DM's head explodes, film at 11

[hong]

I had a little episode of this today.

Three PCs ganged up on my poor little battlemage BBEG. Okay, it's a Gargantuan battlemage BBEG with stupid attack bonuses on account of giant size (OA/CArc), but still, hardly that bad.


Hong [DM, slightly paraphrased]: "FOOLISH MORTALS! YOU WILL DIE!"

Player: "Arjuna casts harm on him!"

Hong [slightly paraphrased]: "He laughs at your feeble attempt to cast a spell!"

[HONG ROLLS SAVE]
[HONG ROLLS NOT A 1]

Hong: "HAHA! He takes half damage!"

Player: "Thea also casts harm on him!"

Hong [slightly paraphrased]: "He laughs at your feeble attempt to cast a spell!"

[HONG ROLLS SAVE]
[HONG ROLLS A 1]

Hong: "... AH !"

[FX: BBEG DIES WITH A SURPRISED LOOK ON HIS FACE]
[PLAYER MAKES MANY OBSCENE GESTURES IN HONG'S GENERAL DIRECTION]

...

Player: "What's that evil mage at the back there doing?"

Hong: "HAHA! You don't know this, but he's readying to countersp--"

[HONG'S HEAD EXPLODES]

[ROLL CREDITS]

 

[Ryltar]

I feel your pain. Really.

 

[Gez]

[HONG'S HEAD EXPLODES]

Do it again! Do it again!

Harm charges a subject with negative energy that deals 10 points of damage per caster level (to a maximum of 150 points at 15th level). If the creature successfully saves, harm deals half this amount, but it cannot reduce the target’s hit points to less than 1.​

So, you read that as meaning harm cannot reduce hp below 1 only if the save is succeeded?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Love the title of this thread. Very eye catching. Had to read it before doing my chores. I may have to modify it a bit just to use it in my Highlander(ish) game!

 

[shilsen]

*looks at stick with Hong-shaped indentation in it*

*looks at explodiated head*

Walks away muttering, "Damn! Why didn't I think of that?"

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Okay all the dishes are washed, dried and put away. I still have to vacuum the saltea tile later though.

 

[Piratecat]

Oh, I feel your pain. Only in my case, right after I remembered that the guy was readying a counterspell to stop the harm, I'd recall that the bad guy had spell resistance and I forgot to roll it.

It's okay, little camper. We'll get through this together. *pat, pat*

 

[Varianor Abroad]

This I can relate to. I want some sort of fiendish assistant (maybe a quasit?) that never lets me forget these little things. I was running an LG game at Anonycon and totally forgot about this gnome druid readying flame strikes to nail PC spellcasters for 2 rounds. Aargh!

 

[Buttercup]

If I consistently remembered all the tactics my BBEGS are capable of, I'd be TPKing right and left. Fortunately for my players, I have a mind like a sieve.

 

[Li Shenron]

If I consistently remembered all the tactics my BBEGS are capable of, I'd be TPKing right and left. Fortunately for my players, I have a mind like a sieve.

I sympathyse... sympathyze... simpathzfsg... The biggest difference between a player and a DM (IMXP) is that the player plays the PC at 100% its abilities, but the DM sometimes just cannot, unless she can afford to face the players' wrath for lost PCs... Usually I don't remember all the spells or tricks my BBEG has (they mostly don't live long enough to be worth memorizing), but even if I could remember I'd probably not play at its best.

Or, better put, it's more safe to stay away from high-level play sometimes

As for the Harm problem, I too read that it cannot kill the target ever.