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View Full Version : Amazing heroic death! (long opener)



raitalin
2009-04-25, 05:28 AM
"I always thought that all those magic staffs that you can bend and they EXPLODE were kind of odd, considering a player would never do that, nor would any self-respecting villain. Just sounds like an excuse to give an enemy a powerful item and not have the players get it."

Someone made the above comment in the "ridiculous contrivances" thread and my first thought was "Am I the only one that has used that function of a Staff of Power?"

I've never been one to fear PC death, in fact I find most of the games I play entirely too soft on PCs, so I often throw myself in to ludicrously dangerous situations simply for the cool factor. I've always been a believer in the idea that the best heroes die accomplishing their goals. The specific event I'm about to describe stands as my best example of heroic sacrifice (or non-sacrifice, as it turned out).

So we're playing a dwarf campaign, retaking the northern dwarven lands of Faerun after they have been overrun by orcs (a previous evil campaign we played). We've retaken Citadel Feldbarr and eventually learn that a massive orc army is headed in for the counter-attack. These aren't your father's orcs. The goblins among them have discovered long-lost lore on constructing high-tech engines of war, though at the time we don't know everything they're capable of.

My Bard 4/Fighter 2/Warchanter 10/Exemplar 10 takes it upon himself to organize the defenses. I follow the philosophy of not giving your opponent the battle they want to fight, but forcing them to fight on your terms. The opposition outnumbers us 10-1, so I abandon the outer wall and set up a series of trenches in the yard in which crossbowmen will execute a fighting retreat. The object is simply to cause maximum damage with minimum casualties until the enemies reach the tunnels within the mountain, where their advantage of numbers is negated. I think I ticked off the DM a little, so he pulled out the colossal+ guns.

Well before too long the enemy rolls up what is essentially a colossal artillery piece, and starts firing shells at the mountain that contains the Citadel. The uber-craftsman wizard in the group estimates that the citadel won't last more than 2 more shells, which are coming 1/3 rounds.

I think: "Scroll of Greater Teleport? check. Staff of Power with 48 charges? check. Grease known? check. I've got this." I proceed to teleport to the end of the barrel of the gun, cast grease on it's interior and slide down until I'm standing on the shell that has just been loaded, and will fire the next turn. I crack the Staff.

The barrel explodes like Elmer's shotgun when Bugs sticks his finger in the barrel. The ammunition contained deeper in the gun heats up and explodes the next round, completely obliterating a third of the orc army, including most of its command (and crisping another party member that wasn't in on my insane plan).

Now comes the time to rolls the 50% to see if I'm caught in the blast. I fully plan to retire the character if he dies, despite the prevalence of True Resurrection. Being a Bard he has too much respect for high drama to ruin it by simply coming back to life. "Alright" I say, "Low I'm dead, high I'm shifted." 52%: shifted to Bytopia. I proceed to walk back to Faerun (long lull in game time here, I've got time) where I am being hailed as the great Martyr to the Cause. Sweet.

So anyone else have a story about their character going out like a champ instead of retiring like a chump?

evil-frosty
2009-04-25, 03:17 PM
I dont really have any stories(yet). And nice job on taking that artillery thing out.

Sire deHawkwood
2009-04-25, 04:52 PM
Not exactly Heroic, more pathetic than anything, but it rest of the party made it out in a blaze of glory. I pardon in advance for the length.

For the past year I have been involved in a D&D game specifically designed to kill the players after tenth level. I have lost four...4 characters in this game despite the super healing Lycanthrope Favour Soul of Elhonna that can heal and kill at the same time.
The party consists of a pink Troll monk turned monkey, the a forementioned Lycanthtpope, a gnome master transmografist and a warlock warforged. THose are teh survivors, my character was a Wood elf soul knife and teh lowest level character in the party do to GM's decesion that if you introduce a new character you start at level 15 even through the rest of the party hit epic three sessions ago.
Enough bitching, story time.

We come to the last boss of the fight and after his monolouge we begin the battle. By we I mean they, I'm a statue. I rolled a nat 1 on my save to keep from being turned to stone. so now the party is fighting this horrible, horrible vampire...god...thing and the only people that can hit is is the Werewolf who turned into a hound archon and the Gnome who began an angel of some type. So combat goes something like this,

monkey monk- hold action and watch, while standing in the same square as teh Vampire.
Warforge- kills all the wizards that are hooked up to scrying crystals and working the defenses of the castle we're in.
Gnome and Werewolf- fighting vampire.
Me- I'm a #$@ing statue, I kept having to say that every time my turn in combat came up.

Anyway, vamprie dude dies, goes mist and gets boxed into the room because the gnome and werewolf caste wind wall around the exits so he's stuck. returns to his coffin, which is actually an amulet that gives +6 to every stat, falls to the ground, gets caught by monkey.

Now here is the kicker. A group of red mages were in the corner keeping this meteor that had reality warping properties in check. All of them are required to keep the thing from going nuts, so one turns around, casts Gate underneath the moneky to...somewhere and the monkey falls in. So what does everybody do, They jump in after the monkey.

Execpt for me, cause I'm a statue.
Awesome ending to a lackluster, brain busting, power gamed campaign. MAde it all worth while really