Greatest roll ever

[DungeonmasterCal]

This happened in a 1e game, in a campaign that seemed famous for cliffhanger endings, knucklebiting combat encounters, and random dumb luck. There are over a half dozen stories where an amazing die roll saved the character, the situation, or completely ruined the DM's plans.

One of my favorites was when playing my anti-paladin (1e NPC only...whatever), and my character and two others had been transported into the Nine Hells to steal a certain gem from a treasure horde belonging to Asmodeus. Asleep across the entrance to the cave was a huge, ancient red dragon.

After much arguing and planning, my character just gets up and strides toward the dragon. The 1e anti-paladin had an innate charm ability, so I slammed my hand on its snout, shouting, "Great Lord of the Skies, I come before you and beseech you that you grant us access to the cavern!" The DM started laughing, then rolled the d20 for the dragon's save. The dragon saved on a 2, and he rolled a one. The dragon stepped aside and allowed us to stroll right in.

That's the only time I ever saw a Gamescience High Impact d20 shatter when thrown against a wall, too.

 

[Ferret]

The only really good roll I saw was for a player I DMed, the character was fighting against a Drow and by my ruling managed to auto kill the Drow with a crossbow bolt through the head!

 

[Theron]

A couple of weeks ago, our Paladin managed to crit twice in consecutive encounters with a spear and no improved critical feats. Took out a rather hefty mimic and then, more dramatically appropriately, an Erinyes with a single strike.

 

[Thulcondar]

This happened at our last gaming session, actually. It's a quickie but a goodie...

My wife not only managed to roll a "1" on a "to hit" roll, but the die actually bounced off the table and hit her in the eye in the process. I kid you not.

A critical miss in-game and a critical hit in real-life.

Thulcondar

 

[moritheil]

I was DMing a party of 8 players, perhaps 4th-5th level, and they entered a cave where a hostile jann was waiting for them. The party paladin, unarmored and holding only a longspear, stepped up to parley with him. It didn't go well. Weapons were drawn, threats were shouted, and initiatives were rolled. She won initiative and charged him with the spear, rolling a critical, dealing 45 hit points of damage, and dropping him instantly.

Since there were 8 players, we were accustomed to battles taking forever. It was a nice change of pace.

 

[Darklone]

Fumbles? We had a fighter in our oldie group... he had a nice magic sword +2 that slowed enemies he hit... but on a fumble he hit himself. Plus slow.

There wasn't ONE BBEG we fought without him rolling a 1 in the first round of combat. Worked that nicely that he begged a few years later to exchange that sword for a normal +1 longsword. DM agreed.

 

[Nyaricus]

Nice thread.

[snip great story]

They called it for the night after that.

THAT was a story, mang

cheers,
--N

 

[Legildur]

I cast a Maximized Lightning Bolt once... the hard way.

To be fair, it was at caster level 5. But even so!

YAHTZEE!

 

[meomwt]

Running a 2e game, the players had been hired by a Copper Dragon to kill a Red Dragon who was territory snatching. They'd located an Arrow of Dragon Slaying (rare to the point of Artifact in my game ) and were prepping for a fight.

The only person with the skill to use the bow was a fighter, played by a guy who had a charge sheet as long as your arm for rolling badly. Heck, people didn't want to sit next to him in case his bad luck floated over to them.

So, he's got a magical Arrow, a Magical Bow, Gloves of Marksmanship: the Bow has been Blessed by a Druid for one shot only, and I think there were a couple of other Buffs running from the PC's (Bless, etc.).

The Red Dragon is fighting an aerial combat with the Copper Dragon, and an Illusion of a Crystal Dragon the party's Illusionist/Thief whipped up.

So, my unlucky player takes aim. He gets one shot only. With all the buffs and his THAC0, I think he needed only about a 4 to hit.

Dice rolls. Breath is held around the table.

Staring up at everyone is a 20. The Arrow of Dragon Slaying smacks into Red Dragon right between the eyes, and she Ages to death in seconds. All that was left was bone and dust.

That roll was about ten years ago, and it still gets brought up in conversation. After that, his normal run of poor rolls continued.

 

[Ravellion]

Showing off...

A new PC had just joined the group, and they were all sailing north on a river through hobgoblin territory. The old PCs had made a deal: since they were 11th level, they wanted to make sure that the new PC could hold his own (in character they were all sadists if you ask me). So when the hobgoblin ambush occured (level 3 figthers), they did not do anything and let the new PC (Mystic Theurge) clean up the scattered hobgoblins. After a few rounds, three remaining hobgoblins fled, the old PCs decided to get themselves involved too.
The Psion ignited one into flames, the dwarf couldn't do much from the boat, and the archer killed one hobgoblin.

One Hobgoblin however, moved *just* over the crest of the hill, and was no longer within sight. The archer asked me whether he could still try the shot. I said "well, you'll have to shoot in an arch. There is a lot of wind. You can't see him, and don't know exaclty where he is. I'll give a -8 to hit, +10 AC from cover for the hobgoblin, a 10% chance to pick the right square where the hobgoblin is in, and a 50% misschance". "ok" said the player.

First he had to pick the right square. He rolls 1 on a d10. Pretty amazing by itself.
Then the 50% misschance. He rolls over 50 (IIRC, something like 53 or so).
The attack roll. 20. Everyone is suddenly very quiet.
"Ok, make your confirmation roll!" I say, knowing very well that only a critical could actually *kill* the hobgoblin and the effective -18 to hit made things rather difficult for the archer.
Another 20. A dead hobgoblin. As they looked for a body, they found the hobgoblin with an arrow pointing straight down, skewering its head from top to bottom.

Of course, the encounter was entirely inconsequential - but that shot was amazing!