Winning without fighting

[Ryulin18]

I was playing D&D 3.5 with my friends last night but people had to leave and in the end there was me (Barbarian) and Luke (Druid) who are both level 1s. We were in a pinch and had to remove 20 pirates from an area with a lighthouse.

Instead of usual fighting, which we were sure to lose, we got clever with skills and improvising. Sneaking past the camp we went to the lighthouse and got to the top, killing the guard on duty and then went all A team.

We began setting up cupboards and tables on rope as to act as rams against the windows when the ropes (which were secured in closed doors) were either burned or the door was opened. The druid pulled out the lighthouses fire oil (a large cauldron almost brimming) and set it at the top of the stairs.

When we were prepared, we shouted at the not so far away camp until we had their attention. As expected, they tried to swarm us and were charging up the 10ft wide staircase. With a push, the cauldron went clanging down the stairs as they came into sight, sending them back down the stairs in a tsunami of oil.

The druid pulled out an alchemists fire and lobbed it into a nice patch of oil, then cast Raging flame as we abseiled over the edge. As the fire went up, so did the ropes holding up the swinging rams and the pirates. With a huge smash all the windows were blown out and a huge backdraft happened.

There was no survivors

[gbprime]

You get XP for beating the encounter. Whether or not this involves fighting is up to the players and the DM to work out.

Heck, you could even get your XP by turning the culprit in to Professor Snape or having Scooby sit on the guy so Fred can take his mask off in front of the sheriff. :smallbiggrin:

[Ryulin18]

Hard mode - No super powered spells. Just using your wits and whats around you

[Toy Killer]

I had a third level diplomancer that played the city guard against the government of a small walled city and usurped the long standing Abbot. The only spell I cast was a single charm person and a Mount Spell to set things in motion.

[Aegis013]

Story thread? I've got one, it was my first D&D experience when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old.

It was in an old edition with my Dad DM'ing Keep on the Borderlands. Since we only had two players (My brother and myself) my Dad also ran a character. I was a fighter, my brother was a thief and my Dad was a magic-user (I believe those were our only options). We bought our equipment, roleplayed getting adventure tips from the barkeeper and all that, and eventually set out on our adventure.

We eventually stumbled upon a cave, where my brother managed to hear several boisterous orc voices coming from within the cave. With a DM clue and some deductive reasoning my brother (9 or 10 at the time) concluding the orcs inside were drunk, but there were too many to fight head-on. So we concocted a plan.

First, my brother and my dad spread our lantern oil out in the entrance to the cave, and laid a rope across the entrance and stood at either side of the rope, my brother also kept a lit torch nearby which didn't give away our position thanks to it being daylight. I, being young, decided to climb up the cliff face to the top of the mouth of cave. Then we initiated our plan.

My brother, the thief, yelled some nasty insults into the cave. The orcs, being drunk became furious and stormed out to see who had dared to yell at them with such impudence. They quickly reached the lantern oil slick, and my Dad, the magic-user, and my brother, the thief, pulled the rope taught just above ankle height. The first orc slipped and crashed over the rope face first. The second proceeded. When one orc would realize the one in front was slipping and falling and try to stop, the orc behind him wouldn't and would shove the orc in front of him into the oil slick, eager for a fight.

They all slid and piled up. I leapt down from my vantage point and body slammed the dog pile of orcs wearing heavy armor, quickly rolling off and getting to safety. This stunned them for a few seconds, (I don't recall if this was actually in the rules or if it was made up by my Dad, though he was meticulous in looking up rules to make sure he was running the game correctly) these few seconds of stun bought my brother, the thief, enough time to grab the torch and set the lantern oil on fire. The orcs roasted alive.

That is the story of how two children and their father beat a bunch of orcs they would've stood no chance against in a straight fight. Ever since I've loved D&D.

[Ryulin18]

That is the story of how two children and their father beat a bunch of orcs they would've stood no chance against in a straight fight. Ever since I've loved D&D.

That is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Good show, sir!

[Kansaschaser]

As a party, we were tasked with removing/killing all the frost giants and hill giants that had moved into the area. They had killed all the locals and started building a fort.

I used Invisibility to sneak in and scout around. After getting the lay of the area and the number of giants (about 100), I decided to go prepare.

I took a fishtank and filled it with water. Then I cast Water to Acid (Stormwrack). Then, I used Shrink Item on the Acid and turned it into a piece of cloth. I repeated this process several times. After 3 days of this, I had about 18 pieces of cloth, each one being several gallons of acid.

Then the next three days I used Shrink Item on a cauldron of burning oil until I had 18 pieces of cloth that was burning oil.

I stealthed back into the Giant camp and used Sleight of Hand to "Reverse Pick Pocket" on the largest of the giants. I put an acid or fire cloth in each of the giants bags, pockets, or boots.

I then returned to the edge of town and had the Bard announce to the giants that if they didn't leave, they would face "Fire and Damnation". When they refused to leave, I used Shout to yell the command word that dispelled all the Shrink Item spells. The next few rounds we saw the place go up in flames or sizzle in a pool of acid.

Our entire party just stood on the sidelines watching the chaos. :smallbiggrin:

[Karoht]

Fighting 3 huge boars. 10ft wide 15ft long.
Rogue uses his initiative to move over to a nearby set of trees where he thinks the Boar will pass. He ties off the end of the rope (he calculated the approximate distance prior to his actual action) and on the other end is a grappling hook.
He holds his action.
Sure enough, the boar decides to charge another party member, and passes right next to those trees.
Because he held his action the DM decided to give him an attack of opportunity.
He throws the grappling hook as the boar passes. It lodges itself at the back legs, right by the hip and genitals.
10 feet from impacting the other player, the boar runs out of rope.
First the DM did some maths (not math, maths, there is in fact a difference) regarding movement speed (40-60 kilometers per hour), the mass of the creature (similar weight to that of a pickup truck), etc.
The DM consulted one of the optional critical hit tables.
Then he rolled some dice behind the screen.

The poor critter not only shattered it's pelvis, it dislocated most of it's vertibrae. It wasn't getting up any time soon. It was mercy killed at the end of combat.

The other two? They both charged into pit traps that had been set the night before.

The whole thing lasted 1 round, Rogue was the only one who took any actual actions as the rest decided to take cover or set for charge.

[Zoomba]

One Eberron campaign I was in we were 2nd level and had just escaped from a crashing airship. Unfortunately, the lifeboat of sorts we were using was broken, and my changeling rogue failed it's Reflex save. I stayed conscious but at 0 hp, and (admittedly with my blessing) the party left me to recuperate in a nearby cave while they went on to the monestary we were supposed to be investigating.

First night they were gone my rogue woke up to a large rat creeping around the cave. Not paticuarly good at combat and worried a bad hit would drop me unconscious to bleed out, I didn't want to fight the thing. It growled and looked hungry, but I tossed it one of my rations bars. The rat seemed to enjoy that and after a bit, wandered off to let me sleep.

The next day I was bored and looking around the cave. Not much to see: a pool about 20 meters in and some large rocks and outcroppings but that was about it.

Then some noises out front. Some raiders had seen the crash and were snooping around the wreckage, looking for loot or survivors. I stood silent and hid in the cave, but then three of them came inside to check the cavern out.

As I'm crouching, cursing my comrades for taking so long, I notice the rat again. As subtly as I can, I wave to get his attention and pull out another ration bar, miming eating it. I them, point out towards the raiders and mime eating again. That and a critical charisma/wis check later, the rat runs out and tries to bite the intruders. They yell attack him, but then move on, and I get to stay and rest up to fuller health.

I still feel somewhat sorry for Rattly's fate.

[AzazelSephiroth]

My current party was investigating a rash of Undead attacks upon our home town a while back and we traced them to another village in the mountains. A few days travel and one random woodland encounter later and we arrived at an expansive mining operation. The town had made an alliance with a powerful necromancer (our enemy) and his zombie/skeletal minions were mining crude ore. The regular townsfolk had no clue about the true nature of their alliance, but the mayor was corrupt as they come.

We confronted the mayor and during negotiations, I (the bard and party face) was forced to leave the room due to story reasons, (past with undead, childhood memories), during my absence our party rogue... an angry pirate stabs the mayor! A quick alarm later and we are facing the mayor and his Golem bodygaurd... the only consolation... the room was magically soundproofed. Needless to say the battle was tough, but the true test came after... we attempt to escape just as the local Gaurd Captain is coming to report! I cast Glibness...

10 minutes later we are now the heros of the town who have survived an undead assasination plot, that unfortunately killed the poor mayor, and the Town has declared war on the Necromancer! We saunter out of town to take on the undead at the mines with the town`s blessing and a reward!:smallbiggrin:

[Namfuak]

My party had to go through a "trial" dungeon (we were joining an adventuring guild), and we found a sleeping owlbear. It was sitting on a trap door that seemed to be the only way forward On our own we could probably take it, but we decided to try to avoid killing it since we were all good, so instead we took a roasted boar that we had found earlier in the dungeon, and put it in front of the owlbear, far enough away from the trapdoor that when it got up and went to eat the boar, we were able to slip in behind it.