sienn_sconn
2010-04-16, 11:03 AM
I'm new, but the hello thread appears to be locked, so Hi all!
Alright, on to Awesome Moments in Gaming. As I've been reading different threads and posts, I've noticed that there is Worst GM Mistakes, Stupidest PC decisions, along with others, but yet there is no Awesome Moments thread. Perhaps it is because there are too many to choose from. But I digress.
This is for fun and open to all players or gamemasters who have had an Awesome Moment or other similar and funny events. Most of my experiences are with DnD 3.5, but all others are welcome.
A few Examples from me as a Player:
One of my favorite characters, a Ranger/Reaping Mauler lvl 10 (a decent grappling build, later rebuilt as a Ranger/Crimson Scourge/Reaping Mauler) was with a party that invaded a rakshasa's stronghold that she had set up in a gnomish community's mine (yes, it was a published adventure). I was feeling underpowered next to the goliath barbarian/frenzied berserker (who when criting was dealing 150-200 points of damage) and the blaster cleric who were in the party (the bard was equal with me, roughly). We got into a fight with some Vrocks and I being a grappler, promptly got into a grapple with a Large creature, but my +24 grapple modifier was beating his +22:smallbiggrin: anyway, the vrock and i went back and forth with damage, but when i pinned the vrock and he attempted to escape, he rolled a nat 1. The GM ruled that in his attempt to escape, I choked him and he fell unconcious. My next turn: coup de grace with unarmed strike+armor spikes+earth's embrace+18 str+some bardic inspiration= DC 36 Fort to avoid death for the vrock. the vrock rolled poorly, and died. Thus I have snapped the neck of a vrock with my bare hands.:smallsmile:
Same Reaping Mauler, one level later: we fight our way through a tower of craziness (also a published adventure) and we finally get to the top after battling a hydra, rescuing a succubus and a illithid-mask wearing nymph (under the control of the succubus), and other things. The succubus and nymph are following us, and a spirit naga is guarding the crystal that keeps messing up the teleports that brings everything to the tower. The barbarian/frenzied berserker shatters the crystal with his mercurial greatsword and frees the naga, who leaves. The succubus and the nymph summon vrocks, and a fight breaks out. The cleric blasts the vrock guarding the succubus to kingdom come, and i charge-grapple-bullrush the succubus off a 100-foot tower with 60 hp left. I also take a AoO from the other vrock who hit me for 15, so now i'm down to 45. The other players said, "Why'd you do that?!" I said, "It's cool!" I pinned her in midair so she couldn't fly and had her slam into the ground first. I made my tumble check to reduce falling damage, while convincing the DM that my falling on the succubus would drive my armor spikes through her. She took 11d6 damage, and died on impact. I took 9d6 and walked away with 4 hp. My friends still think this is one of my greatest (but suicidal) moments.:smallwink:
My most recent creations was a half-orc terrorblade. Ranger4/Fighter1/Avenging Executioner2/Menacing Brute2= One mean Intimidation machine. With items and bonuses, (including Vicious, a weapon of legacy), Intimidate was +31(Cha 16, hehe), and i could take 10 on intimidate checks. anyway, we were fighting in Eberron against Emerald Claw soldiers (i know, not that tough). I had Telling Blow, which allows me to deal sneak attack or sudden strike damage on a crit (i used keen kukris and i had a Str 20) and an Avenging Executioner class feature called Bloody Blade: whenever i deal sudden strike damage, all foes within 30ft must make Will save or be shaken. I run up to one soldier, crit him (with sudden strike added in) and kill him. My half-orc raises his arms above his head and roars, "Who else seeks death?!" My GM rolled the 8 Emerald soldiers affected as one save and rolled a nat 1 on the Will save. He ruled that they became panicked instead of shaken and fled from the source of their terror (the half-orc) as quickly as possible. It was a very happy moment for me, :smallsmile:, because that was what he was designed to do.
With a 4E rogue, i had Bait and Switch as an encounter power (which if i hit, i switch places with the creature i hit, and then can shift). I once made made an Acrobatics check to slide between an orc's legs, noting that behind him was a 10 foot drop. My GM allowed me as I slid under him to move into empty air and make my Bait and Switch. I hit and switched spots with the orc who fell to his death. I then shifted down the stairs and proceeded to see what he had in his pockets. Another time, I leapt over a 30 foot deep pit (just the corner, really) and had to stop to attack a foulspawn hulk, so if i missed, i fell. I hit the foulspawn hulk, switched places, and watched him fall 30 feet. He lived, but it made the encounter much easier with him incapacitated for a bit.
As a GM:
I have always wanted to build a solo boss in 3.5 to challenge the entire party, but was never successful. Then I got my hands on Star Wars Saga Edition, and I realized that my day had come. I started my players on Dawn of Defiance, and this married couple that was playing with me wanted to play a set of triplet Force Sensitives, one Lightside, one Darkside, the other would be gray and constantly swayed to one side or the other. The wife wanted to play the Lightsider, who was named Alyss, the husband wanted to be the one playing the balancing act, aptly named Axyss. I asked what about the Darksider? They said he was seduced by the Empire. So i switched Inquistor Valin Draco (Dawn of Defiance's main bad guy) for the triplet brother Abyss. (by the way, the couple came up with the character names, it was awesome). The party went through the adventure and went to a Hutt's palace in the 2nd act. As they were leaving with a rescued hostage, Abyss steps around the land strut of their starship, and basically says, "I've been waiting for you." I should note that the party consisted of 4 Force Sensitives, 3 with levels in Jedi and 1 Soldier Force Sensitive, then there was a Noble and a Scout. The rescued hostage was also a Jedi Master, severely weakened. so, 7 good guys vs 1 bad guy. Easy, huh? I had the last laugh on this one. The heros rush to the attack, lightsabers, blasters, fists and force powers blazing. Abyss did take quite a beating, but the feats and powers i had given him made him effectively immune to Move Object (one Jedi's favorite tactic), as well as letting him take actions on the heroes' turns. Force Scream knocked two heros unconcious, and then the Jedi Master tried using Move Object on Abyss. He Rebuked it, and beat it enough to throw the Jedi Master into a wall, almost killing her (almost GM big mistake: don't kill the (obviously important) Jedi Master NPC). Then Axyss steps up to fight his brother. Axyss crits on the first attack, not so bad, but then he crit a second time on Abyss (Axyss ended up criting 4 times that battle). On the 4th crit, Abyss makes his Negate Energy Use the Force Check. Previously, Abyss had Force Lightning'ed Axyss. I had given Abyss a talent that if he successfully used Negate Energy, he could spend a Force point as a reaction to activate a Force Power in his suite. Abyss had another use of Force Lightning so he blasts Axyss again, reducing him to 9 HP. Note also that Axyss went right before Abyss. On Abyss' turn, he rolls a nat 20 on a Use the Force check, which means he regains all spent Force powers at the end of his turn. Abyss had spent 10 of 15 powers, so he got them all back and was ready to wreck havoc on the PC's again. They ended up running away, but they say that it was one of the toughest and most fun battles that i had ever put them in. Although we have since stopped that campaign, they still want another shot to put Abyss in his place. This has been my Awesomest Moment as GM (Hey, even the GM should win occasionally :smallbiggrin:).
Alright, on to Awesome Moments in Gaming. As I've been reading different threads and posts, I've noticed that there is Worst GM Mistakes, Stupidest PC decisions, along with others, but yet there is no Awesome Moments thread. Perhaps it is because there are too many to choose from. But I digress.
This is for fun and open to all players or gamemasters who have had an Awesome Moment or other similar and funny events. Most of my experiences are with DnD 3.5, but all others are welcome.
A few Examples from me as a Player:
One of my favorite characters, a Ranger/Reaping Mauler lvl 10 (a decent grappling build, later rebuilt as a Ranger/Crimson Scourge/Reaping Mauler) was with a party that invaded a rakshasa's stronghold that she had set up in a gnomish community's mine (yes, it was a published adventure). I was feeling underpowered next to the goliath barbarian/frenzied berserker (who when criting was dealing 150-200 points of damage) and the blaster cleric who were in the party (the bard was equal with me, roughly). We got into a fight with some Vrocks and I being a grappler, promptly got into a grapple with a Large creature, but my +24 grapple modifier was beating his +22:smallbiggrin: anyway, the vrock and i went back and forth with damage, but when i pinned the vrock and he attempted to escape, he rolled a nat 1. The GM ruled that in his attempt to escape, I choked him and he fell unconcious. My next turn: coup de grace with unarmed strike+armor spikes+earth's embrace+18 str+some bardic inspiration= DC 36 Fort to avoid death for the vrock. the vrock rolled poorly, and died. Thus I have snapped the neck of a vrock with my bare hands.:smallsmile:
Same Reaping Mauler, one level later: we fight our way through a tower of craziness (also a published adventure) and we finally get to the top after battling a hydra, rescuing a succubus and a illithid-mask wearing nymph (under the control of the succubus), and other things. The succubus and nymph are following us, and a spirit naga is guarding the crystal that keeps messing up the teleports that brings everything to the tower. The barbarian/frenzied berserker shatters the crystal with his mercurial greatsword and frees the naga, who leaves. The succubus and the nymph summon vrocks, and a fight breaks out. The cleric blasts the vrock guarding the succubus to kingdom come, and i charge-grapple-bullrush the succubus off a 100-foot tower with 60 hp left. I also take a AoO from the other vrock who hit me for 15, so now i'm down to 45. The other players said, "Why'd you do that?!" I said, "It's cool!" I pinned her in midair so she couldn't fly and had her slam into the ground first. I made my tumble check to reduce falling damage, while convincing the DM that my falling on the succubus would drive my armor spikes through her. She took 11d6 damage, and died on impact. I took 9d6 and walked away with 4 hp. My friends still think this is one of my greatest (but suicidal) moments.:smallwink:
My most recent creations was a half-orc terrorblade. Ranger4/Fighter1/Avenging Executioner2/Menacing Brute2= One mean Intimidation machine. With items and bonuses, (including Vicious, a weapon of legacy), Intimidate was +31(Cha 16, hehe), and i could take 10 on intimidate checks. anyway, we were fighting in Eberron against Emerald Claw soldiers (i know, not that tough). I had Telling Blow, which allows me to deal sneak attack or sudden strike damage on a crit (i used keen kukris and i had a Str 20) and an Avenging Executioner class feature called Bloody Blade: whenever i deal sudden strike damage, all foes within 30ft must make Will save or be shaken. I run up to one soldier, crit him (with sudden strike added in) and kill him. My half-orc raises his arms above his head and roars, "Who else seeks death?!" My GM rolled the 8 Emerald soldiers affected as one save and rolled a nat 1 on the Will save. He ruled that they became panicked instead of shaken and fled from the source of their terror (the half-orc) as quickly as possible. It was a very happy moment for me, :smallsmile:, because that was what he was designed to do.
With a 4E rogue, i had Bait and Switch as an encounter power (which if i hit, i switch places with the creature i hit, and then can shift). I once made made an Acrobatics check to slide between an orc's legs, noting that behind him was a 10 foot drop. My GM allowed me as I slid under him to move into empty air and make my Bait and Switch. I hit and switched spots with the orc who fell to his death. I then shifted down the stairs and proceeded to see what he had in his pockets. Another time, I leapt over a 30 foot deep pit (just the corner, really) and had to stop to attack a foulspawn hulk, so if i missed, i fell. I hit the foulspawn hulk, switched places, and watched him fall 30 feet. He lived, but it made the encounter much easier with him incapacitated for a bit.
As a GM:
I have always wanted to build a solo boss in 3.5 to challenge the entire party, but was never successful. Then I got my hands on Star Wars Saga Edition, and I realized that my day had come. I started my players on Dawn of Defiance, and this married couple that was playing with me wanted to play a set of triplet Force Sensitives, one Lightside, one Darkside, the other would be gray and constantly swayed to one side or the other. The wife wanted to play the Lightsider, who was named Alyss, the husband wanted to be the one playing the balancing act, aptly named Axyss. I asked what about the Darksider? They said he was seduced by the Empire. So i switched Inquistor Valin Draco (Dawn of Defiance's main bad guy) for the triplet brother Abyss. (by the way, the couple came up with the character names, it was awesome). The party went through the adventure and went to a Hutt's palace in the 2nd act. As they were leaving with a rescued hostage, Abyss steps around the land strut of their starship, and basically says, "I've been waiting for you." I should note that the party consisted of 4 Force Sensitives, 3 with levels in Jedi and 1 Soldier Force Sensitive, then there was a Noble and a Scout. The rescued hostage was also a Jedi Master, severely weakened. so, 7 good guys vs 1 bad guy. Easy, huh? I had the last laugh on this one. The heros rush to the attack, lightsabers, blasters, fists and force powers blazing. Abyss did take quite a beating, but the feats and powers i had given him made him effectively immune to Move Object (one Jedi's favorite tactic), as well as letting him take actions on the heroes' turns. Force Scream knocked two heros unconcious, and then the Jedi Master tried using Move Object on Abyss. He Rebuked it, and beat it enough to throw the Jedi Master into a wall, almost killing her (almost GM big mistake: don't kill the (obviously important) Jedi Master NPC). Then Axyss steps up to fight his brother. Axyss crits on the first attack, not so bad, but then he crit a second time on Abyss (Axyss ended up criting 4 times that battle). On the 4th crit, Abyss makes his Negate Energy Use the Force Check. Previously, Abyss had Force Lightning'ed Axyss. I had given Abyss a talent that if he successfully used Negate Energy, he could spend a Force point as a reaction to activate a Force Power in his suite. Abyss had another use of Force Lightning so he blasts Axyss again, reducing him to 9 HP. Note also that Axyss went right before Abyss. On Abyss' turn, he rolls a nat 20 on a Use the Force check, which means he regains all spent Force powers at the end of his turn. Abyss had spent 10 of 15 powers, so he got them all back and was ready to wreck havoc on the PC's again. They ended up running away, but they say that it was one of the toughest and most fun battles that i had ever put them in. Although we have since stopped that campaign, they still want another shot to put Abyss in his place. This has been my Awesomest Moment as GM (Hey, even the GM should win occasionally :smallbiggrin:).