Zweisteine
2014-01-02, 11:12 PM
How much security so standard D&D generally have? I ask because my last session, which lasted about five hours, was waste entirely negotiating a player's punishment for attempted theft.
Here's the story:
The party:
Elf Warblade (chaotic good), me
Halfling Swordsage (chaotic neutral) (first-time player)
Dragonborn Mongrelfolk Crusader (lawful good)
Session 1
They met up in the town next to the monastery the Elf was trained at. The other two characters were just passing through (the crusader might have been my fellow student, can't remember). We met up and decided to go on a quest to fulfill their lifelong goals (for me, to find Kamate; the sword of the Irpn Heart discipline; for the halfling, to gain wealth and power; I do not recall the crusader's motive, so I assume spreading good and eliminating the spawn of Tiamat).
We heard rumors of a sword in a near-ish town, so we signed up to guard a merchant heading that way.
Day 1: fought some goblins, easy win
Day 2: met some people the merchant didn't like, fought and killed them on a misunderstanding stemming from readied actions; got some good loot, but had to split it with the merchant. The Halfling peeked into some crates in the wagon while guarding the rear. Despite his high move silently roll, the merchant noticed and went to check. The Halfling bluffed his way out of trouble.
Session 2
Night 2:
DM says the night will pass without difficulty, pre-rolled no encounters. Halfling says he wants to try robbing the wagon again. DM say "are you really GOIG to try stealing?" with no particular emphasis (sounded like he was just asking for confirmation).
The Halfling opened a crate (full of wands!) while on watch (after slegerybodyw as sleeping) and the merchant caught him red-handed. Bluffs failed to help him at all. The merchant gave him three choices: Give the merchant all of the Halfling's non-vital gear (lose 400gp, left with armor and sword) and leave ("I'll kill you if I see you again"), be killed by the merchant, or make another suggestion. Not wanting to be killed, the halfling opted to give up his wealth.
The Halfling proceeded to walk out if sight and double back to hide until dawn. The merchant called out that he could still see him. That shout finally had a low enough listen DC that I woke up. Seeing me move, the halfling strted to run back, and was shot by the merchant, and left with 1 HP. I grabbed my sword and repeatedly disarmed the merchant, while thing to figure it what was GOIG on. The battle woke the Crusader (who has an enormous listen penalty), and he tried to talk as well. We convinced the merchant not to fight, and the halfling gave up and was manacled.
We then proceeded to negotiate for three or four hours. Somewhere in that time, the Halfling's player got bored and left the room, refusing to continue playing after he merchant knocked him out for being too loud.
During the discussion, mostly between the merchant and the crusader, we learned that the merchant had silent magical alarms on all of the storage in his wagon. Also implied was that the merchant was many levels higher than us (though I still think we could have defeated him relatively easily).
Negotiations ended with this agreement: Halfling gets a Mark of Justice against thieving, using his own money. He'd be left only with any discount the casting cleric would give (because the Mark was for a good cause). Sadly, the Halfling's player still wouldn't come back, so we went and played the OOTS game instead.
It seems to me a tad unfair that the merchant was effectively thief-proof, even if it does make sense that he would have such an alarm system. It seems a bit much to set against a new player who could barely be talked out of playing a kleptomaniac Halfling rogue. But then, I think I'm mostly just annoyed that we wasted four hours (out of the only six (1 for robbing and fighting, 4 for talking, 1 for OOTS game) available for at least a month, probably) on a conversation almost entirely between one player and the DM.
So, mostly, I just wanted to complain a bit about my wasted time, but I also want to hear our thoughts on this.
Thanks for listening/reading!
Here's the story:
The party:
Elf Warblade (chaotic good), me
Halfling Swordsage (chaotic neutral) (first-time player)
Dragonborn Mongrelfolk Crusader (lawful good)
Session 1
They met up in the town next to the monastery the Elf was trained at. The other two characters were just passing through (the crusader might have been my fellow student, can't remember). We met up and decided to go on a quest to fulfill their lifelong goals (for me, to find Kamate; the sword of the Irpn Heart discipline; for the halfling, to gain wealth and power; I do not recall the crusader's motive, so I assume spreading good and eliminating the spawn of Tiamat).
We heard rumors of a sword in a near-ish town, so we signed up to guard a merchant heading that way.
Day 1: fought some goblins, easy win
Day 2: met some people the merchant didn't like, fought and killed them on a misunderstanding stemming from readied actions; got some good loot, but had to split it with the merchant. The Halfling peeked into some crates in the wagon while guarding the rear. Despite his high move silently roll, the merchant noticed and went to check. The Halfling bluffed his way out of trouble.
Session 2
Night 2:
DM says the night will pass without difficulty, pre-rolled no encounters. Halfling says he wants to try robbing the wagon again. DM say "are you really GOIG to try stealing?" with no particular emphasis (sounded like he was just asking for confirmation).
The Halfling opened a crate (full of wands!) while on watch (after slegerybodyw as sleeping) and the merchant caught him red-handed. Bluffs failed to help him at all. The merchant gave him three choices: Give the merchant all of the Halfling's non-vital gear (lose 400gp, left with armor and sword) and leave ("I'll kill you if I see you again"), be killed by the merchant, or make another suggestion. Not wanting to be killed, the halfling opted to give up his wealth.
The Halfling proceeded to walk out if sight and double back to hide until dawn. The merchant called out that he could still see him. That shout finally had a low enough listen DC that I woke up. Seeing me move, the halfling strted to run back, and was shot by the merchant, and left with 1 HP. I grabbed my sword and repeatedly disarmed the merchant, while thing to figure it what was GOIG on. The battle woke the Crusader (who has an enormous listen penalty), and he tried to talk as well. We convinced the merchant not to fight, and the halfling gave up and was manacled.
We then proceeded to negotiate for three or four hours. Somewhere in that time, the Halfling's player got bored and left the room, refusing to continue playing after he merchant knocked him out for being too loud.
During the discussion, mostly between the merchant and the crusader, we learned that the merchant had silent magical alarms on all of the storage in his wagon. Also implied was that the merchant was many levels higher than us (though I still think we could have defeated him relatively easily).
Negotiations ended with this agreement: Halfling gets a Mark of Justice against thieving, using his own money. He'd be left only with any discount the casting cleric would give (because the Mark was for a good cause). Sadly, the Halfling's player still wouldn't come back, so we went and played the OOTS game instead.
It seems to me a tad unfair that the merchant was effectively thief-proof, even if it does make sense that he would have such an alarm system. It seems a bit much to set against a new player who could barely be talked out of playing a kleptomaniac Halfling rogue. But then, I think I'm mostly just annoyed that we wasted four hours (out of the only six (1 for robbing and fighting, 4 for talking, 1 for OOTS game) available for at least a month, probably) on a conversation almost entirely between one player and the DM.
So, mostly, I just wanted to complain a bit about my wasted time, but I also want to hear our thoughts on this.
Thanks for listening/reading!