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zephiros
2010-08-01, 02:04 AM
I saw a thread earlier for most epic failures in-game, and I thought it would be neat to have one for epic successes (or just general epicness if it comes across that way).

I'll contribute something to start it off.

A couple weeks ago in our current campaign, our party (Humans: Swordsage, Ranger, Warlock, Dread Necro, Gnome & Halfling Rogues and a Dragonborn....either Fighter or Paladin I can't recall) had just received word that our antagonist "Eldridge" was occupying a magically protected area known as The Zone. We had recently been teleported into the future from the traditional D&D setting, where firearms had become available.

Eldridge had been a villain in the previous stretch of the campaign as well and was using his influence or magic or something to create a series of moral dilemmas, involving two characters claiming different truths, and leaving it up to us to determine which to trust (choices that have gone quite notoriously badly thus far, in the future we are known as the "great destroyers" who burnt the village to the ground, which was actually Eldridge's doing, or so we assume at the moment, it's hard in a campaign that's still ongoing and wracked with deception magic).

In any event, after trusting a priest over the man who accused him of secretly worshiping Wee Jas rather than St Cuthbert, and the priest promptly exploding while trying to summon a demon (maybe) we believed the man, who provided us with information about the Zone, and the "magic junkies" known as Stalkers who would help us get in. Since the Zone is the only place in the future with magic, the Stalkers are people who are addicted to the feeling of it and wish to help others in.

We set off into the woods and encountered a labyrinth of invisible walls, passing over them caused the forest to glow and teleported the person who had crossed back to the entrance. After navigating the maze, we found ourselves teleported to the top of a giant tree amidst a gnome village. Climbing down we hid inside a gnome hut (albeit crouching) and discussed how best to reveal ourselves to the gnomes, who the warlock had distracted by Eldritch Blasting a tree limb on the far side of the huge tree.

We decided at some point to send the Dragonborn out, figuring he had many hit points and (being an evil party) that he wouldn't be particularly missed if things went south. So we decided to throw him out to attempt negotiations, and at some point, came to the decision to literally throw him out. A decision that worked...interestingly to say the least.

Being the Swordsage, I expended a Mighty Throw to hurl him out the hut's door. What we had previously neglected was any attempt at a Spot Check to see outside the hut, which was rendered unimportant when the DM informed us that in the middle of my 10 ft throw (5 ft from the door) was a tree, which the Dragonborn hit, took 1d4 damage, and momentarily crumpled to a pile at the bottom of.

At this point, the gnomes crowded around him, drawing knives and beginning to stab him. Thinking on our toes, the Halfling Rogue, Warlock, and I rush outside and promptly beat the Dragonborn to death, claiming that we are the gnomes' heroes for vanquishing their great foe. Much to our laughter, the gnomes practically worshiped us and gave us whatever we asked for.

We equally divided the Dragonborn's gold, gave one of his items to each person who was there that week (aside from the Dragonborn and the three who attacked, the Ranger was present) with one taking his sword, one each for shield and armour, and one for scales, followed by each of us drawing a small vial of dragon blood, no doubt extremely valuable in a magic-parched future.

To this day we still joke at the start of every encounter "toss the Dragonborn in".



If anyone wants to try and figure out the "big reveal" behind our campaign, Eldridge appears to be some sort of spellcaster, and the whole party is suffering from either a disease or a spell or the like that makes us become slowly more metallic whenever we encounter things related to Eldridge. My first guess, given the new industrial-ish future setting was that Eldridge may be an Artificer, although to be honest I've never looked at the class, but the DM assures us he's designed the challenge specially for us. If you do figure something out, don't tell me, the campaign's not done yet.

Also, as a note, Eldridge is a less than ideal name with a Warlock in the party, we've had at least 5 OoC confusions between the name and the word Eldritch. Although if the Warlock switched them to In Character mistakes it could make an amusing side-gag.

Anyway, that's my story, if anyone wants to know more about the story or how it ends (once it does) let me know and I'll let you know.

CubeB
2010-08-01, 09:33 AM
My Critical Success was a bit more heroic.

The game? Mutants and Masterminds.

The party? A rag tag group of vigilantes bringing justices to the lawless ruins of LA.

We received word of a suspicious rave, run by a pair of superhuman DJs, Mindbender (A powerful Psychic) and Skullcrusher (A super strong brute).

We show up at the rave, and the DJs proceed to rain a touch vector hallucinogenic drug on the party, sending all but two of us into hallucinogenic fits. The two people still standing try to stop the DJs, only to accidentally break the control for the drug sprinkers... So now, not only are we all tripping, now the entire rave is ODing on highly illegal drugs.

Mindbender, seeing that the jig is up, decides to melt the collective minds of the rave: The psychic equivalent of a hydrogen bomb.

That's where my character, (who up to this point, has been tripping balls) comes in. As soon as Mindbender touches his head, I make an opposed will save and succeed by a single point(!), turning the psychic attack against him, knocking him out.

What happens next is kind of like that scene in Futurama where Fry drinks 100 cups of coffee and enters bullet time, except waaaaay more trippy. My character (who never made his Fortitude Save and was still tripping balls) leaps onto the stage. His Psionic Weapon attack, which normally looks like a sword, manifests itself as a pair of Glowsticks. The remaining unaffected hero is struggling with Skullcrusher, when my character raves on over and crits him in the back of the head. One failed will save later, and both the Dastardly Disk Jockies are raved out. The DM then decides that my character, in his um... "mind expanded" state, is capable of detoxing the vast majority of the rave in a single go. My character is more utility than combat oriented, so everyone was stunned that he had actually managed to nearly solo an encounter.

Naturally, I am too, which is why I'm blabbing about it now.

Arachu
2010-08-01, 09:53 AM
One encounter my PC underwent when I decided that a level 1 PC should be able to kill a ECL 3 black bear;
-First, he walks up the hill and sees the bear on it.
-Then, the bear wigs out, and proceeds to charge him,-
-During which time the PC was busy chopping at a log to make it pointy.
-He stabbed out with the log (I wanna say I made it an improv spear), caught the bear in the chest, and proceeded to kill it in about three hits.

After killing something twice his size (and about 9 times his Challenge Rating...), his clan evoked a ritual to commemorate the killing of the dread bear Granitefang. He kept the teeth as a trophy - in his mouth.

So, yeah, crazy berserk viking-allegory running around with a bastard sword and bear teeth in his mouth.

zephiros
2010-08-01, 02:21 PM
:P yeah, I know our story isn't particularly heroic, but evil party. What'cha gonna do?

I reckon that when our DM compiles the XP for the next section of our adventure we'll get a substantial bonus for unique problem solving, he just wanted us to kill the gnomes. :P I'd say we took the more evil route.