Moral Wiz
2007-05-07, 10:01 AM
Alright, after 448, with several people crying out about how unbalanced Xykon's tirck was ,I felt justified in posting this story, which I believe has some baring on the situation.
I was playing in a PbP game, and had the task of accompanieng a new member for a few "Made up" fight scenes. Nothing that would actually count as an encounter, just writing down some events to serve as a way of demonstariting his skill, with my character there to tie him in to the main storyline.
Anyway, as we got to the end, I recieved a PM from the DM. Neither of us had been keeping track of my PC's XP and as a compremise, he agreed to let me level up, in return for actually having him run the final encounter. I ok'd without thinking.
What none of us had remembered was that the final encounter was against a Shreadstorm (and I'd already introduced it). This shoudn't have been too bad, as we both were higher CR, but it was a SHREADSTORM!. A construct (rendering it immune to my illusionist's illusions) and a swarm of fine creatures (rendering it immune to the samurai's sword.)
So, all we had were a few evocations (pretty much only magic missile IIRC) against a CR 8 Monster, bearing down on my illusionist. This is a RAW legitemate encounter, and we more or less didn't have a chance.
The storm charged at my illusionist. It wasn't looking good (to the point of the DM telling me he had plans for resurection if the two got wiped out) when suddenly I had an idea.
To explane: this PbP was set in a third party setting (Ravenloft as it happens) and we were allowed access to two types of explosive, mines and doorbrakers. Doorbrakers delt out a load of damage to anything in the square in frount, and about 1d6 to whoever is standing behind.
I had my character grip the doorbraker in one hand, the more explosive end pointing at the shreadstorm.
As swarms damage everything when they attack, it trigered the Petard, which damaged it, and my illusionist (a little) and knocked the latter back, out of the Shread storm.
Yes, my character used a hand held explosive, and survived with only minor injuries. Yes, it is an exploite, but saved the char, and helped save the other guy too. And that's the point I'm trying to make.
An exploit works so long as it does not become overused. The RAW are far from perfect, to the point of two PCs almost getting wiped out in an encounter that according to the RAW, they should have found reasonably easy. Whereas exploits can be dramatic, and can enhance the storyline when used in moderation (either by saving your character or another sutably dramatic act, like in 448)
Just because it's an exploit does not make it bad. And for crying out loud, in a comic designed to poke fun at the rules, what else did you expect?
Oh, and I'm guessing Rich anticipated this. We might see some sort of clarification next strip, like the controal weather.
I was playing in a PbP game, and had the task of accompanieng a new member for a few "Made up" fight scenes. Nothing that would actually count as an encounter, just writing down some events to serve as a way of demonstariting his skill, with my character there to tie him in to the main storyline.
Anyway, as we got to the end, I recieved a PM from the DM. Neither of us had been keeping track of my PC's XP and as a compremise, he agreed to let me level up, in return for actually having him run the final encounter. I ok'd without thinking.
What none of us had remembered was that the final encounter was against a Shreadstorm (and I'd already introduced it). This shoudn't have been too bad, as we both were higher CR, but it was a SHREADSTORM!. A construct (rendering it immune to my illusionist's illusions) and a swarm of fine creatures (rendering it immune to the samurai's sword.)
So, all we had were a few evocations (pretty much only magic missile IIRC) against a CR 8 Monster, bearing down on my illusionist. This is a RAW legitemate encounter, and we more or less didn't have a chance.
The storm charged at my illusionist. It wasn't looking good (to the point of the DM telling me he had plans for resurection if the two got wiped out) when suddenly I had an idea.
To explane: this PbP was set in a third party setting (Ravenloft as it happens) and we were allowed access to two types of explosive, mines and doorbrakers. Doorbrakers delt out a load of damage to anything in the square in frount, and about 1d6 to whoever is standing behind.
I had my character grip the doorbraker in one hand, the more explosive end pointing at the shreadstorm.
As swarms damage everything when they attack, it trigered the Petard, which damaged it, and my illusionist (a little) and knocked the latter back, out of the Shread storm.
Yes, my character used a hand held explosive, and survived with only minor injuries. Yes, it is an exploite, but saved the char, and helped save the other guy too. And that's the point I'm trying to make.
An exploit works so long as it does not become overused. The RAW are far from perfect, to the point of two PCs almost getting wiped out in an encounter that according to the RAW, they should have found reasonably easy. Whereas exploits can be dramatic, and can enhance the storyline when used in moderation (either by saving your character or another sutably dramatic act, like in 448)
Just because it's an exploit does not make it bad. And for crying out loud, in a comic designed to poke fun at the rules, what else did you expect?
Oh, and I'm guessing Rich anticipated this. We might see some sort of clarification next strip, like the controal weather.