Comedy of Errors and a bit of a rant

[Greenfield]

Our group traveled to the Plane of Air for the next leg of our adventure.

What we found surprised every character with any Knowledge - Planes skill at all.

First, there was a sun in the sky, ground below, and identifiable "sky" and "ground" directions. In other words, there was gravity, and an up and a down. We weren't on the ground, mind you, but on a cloud/platform that seemed to support us.

There was a child there who knew who we were and why we were there, and was openly insulting to half the party. Specifically, anyone who wasn't a normal PC race/class. As far as he was concerned, we smelled bad, and were animals.

We tried to ignore the child's bad manners because, well, children. Besides, this was obviously the DM trying to provoke a fight in a can't-win situation.

One PC, a Catfolk Shadowdancer type (Scout/Hexblade/Shadowdancer/Ranger/Don't-Ask) finally responded, saying that the kid smelled bad too, and turned to walk away.

Immediatly the kid moved next to the Shadowdancer and erected a Resilient Sphere over the both of them. We asked if there was a Save and the DM ruled that there wasn't, since the sphere wasn't aimed at the Shadowdancer, but targeted the kid instead, and the Shadowdancer just happened to be in the area.

The Shadowdancer tried to Shadow Step out, noting that the kid cast a shadowinside the sphere, and we cast shadows outside. The DM ruled that the sun was straight over head, so the kid was essentially standing on his shadow and the Shadow Step ability wouldn't work.

Our Golden One/Cleric declared his intent to cast Antimagic Field. It was questioned whether he had the spell prepared and he noted that it was a Domain spell. It turns out he hadn't been marking his Domain spells as prepared or not (he's very new to 3.5 so it's an excusable mistake) so we had him roll a dice to see which one he had. (Note that he had complained bitterly about the Giants having the spell in the previous session, and how it shut him down completely, hence our doubt that he'd ever take it.)

The dice said he had that one, so he walked up to the sphere and cast the spell. Immediately he, the Shadowdancer, the kid and the party Ranger/Druid dropped through the cloud platform, since it was a magical effect.

The kid transformed into a Juvenile Force Dragon and tried to breath-weapon all fo them. AMF stopped it, but as soon as anyone left its area they'd be in deep. And if they didn't then they'd splat on the ground 10,000 feet below. (You fall that distance in remarkably short time, if you use 32 ft per second squared).

The Shadowdancer kicked off from the Cleric, drawing a wand as he did, then used Alter Self to turn into Avarial (winged) elf. And the chase was on. While the Cleric dropped the AMF and the Druid turned into a Giant Eagle so he could save the Cleric, the Dragon went after the Shadow Dancer.

ShadowDancer moves at 50 in that form, with average maneuverability. The Dragon moves at 300 with Clumsey maneuverability. The Dragon should win the race, but the Shadowdancer should be able to stay clear of him. He tried. DM ruled that the Dragon got two claws and a bite attack. At +50 to hit vs a 38 AC.

Cleric tried Control Winds to drop a hurricane on the Dragon, while trying not to catch anybody else in it. Dragon didn't roll a 1 on his Fortitude Save, so was unaffected.

My character, mean time, had flown over the edge of the cloud platform and now threw a Choking Sands spell at the Dragon. My thought was that, no matter what happens, he has to take a full round action to cough up the sand, as part of making the Save that he really can't fail. That means no Move action to stay aloft or attempt to maneuver, in a hurricane. Failed to punch his SR by two points (rolled badly).

The Druid, carrying the Cleric, headed topside, while theShadowdancer ran for his life and I tried to run interference for him.

Dragon headed topside as well, and the Druid and Cleric headed for the Gate that had brought us here.

The Dragon staked out the portal, figuring that we had to come back at some point. We didn't.

Shadowdancer and Bard (my character) informed the party via Telepathic Bond that we were headed for a different cloud bank, and that they should follow.

Then momma Dragon showed up and gave junior a swat for playing with his food and being rude to people. (Note that the write up for Force Dragons says that they're pretty much always rude to strangers, unless they decide to flat out kill them on sight).

And it was over.

The DM at first awarded us EXP based on "defeating" the CR25 Force dragon (which we had almost but not quite managed to inconvenience, slightly). Then he saw what the totals would be for the 15th levels in the party of 5: Something like a level and a half's worth of Exp in one shot.

If my character could punch the SR of the thing with any reliability, he could keep casting that Choking Sands spell, round after round, hoping the Dragon will roll a 1 and really have a problem. And even if he makes it every time, he's falling out of control the whole time. Eventually he'll hit the ground and take the falling damage.

Then he'll breathe on my character and kill him in one shot. (20 D12 is an average of 130 points, and the Reflex save is one my character can't make except on a natural 20. )

I'm not at all sure what the DM was thinking in this mess. It's like he didn't read anything on the Plane, or the creature, or the spells used, and didn't consider the precedent he was setting with that "you don't get a save because you weren't the primary target" ruling.

But watching the Cleric throw the spell he hated and had complained about, only to have it drop him through the floor and into free-fall was just hilarious.

Like the title said, it was a comedy of errors, and yeah, more than a bit of a rant.

 

[Halivar]

"Well, that was fun. Thanks for running that, Bob. Who's running next week's game?"

 

[Greenfield]

Yeah, it's almost tempting to ask the DM if he wants a "Do over" on the whole session.

He's been unhappy with the Shadowdancer, as a character, for a while now. It's obvious he was trying to nail him, yet at the same time he couldn't bring himself to just pull the trigger and nuke the PC.

And throughout our multi-planar adventure, it's been apparent that he hasn't really thought a lot of things through.

But, somewhere between the laughing and the crying, we muddle through.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I agree that it's funny, but based on this and the previous thread, you need a new DM. Perhaps you should run a campaign instead, because ... wow.

 

[Greenfield]

We take turns as DM in our campaign/group. This particular one may be in a bit over his head, considering the sheer variety of things a 15th through 18th level party can pull out of their hats. His "Adventure through five planes" story arc is a bit ambitious as well.

And yeah, I could DM a full campaign, but my DMing has its weaknesses as well. I tend to softpedal the combats a bit, and my plot twists have been known to cross the line a bit (How coincidental/cute is too much?)

So our DMing can be a bit irregular, but while I may gripe about any one of our DMs' performance, I'm hardly in a position to actually cast any stones.

My standard for any session/adventure arc/campaign is simple: When you're done, would it make a good story? If so, then we all did our jobs.

 

[Najo]

You could co-dm together. One of you checks details and keeps rules in check, the other keeps camp down. Share playing npcs.

 

[Greenfield]

We have roughly eight people at the game table. Five of us DM. (Not sure, some of the newer players may yet take up the challenge.)

That gives everybody who wants to a chance to play, and everybody who wants to a chance in the DM's chair. It doesn't mean that we're all good DMs. (I'm pretty sure I'm bloody awful sometimes. )

The down side of the dynamic is that we have to endure each others brain-fails. The good side is that we aren't stuck with anyone when they're busy having a brain-fail.

One side effect of the round-robin style is that we all tend to ge easy in terms of character power. Advancing too quickly tends to move the game out of the comfort zone people have built. We have some players who are rules sharks, and some who definitely aren't. As a group, we tend to move at the speed of the slower members.

And to give credit where credit is due, my time on this forum, getting advice, criticism, sympathy and the occasional beat-down by you good folk have helped me in my understanding of the rules, and inspired me to expand my library considerably. We each are, after all, the sum of our experiences, and hanging out here has definitely been an experience.

Thanks.

 

[willvr]

Personally, the rules of the plane being different to what people may expect; or the monsters not acting like you expect that particular monster should, wouldn't concern me.

The only issue would be the 'trying to kill a PC'. If he doesn't like the shadowdancer; he should consider asking the player to play a different character.

(Also a level range of 15-18 can be awkward to run; depending on classes of those level ranges.)

Round-Robin DMing is fine; but if one of those GMs doesn't like a particular class to the point he'll try to kill the PC? Hmm.

 

[Greenfield]

One problem with the round-robin DMing is that it actually limits the power of the DM. Asking someone to change characters, or the flat banning of a particular character isn't generally the purview of just one DM. It takes a consensus that's socially awkward to even try for.

The reason I know this DM doesn't like that character is that we've had a few conversations on the phone where he wanted to discuss plans to get rid of him. I've pointed out the "bad form" part of such plans, and he's reluctantly agreed, but as the old saying goes, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

In theory, the Dragon would have gone after any of the "not a person" PCs who gave him an excuse. In practice, the DM pretty much knew who would rise to the bait. And his problem isn't just with the character, but with the borderline munchkinism that spawned him. And that is a trait of the player, which will manifest in his next character just as it has in this one. As you can see from the list of classes, he likes to sample, taking just enough of each class to gain specific abilities. His goal, always, is to make his character completely immune to various attacks and/or effects, constantly adding to the list, while simultaneously striving to trick out his offense so nothing is ever proof against his attacks. We, as a group, are constantly on the lookout for his creative rules interpretations. In short, he's a power gamer in a group of role players. (The gloating doesn't help).

It became obvious, in play, that he was gunning for that PC. That's probably why he backed off and decided not to pull the trigger. Too many witnesses.

I kind of sent the DM an analysis of the scene, including the discrepancies between the way he played the Dragon and what the rules say. (He had the touch AC wrong, the caster level wrong, and misplayed more than a few of his abilities.) In practice, the Dragon should have shredded all of us, hands down.

We should have been grateful to survive the encounter. We might have deserved RP points for that, but by no interpretation of the rules did we defeat the creature, nor the encounter.

 

[willvr]

Aaah!

Okay powergamer/munchkin in a group of RPers is a different story entirely. (And a different problem.) It can be done; but flat-out munchkins (as opposed to just powergamers) sometimes have to be willing to scale back powergaming to work.


Good luck.