"Don't Borrow What You Can't Replace"

[Shawn_Kehoe]

What, this guy's cleric is going to be more upset about the loss of his best magic item than about the loss of a comrade-in-arms?

It's just stuff. If one PC wouldn't give and hazard all he hath for the life of a fellow-PC, I don't know what they're doing adventuring together. I sure don't want to go into a dangerous situation with somebody who's going to be making cost-benefit analyses when he ought to be watching my back.l

No, no, no ... the cleric will understand, and so will the player. It'll just be an unpleasant shock, and I felt bad because he just got the toy before going into the dungeon.

Still, we'll see what their wizard comes up with for a rescue plan ... especially against a foe he can't web or grease as per standard.

Shawn

 

[3catcircus]

Nah, they spent 5 sessions in that dungeon. I'm frickin' tired of it

I'll just find something cool that makes a good reward for the solo game.

Usually, the players are the ones who get bored with the dungeon... Did you run that dungeon because the players wanted to, or because *you* wanted to?

 

[jdrakeh]

Ick.

The cleric was an early casualty during my PC's latest dungeon delve. As is their SOP, they stored most of his equipment in the bag of holding while distributing any useful items to other party members (only until they hit the surface, of course.) This included the paladin, who borrowed his Periapt of Wisdom +2.

Bet you see where this is heading...

The paladin didn't make it out either, and unlike the cleric, her body + items were not salvageable. They now reside at the bottom of a deep underground lake which is home to a very hungry aquatic monster.

I've already scheduled a solo session with the cleric player next week in order to work off his XP debt from being raised ... but man, he's gonna be annoyed when he finds out his best piece of gear is gone. Yeah, he shouldn't have let himself get killed ... but it's just an unusual scenario in our group for both the paladin and the cleric to fall.

Ah well, I'll make sure he gets something cool in the solo game ... unless he dies again.

You know, there could be a whole different campaign in this. . . in the first AD&D campaign that I played in, we were questing for magical keys to unlock the prison of an extra-planar deity. We were having the party dwarf hold them, as we figured that he wouldn't be tempted to use the magical powers they conferred (said powers were simulataneously powerful and evil, the dwarf abhorred magic of all kinds).

Unfortunately, we didn't notice the subtle alignment shift until it was too late. And then we discovered that when all the keys were held by a living being they became the gateway to the imprisoned deity's cell (or, more correctly, that the imprisoned being was invoked in their physical body).

By the time that these 'details' came to light, the dwarf was completely psychotic (though hiding it well). All ended with the dwarf, along with the keys and other items held for the party, was thrown over the side of the ship in the middle of the ocean after being wrapped in heavy chains (and after the death of two other PCs). Whether he survived his hike across the ocean floor back to dry land, I cannot say.

Either way, there is definitely a great campaign seed in it

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Usually, the players are the ones who get bored with the dungeon... Did you run that dungeon because the players wanted to, or because *you* wanted to?

It's part of an Adventure Path. I didn't specify which one since I wanted to avoid the spoiler cops bashing down my door

The dungeon was medium-sized (50 rooms), but some of the tactics the PCs employed made the battles drag a bit. Lesson learned, moving on. The lake in question is in the first room of the dungeon, so a rescue mission won't be tedious.

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

You know, there could be a whole different campaign in this. . . in the first AD&D campaign that I played in, we were questing for magical keys to unlock the prison of an extra-planar deity. We were having the party dwarf hold them, as we figured that he wouldn't be tempted to use the magical powers they conferred (said powers were simulataneously powerful and evil, the dwarf abhorred magic of all kinds).

Unfortunately, we didn't notice the subtle alignment shift until it was too late. And then we discovered that when all the keys were held by a living being they became the gateway to the imprisoned deity's cell (or, more correctly, that the imprisoned being was invoked in their physical body).

By the time that these 'details' came to light, the dwarf was completely psychotic (though hiding it well). All ended with the dwarf, along with the keys and other items held for the party, was thrown over the side of the ship in the middle of the ocean after being wrapped in heavy chains (and after the death of two other PCs). Whether he survived his hike across the ocean floor back to dry land, I cannot say.

Either way, there is definitely a great campaign seed in it

Nice. More than a few movies use the "hero causes the disaster they were trying to prevent" trick with MacGuffins, but it sounds like your DM was smarter than the average director.

 

[jdrakeh]

Nice. More than a few movies use the "hero causes the disaster they were trying to prevent" trick with MacGuffins, but it sounds like your DM was smarter than the average director.

I'm certain that if he was reading this, he'd appreciate the compliment. The guy was all about letting players do what they wanted, really. . . he had that big plot set up but we only ever stumbled upon it randomly for the first year of play. I don't think that the 'why' was revealed until the fourth key was placed in our path, after which we started to dig a little deeper. He was a big advocate of "giving them just enough rope to hang themselves"

 

[Milagroso]

definitly have the periapt show up on a necromancer or soemthing. maybe with the paladin as a zombie knight budyguard. this is the perfect time to make an arch-nemesis.

Nice! qft

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Unfortunately, that's a quirk of D&D. There are spells to bring you back from death. There's no spell to bring back your bling.

Hold on, that gives me an idea for a whole line of PDFs ...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The dungeon was medium-sized (50 rooms)

Ack, that's medium?

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Ack, that's medium?

I know. The first module included a 100-room dungeon, so I'm scaling my expectations accordingly.