I can't believe this worked...

[TracerBullet42]

In last nights game, we came to know that we would be squaring off against a basilisk. The party hemmed and hawwed a bit, not really understanding the nature of the gaze attack, but knowing that a simple glance from one of these beasts can turn one to stone. It's really a pretty scary notion.

So we thought for a while, trying to come up with a plan on how to avoid it's stony gaze. One of the players then had an idea...

"What if we pull down some of our sails and use it like a tarp to try and thow over its head?"

I thought to myself, "That's got to be the stupidest idea that could actually work..."

So why not? We decided to try it. We approached the area where the beast tended to dwell. (All of the "statues" gave it away.) and attached our tarp to some big sticks and held it up in front of us. When the beast came out in to the open, we would keep the tarp between us and it and attempt to close the gap. We would engage the beast and two of us would attempt to bring the tarp up near its head where a third party member would attempt to wrap the tarp on to its head. Then the fourth member of our group would charge in and lay down the smack. Right? Seems easy enough.

So we move in, and everything is going according to plan. We close with the beast and surround it enough so that party member #3 can wrap the tarp around its head. It is at this point the the GM says, "Ok, give me a grapple check."

Oh boy, PC #3 also happens to be a small character with no strength bonus. We may be in a lot of trouble...

But the dice roll follows, and comes up a 20! Auto-success! It was a miracle!

All that to say...that has got to be one of the strangest ideas that actually worked. We were able to beat the monster down and no one turned to stone.

And there was much rejoicing.

Seemed like a story worth sharing. Anybody got anything stranger that worked?

 

[Reynard]

Seemed like a story worth sharing. Anybody got anything stranger that worked?

Not at the moment -- but I wanted to say that what you just described was pretty much standard operating procedure in the "old days" ( I am assuming you are relatively new to this, but I could be wrong). Coming up with clever ways to overcome challenges used to be the game.

 

[Black_Swan]

Coming up with clever ways to overcome challenges used to be the game.

It's still a big part of the game.

Great job on handling the encounter Tracer. It's good to see a group using tactics to overcome their adversaries.

 

[Chairman7w]

Heh... I had a highly skilled Rogue drink a potion of Invisibility once, and sneak down a tunnel where a mini Beholder creature (I can't remember it's name) was hiding. He made all his Move Silently checks and when he came across the creature, he threw a big burlap sack over it, and twisted the sack shut!!

He then proceeded to swing it like a sack of potatoes and pound the crap out of it against the walls until it was mush!!

By the time we all stopped laughing I decided to give him an XP bonus for hilarity!

 

[PwrMnky]

great job

GREAT IDEA you twisted monkey!

 

[Rystil Arden]

A 20 is actually not an autosuccess for a Grapple check because it is an opposed check.

 

[TracerBullet42]

A 20 is actually not an autosuccess for a Grapple check because it is an opposed check.

Yeah, but I didn't think it was worth posting our house-rules into this thread.

A 1 is an auto-failure in our games, too.

Brings a little extra drama to our games and we like it...

 

[Doug McCrae]

We threw pepper in a beholder's eyes.

 

[TracerBullet42]

We threw pepper in a beholder's eyes.

hehehe...picturing a tearful beholder is quite the image...

 

[BlackMoria]

I remember one incident.

Symbol spells are triggered by a variety of means - seeing the symbol is one trigger condition, touching the symbol is another trigger condition.

Our party hit a auto-reset symbol of death on symbol of death on a floor in a dungeon. The rogue, going in advance, made the save with a natural 20 upon seeing the symbol and survived, withdrawing to warn the rest of the party.

Now the rogue and the rest of the party got into a debate upon how to deal with the symbol. The rogue didn't want to get near it again, even for a disarm (60 ft radius of effect).

The DM asked what we were doing and the party continued their discussion, seeming unable to come up with a consensus of how to deal with the symbol.

Me: " I close my eyes, put my left hand out to touch the wall to guide me and I walk into the room, hugging the left hand wall until I reach the corridor on the other side" (The symbol was in the middle of the room)

DM: Ok, make a saving throw.

Me: Can't see it, and my path takes me safely around it so I can't touch it. I don't meet the triggering criteria.

DM: "..."

Rest of the group "..."

"That easy?" said the rogue player.

Me: "Yup"

DM: "*&^%$#@"