Comic relief character moments

[tim01300]

So I have introduced a bumbling old mage as comic relief but also to help guide my players when they are straying too far from my adventure. I was wondering what characters and moments you guys have had. Just goofy NPC moments.

So far I have borrowed from DL's Fizban, having the old mage cast fireball to get the players out of a prison cell when they expected him to cast Knock.

Later he fumbled casting featherfall so he created a massive explosion of feathers that he fell into. My players love him so far.

[ArcturusV]

Well, due to random stat rolls in a game I'm in right now I have a 4 Int Fighter/Sorcerer who fits the comic relief role, which people seem to be enjoying. It includes him coming up with weird shorthand titles for everyone. Like the Paladin and the Cleric of Heironus are both "Shinies", the creature under the river they ran into (Humanoid, possibly some evil spawn critter) is the "Zombie River Elf". He goes around completely oblivious to people and generally misunderstanding them. Guy points a crossbow at him as he's walking and he just smiles, waves, says "HIIIII! GOIN' FISHING!" and walks off to the river.

So I played up his low Int less as talking like "Hurr... duh... me no thunk gud." and just misunderstanding everyone, being simplistic in his thought processes, and idealistic as befits someone going for Exalted Status.

Interestingly enough the fact that he's dumb has played well into the party's hands as his "dumb" ideas stumble across good ideas. And it's not derailing the game yet.

[Rethmar]

Let me tell you about Helga the dwarf fighter.

Helga was a female dwarf with a beard, who was played by a pretty new to the game player. Not completely understanding the height/weight ratios for races that weren't human, his 3'8'' dwarf weighed upwards of 500 pounds.

Helga the Hefty was cause for much comic relief in my campaign. In one instance, she broke and fell through a rickety rope bridge. It wasn't a huge fall, but she couldn't very well pull herself up the cliff either, especially not with the added weight of full plate armor. It took the full strength of the party's Orc Barbarian and crew to pull her up.

Near the end of the campaign, she tried to save another PC from the Orc (a frenzied berserker) in mid frenzy. She tried to grapple him and just hold him down until he calmed down, but Frenzy + Rage gives quite a bit of strength.

Long story short, he rolled his attack, crit for max damage and cut poor Helga in half. He did, however, have enough strength to lift her upper half (torso and up) with one hand and proceed to scare the poop out of the whole mindflayer slave ring.

[Toy Killer]

I have always wanted to play a decent, but skeezy, Lich and finally got the opportunity in my current campaign.

I mean, 90% of the time, when you hear Lich, you think of megalomaniac hell bent on killing the world. What is it about being undead that makes you hate life?

So, in comes Arch-Baron VonKlutez. The Baron isn't interested in the whole 'World Domination' bit, nor even the petty revenge thing. He doesn't appreciate the Church of Palor, but has called off dealing with devils (They've screwed him over before.) and choose undead over mortality, because, why not? So many things to experience within the world, so many bars to see, and scams to pull, Think of the wenches people!

The first thing the party did when he opened a trans-dimensional door to his multi-planar keep was question his intent (After all, he is a lich) to which he explained, He didn't particularly like the idea of his door opening to Hell, and he sure as hell didn't take on this 'Beautiful' Complexion... just to go visit there once a week.

a bit of an A-Hole, but ultimately, think Zombie Big Lebowski...

I'm just... Like... A dude, man... So, lets put heads together... and... like stop this... Stuff from happening...

Out of all the NPCs and locations mentioned thus far in the game, VonKlutes is the only Unanimously known, by full title.

[Eman Resu]

pc rolled a jackass for a familiar, had bad attitude did everything opposite of what was asked

[panaikhan]

My warforged juggernaut has given it's share of comic moments - not least the complete inability for a 7' tall 350lb metal monster to "jump" a 5' gap and proceed to plummet down a crevice.
My PF Orc Bard (Krangg The Musicless) still raises a chuckle as he charges into battle barbarian-style wielding his Oud in one hand while chanting.

[meto30]

There's an NPC ranger in our campaign whose animal companion is a wolf. Whenever someone says something to the wolf, he would reply "woof" in a completely monotone and deadpan manner. For particupar moments the wolf would bark out multiple woofs but still with the same deadpan voice; it would send the players ROTFL everytime. Couple that with the fact that the ranger is comically humorless, and we have the star comic relief of our campaign.

[NeoPhoenix0]

this was a pc but it was still kind off funny.

the group had run into a mind flayer twice before and failed to kill it. the sorcerer in particular had a personal, and mutual, grudge with the mind flayer. so when they started the final boss battle with it they went right for it. the mind flayer was trying to stun him and had teleporting spells, levitate, and a couple defensive spells on him. so did the sorcerer. but the sorcerer was attacking with a rod of wonder, just because he wanted to use one in a boss fight.

edit: imagine if the thing had produced butterflies. talk about anti-climactic.

[Zubrowka74]

Intelligent weapons can also do the trick. Remember Excalibur Junior from the Grailquest books ?

[Bonzai]

I played a True Namer in a campaign that covered the twilight tomb mod and then into the Comyr, Shadowdale, and Annorouch trillogy. My character was an Illumian, and a devout follower of Denier, whom he believed to have created the Illumian race and that True Speech was the language of the meta text. As such, to him Denier was the superior deity in the realms. Azuth? There would be no wizards without books now would there? Mystra and the weave? A pale imitation when compared to the language used to create the universe. It wasn't planned, but his religious bias continuously came into play during the campaign.

In Comyr, my character was the only one who didn't get dominated by a Sharran cell posing as a church of Mystra. He didn't attend their ceremony on religious grounds, as he had no interest in joining in what he called a Cult and worshiping Mystra. Unfortunately he was unwillingly drug into events beyond his control, and ended up stopping Shar's plans.

In Shadowdale he thought he was done getting involved and was going to drop off an artifact that they had come into from the last mod to Mystra's Chosen and be done with Shar and Mystra's little feud. Unfortunately Shar was at it again with the Zhents this time. The party was charged by Azuth to stop the Sharrans from destroying the weave... again. My character was frustrated, and really didn't want to be involved. Why did the Gods keep having to come to him with their little problems? Sure he helped out last time, but what gives them the idea that they can impose on him like this whenever something comes up. However, after being attacked by the Zhents he reluctantly gets drug along with the party and ends up helping defeat the Zhents and Shar and saves the day.

So after saving Shadow Dale, he decides enough is enough. He is done with all this Shar/Mystra business. He was a researcher and hadn't been to a library in far too long. The party had acquired some relics of Myth Dranor in their last adventure and he and another party member decided to repatriate them. His alternative motive was to get in good with the new queen and be allowed access to their library and see what the famous city knew of True Speech. The plan worked beautifully, and he finally got some time in a decent library. But then he was attacked by Netherese Shades. This led him into being drug right back into the Gods struggles, and Mystra once again imposing upon him.

Long story short, the party defeated the Sharrans and saved the Weave. However, due to the series of events, my character is now currently convinced that the only course of action left to him is to kill Shar. That way she will stop attacking him, and maybe Mystra and all the other gods will stop bothering him and asking him to do favors for them all time. Then maybe he can finally get some research done. He also feels that it explains why Mystra dies all the time, as it seems that she is utterly incapable of doing anything for her self and her weave keeps unraveling at the the drop of hat.

Anyways, it was funny. It seemed like every time he turned around, Mystra was asking for his help. He really didn't want anything to do with her or Shar, but they just wouldn't leave him alone.

Aside from that, one funny moment comes to mind. Early on the party encounters a Silver dragon, and speaks with it. I ask for his name, and he replies that I couldn't possibly pronounce it. My true namer responds "Try me". LOL

[Roclat]

Intelligent weapons can also do the trick. Remember Excalibur Junior from the Grailquest books ?

I made a weapon for a game I ran Was a +1 club that was colored a deep blue, and had 3/day charges of Sandstorm(Was actually an altered obscuring mist)

The group and I still find it funny.

[meto30]

I played a True Namer in a campaign that covered the twilight tomb mod and then into the Comyr, Shadowdale, and Annorouch trillogy. My character was an Illumian, and a devout follower of Denier, whom he believed to have created the Illumian race and that True Speech was the language of the meta text. As such, to him Denier was the superior deity in the realms. Azuth? There would be no wizards without books now would there? Mystra and the weave? A pale imitation when compared to the language used to create the universe. It wasn't planned, but his religious bias continuously came into play during the campaign.

In Comyr, my character was the only one who didn't get dominated by a Sharran cell posing as a church of Mystra. He didn't attend their ceremony on religious grounds, as he had no interest in joining in what he called a Cult and worshiping Mystra. Unfortunately he was unwillingly drug into events beyond his control, and ended up stopping Shar's plans.

In Shadowdale he thought he was done getting involved and was going to drop off an artifact that they had come into from the last mod to Mystra's Chosen and be done with Shar and Mystra's little feud. Unfortunately Shar was at it again with the Zhents this time. The party was charged by Azuth to stop the Sharrans from destroying the weave... again. My character was frustrated, and really didn't want to be involved. Why did the Gods keep having to come to him with their little problems? Sure he helped out last time, but what gives them the idea that they can impose on him like this whenever something comes up. However, after being attacked by the Zhents he reluctantly gets drug along with the party and ends up helping defeat the Zhents and Shar and saves the day.

So after saving Shadow Dale, he decides enough is enough. He is done with all this Shar/Mystra business. He was a researcher and hadn't been to a library in far too long. The party had acquired some relics of Myth Dranor in their last adventure and he and another party member decided to repatriate them. His alternative motive was to get in good with the new queen and be allowed access to their library and see what the famous city knew of True Speech. The plan worked beautifully, and he finally got some time in a decent library. But then he was attacked by Netherese Shades. This led him into being drug right back into the Gods struggles, and Mystra once again imposing upon him.

Long story short, the party defeated the Sharrans and saved the Weave. However, due to the series of events, my character is now currently convinced that the only course of action left to him is to kill Shar. That way she will stop attacking him, and maybe Mystra and all the other gods will stop bothering him and asking him to do favors for them all time. Then maybe he can finally get some research done. He also feels that it explains why Mystra dies all the time, as it seems that she is utterly incapable of doing anything for her self and her weave keeps unraveling at the the drop of hat.

Anyways, it was funny. It seemed like every time he turned around, Mystra was asking for his help. He really didn't want anything to do with her or Shar, but they just wouldn't leave him alone.

Aside from that, one funny moment comes to mind. Early on the party encounters a Silver dragon, and speaks with it. I ask for his name, and he replies that I couldn't possibly pronounce it. My true namer responds "Try me". LOL

Ah, a fellow FR player! Greetings. Congratulations on your successful defense of the Weave.

[ArcturusV]

Should have included a "Mystra always dies when some Plot is up. We should just kill her now and get to the end of the plot faster" bit too. :smallbiggrin:

[Tokuhara]

Not so much a character, but a Comic Relief item.

In the last game I ran, I decided to give the party's barbarian/rogue a Helmet of Blindsight that had a secondary effect he liked. The secondary was that enemies who didn't use regular sight couldn't see you a la invisibility.

However, the item was a glorified phylactery for Edmund the Poor-Sighted, an NPC the players worked with in a prior campaign. Edmund was an epic wizard/incantrix/initiate of the sevenfold veil/mage of the arcane order/metaphysical spellshaper/abjurant champion/master specialist who had the unfortunate luck in his old age of losing his sight. However, to make himself immortal, he bound his soul to this Helmet. Sadly, the Blindsight was him telling you the area and guiding you. It was a riot when the Rogarian walked into pillars, set off traps, and fell into holes all the time because Edmund, in his senile attempt to make himself immortal, forgot to bring his eyeglasses.

[Viachi]

I think funniest moment is when we got a new player (a boy) playing the role of a female dwarf warrior to walk into a dwarven ruin in hopes to get information, and then have to roleplay flirting as this woman. His face was so uncomfortable, probably made worse that the DM was going all out in trying to get him to flirt.
Now eery time we encounter dwarves, at least one bad pickupline is dropped.

[Balldanor]

I have three situations that I figured I'd share.. two of them happened to the same person, then the third was me playing my fighter as if he had an intelligence of 3 instead of a charisma of 3...

First situation: first time playing, new campaign with new level 1 characters. My friend is playing a druid/ranger (AD&D rules), and we meet in a tavern (of course). We feel a breeze blow by us, and a dude all of a sudden collapses to the floor after being assassinated by shadows. The town investigators were called and asked everyone to stay in their rooms in the inn/tavern overnight while they investigated, and they would talk to us in the morning. My friend decides that his character wants to help "clean up the mess before breakfast", so he goes down to the common room and carries the body outside and dumps it in the moat. Of course, we get asked about why he tampered with the evidence in the morning, and he nearly misses the entire adventure because he decides to walk away from the duke, who's trying to offer us a job. Once he's outside of the town, the duke was sending him telepathic messages to come back to take the job, but he was abuot to keep walking before we told him (out of character) to stop being a dumbass and get back to the group (between fits of hysterical laughter).

The second situation (same guy, same character), we are flying on griffons from Water Deep to some sultanate city on the south of the continent. While on the way, we got attacked by some bad guys on nightmares. He pulls out his bow and is firing arrows from griffon-back when he rolls a 1. Rolls again and gets another 1 (bowstring breaks). Rolls again and gets a 2 (bow breaks in half, hits him in the face). By this time, we're already rolling... Then he rolls a dex check to see if he stays mounted, and fails that roll as well, so he falls off his griffon, which is flying about 120 feet up in the air. The DM decides that we have 3 rounds to hear/see him falling and catch up to him before he splats on the ground. The cleric sees him first round, catches up to him in the 2nd round, then the ranger rolls 3 checks to see if he can catch the hand that's offered to him and pull himself onto the mount... now he rolls 2 20's and a 19 to save his character. (By the way, that guy died 2 or 3 encounters later by getting blasted with 6 manticore spines for twice his hp total in one round)

The third situation shows what type of mindset I often have... we are in a gladiator/tournament type of encounter where we have to fight a group, then fight a creature. I'm walking around as a 5th level fighter with a Tiamat relic +3 longsword of dancing that fights as a 10th lvl fighter once it's dancing (also gave me ridiculous special abilities including dragon breath weapons and shapeshift to snakes). I also have a ring of flying. We don't see the monster right away, so we're investigating the room to find it. We finally see it while on a bridge crossing water, and it's in a little alcove 50 feet away directly, but 100 ft by land (an adult black dragon waiting for us to come into view). I decide to charge it while flying; everyone else has to take the long way around, so they can't get there in less than 2 rounds. As a result of being the only target available and being 5 feet away from him, I take a blast of the acid breath directly to my face....and roll a 1 on my Reflex save. All of my items roll their saves and I end up losing my Gem of Brightness, Ring of Protection +4 (and +2 to saves), my +2 shield that I JUST bought before this tournament started....and my relic sword of dancing. We ended up killing the dragon the round before it breathed again due to it failing a DC25 Fort save on my poison bite (save or die instantly) that was one of the features given to me by my sword, but I was shell-shocked from losing the sword, all special abilities that came with the sword, my other items, and a good chunk of my armor class. I didn't find it funny at the time, but it sure gave everyone else a nice laugh at my expense... (not sure if you guys will find that one funny or sad at how much of an idiot I am)

Not really comedic characters, but certainly comedic character moments...

[Theprettiestorc]

Oh, I've had a few moments. In a Pathfinder campaign recently, I was playing a Monk. And I derped, and tried to jump an 80 ft. pit because I thought it was 15 ft. Set off ten razor wire traps connected to ten fireball traps, before landing sixty feet down. Due to DM fiat, the character survived, but barely. But needed a new outfit. I calculated figures, since the cleric offered hers, and said it would fit well enough because while the monk was taller, the cleric was curvier.
Catfolk cleric - it became a standing joke from then that she was sexy, and everyone calls her Cattits out of character.
Even better is when we got a party-loot page, for random things we find that people can claim on the page. Someone put "Mirini's Bra" on there(the cleric). I had since replaced my monk with a wizard, but the new monk claimed that on her loot sheet. We were laughing when we realized this.
Now, in that campaign, we draw a card from a deck, and use that for what happens on a critical/fumble. The monster crit the new monk, and got the card which destroys armor. Since she was only wearing monk's robes...(cue clothing destruction!) Someone mentioned that Mirini's bra would probably work as a dress, and we all got a laugh about how the monks can't keep their clothes on in our campaign.

Another moment, about a few years ago, was when I tried to run a 3.5 campaign. The paladin was walking through a field with cows, and takes a look. "...I wanna grab that bull to carry our stuff." So he runs up, and gets a Natural 20 on his Handle Animal. We figured he ran up, jumped, grabbed it by the horns, and pulled its head right down to the ground, stunning it. I let him keep the bull - he named it "Lassie".
Later on, one of the other players was being annoying with his bard. So the paladin's player starts petting the air. "Et's okay, Lassie..." It was the voice - the rest of us broke into hysterics about it.