DMs: Do you let your players do over the top things?

[Arnwyn]

Yes, quite often.

And i let them do it all with a single attack roll.

That, I don't do.

 

[reveal]

In a D&D campaign, one character was a half-orc Paladin. He was standing in a warehouse looking out a ground floor window. He was lookout for a group consisting of 2 other player characters and an NPC. When they, the group, came back over the wall the Paladin was watching, the Paladin saw that two werwolves were closing in fast. He decided he would try to jump through the window rather than try to run around the front. I had him roll a Jump check (he was wearing full plate). He rolled a 1 so I decided he tripped on the way to Jump. I had him do a Strength check. He rolled a 20.

Basically, the Paladin meant to jump through the window but ended up crashing through the wall and was able to keep his feet. Needless to say, he scared the beejezus out of the werewolves.

 

[qaaral]

And our education system, and our entertainment media, and our...

I've learned everything from the movies, EVERYTHING liquid is explosively flammable.

 

[Henry]

Hey, don't blame us! Everybody knows that BEER ain't flammable (at least, down here in the southeast we know it) -- it's that ALE stuff that I never saw until I was in my mid-20's. I've heard of beer forever, but ale is something that we pre-teens assumed was strong stuff - otherwise, why would adventurers of old be drinking the stuff? We just assumed it was something like Everclear, which is something we HAD heard of.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Please tell me you don't actually think that ale is *flammable*, do you?

What's up with these people? This is like the third or fourth time I've seen various players talk about using ale to set things on fire or create explosions. It's friggin beer! It's 90-something percent water!! Does the US draconian alcohol policy make american teenagers entirely ignorant about things like that?

Hmm, I didnt know that. Thanks for informing me.

Although I will probably still let my players do it just becase it is cool

 

[Hypersmurf]

I am not sure what you are referring to, unless its from some book, perhaps?! I have read alot of books, both great and trivial, but my memory escapes me on this particular incident. Its very probable that I had read something that inspired this incident, which was about ten years ago, but I cannot recall from where I would have got this one.

Any clue would be nice.....

Well, the story was rather reminiscent of the incident at the end of RA Salvatore's Streams of Silver, where Bruenor Battlehammer (a dwarven fighter) leaps onto the back of Shimmergloom the Shadow Dragon with a cask of flaming brandy strapped to his back and disappears down a chasm, on fire, while hacking away with his axe...

... but survives because he has Drizzt's scimitar (that grants fire resistance) tucked into his pack.

-Hyp.

 

[Balrog]

Well, the story was rather reminiscent of the incident at the end of RA Salvatore's Streams of Silver, where Bruenor Battlehammer (a dwarven fighter) leaps onto the back of Shimmergloom the Shadow Dragon with a cask of flaming brandy strapped to his back and disappears down a chasm, on fire, while hacking away with his axe...

... but survives because he has Drizzt's scimitar (that grants fire resistance) tucked into his pack.

-Hyp.

In the immortal words of Ed McMahon, "YOU are correct sir!"

I read that series when it first came out, and that scene must have stuck in my head, because it definitely inspired my actions. although, now that i think about, the book scene must have gotten mixed up in my recollection. Now that I think about it more, the character wasnt a straight fighter at all, but a Dwarven Fighter7/Cleric of Clanggedin7 named Fergus MacRogh, who wielded a Heavy Mace and a Shortsword of Giant Slaying. And he DID have a Ring of Fire Resistance.

In fact, after that incident the other PCs began nicknaming him "Dragonburner".

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I've learned everything from the movies, EVERYTHING liquid is explosively flammable.

Better watch that torch... The tide's commin' in.

 

[hong]

What's up with these people? This is like the third or fourth time I've seen various players talk about using ale to set things on fire or create explosions. It's friggin beer! It's 90-something percent water!! Does the US draconian alcohol policy make american teenagers entirely ignorant about things like that?

No, just American beer.

 

[JimAde]

No, just American beer.

Ouch. And yet, sadly, true. That's why I drink Guinness

Now you could, theoretically, set a barrel of ale on fire. The barrel's wood after all

In the most recent session of the game I run, I had a Fighter/Sorcerer run along the top of a half-open town gate, leap across to the other half, run across that and land on the catwalk on the other side while knocking an arrow and shoot an orc sergeant at 200'. The orc was in melee with her friends and had partial cover. She had cast True strike beforehand, but rolled a crit anyway and killed him with one arrow. This all happened in one round, but required a Balance check and a Jump check in addition to the attack. I love that stuff.