Memorable moments in 5e

[Kobold_paladin?]

Hi everyone!
I was thinking back on a stupid moment in a campaign not that long ago and thought, I'm sure everyone has crap happen to them so BOOM, here it is, the thread of memorable moments. Use at your own pleasure.

[Kobold_paladin?]

My party has recently killed 2 rocs and we where pretty stoked, while we where dividing the xp the DM rolled behind her screen and grimaced. She looks at us and says "rocs fall you're all dead." Rocs. Not rocks, rocs. Their carcasses had fallen on us.

[sandmote]

There must already be a thread for this. But I don't know where it is, so:

My first time DMing I had a bear show up to explain combat to the party. The cleric proceeded to immediately cast speak with animals and start talking to the bear.

[Kobold_paladin?]

There must already be a thread for this. But I don't know where it is

I checked, there's nothing.

[firelistener]

Back when I let my players create Evil characters, I had them on a quest to find a dragon's cave in a forest to fetch a magic mirror in its treasure hoard. They stopped to rest for the night at a small village on the edge of the forest. The party barbarian decided to take the innkeeper's frightened daughter to bed for the night (which I skipped over narrating in any capacity) and was woken up in the night by the inkeeper and militia busting his door down. He threw the woman at them and jumped out the window. When the party attempted to just grab the horses and leave, the wizard blew away the militia men on their tail and accidentally set the village ablaze.

When the party returned from the forest, the nearby lord had sent professional soldiers to investigate and the party's rogue managed to successfully pin the incident on some orcs that happened to also be in the area.

The players all thought it was hilarious, but tbh I found it rather disheartening so I stopped letting them play Evil characters in my games after that campaign wrapped up a few sessions later. They hunted down a paladin that was tracking them and bit off more than they could chew. Rogue rushed the paladin and got crit for insta-death. The rest fell shortly after, and the barbarian had gotten stranded in the Feywild. My players now reference the barbarian every so often, saying he's still in the Feywild roaming around.

[Lupine]

My players now reference the barbarian every so often, saying he's still in the Feywild roaming around.

I would actually let a player pick up that character again, but MC-ed into paladin or monk, or the like. Avoids violence, but when he enters combat, he is overcome by the "blood song" which honestly frightens him. That would be a really entertaining.


As for me, I have two memories. One is when the party monk stormed the dungeon which held the dungeon boss, a mage. He flurry of blows, followed, joined by stunning strikes, and left the mage down. It was pretty cool.

The other one was when the same monk ran up a wall, and leapt onto the back of a Young Black Dragon as it was fleeing. He then stunning striked it out of the air.

[Kobold_paladin?]

Back when I let my players create Evil characters, I had them on a quest to find a dragon's cave in a forest to fetch a magic mirror in its treasure hoard. They stopped to rest for the night at a small village on the edge of the forest. The party barbarian decided to take the innkeeper's frightened daughter to bed for the night (which I skipped over narrating in any capacity) and was woken up in the night by the inkeeper and militia busting his door down. He threw the woman at them and jumped out the window. When the party attempted to just grab the horses and leave, the wizard blew away the militia men on their tail and accidentally set the village ablaze.

When the party returned from the forest, the nearby lord had sent professional soldiers to investigate and the party's rogue managed to successfully pin the incident on some orcs that happened to also be in the area.

The players all thought it was hilarious, but tbh I found it rather disheartening so I stopped letting them play Evil characters in my games after that campaign wrapped up a few sessions later. They hunted down a paladin that was tracking them and bit off more than they could chew. Rogue rushed the paladin and got crit for insta-death. The rest fell shortly after, and the barbarian had gotten stranded in the Feywild. My players now reference the barbarian every so often, saying he's still in the Feywild roaming around.
Oh jeez, that sounds... eventful.

[Kobold_paladin?]

I had a session today and in it one of the PCs multiclassed into warlock and their patron was... the BBEG. They had no idea that they where helping cary out his plans. Things got out of hand when they confronted him. The PCs kick down the door and find a helmed horror (with evard's tentacles stored) , two gargoyles, and the BBEG. So our party had a paladin, a bard/warlock, a light cleric, and a evocation wizard. The paladin emedietly shouts a battle cry and starts snacking the gargoyles left and right with his +1 longsword and the wizard pops a fireball. It hits the paladin. I don't know what he was thinking (he's new) but he doesn't hesitate to let the paladin take the hit. He goes down. Completely failing the DEX save (he was wearing splint). The cleric manages to stabilize him as the wizard gets picked up by the one surviving gargoyle and dropped over an edge. He craps his stabilizer rolls and dies. The cleric and our bard/warlock get grappled by the evard's and the gargoyle and horror hit them for a bit. All the while the BBEG is sitting on a throne watching with amusement. The bardlock breaks free and uses an eldritch blast to finish the last gargoyle. The paladin finally recovers and rejoins the fray. The BBEG gets up and kills our cleric in 2 blows. At this point my players are kind of pissed at me. The BBEG tells the horror to hold the paladin back and confronts bard-boy. There's a "I. AM. YOUR. FATHER." Moment except it's a I am your patron moment. The warlockbard feels horrible and asks to be freed from my BBEG's service. Then the BBEG promptly strikes him. He goes over the edge but survives the fall and stabilizes. At this point the paladin breaks free and runs at the BBEG. *plane shift* he's in limbo now. Wow. That has to be one of the worst-ending encounters I have ever run.
(More on my BBEG in one of my previous posts:fixing my BBEG)

[Veldrenor]

The party was on the trail of a Frankenstein-ian alchemist who had sent an army of undead to destroy a nearby town. They'd entered his home and climbed the tower to his lab. Equipment on the roof of the lab had summoned into being a tremendous storm to power his latest experiment. The party attempted to interrupt him but were too late: an enormous egg sitting on an electrified platform hatched into a massive, lightning-proof lizard monster. It attacked the party in its post-hatching hunger and knocked the barbarian unconscious. The party dealt enough damage to frighten the creature and it tore the roof off the lab, climbed out and down the tower, and started escaping into the night with the barbarian still in its mouth. The Sorcadin climbed up the wall to the hole in the roof, looked down at the fleeing creature as rain poured down upon him and the lightning crashed, and he jumped.

"Are you sure? The tower's 80 feet tall."
"I know."
"Ok, just reminding you." I started counting out the d6s.
"As I'm falling, I cast Protection from Evil and Good."
"Ok?" *Getting ready to roll 8d6 falling damage.*
"And I use Tempestuous Magic."

I hadn't known that he'd chosen Storm Sorcery when he multiclassed. No one knew. He'd never used any of his sorcerer abilities beyond casting Expeditious Retreat. In the middle of a supernatural lightning storm, the ground racing up to meet him and his ally in mortal danger, he flew for the first time. He used the flight from Tempestuous Magic to turn his fall into forward momentum, soaring off after the creature. It was glorious. And then he failed the Acrobatics check to get his feet under him, and turned into a skipping stone in the rain-slicked yard.

[Kobold_paladin?]

The party was on the trail of a Frankenstein-ian alchemist who had sent an army of undead to destroy a nearby town. They'd entered his home and climbed the tower to his lab. Equipment on the roof of the lab had summoned into being a tremendous storm to power his latest experiment. The party attempted to interrupt him but were too late: an enormous egg sitting on an electrified platform hatched into a massive, lightning-proof lizard monster. It attacked the party in its post-hatching hunger and knocked the barbarian unconscious. The party dealt enough damage to frighten the creature and it tore the roof off the lab, climbed out and down the tower, and started escaping into the night with the barbarian still in its mouth. The Sorcadin climbed up the wall to the hole in the roof, looked down at the fleeing creature as rain poured down upon him and the lightning crashed, and he jumped.

"Are you sure? The tower's 80 feet tall."
"I know."
"Ok, just reminding you." I started counting out the d6s.
"As I'm falling, I cast Protection from Evil and Good."
"Ok?" *Getting ready to roll 8d6 falling damage.*
"And I use Tempestuous Magic."

I hadn't known that he'd chosen Storm Sorcery when he multiclassed. No one knew. He'd never used any of his sorcerer abilities beyond casting Expeditious Retreat. In the middle of a supernatural lightning storm, the ground racing up to meet him and his ally in mortal danger, he flew for the first time. He used the flight from Tempestuous Magic to turn his fall into forward momentum, soaring off after the creature. It was glorious. And then he failed the Acrobatics check to get his feet under him, and turned into a skipping stone in the rain-slicked yard.
Argh, that could have been epic!

[Pex]

I have two, playing a barbarian/fighter/rogue. Shield Master can shove before attacking.

1) Party is defending a city against an army of gnolls. The paladin is surrounded by two gnolls very close to dropping. He will die. My turn. I move next to the paladin and the gnolls. I bonus action shove the paladin away from one of the gnolls. Since it's forced movement it does not provoke an opportunity attack from the gnoll. I attack the other gnoll, hit, and use Maneuvering Strike as a fighter allowing the paladin to move away from the gnoll I just hit without provoking an opportunity attack. I just saved my friend's life.

2) We're in a cavern corridor. A mindflayer is on an alcove a distance away behind its drow minions. The party can't attack it. My turn. Rage. Move past the drow and don't care about opportunity attacks. I have a cloak of displacement and take resistance to damage anyway. They miss. I reach the cavern wall. Action - climb up the wall. Thank you advantage on all strength checks from rage plus expertise in athletics from rogue. I'm next to the mindflayer. Action Surge. Thank you fighter. I grapple the mindflayer, thanks again to athletics advantage with expertise. Second attack from Extra Attack. I throw the mindflayer onto the cavern floor. The party proceeds to focus all their attacks against the mindflayer killing it in two rounds with the mindflayer doing nothing thanks to failing against the monk's Stun.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I mean every time I've run or played the green dragon encounter from phandelver's, it's always been memorable. Every time, the party faced it at too low of a level, and every time there was roughly one PC that saved it from a TPK, no dice fudging involved.

However I have plenty of others, because the party I dm for at school is one of the "For the Lolz" parties. Which is... fine... I adjust for it, but one of the most hilarious moments is when the bard's player said "Hey! I succeeded against being charmed! Woo! Now I roll to seduce!" And I just sighed and face palmed.

[Kobold_paladin?]

I mean every time I've run or played the green dragon encounter from phandelver's, it's always been memorable. Every time, the party faced it at too low of a level, and every time there was roughly one PC that saved it from a TPK, no dice fudging involved.

However I have plenty of others, because the party I dm for at school is one of the "For the Lolz" parties. Which is... fine... I adjust for it, but one of the most hilarious moments is when the bard's player said "Hey! I succeeded against being charmed! Woo! Now I roll to seduce!" And I just sighed and face palmed.
Please no, this reminds me when a bard seduced a grung cheiftan in one of my campaigns.