The Worst Awsome thing done in a game.

[Dannyalcatraz]

The guy I mentioned above whose PC grabbed a "jewel" that turned out to be a Delayed Fireball? He had another jewel-based mishap.

During one adventure, he found something that- to the trained eye- resembled a stone of controlling earth elementals: an oddly-shaped bit of extrusive rock, shaped and roughly polished.

He said, "Man, I wish I knew what this thing is!"

A voice spoke "I am the Talisman of Zagy!" and then disappeared, leaving behind a diamond worth 10,000 gold pieces.

The bug-eyed look and sputtering with which he greeted this news broke down everyone at the table...

 

[Karmic_vegeance]

D&D 4e: At Level 5, my PCs had to climb down a 50 ft shaft in order to continue in a dungeon. They had all the appropriate gear; ropes, climber's kit, etc. One by one, they went down, leaving only the avenger with a terrible Athletics check at the top. He was forced to climb down with no aid (they'd already carried the wizard, who had worse Athletics, down in the Bag of Holding on the Goliath's back). He was rolling 1d20+3 on a DC 10 Athletics check, and he had to make three in order to climb down. He was counting on his Safewing Amulet and probability to save his bacon.

He failed the first Athletics check. Literally stepped over the edge into the chasm when he fumbled the rope. He made a check to catch on to the rope. Failed. I gave him another check, since he was falling fairly far. Failed. This equates to 4d10 falling damage (reduced from 5d10 due to the Amulet). I rolled a fairly large amount, if I remember correctly, so he took an Acrobatics check to reduce the damage, since he actually had training in that particular skill.

He reduced all of it. A Level 5 PC fell 50 feet (5 stories!) after failing skill check after skill check and took 0 damage for it. I don't know what kind of Matrix-bullet-time-Mario-wall-jump mojo his character pulled there, but it was entertaining.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Current game, a few levels ago, my monk was starting to get up to a decent base move and a really good jump score. We track some bad guys back to their warehouse hideout. A peek inside shows it to be large, with big crates and a balcony. I think "Whoo-Hoo, interesting terrain with space to run and jump!" and immediately run in and leap onto a crate intending to spring from there to the balcony. Turns out the crate is a big mimic and I stick to it with both feet.

Ever seen the Simpsons episode where Homer gets stuck in the tar pits? "I hit it with my fist." It sticks. "I hit it with my other fist!" It sticks. "I head butt it!" My head sticks. Fortunately the other PCs are able to kill it (and the other mimics) before I try hitting it with my arse.

 

[CleverNickName]

Picture it:

Stereotypical tavern, the party is finally getting a glimpse of the Big Bad for the first time, after tracking him for months: an evil drow sorcerer, decked out in his array of magical items. Everyone in the joint is cowering before him in fear, as he gives his monologue about how he is going to summon a great demon and enslave them all.

One of the more zealous charactes, a harmless-looking monk named White Swan (rest in peace), stood up and faced him. Quick as a wink, she sundered the BBEG's magic staff while he was in mid-sentence.

It was an almost-new staff of power.

There is a blinding flash of light. The tavern is blasted to cinders, half the party is dead or disabled, the BBEG is crawling for the nearest exit, and the monk is on fire and floating somewhere in the Astral Plane.

"Oops," mutters the player.

 

[ellna]

I remember the first 3.5 game I ever DM'ed. Right near the start of the campaign there was a dungeon(isn't there always). It was a lovely dungeon full of traps and secrets and a treasure plot hook. All of which the PCs missed opting only to kill there target, loot him and flee at the next sign of danger.

Still not bad I thought they did want they went to do. Unfortunatly I had been silly enough to include a "red vial" in the loot. Needless to say this went boom. The party mage pockets it and forgets it exsists.

Fast forward to the end of the campaign. The party now facing of to the BBEG a mage of "untold" power. Suitably decked out with magical protection. In his own lair. The party already low on HP from minions see the ends in sight.

The main fighter started smashing his sheilding like so many folds of paper. Finally it buckles and the mage is left defencless, but the mage blasts the last of the fighters HP away. Next init in line is the mage who decides to check his sheet and remember that "red vial" still unused and boldly he declares that "he injects the mage with the red vial" Despite the promblems I see I say the DM fall line of "are you sure".

Thats not going to stop him the party is on the brink so he rolls the die and low and behold and god-saving 20. What could I do I had grin and bear it as the whole party got covered in the exploding guts of the BBEG. They never did let me forget that one.

 

[MarkB]

We were playing a 3.0e D&D game set in a marshy wilderness, my character being a half-orc paladin named Grudnuk who rode a dire weasel as his special mount.

After being ambushed by the local evil orcish tribe, half the party were captured, including my paladin who was fought to a standstill after taking enough javelins that he looked somewhat like a porcupine. The tribal shaman knew that paladins always kept their word, and agreed not to kill my mount if I promised not to use him to help me escape.

Cut to the next night, and the rest of the party have organised a surprise attack upon the camp, during which we might make a bid for freedom. On cue, we prisoners bust out of our bonds and begin an epic fight against our captors, unarmed and unarmoured as we are. We defeat the guards, though not before one of us is knocked out, the dire weasel breaking out of the corral to assist in the battle. I help my still-standing companion aboard my mount, sling our injured comrade across in front of him, and the DM is starting to look relieved as it becomes apparent that we're all going to get clear before the rest of the camp arrives-

And then my character steps back, and commands, "It's up to you now, Scruffles! Get them to safety!"

As Scruffles the dire weasel carries my friends off, the other players and the DM look at me questioningly. "I gave my word," I reply. "I won't use my mount to help me escape."

In the end, we did all make it out of camp alive (which took several flukey stealth checks on the paladin's part), but all going in different directions across the trackless moors. The game broke up a little later, before we managed to get back together.

 

[Swedish Chef]

Back in 2ed days, I was running H1 BloodStone Pass at the group's insistence. Since they were high level, the player playing the mage requested that his Staff of the Magi be a brooch instead. Since we started the characters at 18th level, I allowed that he had "created" it himself.

We also had a house rule that any spell from an item, or cast by a spell caster, that had a time limit, would end immediately if the person who cast the spell or used the item fell unconscious.

The party becomes suspicious of the town priest (who was a vampire, if I remember correctly), so made plans to check him out the next day. The mage decided to polymorph into a mouse and do some recon, without informing the party.

Mouse/Mage enters church, is discovered by the servant rats and attacked while in the walls. Mouse polymorphs into large snake and tries eating rats. More rats start attacking the tail end, and now humanoid servants are aware of the intruder, so start stabbing a small exposed section of the snake through a rat hole in the wall. Snake/mage does not polymorph into an insect to escape. No, he continues to swallow rats in front of him while being eaten from behind and stabbed from the side. He eventually dies. And the polymorph wears off. Suddenly human sized in a mouse hole in a wall is not good. Various items and body parts are crushed, including the Brooch. Which fails its saving throw. Retributive Strike.

The rest of the party (and village) awaken to the sound of a large explosion, and discover that the local church is now a smoking crater. Everyone, including the party, blame it on a preemptive strike by the enemy, and no one ever discovers what happened to the mage. Nor do they ever discover that the priest had been turned into a vampire, but they also never have to deal with destroying it, all thanks to the mage.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Pray, tell- was said one armed NPC:

1) A paper hanger?

2) A bandit?

3) Trying to get away from an incredibly ugly one-night stand?

4) A suspect in the murder of Dr. Richard Kimble's wife?

5) A drummer for a hard-rock band out of England?

Mostly #2. Lefty was the first mate of a pirate ship; when reincarnated as an Olman native we hired him to be the first mate of the party's ship.

 

[Stormonu]

Back in 1E/2E:

A lucky roll of the dice had netted the party a 20HD fireball scroll (I was DMing). On the way to check out a slaver's stronghold (the one in A1), the party caught a glimpse of an approaching brigade of orcs (about 100 or so), led by a half-orc captain. The party plans an elaborate ambush with the elvin F/M-U hidden in the nearby tree just off the road and the two fighters from the group waiting in the middle of the road.

The orc brigade marches within shouting distance of the warriors and the two fighters call for the orc's champion to engage in one-on-one combat. Hearing the challenge, the half-orc moves forward, sipping what appears to be some sort of grog (it was actually a potion of heroism).

The elf unleashes the fireball on the orcs, catching the half-orc at the edge of the blast. All of the orcs are instantly incinerated. The half-orc, somewhat singed from the blast, emerges from the flames still ready to fight. The group's ranger (one of the two fighters) runs away, not desiring to face an opponent who can take a 20HD fireball and still be standing. The paladin (the other fighter), stands his ground, ready to die if need be. The two cross blades and after two swings, the paladin is down to 7 hit points and realizes he can only hit the half-orc on a 19 or 20. Next round, the paladin wins initiative and gets a lucky 20! Before he can heft the dice to roll his double damage, I announce the half-orc drops dead - he had but one hit point left after the fireball...

 

[Reyemile]

Exalted

Despite the party's best effort, the Mask of Winter's alliance with the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears and the Eye and Seven Despairs was successful. The magically rigged Warstrider that they insinuated into the Lookshy's armory activated a Soulbreaker Orb, shattering the very spirits of the entire population were rent asunder. This death on such a massive scale poisoned the very essance of the land, causing it to fall into the underworld and become a shadowland.

The GM expected that this defeat would stymy us. But not my character, Untamed Stallion. In typical brilliant-but-insane thread of his logic, he realized that a Soulbreaker would have annhilated the guards to the armory, but left the equipment intact--including a second Soulbreaker orb! Thus, he began charging through the Deathlords' armies of ghosts toward the center of Lookshy, to blow up the city for the second time in as many hours.