Off the rails lies Awsome

[BRC]

My campaign just had what might have been a CMOA, allow me to explain.
The Characters:
1 Ranger
1 Halfling Sorceror
1 Human Paladin
1 Human Cleric w/ Strength Domain
1 Half-Orc Fighter
1 Human Monk
1 Hadooze Rogue
The Situation: The above were temporary characters the Players were controlling for one fight. They were onboard a prison ship that was going to be attacked by waves of devils and evil cultists who were boarding it. They were supposed to fight a heroic last stand, those that survived until session time was over would get killed when one of the prisoners (A big, evil insane druid dude) got free. There were two boarding ramps where the enemy would board the section of the ship the PC’s were responsible for protecting, Bad Guys were onboard big evil devil ships summoned and kept stable by abunch of cultists chanting around a big glowing crystal and with an anti-magic shield-dome thingy over it that worked two-ways (Like a shell that Spells couldn’t pass through). This last part was improvised.
What Happened: It started as I expected, the PC’s defending the ship against kobold warlocks and devils, then the PC’s got some ideas, and I began to abide by the rule of cool. The Rogue decided to start roleplaying and ran for the lifeboat, the Half-Orc and the paladin had been holding one of the boarding ramps, the Half-orc had gotten an Enlarge Person from the Cleric. Then, the PC’s got bursts of inspiration that only knowing these characters were doomed can come from. The Sorcerer had the Fighter throw him onto the other ship, past the anti-magic shell. He made a concentration check in midair to cast a Fireball at the deck, damaging all the warlocks gathered there (5 warlocks and 1 Bearded Devil, who was immune to fire). The monk jumped over to help (Making the DC 28 jump check), and the warlocks were too surprised by the ballistic Halfling to do anything. Next round, the Sorcerer used his last Fireball on the ship, finishing off the Warlocks, while the ranger used his magebane rifle and Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider combo to put the hurt on the bearded devil. Over the next few rounds, the monk handled the demon with support from the ranger; meanwhile, the Sorceror went belowdecks and discovered the ritual. I let him make a Spellcraft check to expend all his remaining spell slots to disrupt it with massive collateral damage (which he made a reflex save to avoid). At this point, it was ending time, so the Evil Druid guy came ondeck and everybody bailed out and swam to the rogue’s lifeboat. The only one who died was the Paladin, who insisted on rushing the druid and died horribly, and the players went back to their regular characters.
Still, the image of a hurled fireball-blasting Halfling was just too awesome to not post about.

[xanaphia]

Very nice.

It's always the paladins who do dumb things and die, isn't it.

[Zenos]

Messy post, fun story.

[BRC]

Messy post, fun story.

I'll try to clean it up later.

[Paramour Pink]

Stupidity knows no class limit, people just pick up on whichever class they dislike the most.

Anyway, that story is very cool. il any of those characters pop up later on in your story (say like the rogue trying to steal from the PCs, the sorcerer teaching magic to another sorcerer, etc)?

[Fax Celestis]

It's always the paladins who do dumb things and die, isn't it.

Didn't you know? It's part of their code.

[xanaphia]

Just to note, most of the people I know who play paladins (including me) do it just so they have an excuse to die stupidly.

[thegurullamen]

I dunno about stupid. Seems like he gave the other characters a window to flee.

[thorgrim29]

Just to note, most of the people I know who play paladins (including me) do it just so they have an excuse to die stupidly.

To quote (or paraphrase, I don't have the book near me) George Martin in a feast for Crows when

Spoiler

Show

Aerys Oakheart

dies:

"It was the single most gallant, bravest and most stupid thing she had ever seen"


Meaning sometimes living by a very strict code of honor means that sometimes you die a stupid, pointless, but very gallant and brave death. Only the pallie in your story died to save someone, so it's not all bad.

[Prometheus]

So I guess these temporary characters get graduated to NPCs huh? It should be interesting to see how you can integrate them into the campaign.