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rezplz
2009-09-06, 01:46 AM
So, even though it lead to the death of our entire party, I have to admit that what happened in my DnD group today amused me, even though it pissed off one of the other people in the group. Oh well. :)

So, first off. I'm playing Ardil, a human wizard/lore master (diviner/blaster)under permanent reduce person (and many other permanent spells. Dispel magic was his greatest fear). 2'10", and 18 pounds. A short little guy who's a huge bookworm, but doesn't quite enjoy being picked on. Also a little bit of a smartass from time to time.

My friend was playing Vorzac, a full-orc barbarian with a one level dip in sorcerer to qualify for the dragon disciple prestige class. Beefy dude. 7 feet tall, 260 pounds. Powerhouse, basically.

The basic background: the mystic theurge of the group was kidnapped by a lich, so the party decided to go try to save her. Ardil decided to tag along, as he was hoping to learn a few new spells from Emira (seeing how the party burned the house down of the necromancer he was GOING to learn from... long story on that one). Through a good dose of scrying and teleportation on Ardil's part and a liberal application of the commune spell on the cleric's part, we managed to figure out where they were going. So we go there, kill a few lizardfolk in the nearby swamp, and find this abandoned arcane school. Along the way, my friend decides that Vorzac, for some reason, doesn't like Ardil. Most likely because I was playing a short character again. So a couple of times, he would say something like this:

Vorzac: I grab Ardil and throw him ten feet into the air

The first couple of times, Ardil was seriously peeved but managed to let it slide. Then we get to the maze in the basement of the arcane school, and that's when things get fun. Through use of the Guards and Wards spell, which I had previously never heard of (This was the highest level I had ever been, at level 10), our wilderness rogue and Vorzac, who had gone in first to scout things out. This is where Vorzac proceeded to trigger EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE FEW TRAPS THAT MY DM HAD PUT INTO THE MAZE, minus about one or two. Vorzac found a double door. Vorzac decided to kick in this double door. An iron golem, hiding behind the door, punched Vorzac in the face.

Vorzac ran.

He bumped into the wilderness rogue, and they ran for a bit, before they triggered a pit trap. The rogue rolled terribly, Vorzac rolled great, so the rogue fell in while Vorzac stopped in time. Because of the fog, he could see only five feet in front of him - he couldn't see accross the pit trap completely. So, Vorzac decides to jump over the pit.

SPLAT! He hits the wall and falls down the hundred-foot deep pit. Both he and the rogue are alive, and have rings of sustenence, however. So they just sit tight and wait for a rescue.

Over the course of a few days the rest of the party (ardil, a cleric, and a fighter) try to find them, get lost, find the iron golem, run away, come back, run away, come back with an adamantium scimitar, and barely manage to kill the golem. It's been five days and Vorzac finally managed to climb out. He and the rogue go exploring, get to a dead-end. No doors, no nothing. Vorzac, feeling suspicious, went to touch the wall. Of course, this is the one wall in the whole maze that is trapped - it falls on him, killing him. The rest of the party finally find the others, and they teleport back to town to raise vorzac. But you see, this is not the first time vorzac has died in this campaign, so poor vorzac is very irritated right now. We teleport back in front of the maze, ready to enter - when Vorzac comments on how useless ardil is. (keep in mind that Ardil just gained 11th level and learned disintegrate, and everyone knew this)




Here is where the PVP starts, which lead to the TPK.
Ardil: (talking about the iron golem that Vorzac had run away from) Yeah, we basically gave the fighter an adamantium scimitar and buffed him up, let him take care of the golem.
Vorzac: Wow, you're useless.
Ardil: What?!
Vorzac: I pick up ardil and toss him ten feet backwards.

At this point, I decided that ardil had enough. I looked at Vorzac's player, and asked him, "Are you sure?" While looking at my spell list, making it perfectly obvious which spell I was looking at. He said yes. Frustrated, trying to make it obvious what Ardil would do, I asked again. Four more times. After saying yes every time, I sighed. There was only one thing that Ardil would do after being bullied around by this huge orc brute.

Round 1:
Ardil: I cast disintegrate. (The DM rolled the damage for me, getting many 1s. Vorzac survived, lucky bastard)
Vorzac: Okay.
Me: Wait wait wait. You just got a disintegrate in the face, nearly killing you, and you're OKAY with this? You're just going to let it slide? (Naturally, I was very confused.)
Vorzac: Okay, I charge and attack. (He hit. Beefy guy like that, took out more than half of my health)

Round 2:
Ardil: I cast greater invisibility and book it.
Vorzac: Okay, I -
DM: Not so fast. Everyone make reflex saves. A fireball erupts and (checks rolls) kills Ardil and Vorzac and damages the rest of you except the rogue.
Fighter: I try to run.
Cleric(controlled by vorzac now) and rogue: we look around, try to find our attacker.

Round 3:
DM: Make reflex saves. Chain lightning hits the cleric first, killing him, damaging the fighter, and dealing no damage to the rogue.
Fighter: (I was controlling him. Seeing lawful evil on his sheet [I think someone wrote that as a joke since his player never wrote alignment and such down] I acted accordingly) Wait! I'll join you!
Rogue: Still can't find this caster.

Round 4:
DM: Make reflex saves. A fireball erupts in the room, killing the fighter and dealing no damage to the rogue.
Rogue: Still can't find him.

The rogue didn't last much longer. ;P We later learned that, the lich had been in his little throne room down below the moment we first went into the maze, buffing himself for the fight. He sat there, tapping his fingers, waiting for the dramatic introduction... for five days. Impatient, he finally went to the entrance of the maze, saw us killing each other, and decided to screw it and started casting its spells at us while under greater invisibility.

So even though we died, me and vorzac high-fived each other and and we played some rock band. The rogue was pissed. The fighter and cleric were absent, and I don't think they would have been happy either. So what are your stories of hilarious bits of PVP that end up turning bad for the whole party?

Doc Roc
2009-09-06, 01:58 AM
So, you got three of your friends killed without their consent, two of whom weren't even there that session?

sofawall
2009-09-06, 01:59 AM
So even though we died, me and vorzac high-fived each other and and we played some rock band.

Always a good end to a story.

EDIT: Yeah, about them not being there, I was robbed and dumped in lava once while playing a Tier 2 Sorcerer/War Weaver, when my whole party was low Tier 3... The DM had no clue what to do with my spell list, so he ignored my notes and cast fireball, a spell I didn't even know...

But yeah, I had to spend 3 sessions basically working just to get my stuff back. I didn't even die (go go Cleric whodidn'tseethetheftutisgreatanyway!)

Kylarra
2009-09-06, 02:00 AM
I'd be pretty annoyed to come back and find out that my character died while you guys were screwing around personally.

I mean, I'm glad you're still friends and all with the primary instigator, but I probably wouldn't game with you guys anymore.

EnnPeeCee
2009-09-06, 02:01 AM
Yep, that Lich was rather confused. As for the players finding their characters dead, it happens to be a rather common occurrence with our group. (We tend not to last much more than one or two sessions usually)

Chineselegolas
2009-09-06, 02:03 AM
the lich had been in his little throne room down below the moment we first went into the maze, buffing himself for the fight. He sat there, tapping his fingers, waiting for the dramatic introduction... for five days. Impatient, he finally went to the entrance of the maze, saw us killing each other, and decided to screw it and started casting its spells at us while under greater invisibility.

Wait... A Lich got bored and came looking for the adventurers. Wow, what a Lich, leaving his secured throne room to go looking for those coming to kill him incase they got lost...

Kylarra
2009-09-06, 02:05 AM
Yep, that Lich was rather confused. As for the players finding their characters dead, it happens to be a rather common occurrence with our group. (We tend not to last much more than one or two sessions usually)I suppose if the general understanding is that you're just playing a series of loosely connected oneshots, the impact is less, but it's no less annoying to come into a session or be told "hey, your character is dead because we were screwing around, go reroll or something."

EnnPeeCee
2009-09-06, 02:06 AM
Wait... A Lich got bored and came looking for the adventurers. Wow, what a Lich, leaving his secured throne room to go looking for those coming to kill him incase they got lost...

He'd been sitting around for 50 years waiting for people to come and worship him for his arcane prowess. At this point, he just wanted some attention. What he found were crazy people.

Doc Roc
2009-09-06, 02:08 AM
There's a spell for that. Dominate person!

Milskidasith
2009-09-06, 02:10 AM
Why was a lich who wanted to be worshipped sitting in a throne room guarded by strong monsters and instadeath traps?

EnnPeeCee
2009-09-06, 02:11 AM
There's a spell for that. Dominate person!
Well, he had been trying that, of course on other wizards with high will saves. No luck there. Poor poor Lich with no friends. Oh, he was also insane.


I suppose if the general understanding is that you're just playing a series of loosely connected oneshots, the impact is less, but it's no less annoying to come into a session or be told "hey, your character is dead because we were screwing around, go reroll or something."

Yeah, I'd probably be mad too. But maybe this'll encourage two things.
1. Actually coming to our gaming sessions.
2. Being concerned with the mortality of their characters.

Edit:

Why was a lich who wanted to be worshipped sitting in a throne room guarded by strong monsters and instadeath traps?

No one said he had a good wisdom score. =P

Doc Roc
2009-09-06, 02:13 AM
Yeah, I'd probably be mad too. But maybe this'll encourage two things.
1. Actually coming to our gaming sessions.
2. Being concerned with the mortality of their characters.


I'd probably be pretty angry. I might walk, to be honest. Unless you fiat it, there's no recovering from something like this. Your players probably didn't make contingency plans for getting brutally TPKed by a wandering lich, fireball traps, and party infighting.


:|

rezplz
2009-09-06, 02:18 AM
Tidesinger: I didn't get them killed. I did nothing to them. The lich did it! ;P The way I see it was, wasn't my fault. I made it clear what would happen if the guy pissed off my wizard, he still did it, and I, being in character, finally retaliated. Of course, there was no way I could expect the lich to be hiding in the fog ready to attack ;P

Kylarra: I'll admit, even I was a bit annoyed at the whole situation. But hey, **** happens and we're all pretty good friends, so we can get over things like this pretty easy. Even if people are peeved for a while ;P And how dare you accuse me of screwing around! I was trying to be serious. Which is rare for me, I'm usually very reckless and stupid (hence, RezPlz).

Chineselegolas: Well we had already killed each and every single one of his minions, so he was the only one left. I'm pretty sure he was already a bit crazy, and being the only one left might have pushed him over the edge.


And for the people complaining about how I got the people's characters killed when they weren't there... Well, I seem to be the only one who tries to plan these things, and I feel that I did more than my share of effort in trying to accomodate everyone's wacky schedules. We all know the risks of what happens when we can't show up.

Kylarra
2009-09-06, 02:20 AM
Yeah, I'd probably be mad too. But maybe this'll encourage two things.
1. Actually coming to our gaming sessions.
2. Being concerned with the mortality of their characters.
Actually I'd just leave. Killing off my character as any sort of encouragement of 1 is ludicrous, and as for 2 well.. as Tide said, wandering liches and party infighting generally isn't par for a normal course.


Tidesinger: I didn't get them killed. I did nothing to them. The lich did it! ;P The way I see it was, wasn't my fault. I made it clear what would happen if the guy pissed off my wizard, he still did it, and I, being in character, finally retaliated. Of course, there was no way I could expect the lich to be hiding in the fog ready to attack ;P


Decide to React Differently: Have you ever had a party break down into fighting over the actions of one of their members? Has a character ever threatened repeatedly to leave the party? Often, intraparty fighting boils down to one player declaring, "That's how my character would react." Heck, often you'll be the one saying it; it's a common reaction when alignments or codes of ethics clash.

However, it also creates a logjam where neither side wants to back down. The key to resolving this problem is to decide to react differently. You are not your character, and your character is not a separate entity with reactions that you cannot control. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a player state that their character's actions are not under their control. Every decision your character makes is your decision first. It is possible and even preferable for you to craft a personality that is consistent but also accommodating of the characters the other players wish to play.

When you think about a situation, ask yourself, "Is this the only way my character can react to this?" Chances are, the answer is, "No." Try to refine your character so that you can deal with situations that conflict with your alignment/ethos without resorting to ultimatums, threats, etc. This will often mean thinking in terms of compromise and concession to your fellow players, or at the very least an agreement to disagree.

http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307KmEm4H9k6efFP.html

Glyde
2009-09-06, 02:25 AM
That... Is a great story. I don't usually condone PVP, but an impatient lich tapping his fingers just does it for me.

rezplz
2009-09-06, 02:31 AM
Kylarra: The characters weren't killed off as encouragement, that would be stupid. The encouragement is just a side effect of player death. It can happen to anyone, and if you're not there to play your character the way you intend (Because really, nobody knows your character better than you) than that death may be a bit more likely. And it wasn't just a wandering lich, it was the main boss of this dungeon that we were headed down there to kill. We were expecting a tough fight, it just stumbled upon us at the worst time.


And as for your little tidbit about "How my character would react", and changing it? Please don't treat me like I'm some stubborn, poor roleplayer. You see, the thing about doing something different? I did that, twice, after being just picked up and thrown into the air for no reason. I brushed it off, even though my character would have retaliated. The third time I decided to tell him to knock it off, warned him at least 4-5 times to not do it so that we could continue anyway. And well, he seemed to be willing to deal with the consequences. I think he wanted to switch characters anyway.

But yeah. Not my fault. :\

Kylarra
2009-09-06, 02:52 AM
I was really aiming for more of "not interparty fighting in the middle of a dungeon", but then I reread that you were standing outside for some reason.


Which makes things a little more suspect as to why the lich isn't scrying, resetting traps and minions instead of just tapping his fingers, but that's neither here nor there.

edit: major boss fight with 40% of the group missing sounds like it was asking for trouble anyway. I'm not belittling your efforts to schedule days, but when a significant portion of the group can't make it for a major boss fight, it might be a sign that the wrong day was picked.

rezplz
2009-09-06, 03:19 AM
Ah, okay then. Fair enough: If we were actually in the dungeon I would have tried to delay things until later. We were about to go in when my friend decided to toss the very powerful wizard around. Yeeeah, friend as he may be, I'll admit he gets on my nerves at times.

Well, while I'm not the DM I will say that not every mastermind has the patience to simply go around and reset the traps and all that if this group of jerks just went around and tore through everything. Maybe he was peeved that the work he did was for nothing and thought himself powerful enough to take us on (which, apparently, he was ;P!). Like EnnPeeCee said, nobody said he had a good WIS score ;D

Oh, and I do know for sure there was a magical protection against any scrying down there. That sure pissed off my poor little diviner wizard D:

I do admit, it wasn't ideal. I would have rather had the others there, but I had already had to reschedule several times. This was it, really. With people leaving for school soon, I couldn't be picky with what days we chose for DnD.

daggaz
2009-09-06, 03:28 AM
I would have stopped the whole business at "he grabs my character and throws me ten feet into the air."

If you arent a willing participant, its an initiative check, followed by a grapple check IF the barbarian goes first and is in range. Theres no reason ever that somebody else can manhandle your character freely in a game that is completely centered on combat.

Jade_Tarem
2009-09-06, 03:34 AM
I find it amusing that between the party pvp, the swamp, the heavily-trapped arcane ruin of nothingness, the barbarain randomly tossing a midget wizard around, and guitar hero, the thing that everyone has latched on to is how illogical it is for the lich to get bored.

It's a one-ish shot session! It doesn't have to make sense. Is it really so hard to believe that the DM decided the session was shot and had his lich attack, cooking up the "he got bored while you diddled around for five days" story for a cheap laugh? C'mon...

rezplz
2009-09-06, 03:36 AM
When he first did it to me, I did try. But, small size, 6 str? I had a minus 2 to grapple, while he had like... a plus 15 or something. No way I would have made the grapple check, so I didn't really bother after the first try. My friend seemed to think that this was quite hilarious...

EnnPeeCee
2009-09-06, 03:39 AM
I find it amusing that between the party pvp, the swamp, the heavily-trapped arcane ruin of nothingness, the barbarain randomly tossing a midget wizard around, and guitar hero, the thing that everyone has latched on to is how illogical it is for the lich to get bored.

It's a one-ish shot session! It doesn't have to make sense. Is it really so hard to believe that the DM decided the session was shot and had his lich attack, cooking up the "he got bored while you diddled around for five days" story for a cheap laugh? C'mon...

You sir, hit that head on. My campaign had dissolved into squabbling between the players, and it was time to end. I figured I'd do it with something better than "rocks fall on everyone".

rezplz
2009-09-06, 03:48 AM
Bah. That squabbling was Vorzac's fault. We still could have finished the campaign after getting a more suitable replacement for the barbarian. ;P