. he was unable to resist the urges due to his wisdom being just as low as that of the fighters, so while the fighters who had just finished replacing their stuff 2 sessions ago, saw the wizard approach them with a cursed Falchion that turned out to be one of multiple mcguffins in the desert temple.
i told the wizard his Targets were his 7 companions and he wanted their loot. and the sword wanted their flesh, the Wizard ended up murdering all 7 fighters and gathering the last Mcguffin, so i encouraged them to make a more diverse party who seeks to defeat the new vessel for the hungerer. of course i started them level 6 with basic gear and spent an extra hour overseeing their characters for any redundancy or overlap.
got a Goliath Barbarian of the Bear Totem, a Sylph Cleric of the Maelstrom Maiden with Twin Scimitars, a Half Eladrin Fey Pact Blade Warlock, a Mountain Dwarf Evoker Wizard with a chain shirt, shield, and hammer, a Blue Dragonborn Paladin of the Maelstrom Maiden who was a freedom fighter with a scimitar and shield, a Half Drow Arcane Trickster with a shortbow, dagger, and rapier, a Half Orc Circle of the Moon Druid with a Pet Jaguar, and an Eladrin Storm Sorcerer
i mean sure, the new group of characters had a lot of murderhobo potential. but at least this time around, they tried to make a varied group of combatants that while still mostly melee focused, wasn't completely hosed when they couldn't kill things. of course i helped them work on their characters. and it was easy with 4 worshippers of the Maelstrom Maiden. better than 7 human fighters and a human wizard. i mean, it might look like a menagerie to some, but to me, it looked like various races putting aside their differences to send their champions.
these guys actually defeated the Storm Sorcerer's previous character and literally stopped the apocalypse at around level 6ish. because the lone boss wizard was level 14ish, and i figured they just needed to beat him, and there were 8 of them. i ruled the wizard was corrupted by the sword and his spells weren't at their best, but it was the Arcane Trickster's Lucky Arrow that pierced the throat of the new big bad and gave the new heroes a chance to rest.
the sorcerer and the cleric destroyed the Falchion. because the sorcerer knew his previous character was corrupted by it,
|
|
|
Post by ilina on Nov 16, 2016 15:29:17 GMT -8
you could say i kind of inspired the group with some of my character stories and they decided to model characters of their own after the stories. the new characters were cooler and more epic than the old ones, even if they were part of a one shot, the one shot being to avenge the deaths of their previous characters and stop a ritual.
what 7 half starved, ill, fatigued 14th level fighters couldn't do, 8 healthy fresh 6th level characters could. because the wizard from the previous group was starving, fatigued, ill and insane. because the new group was built with my recommendations, as well as observations i took on why their group kept getting so badly hurt nonstop.
|
|
|
Post by ayslyn on Nov 16, 2016 16:14:15 GMT -8
So.... He was right, and you were punishing them for not playing the way you wanted.
|
|
|
Post by ilina on Nov 16, 2016 16:36:13 GMT -8
So.... He was right, and you were punishing them for not playing the way you wanted. Trust me, nobody would want to GM for a group of murderhobos who refuse to learn some common sense and whine when a group of mooks starts using the equipment they have to ensure their survival instead of locking it inside a chest. "that bandit drank a potion? dick move!" "those archers are actually softening us up with bows? Dick move!" "that rogue with the knife won't challenge my plate armored falchion wielding fighter to single combat? Dick Move!" essentially, they were whining that i didn't give them kid gloves. because the groups of foes i threw were mixed, most of them had ranged weapons, and a decent amount of them had potions and well, i exploited all sorts of tactics that serve to challenge a human's weaknesses as well as the advantages of ranged combat and the use of manuevers to showcase there were other things thier fighters could do besides swing a falchion and whine when they aren't hitting on a 2 or better. at least i was kind enough to ignore the fumble rules. "my fighter tries to sneak." "you know that fullplate makes lots of noise so i have to apply disadvantage." "if it weren't for disadvantage, i would have crit but i got a 1." "you think about sneaking, but decide not to because you know fullplate makes noise and come across the revelation that you aren't sneaking in that heavy armor. luckily nobody catches you because you didn't bother."
|
|
|
Post by ayslyn on Nov 16, 2016 17:37:55 GMT -8
Oh Lord. Thank you for this bounty. It's been a hell of a couple of days, and I really needed something to unleash the snark on.
Unfortunately, this will require more than my phone, so you'll have to wait until I get home from work.
|
|
|
Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Nov 17, 2016 12:38:44 GMT -8
ayslyn I thought you were going cold turkey after the Saelorn incident.
|
|
sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
|
Post by sbloyd on Nov 17, 2016 12:39:42 GMT -8
Turkey's good for you.
|
|
|
Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Nov 17, 2016 12:41:10 GMT -8
at least i was kind enough to ignore the fumble rules. "my fighter tries to sneak." "you know that fullplate makes lots of noise so i have to apply disadvantage." "if it weren't for disadvantage, i would have crit but i got a 1." "you think about sneaking, but decide not to because you know fullplate makes noise and come across the revelation that you aren't sneaking in that heavy armor. luckily nobody catches you because you didn't bother." Okay, why would you do that? The player made the conscious choice to sneak and because they failed their roll YOU made the decision that their choice didn't matter or even happen. That is a dick GM move.
|
|
|
Post by ayslyn on Nov 17, 2016 13:02:03 GMT -8
ayslyn I thought you were going cold turkey after the Saelorn incident. Heeeeeell no. My life is snark. It feeds me and keeps me safe and warm.
|
|
sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
|
Post by sbloyd on Nov 17, 2016 13:14:38 GMT -8
]Heeeeeell no. My life is snark. It feeds me and keeps me safe and warm. That warmth you feel is the hate in your heart.
|
|
|
Post by ayslyn on Nov 17, 2016 14:22:47 GMT -8
]Heeeeeell no. My life is snark. It feeds me and keeps me safe and warm. That warmth you feel is the hate in your heart. What's left of the cold, shriveled thing....
|
|
sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
|
Post by sbloyd on Nov 17, 2016 14:46:57 GMT -8
Phrasing!
|
|