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View Full Version : Why rolling a 1 on your Will save is a bad thing...



Overlard
2007-07-13, 06:38 AM
One of the groups I'm in have had an interesting few sessions. We're around level 10, and were finishing off a short crusade against a demon lord.

After we banish the demon, we find a secret way out of his chamber. We follow it along for a while and find the body of a man in leather armour, fairly decomposed and peppered with crossbow bolts in his back (the demon had a lot of crossbow-wielding minions, so we figure he was trying to escape them and was shot down). At his side is a longsword, still bright and shining. A detect magic reveals it's much more powerful than any other weapon we were carrying, at which point the party fighter barges forward. He sees himself as the leader of the party, and respects strength and strength alone, and he's focused on longswords. He claims the sword as his own, and after verbally beating down the rogue who also wants it, he straps it to his side and that's that.

On the way back to civilisation, we're attacked by some hobgoblins. It was a fairly easy fight, minimal damage to us. However, when the fighter used his new shiny sword to kill one of them, the DM asked for a will save. Natural 1.

The DM tells him that as the sword strikes it's target, he feels a presence in his mind, congratulating him for the kill, and activates a special ability (it crackles with electricty). The fighter has heard of intelligent items before, and thinks he may even be in artifact territory here. He doesn't tell the rest of us though. As we continue our journey, he mentally quizzes the sword about its abilities. He's impressed with its claims, and it tells him that if he keeps it at his side, it will even protect him as he sleeps. He thinks that's a good idea, and that night in the tavern, sleeps with his hand on the blade (the DM was very persuasive about it, I get the feeling that if the fighter hadn't done so, he would have been suggested to do it anyway).

During the night, the DM asks for another will save. Another natural 1. The DM actually smacks his forehead at that point.

When he wakes up, the fighter realises something is wrong. He's not in his bed, but by it. He can't seem to move his head either. Then he sees something loom into view. It's him. Or his old body... The fighter quickly realises that he is now trapped in his sword. As he is wielder, he hears a voice tell him that his mind and that of his weapon have traded places. It's a cursed weapon, and as long as his owner lives, he will remain trapped. His only chance of escape is for the wielder to be killed, and then the sword be taken by someone else. The DM says that mechanically it involves 2 will saves: 1 for when blood is first spilt - the sword can then try to influence its user in subtle ways. If that fails, the second save is for the first time the wielder sleeps whilst touching the weapon. If that fails, the minds switch. The guy now in the fighter's body is a warrior who spent thirty years in the blade, trapped and used by the man now inhanbiting his body.

The fighter's player now plays both his old character (in the sword), and the guy in his body. The sword is now reduced to pitifully screaming silently for help from his comrades a few feet away, while the wielder carries on with his old life, plotting the death of his comrades to sever all ties the body had.

Eventually the rest of the players realised something was wrong. The fighter got caught in a detect evil that was cast at someone else, and glowed brightly (he was previously an arrogant chaotic neutral). We did some investigation behind his back, and with some research by the wizard, discovered that the item was cursed and what needed to be done. We had to kill the wielder (done as he slept), and then work out what to do with our companion in the blade. While we were deliberating, the TN druid took the blade without our knowledge and presented it as a gift to a farmer. Later in the day he summoned an animal to attack the farm. The commoner ran out with his new sword, hit the beast, and rolled his will save.

He rolled a 20.

The fighter is now not only trapped in the sword, but his will has been crushed, and he's totally subservient to a farm boy who uses the sword mostly for stoking the fire. Our party drew the line at killing the farmer, so we decided that it was a weird retirement for the fighter and left him behind in his new role.

The DM gave us the sheet detailing the item afterwards. The DC to make the Will saves was 10. :smallamused:

Boris_the_Fat
2007-07-13, 06:55 AM
Wow!

Great way to loose a character... I mean, yeah, you could die in a epic way, make a human shield to block a horde of ogres while the roof crumble, but, if you tell anyone so, he will simply thinks its boring. Or you could die in a new way, a funny way, a way that few people have ever imagined.

Good game.

Morality: fighters, yeah, you're bigger and stronger, but wisdom is a good stat too. share the loot

Skyserpent
2007-07-13, 08:10 AM
Wow... that's something...

Swooper
2007-07-13, 08:19 AM
Good story - the morality being: Iron Will isn't such a bad idea after all, is it?

Atreyu the Masked LLama
2007-07-13, 08:24 AM
A most wonderful little tale! Thank you.

In our group its bad to roll a one because other members of the group will throw candy at you. Not jokingly toss, but actually with "leaves marks behind" force.

Pyro
2007-07-13, 08:33 AM
Wow thats pretty entertaining. I think its always more fun when characters die in interesting ways like that. I find it funny that you would go as far to set up a farmers death, but then killing him is "over the line".

Siegfried262
2007-07-13, 08:35 AM
I usually play a Fighter (Although I ocassionaly dabble in Clerics or Sorcerors :3) but the situation you described seemed a mite bit fishy.

The fighter (asides from sharing the loot ^^) should have waited to get the thing identified just to be safe.

And in regards to Fighters and will saves, I only have one thing to say. I bloody hate mindflayers.

Overlard
2007-07-13, 08:40 AM
Wow thats pretty entertaining. I think its always more fun when characters die in interesting ways like that. I find it funny that you would go as far to set up a farmers death, but then killing him is "over the line".
That was the druid. He was all about balance, so as long as someone was in the sword, and someone was out of it, that was OK. I didn't completely understand his logic myself, but none of us wanted to kill the farmer.

rollfrenzy
2007-07-13, 08:41 AM
Cool story. I may steal that as back story for a future character.

Indon
2007-07-13, 08:46 AM
Good story - the morality being: Iron Will isn't such a bad idea after all, is it?

Sadly, a natural 1 always fails a save, regardless of your actual modifier.

AtomicKitKat
2007-07-13, 12:03 PM
Will saves are ridiculously important for Fighters. Especially with all those "Save or X" Enchantments, Compulsions, Illusions, etc. that can seriously mess up their day.:smallbiggrin: