Foolish Mistakes

[ImproperJustice]

Next session, our batterer and beaten party which has done battle with a team of Drow Clerics and Demon companion, followed by an Adult Red Dragon and Githyanki consorts, along with a trio of Mind Flayers, must go forth and face a Drow High Cleric with a unknown number of bodyguards.

We know that she will be standing before a large portal to the UnderDark where she will be communicating with her superiors.
We knkw that she is requesting evac and we must strike quickly if we are to capture her and bring an ugly war on the surface to a swift conclusion.

She will be in a fortified position across a lava chasm that can only be crossed by a single rope bridge.

Seeing that my 11th Level Forge Cleric only has like 3 1st level slots, 1 2nd level slot, and a 4th level slot remaining I decide to dip into some of our consumable supplies.

Namably, a scroll to summon a fire elemental.
Feeling very proud of myself until I remembered the words....Rope Bridge.

Rope Bridge.

My plan is apparently to send forth a fire elemental across the only source of egress for our party.....

Even best case scenario, I send it forth into the lava to slowly climb the chasm to the other side, it will provide almost no benenfit to us.....


I share and ask:
Have you ever missed the fine print of a scenario and made a foolish mistake?

[Zaharra]

Wow, that's unfortunate...

My rogue/fighter usually holds the rear position during a retreat until our slower companions are clear and then uses both her actions and bonus actions to dash to quickly catch up. I made the mistake of never having that conversation with the new player who joined and his barbarian wouldn't make the retreat because he was "protecting" my rogue, when I got down to 1/4 hp and needed to fall back or die, he was surprised at how fast I could go when I needed to... but he made a warlock that he seems to like more, so it worked out

[Potato_Priest]

Rope Bridge.

My plan is apparently to send forth a fire elemental across the only source of egress for our party.....

Even best case scenario, I send it forth into the lava to slowly climb the chasm to the other side, it will provide almost no benenfit to us.....


Can you not just use the scroll on the other side of the bridge?

[Shuruke]

This was in 3.5 I wouldn't necessarily call it a foolish mistake but I didn't know undead were immune to cold damage so as a cold damage based character for 3 sessions I ised cold damage dm having me roll damage and roll extra on crits just for him to later tell me ya it hasnt been doing anythijg I just didn't want u left out.. No one in party said a word either so I felt pretty stupid especially since not a character player or DM said a thing when they all knew XD

[ImproperJustice]

Can you not just use the scroll on the other side of the bridge?

Sadly no.
I made a big production of casting it before we prepared to enter the room.
Yuo.
Wanted to make sure everyone knew I had done this awesome thing.

Thank you for the suggestion though. At least I caught myself before sending it across.

[Potato_Priest]

This was in 3.5 I wouldn't necessarily call it a foolish mistake but I didn't know undead were immune to cold damage so as a cold damage based character for 3 sessions I ised cold damage dm having me roll damage and roll extra on crits just for him to later tell me ya it hasnt been doing anythijg I just didn't want u left out.. No one in party said a word either so I felt pretty stupid especially since not a character player or DM said a thing when they all knew XD

Haha, that reminds me of when I didn't inform the players about what spells the enemies were casting, just described the effects. The party was fighting a raiding party of saguahin, and one of them was a cleric who was skulking about beneath the surface while the others were fighting on land. I described in great detail a shimmering trident coming out of the water on its own and attacking the party. The barbarian runs up to it, attacks it with his greataxe, gets a crit and rolls two 12's on the dice, all against a spiritual weapon spell.

[Particle_Man]

Our group was dealing with a mine and were setting it up with all sorts of protective spells so that we could go through and others could not. These spells were basically "blow up if any creature not on the white list goes through".

So we forgot to put our pack animals on the white list. The DM did *not* forget. That was messy. We couldn't stop laughing for half an hour, though I still feel bad about the goat.

[Finback]

Not me, but my player. Grung death cleric. Meets Nanny Pupu, wants to know her spell for reanimation. Point out she will need a fresh body.
Player has grung basically commit seppuku.
She animates him.
Player asks if he can add the spell to his list.
"No, because Ghede was *dead* while she cast it, and didn't see or hear it.."
*SAD TROMBONES*

[Malifice]

Not me, but my player. Grung death cleric. Meets Nanny Pupu, wants to know her spell for reanimation. Point out she will need a fresh body.
Player has grung basically commit seppuku.
She animates him.
Player asks if he can add the spell to his list.
"No, because Ghede was *dead* while she cast it, and didn't see or hear it.."
*SAD TROMBONES*

You should aquiant that PC with the Head of Vecna.

[Laserlight]

The PCs wanted to rescue prisoners, who were, it turned out, being guarded by a hydra. One of the PCs had just learned Banishment, so she tried it out and it worked. They quickly unlocked the cages and let the prisoners out.
Then the barbarian makes a quick speech to raise their morale.
Finally someone points out that, you know, the Banishment is ending in about six seconds, maaaaybe we all ought to move from the spot where the hydra is about to reappear?
And the exit was a narrow passage, so they couldn't all get out in time. A couple of PCs (including the barbarian) ended up fighting the monster for a round or two before they could escape.

[Pez5150]

This was in 3.5 I wouldn't necessarily call it a foolish mistake but I didn't know undead were immune to cold damage so as a cold damage based character for 3 sessions I ised cold damage dm having me roll damage and roll extra on crits just for him to later tell me ya it hasnt been doing anythijg I just didn't want u left out.. No one in party said a word either so I felt pretty stupid especially since not a character player or DM said a thing when they all knew XD

Thats rude lol. THe DM shoulda narrated how powerful the blast was and how shocking it was to your character that the creature was unaffected.

[Zhorn]

My fighter and the party's rogue were in a town hall looking for work. Place seemed deserted, not a soul in sight. Figured we'd break into the back rooms, have a little after-hour exploration to see if there was anything 'neat'. Stood watch for the rogue while she started picking the lock on the door.
Neither of us attempted to try the door first...
It was already unlocked...
Till the rogue tripped the latch...
Not exactly the brightest of criminal masterminds :smallbiggrin:

[nickl_2000]

Not a huge deal, but a few sessions ago we were fighting some golems (ones that we had fought before). I knew that they had immunity to attacks from non-magical weapons. However, my brilliant self still thought it would be fun to summon a few quicklings. Who burned all three of their attacks doing absolutely nothing to the golems. Luckily I turned it around and had them use the help action, so it wasn't a complete loss.

[DMThac0]

One of the first games I ever played..

Get done defeating a group of bad guys, and systematically loot the bodies.
Veteran players take all the good loot, I get a pouch with some...things inside it.
Go outside of town to look at my loot, in case these things are gems or something awesome like that.
Sid down on a large boulder and unceremoniously dump contents of pouch on to the boulder.
Find out the hard way what a Bag o' Beans is.
Level 2 Wizard with 7 hp
8 "beans" doing an avg of 15 damage....yea I took around 120 damage

[Particle_Man]

I once wasted an identify spell (back when it was expensive)! On what turned out to be a masterwork yet nonmagical item.

[Laserlight]

People are dangling from ropes over a pit, and a giant snake is popping up out of the pit every now and again to eat one. There are rope bridges crossing the pit, used to string up the victims.

The paladin grabs a rope and swings over to one of the victims hanging in the center. He's going to cut her loose and get her to a nearby bridge.

Me: "Okay, so you're holding onto your rope?"
Him: "Yes."
Me: "And you have your rapier in your other hand?"
Him: "Yes, so I can cut the rope holding her up."
Me: "And you're going to hold her rope while you're cutting it?"
Him: "Yes, of course."
Me: "How many hands does that take?"
Him: "...$#@% !"

He ended up dropping the rapier he'd just gotten, and spent the rest of the campaign smiting with a borrowed dagger.