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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Boddynock" data-source="post: 2173591" data-attributes="member: 21506">Mad God's Key - spoiler alert!!!I DMed my newbie group yesterday. We've been going through Mad God's Key from Dungeon 114, and they've made their way to the Green Dagger Gang's hideout. After a session last week which ended up with them severely harassed by one of the thieves who kept popping out of hiding and taking potshots at them (after sneak attacking the only fighter and staggering him with a single blow - that led to all sorts of wacky hypotheses about traps, invisible opponents (he was behind the door), ranged attacks from across the corridor (Me: "But there was no bolt or arrow in the wound"), flying monsters and so on), they finally decided to withdraw, regroup and taunt their attacker, to make him show himself.So the halfling rogue starts chanting, "Come out and fight us, why don't you? Chicken! Chicken!" (Have I mentioned that most of the group are 14 year old boys?) "Yeah, right," I thought, making a couple of rolls for window dressing. The first was a half-way decent bluff. The second, the rogue's sense motive, was - you guessed it - a 1! I did consider ignoring that - it was obvious that as soon as the gang member showed himself, he was going to be toast - but then I thought, "Hey, why not? We need to move this on, anyway." So out he came ... and died ... cut in two by the fighter's greatsword (the player has so been wanting to kill something with his greatsword!)After some further faffing around, they decided to explore the next room. Imagine my surprise when the halfling rogue leaped into the room chanting, "Chicken! Chicken!" Imagine his surprise when the gang member at the top of the stairs shot him with her crossbow!That was the start of a star turn by this feisty, competent opponent. Great armor class, high dexterity, awesome melee and ranged attacks (for the level of adventure - 1st), and bucketloads of attitude. The 18 CHA sorceror decided to turn on the charm - she was not impressed, and put him down with a snappy reply. The bard shot at her, and did minimum damage, which she shrugged off. This woman was fantastic!The only woman player in the group (and the mother of one of the boys) was entranced. She started contributing the gang member's dialogue - really getting into it.I was rolling like a demon, they were making average rolls, and after 7 rounds I had two of the party (the spellcasters) unconscious but stabilized, the rogue bleeding out, the fighter on 1 HP, and the bard soiling himself. It was at that point (having already explained to them that I wasn't fudging the rolls) that I realized that I'd made a mistake in her AC, pitching it too high, forgetting that she didn't have the benefit of her shield. Not a serious one, but enough to have slowed her down a bit, and certainly enough to have made her demise more imminent than it was. It finally came down to a shooting match between the fighter, the bard and the <s>star</s> villain. I then fudged a couple of rolls. Luckily, the fighter, who had been missing her consistently, managed to hit her and roll maximum damage. That was my cue. I announced her death ("You pinned her to the wall") and the party rejoiced that they were triumphant, after a really exciting encounter.Had I not made my mistake, I would have let the dice fall as they would (although I certainly hadn't expected a TPK). Since it was my mistake, I rectified it in a way that seemed fair to me - and I'll never tell them that their victory was anything but well earned, because as far as I'm concerned, it was!</blockquote>

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