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JackMage666
2007-07-15, 05:26 PM
So, we just finished a one-shot game here today a few hours long. It all came to an end when the DM spilled all the secrets of the campaign in anger at none other than myself.
Here's the rundown.
A few guys get lost in search of treasure that's stored in some old Wizards tower. Thus, their friends seeks the help of the Adventurers! My friend an I, her a Rogue/Warrior gestalt 9, myself a Binder/Apedt gestalt 9, go to investigate battling enemies and traps all the way along...
...I guess it really started when I used Invisibility to avoid a Rast she had ready to ambush us. All I did is go Invisible, then zap it with Lightning Bolt.
Then, there was the group of satyrs who tried to use their music on us. I paralyzed one useing Acerermak's power, and stole it's pipes. I also scared the rest after showing Buer's sign (Satyr hooves), so they were defeated.
The Owlbears fell easily as well, being Color Sprayed (my DM allowed me to have a Corrolax familiar, if I took Improved Familiar), and paralyzed. Followed by sneak attack and coup de grace, respectibly...
...Then, we actually make it to the tower. It's full of annoying riddles and traps. The enemies we do fight die easily. Only the rogue gets hurt by any traps...
...We get to a room filled with water. There are balancing stones to jump around on, but I, being in Mithral Full Plate, have a negative to balance. The water is full of squids, and I use a bludgeoning weapon (they don't work well underwater). So, being creative, I use Lighting Bolt on the water. My DM rules the conductivity kills all the squid, and injures my friend (who was on a stepping stone). I remove armor, and swim across easily. I heal my friend with Buers power...
...Another room iwith a pit full of summoned monstrous scorpions. Theres 10 in all, ranging from small to large size. I don't want to deal with the grapples, so I think for a second. I cast Protection from Evil, descend into the pit, and come out unscathed by the scorpions. My friend has brief problems, but I snipe out some scorpions giving her problems with Scorching Ray and Lightning Bolt...
...We make it to the 8th floor, where there is no exit. There is a summoned celestial dire lion who blocked our path to get in, but showing a good heart and a little kindness clears the path. All that's in there is a picture, a note (saying who the picture was), and a map (showing where the girl in the picture is). It's obvious what we're supposed to do now, find the girl. Our DM expects us to leave the tower, find the girl, and return for our booty. The girl is several miles away, probably a powerful sorcerer, and wejust don't want to deal with that. It was a 9 story tower, and we were on the 8th. We wanted to be in that 9th level...
...So, having bound myself to Karsus earlier that day, I take things into my own hands. I start using my daily uses of Dispel Magic checks (Karsus's Touch), when a high rolled dispelled the transumation magic that warped the staircase. Access to the top floor...
...But the DM wants to stop us. Suddenly the celestial dire lion pounces upon my friend, pinning her to the ground. But the celestial dire lioned was summoned, so another use of Karsus Touch dispels it, as well. On to the top floor!...
...Which is filled with thousands of gold worth of treasure, in every available form. Rings, gauntlets, armor, weapons, everything. We have beaten the campaign in half the time she thought it would.

Needless to say, the DM was kinda pissed. Am I really at fault, though? Dispel Magic is a common spell, often used by casters of 5th level or higher. I think she should have been more cautious.

psychoticbarber
2007-07-15, 05:30 PM
Were I in your DM's place, I'd be kinda pissed too. At myself.

Hopefully the DM comes around to seeing things your way, I don't personally think you did anything wrong. It's possible that you just happened be in the way of a general expression of frustration that things didn't go as planned. Like I said, I'd be frustrated with myself for not having planned better, but that frustration might have exploded in your direction.

If you're friends with the DM, don't worry too much, I'm fairly certain it won't be a lasting anger.

Nero24200
2007-07-15, 05:31 PM
You were heading to a wizards tower...why wouldn't you think of using that spell?

Hell, if I had a wizard, I'd be buying a few scrolls in preperation beforehand.

goat
2007-07-15, 05:38 PM
Really, if your DM was that against it, they didn't HAVE to let the dispel work. Your dispel couldn't beat 29, the check could have been more than that should the DM have chosen so.

Thes Hunter
2007-07-15, 06:11 PM
Really, if your DM was that against it, they didn't HAVE to let the dispel work. Your dispel couldn't beat 29, the check could have been more than that should the DM have chosen so.

I am not familiar with the binder class, so most of the things you were referencing I don't have any knowledge of.

However, I agree with goat, that if she had a problem with it, she could have just not let it work. However, I have a feeling you insisted on knowing the DC before you made the check.

Also, if I were her, I wouldn't have allowed the gestalt characters, unless the game was specifically designed for their sort of power in mind. And on top of that, I wouldn't have allowed a gestalt with two prestige classes. Since prestige classes can be more unbalancing to the game mechanics.

Just remember Kids, just because the rule books tell you that you CAN do it, doesn't mean that you SHOULD do it for fun.

Ulzgoroth
2007-07-15, 06:21 PM
Er, those are base class//NPC class gestalts. Which is a pretty nifty idea, actually.

As far as I'm concerned...there is no plot, only things to deal with. Do so by whatever means are available.

The_Snark
2007-07-15, 06:25 PM
It was gestalted with NPC classes, though, which means they weren't all that much more powerful than normal, and I'm not seeing that either one of them had any prestige classes...

I don't think you did all that much wrong; Dispel Magic is a fairly simple spell, one that most parties of the appropriate level ought to have on hand. Deciding to use it instead of going to find the girl was a bit of a disruptive decision, but then at the time you didn't know you were cutting short the DM's plans.

Unlucky high roll, it sounds like. The DM might have assigned a DC she thought would be out of reach, only to find that it wasn't.

BRC
2007-07-15, 06:26 PM
DM shouldn't have let you do it, remember the 3rd rule of GMing, the players don't know the setup, and it can change to suit your purposes

Matthew
2007-07-15, 06:33 PM
Sounds like the DM created a Rail Road Track, you veered off it and he got annoyed. Probably a learning experience.

JackMage666
2007-07-15, 10:16 PM
Yeah, I thought there was some sort of puzzle involved to get to the top floor, since there was a number of puzzles throughout the tower. But I didn't want to think of the answer to another riddle, so I figured I'd just dispel it this time.
I could use Dispel Magic 9/day, and I figured might as well use them, since I was gonna rest soon anyway. It took 4 tries before I got it.
The only reason Gestalt was allowed was because there was only 2 of us playing. Otherwise, we never play Gestalt. The NPC class gestalt was my suggestion, and it seemed to work pretty well. The Binder/Adept mix actally worked suprisingly well, and didn't even seem like it'd be overpowered in a regular game.

Jimp
2007-07-16, 09:03 AM
The NPC class gestalt was my suggestion, and it seemed to work pretty well. The Binder/Adept mix actally worked suprisingly well, and didn't even seem like it'd be overpowered in a regular game.

That's actually a really cool idea. I've always wanted an excuse to play an Adept :smallbiggrin:

mostlyharmful
2007-07-16, 09:29 AM
But you were in a Wizards tower, any wizard that didn't take dispell magic into account when he built the penultimate trap strains all credance, if i was the Dm it would indeed have dispelled the problem but also have unlocked the safeguards on a bigger, more demanding problem, the stairs appear but the bound outsider is released the floor disappears and gas canisters drop sort of thing. Dispell magic when surrounded by magic traps should be akin to suicide if you don't know [I]exactly[I] what you're doing.

Tallis
2007-07-16, 09:49 AM
..and that is why I always keep a copy of my players character sheets. I like to know what they can do so I can give them stuff they can handle, but make sure it's not too easy.

Sounds to me like you just played well and the DM didn't plan as well as she could have.

Tzekan
2007-07-16, 02:08 PM
I think this was a simple case of the advenutre being pre-planned, which is good, but not flexible, which is bad. The DM could have easily have dealt with your spells at any stage. Killing all the squid was fine, but the Dm could have simply ruled that the wizard had enchanted the water so it stayed electrified! Or when dispelling magic, let you dispel it, which dispelled the spell holding the staircase together as well, oops...

Subotei
2007-07-16, 06:25 PM
A GM thinking a bit quicker on his feet would've reduced the treasure you found on the 9th floor to a smaller amount, and thrown in the rest in after a later, WBL-appropriate encounter. No real need to tweak the spells or whatever - sounds like you played the character really well.

Diggorian
2007-07-16, 07:50 PM
Jack, you did your job and did it well.

The anger is just DM frustration venting; sounds like a lot of prep work flushed. Ignorance of your PC's capabilities seems to me to be the number one problem to me, as well as failure to adapt as others have noted.

If they're a mature gamer, the DM should take this lesson to heart and improve, rather than hold a silly grudge.

kjones
2007-07-16, 07:55 PM
A good DM is one who knows how to improvise around unexpected situations. Furthermore, not every player has fun by figuring out what they "should" do and doing it; many (such as yourself) enjoy figuring out creative solutions to problems. A good DM takes this into account, and hopefully, he'll learn from his misteak.

tainsouvra
2007-07-16, 09:22 PM
Needless to say, the DM was kinda pissed. Am I really at fault, though? At fault for what?

No, really. The whole point of having a human DM instead of a book or computer is that he adapts the story to what the players are doing. If he only saw one solution to his problem, and was not able to adapt when the players threw him a curveball, I know who I'm going to say was at fault.

When I'm DMing, I like when my players think of something new. I encourage it, and find some other way to hook them into the parts of the plot they've bypassed. Adapt or die?

Thrawn183
2007-07-16, 10:19 PM
What they said. Unless of course there was obscene gloating involved. Not that I'm saying there was. Its just has come to my attention that for some reason it never goes over too well.