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View Full Version : What kind of stupid stuff have you let fly in your games?



Lord_Gareth
2010-10-27, 12:26 AM
'Cause I wanna hear about it. Did you DM for a Fistbeard Beardfist build? Is there a Pervirtuoso in your party affecting the game world? Drowning to heal? Does your Vampire: the Requiem game feature all the physics problems of moving at Celerity 5?

In short, what kind of stupid(ly awesome) stuff have you let fly - or gotten past the DM/GM/ST - in game?

golentan
2010-10-27, 12:30 AM
"Battleship Killing Man Portable Laser Bazooka."

Nuff Said.

It was fired precisely twice. Once, it was used in defense of the engine room on the ship. This is, of course, the ship killing laser being fired inside the PC's own vessel. They had to buy a new one, it was a serious down grade.

The second time, it was a total TPK, and ended the campaign. It also killed about a thousand bystanders, going off in the middle of a crowded city street.

Mushroom Ninja
2010-10-27, 12:38 AM
Well, there was that one session... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5749118&postcount=1)

FelixG
2010-10-27, 12:43 AM
letting the rogue loot fire activated blasting gel from a sealed container that he smashed open...just before the rest of the party lit the vehicle transporting the gel on fire..the rogue was lost :smallbiggrin:

Drakevarg
2010-10-27, 12:50 AM
I gave a Level 1 party a barrel full of Fire of Orthanc once...

In my defense, it was one of the first games I ever DM'd.

gorfnab
2010-10-27, 01:13 AM
The Holy Super Soaker - Decanter of Endless Water + Item (in this case nozzle) of continuous Bless Water.

Gralamin
2010-10-27, 02:20 AM
Back in my days of being Naive and Inexperienced, I let a stupid amount of stuff fly. I suppose a good example is letting a character use Captain James T Kirk whose shirt was ripped (Thus making him invincible) as a shield. This happened in a D&D Game after a trip to the Plane of Madness.

These days, I'm an experienced "Yes and" style of DM, only shutting things down when they don't make any sense.

Terumitsu
2010-10-27, 03:24 AM
Allowing the artificer in the party to craft lots of 'blue sticky grenades' at a fast rate. That is to say, he made a good case for being able to craft more than one item a day if it costs less than 1000 GP to make. They became the default weapon of the party for a full level and a half till the artificer accidently blew one up while carrying about twenty of them on his person... Cue a lot of rolling and all but one of them blowing up in a cascade effect.

The party was in a desert and the surrounding area was turned to pure glass to serve as an impromptu gravesite. The player thought it was a rather funny death as he played his character as notoriously accident prone.

Later on in the same game, there was also the time when the party wizard got really crazy with a Rod of Wonder and decided it would be a brilliant idea to poke a rune depicting lawful and abjurative magic with an item that is basically 'CHAOS!' in a stick. We don't talk about what happened next. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodleIncident)

cdrcjsn
2010-10-27, 03:40 AM
Let a PC use a Daern's Instant Fortress as a weapon.

Creatures caught in the area as it expanded took lots of damage.

He was indoors in a castle, and since the item dug into the ground...he left gaping holes everywhere.

Even worse, he decided the command word for the item was "Fear My Erection!"

Callista
2010-10-27, 03:48 AM
I've actually not seen anything totally ridiculous in mine. The most off-the-wall, I think, was when the party's elven fighter decided to seduce the enemy's leader to stop a fight that would've been deadly on both sides. Sounds like an interesting strategy, right? But it would've been a little less ridiculous if the enemy hadn't been kobolds! (Both sides got away with their lives.)

Ernir
2010-10-27, 04:24 AM
"Sure, you can craft Drow knockout poison with a save DC equal to the craft DC. Sure, you can decide the craft DC yourself."

We eventually renegotiated that one, but damn, what was I thinking?

dsmiles
2010-10-27, 04:44 AM
I once let a guy play a Were-Bearbarian with Vow of Poverty. I'm still not quite sure how he did it with a straight face, though. Now, there's a trick I need to learn. :smalltongue:

Terumitsu
2010-10-27, 06:23 AM
I once let a guy play a Were-Bearbarian with Vow of Poverty. I'm still not quite sure how he did it with a straight face, though. Now, there's a trick I need to learn. :smalltongue:

That player must have the most epic of poker faces in that case. He is an example that we all can learn from.

faceroll
2010-10-27, 06:56 AM
My DM is letting be play a gestalt druid//cleric anthro bat with fleshraker companion alongside a monk, 2 fighters and a warlock. And I use DMM:persist.

I feel dirty putting that into words.

To be fair, 2/3 of my spells are used for overcoming the failings that are the fail of 2 fighters and a monk, and the other 3rd is used on healing.

panaikhan
2010-10-27, 07:24 AM
I think my largest gaff, was in a Cyberpunk adventure I was running.
I feel this needs a little backstory.

The PC's were trying to shut down an evil warlord's operations, while not getting themselves wiped out. During this, they discovered the existance of an orbital laser, which the government had designated "Project Uriel". After a hard couple of sessions, they found a 'target' for Uriel - i.e., an electronic signal generator that gave the satellite something to aim at.
The idea was, for the group to smuggle this target into a heavily fortified base, and turn it on.

My gaff? Due to my arbitrary ruling on it's complexity, and mis-judging my players' skill allocations, they were able to duplicate it.

Gahrer
2010-10-27, 09:20 AM
My gaff? Due to my arbitrary ruling on it's complexity, and mis-judging my players' skill allocations, they were able to duplicate it.

:smalleek: Ouch.

I let the party assassin get away with a homebrewed feat that let him exchange sneat attack die for death attack DC at 1:1, kicking total DC to 33 if he dumped all sneak attack at level 16. Not that bad.

Then he critted one of the major villans. Telling blow (http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Telling_Blow) and my earlier ruling on this feat that a critical sneak attack made double sneak attack pushed the DC to 42. In a low-op campaign. The villan dropped dead instantly...

valadil
2010-10-27, 09:23 AM
The druid in my game came from an earth mote. I let him design the town that lives up there. They're all rednecks and he named the earth mote 'Philadelphia.'

Ozymandias9
2010-10-27, 10:28 AM
One of my regular games really wanted time travel at one point. I really didn't want to go into it, since I didn't have the period in question written out nearly well enough for my tastes. As such, I made a fiat about the verbal and somatic components and made the players carry them out as a substitution for a spellcraft check in hopes of buying time.

Now we have to do the Time Warp every time someone wants to cast Time Reaver.

(As an aside, we decided to watch the RHPS instead of finishing that session, so I had time to write out the background.)

dsmiles
2010-10-27, 10:39 AM
Oooh...Time travel. I forgot about that game.

I let characters go through a wormhole into the early 2000's (actually milennia in the past for that particular campaign). The produced a bunch of gold pieces at a sporting goods store and asked, "What can we buy with these?" Ahhh...good times.

Etrivar
2010-10-27, 11:04 AM
I was playing a sorcerer in a 3.5 game, and one of our PC's had drowned a few rounds ago. So, I hauled him onto shore, and took off his shirt. I cast the spell shocking grasp, then clapped my hands together, rubbed them really fast, yelled CLEAR!!!!, and slammed my hands down on his chest. I successfully revived him using shocking grasp as a defibrilator.

BRC
2010-10-27, 11:36 AM
So we were playing a rules-light Homebrew system I made called "What hath Science Wrought!", kind of set in a post-apocalyptic future full of mad scientists.
A zombie apocalypse hit the What's Left of the World's Fair, the PC's were trying to get off the island the Fair was held on. They ended up going up against a Mad Scientist who had gone crazy (Well, crazier) and was attacking everything.
One of the PC's (A Mad Scientist) Had, using the poorly designed yet very entertaining Mad Science rules, used gas leaking from a broken experimental teleporter to construct a powerful weapon he didn't fully understand, and a very powerful shield. The Shield in question could take considerable damage, and had a very fast recharge, however when it broke it would teleport the user a random distance and direction. If it tried to teleport him somewhere something else was, big problems would result.
Well, long story short, his shield teleported him into the boss. This wasn't something I had planned for or either of us were trying to bring about. The dice just fell and it happened.

I ruled that he ended up combining with the boss, the result was hilarious.

It's a very silly system, and we had lots of fun.

Chess435
2010-10-27, 01:54 PM
I once Dm'ed a session where they fell through a portal into a Halo 3 campaign mission (The Covenant to be exact). They made it as far as the Scarabs before they were promptly all vaporized.

dsmiles
2010-10-27, 02:01 PM
So we were playing a rules-light Homebrew system I made called "What hath Science Wrought!", kind of set in a post-apocalyptic future full of mad scientists.
A zombie apocalypse hit the What's Left of the World's Fair, the PC's were trying to get off the island the Fair was held on. They ended up going up against a Mad Scientist who had gone crazy (Well, crazier) and was attacking everything.
One of the PC's (A Mad Scientist) Had, using the poorly designed yet very entertaining Mad Science rules, used gas leaking from a broken experimental teleporter to construct a powerful weapon he didn't fully understand, and a very powerful shield. The Shield in question could take considerable damage, and had a very fast recharge, however when it broke it would teleport the user a random distance and direction. If it tried to teleport him somewhere something else was, big problems would result.
Well, long story short, his shield teleported him into the boss. This wasn't something I had planned for or either of us were trying to bring about. The dice just fell and it happened.

I ruled that he ended up combining with the boss, the result was hilarious.

It's a very silly system, and we had lots of fun.

Is said system posted in the HB section? I must have this. For SCIENCE!

BRC
2010-10-27, 02:11 PM
Is said system posted in the HB section? I must have this. For SCIENCE!
Not yet, but it could be. The thing is, it's very VERY rules light. I have some general stats, but nothing specific. I made all the characters we've used so far, usually just making stuff up. I also don't have a crafting system (Though I have ideas for it once I have a base). So far the only crafting we'd done is Mad Science, wherein I would see the roll, decide what the player had built based on the roll, their intent, and what they were using, and not tell them until they actually pushed the button and turned it on.
I also have a "Gone Horribly Wrong" table, with everything from "dosn't alway work" to "Becomes sentient and wants to kill you"

Edit: For example, the weapon he made had several functions, it could fire some disruptive tele-gas, utilize the "Dolphin Cannon" (Teleported in a Dolphin and flung it at high speeds), the Porpoise Generator (Teleported in a porpoise ontop of a foe), and the now legendary close range weapon known simply as the Torsoporter.

The other player had a Sword that cut time. We just made up stuff she could do with it.

Oomblek
2010-10-27, 04:23 PM
i was in a game just a couple months ago, the people i was playing with were all new to the concept but the DM, a good friend, and me. so there was 3 that hadnt played before... we thought we'd teach them, but we were wrong.

long story short, within 30 minutes of playing the party was running from 'overtly large' eagles i beleive was the DM's term. and we had no bows but one oversized bone bow, carried by me and the halfing. with just a few arrows to go with. so one of the new chars (a ranger) gets the idea of tieing the halfing to one of the yard long arrows, and using the rest of the party to shoot the bow and fire at the eagles... we laughed but allowed it... rolled a natural 20 it to hit... the first eagle was down, then halfing managed to jump from one eagle to another (rolling 17 and 18 conversly)

he was hensforth known... as the trapise midget

Telasi
2010-10-27, 04:37 PM
Once, in a Dark Heresy game I ran, the party techpriest teleported an alien city back in time and into space. He did this by very carefull, over the course of several hours of trial and error, figuring out how to operate an eldritch artifact that slowly drained sanity, but allowed major manipulation of space-time.

The best part: I improved the session. I hadn't expected them to keep playing with the gizmo after they lost a little sanity.

Lifeson
2010-10-27, 04:38 PM
Well, to begin with, I'm DM'ing for a half-orc bard, and an elf barbarian who was raised by wolves name "Fist of the North Star".

So, on the first real encounter, the following happened: The elf barbarian beheaded a bandit, who's head gave the half-orc ammo to throw at another bandit, who turned in rage to give the other elf enough of a target to headshot him. The party mage had also summoned a badger, that decided that the head bandit was a mate and rape the hell out of him.

Oh, that and a gnome got really, really interested in speading the half-orc's bagpipes as a legit source of music.

My players are amazing. :D

dsmiles
2010-10-27, 06:51 PM
Edit: For example, the weapon he made had several functions, it could fire some disruptive tele-gas, utilize the "Dolphin Cannon" (Teleported in a Dolphin and flung it at high speeds), the Porpoise Generator (Teleported in a porpoise ontop of a foe), and the now legendary close range weapon known simply as the Torsoporter.

The other player had a Sword that cut time. We just made up stuff she could do with it.

I read that as the "Dolph Cannon," the first time. I laughed so hard I cried. Then I read it again. It was still funny, just not as funny as picturing Dolph Lundgren getting flung out of a cannon at high speeds, over, and over, and over. :smallbiggrin:

Fuzzie Fuzz
2010-10-27, 06:52 PM
I also have a "Gone Horribly Wrong" table, with everything from "dosn't alway work" to "Becomes sentient and wants to kill you"

I need this table. Get it posted, stat! Also the rest of the system looks cool too. :smallwink:

And I can't think of anything particularly zany that I've let my players get away with when they probably shouldn't have. They did try to win a gladiatorial tournament by cross-dressing and seducing their opponents once though. In the middle of a tavern. With cocktail napkins and a REALLY good bluff check.

dsmiles
2010-10-27, 07:08 PM
Seriously, BRC. Let me know when it's up in HB. DO WANT!

Zertryx
2010-10-27, 07:37 PM
I was playing a 3.5 game as a rouge and we needed to stop a giant statue from attacking the town. That's when I Jokingly announced "Well I'll just craft my Gundam Here" The DM actually let me have the skill "Craft Gundam" after that statement, Sadly I put only 1 rank into it x.x

Urpriest
2010-10-27, 08:06 PM
Probably the most spectacular stupid I ever allowed was at the end of a campaign in which the PCs were trying to free an ancient pantheon to replace the current gods (unlike most settings, in this world the ancient sealed deities were the good guys!) The final battle of the campaign, they end up destroying a god-storing artifact by putting it in a bag of holding and bursting said bag with an arrow. This isn't the stupid.

The stupid happened when Re-Horakhty rose up in all his glory and declared that he would give each of those who freed him a boon. There was some discussion in the party, then they turned as one: "We want to be prismatic great wyrm dragons!"

And I said yes. They then decided it would be fun to attack the god, now that they were CR 47 or whatever. I ended the campaign, not wanting to improvise a meaningless epic-level combat.

enderrocksonall
2010-10-27, 08:30 PM
The first 4e game we were in our DM let us gamble. That's not unusual, but he let us gamble without any kind of betting limit. We were pretty low level, so it took us about 25 rolls to make over 1 million gold from that poor little coastal village.

BRC
2010-10-27, 10:27 PM
Seriously, BRC. Let me know when it's up in HB. DO WANT!
Okay, I'll try to find some time to track down the files and get them presentable. Be warned, it dosn't actually include rules for creating a teleporting shield or the dolphin cannon, that was basically just somthing I made up when one my players suggested that one of the buttons was shaped like a Dolphin.

Jack Zander
2010-10-27, 10:33 PM
I allowed a player to make sleight of hand checks at a -20 penalty as a free action, which allowed his master thrower to treat all opponents as flat-footed all the time and give him something like 8+ sneak attacks each round.

It wasn't all that broken I suppose. I kept finding ways to challenge him and the rest of the party. He was kind of a one-trick pony. At low levels he got grappled by an orc and stabbed by another while the first one held him. At high levels he failed his will save against a dominate person and used his tactics against the other players. And any time they were fighting undead/constructs/oozes/etc he was useless.

He still dominated any battle with most opponents though.

Cipher Stars
2010-10-28, 03:35 AM
I let anything fly in my games.

However, I use a Karma/Balance system. if They do something over the top then their going to be seeing something over the top. :smallamused: and I am good at doing over the top.

Flail_master
2010-10-28, 06:23 AM
i just remembered one!
spoilered for length
it was our first Evil campaign session, and a quick summary of the situation, a demon had just dropped from the sky into a quarry of a city (this is a PC, we homebrewed a race for him), the guards and a paladin where taking it on, when the PC's arrived

ok so the fighter devoutly worships hextor right, but the paladin there was a follower of heironious, he noticed, and naturally, attacks the paladin

by this point no one knows theyre evil, and theres a massive crowd of panicking people and guards around the quarry, watching the carnage.

the plan was that they would defend the demon, seeing him as a valuable asset to their team, but making them enemies of the city, now, they were attacking the demon, following true roleplay (which i commend them for) but they were also attacking guards, so i was thinking
"great, no PC and enemies of the city, this will go well for them"
when suddenly the Changeling rogue announces to me,
CR: "im making a bluff check"
Me: "to who, you're in the middle of a fight?"
CR: "to the entire crowd around the quarry"
Me: "... ok... what are you saying?"
CR: "I'm telling them to calm down and that we are killing the guards and Paladin because they're possessed"
Me: "... WHAT?! thats ridiculous!"
CR and everyone else: "come on! it's reasonable, they cant see that much!"
Me: "yeah but these are guards, and a paladin whose been a friend of the city for years, you're getting like a -10 or -15 to the check"

anyways the debate went on and after presenting some ok sounding logic i allowed it with a DC 30 check, and he had to sound convincing

naturally he did sound convincing AND he rolled like a 19 or 20, and with his mods, that gave him a 34
i was unable to accept he had bluffed the WHOLE CROWD, so i rolled a percentile to see who believed him

... 84%... 84% of the crowd believed him, after the fight was over, some guards came down to ask what happened, and then the cleric (with ranks in bluff cos of the dragon domain) backed up the rogue, as did the fighter, and it was all said so well, and there wasnt a town cleric around to dispute it, so i allowed it.
Not to mention the cleric said they cant be rezzed because their souls are 'tainted' and only their gods can cleanse them. therefore they could never rez the paladin and ask what happened.

and thats how the PC's became friends of the cities instead of enemies :smallsmile::smalltongue:

i am, however, glad i allowed it, them being on good terms with the city has actually made a few things easier for me :smalltongue:

dsmiles
2010-10-28, 10:19 AM
Not stuff I've allowed, but stuff I was allowed to pull off:

Pick Pockets (2e) during combat at a -50% penalty. I tried to take a lich's Ring of Teleportation off his finger, so it couldn't get away. Rolled 01 on the dice, my pick pockets was at like 60%. The DM was so pissed at me. The lich subsequently beat the crap out of me, and I used his ring to teleport away for two rounds (ring had 3 uses/day) quaffed two healing potions, came back and was right back in the fight. Nailed the lich on a crit with a +2 undead slaying longsword (that I wasn't proficient in). The DM never let me play a thief again.

EDIT: To this day, those two dice are known as the Divine Intervention Dice, and are only used on special occasions now.