Starting the Arms Race with the Dm...

[panaikhan]

This happened during our last session... did I booboo?

I took over a character from a player who no longer comes to our sessions - a Raptoran Duskblade 7 / Stormtalon 2.

The party (not particularly optimized) were up against some hobgoblins, the leader of which was a spellcaster and seated on a flying mount. Naturally, I had the Raptoran (the only member who could fly) intercept the leader in flight.
The combat was unfortunate - the beatsticks were missing more than hitting, aerial combat is never an exact science, and things were generally not going our way.
The Raptoran took a heavy beating in one round from the flying mount, and would not survive another similar thrashing - so I had the Raptoran use the Duskblade 'quicken' ability to cast True Strike, then a maximum Power Attack on the spellcaster - which killed him outright. The DM was quite surprised (as was I tbh - I suspected the leader to be tougher), and the combat itself finished soon after.
I'm just concerned I have given the DM grounds to 'beef up' future encounters to cope with me playing the Raptoran more effectively than it's previous owner.

Any thoughts from the playground?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It looks like it was a difficult fight, and your character probably wouldn't have survived if you hadn't pulled out your 1/day ability on it. Hopefully your DM recognizes that, but if he does beef up the encounters, pick up a Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC) to do that three additional times each day.

[Gwendol]

No, it was an adequate response to a difficult situation. I wouldn't worry about it too much as it's a once/day trick. Besides, duskblades are notorious for their nova capability: quick cast true strike, followed by a channelled shocking grasp/full PA strike is not uncommon tactics for duskblades.

[Novawurmson]

You played your class and the abilities given you effectively. A good DM will have the hobgoblins take note of your tactics and use reasonable but effective tactics against you (the next time you see hobgoblins, several of them have bows to attack you in the air instead of relying solely on air support, for example). A bad DM will try to punish you (or the party) for your intelligent decision making.

The main thing to do is to talk to your DM about the encounter - if he was just surprised (or even impressed) by your tactic, then you've got nothing to worry about. If he's worried that you will outclass your party members, tone yourself down (use the True Strike+Power Attack combo on a mook instead of a boss) or help the rest of the party optimize/combo their abilities together, and/or help him by showing him some of your character's weaknesses. If he's going to be passive-aggressive about you killing his prized hobgoblin, consider finding another play group.

[panaikhan]

Thanks for the responses.

I was concerned because the DM questioned the ability, then the spell, then the PA bonus (in that order).
As far as I remember, the previous player never tried that combination, so I don't think the DM was prepared for it (or even aware of it). If I had tried it at the start of the combat instead of when we hit trouble, the whole encounter would have been over in a few rounds.

[Novawurmson]

...most encounters last 2-3 rounds in D&D, really. Offensive values increase much more rapidly than defensive values (i.e. BAB scales for a lot of classes at +1 a level. Good luck trying to keep up with that buying AC).

[rweird]

Some advice is to talk to the DM about that. Explain it in greater detail and see what he has to say about it. Explain that if it would be a problem you'd be willing to try to work it out (assuming you are) and possibly remake the character a bit or get a new one (again, assuming you are willing to do such). See if your worry is something you actually should be worried about, if not then don't worry about it.

[Gwendol]

In that case maybe you should talk him through your sheet, just to point out what he can and should expect.

[DeusMortuusEst]

Obviously your DM needs to be shown true OP. Get your raptoran killed and build a druidzilla with greenbound summoning and planar shepherd.

:smalltongue:

Seriously though, I second the idea of talking with your DM about your character's capabilities and make sure that he understands the class, the race and the feats selected.

[Alabenson]

Thanks for the responses.

I was concerned because the DM questioned the ability, then the spell, then the PA bonus (in that order).
As far as I remember, the previous player never tried that combination, so I don't think the DM was prepared for it (or even aware of it). If I had tried it at the start of the combat instead of when we hit trouble, the whole encounter would have been over in a few rounds.

Personally, I wouldn't worry overmuch if I were you; it sounds like the DM was satisfied with your explanation of what your character is capable of, and I assume he's aware that this is something your character can only pull off once a day. As long as your not consistently trivializing the DMs encounters, I don't see the DM starting a real "arms race".
Also, it's entirely possible that the DM will stubbornly refuse to alter his encounters even if you repeatedly trivialize them; I remember having to finally explain to my DM that simply throwing beatsticks at me wasn't going to be particularly effective after I discovered the wonders of battlefield control.

[Kelb_Panthera]

You used a 1/day emergency tactic in a tactical emergency. I don't see a problem here.