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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 1926103" data-attributes="member: 2013">Heh heh... I have... in fact, it was the last D&D full-length campaign in which I was a player (instead of a DM)... back in the days of 2e.  I played a NE dwarven fighter-thief...  (I consulted with the DM beforehand) and because the PCs were accustomed to looking over each others' character sheets, I prepared two character sheets; one was the one I had "in play" for others to look over (which showed a CG dwarven fighter) and the second was the one I gave to the DM (which showed my true stats as a NE dwarven fighter-thief).The rest of the party was playing humans and I think there was a half-elf or two, but all "younglings" while I played the "grizzled veteran" dwarf.  As such, I took the time to teach them tactics, work on the party's fighting style, and so forth.  Two of the PCs were played by brothers and the PCs were of course brothers, and 2-on-1 tended to bully most of the other PCs... which engendered a little annoyance in the party, but nothing major.By the time we made our way through the early campaign, I had (through my own "voice of reason") managed to get the quietest PC (and player) appointed as the party leader (he was also the easiest to manipulate - both in and out of character) and having set him up as the leader, I had a relatively easy time steering most of the party's decisions.When we were about 4th level, we fought a mad wizard in his tower as the BBEG... and while the rest of the party puttered about trying to figure out how to assault him (mind you, AFTER we stormed into his chambers), my dwarven fighter (the grizzled veteran) threw caution to the wind and did a body-tackle on the wizard, going into a grapple to disrupt any potential spellcasting.  I managed to ruin several of his spells, and finally he pulled an enchanted, poisoned dagger and tried to stab me... natural 20.  Oh, did I mention he had girdle of storm giant strength on?  I was toast.Of course, the rest of the party, seeing the "brave little dwarf" die, roused themselves into a righteous furor, offed the wizard, and had me raised.  I was given the girdle as a reward for my valor (and besides, I was the "fighter" in the group, so I needed it).  I now had the perfect trust of all my comrades; after all, I had died fighting for them.From that point on, I was a perfect little bastard behind the scenes... when nobody was looking, I quietly emptied loot into my bag of holding and didn't share with the rest of the party.  In order to sow intra-party hatred (again, this was made easier thanks to the obnoxious brothers), I started swiping - and fencing, when we hit big cities - minor magic items (potions, scrolls, etc.) that belonged to these two.  They were careless with their stuff and this wasn't even noted for quite some time... they figured the DM had run some pickpockets at them in the cities and they had just missed them.As the party accumulated more magic items (including picking up some minor artifacts that were needed for the "save the world quest" story arc the DM was developing as we approached level 9), I got a little bolder and managed to pick off some of their more choice magic items.  As their frustration with the unseen city pickpockets grew, I finally swiped an item when we were in the middle of the wilderness and planted it on the party's wizard (who had been involved in the most spats between the two).  It was only through the intervention of the party leader (backed by the "fighter dwarf") that they didn't wind up at each other's throats.  One of the brothers insulted me there, and I shrugged it off... at least, they thought I did.Through agents and contacts I had made in the capital city, I let the wizard know that some of the brothers' items could be pilfered and he could get a share of the gold if he would create some magic items in return.  Thus, I had him create a ring of spell storing for me that allowed me to use several first- and second-level spells (the one thing they wouldn't expect from a 2e dwarf) - without knowing that it was going to me.Once all the "minor artifacts" we needed had been gathered for our quest, I struck.  I retired early from carousing in the inn (as we gathered our courage for the quest) to pack and plan (as was my wont).  Then I made myself invisible, quaffed a potion of fire-breathing, and sneaked to the room of one of the brothers (the one who had insulted me).  I picked the lock, stepped inside, taking up a position just beyond the door, and waited.  Eventually, he came up to bed.  As he closed the door, I stepped forward and backstabbed him, winking into visibility.  The look of shock on the player's face was priceless... he wasn't dead, but as he whirled to face me, he lost the initiative roll.  I snarled, "that was for insulting me... never do it again" - then unleased the fire breathing potion and killed him.The rest of the party came charging to the room due to the commotion.  Since I had trained them, I knew what tactics they would use, and had told the DM of my counterplans weeks before.  My traps and "pre-fight buff spells" (cast from the ring) allowed me to slay half the party and make off with much of their stuff - including several of the artifacts, as I cast a "jump" spell and leapt from the third story window before disappearing into the night (I made sure to display the ring to the wizard before I left though, to let him know it was his folly that led to this).  The players were as much in shock as the characters. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  The look on their faces at the moment of betrayal - that I was the thief, and ESPECIALLY the horror on the wizard's face as he realized I was killing them with tools he had made out of greed - was priceless.  I had made sure to "twist the knife" emotionally and psychologically and intellectually as well as physically... and they felt it.Well, the players put off the "major story arc quest" trying to kill me - but never were able to do so... I stayed a step ahead of them and finally they gave up (after losing another half dozen characters to their quest for vengeance - they never did get the knack of long-term planning).  They did manage to complete the quest at great cost, and cursed the character each time they realized that the problem they were facing would have been easily solved with one of the artifacts I had absconded with.They still cringe at the mention of the name "Thormor" to this day.  Stabbing someone in the back on a lark is one thing.  Carefully plotting their demise - and laying the seeds for months - is another.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  All of them agreed afterward that I did a great job playing the character to the hilt... but boy do they hate the character.  Never a more memorable character of mine, that's for sure.</blockquote>

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