RangerWickett
Legend
What are some of your memorable first-time experiences with classic D&D monsters?
I hopped in on a friend's game tonight, after a rather depressing day. While the rest of the group went through some Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser-esque misadventures in a city of Dwarves, I rolled up my character, 6th level.
Str 7
Dex 13
Con 6
Int 11
Wis 14
Cha 17
My big trick is, as a rogue/sorcerer, invisibility, true strike, sneak attack, which almost makes up for my abysmal Strength. I mean, I've got a +15 Bluff check and +18 Diplomacy, but my AC is 11, and my only magic item is a wand that can cast invisibility once per day.
We were trying to track down a thieve's guild in this city, and having crappy luck. There are two guilds, the Clan of the Rat and the Clan of the Wolf, and we needed to find the Clan of the Wolf and try to figure out why a bunch of bugbear-ish critters called Crags were trying to kill their leader. Our attempts to find the guild were going badly, and in the evening as we were heading back to our inn, we heard a woman screaming from down an alley. We run down the alley to help, and find that it's a dead end, with two thugs picking on a young lady.
Two rounds of combat later, I fire my first shot, getting a nat 20 and a critical hit, landing an arrow square in the back of the lady, who was of course a thief luring us into this ambush. I roll 3d6-6 for my arrow damage, +2d6 for sneak attack, dealing 11 points of damage. The lady is unfazed, as are the thugs, who have been getting beaten on quite a bit, but look no worse for wear.
It's about this time that more thieves begin to come up out of a manhole in the back of the alley, and three come from the street to block our exit. Realizing we're outnumbered, I turn invisible, our foreigner monk sprints and leaps over the thieves blocking the way, and the barbarian tries to force her way through them. Both I and the barbarian end up getting tripped, and I get hit for 13 points of damage (dropping me to 2).
The monk grabs one of the thieves blocking the way and throws him bodily at another, and I'm starting to scramble free across the ground (moving silently on hands and knees), when a silver crossbow bolt imbeds in the chest of one of the thieves. He squeals in pain, and his body contorts into the features of a man-rat, and then he falls to the ground. The other thieves flee, leaving us barely alive, and thanking our rescuer.
He explains that our foes were lycanthropes, were-rats from, of course, the Clan of the Rat. We ourselves killed not a one, but we survived.
Man, that was a fun game. I mean, sure, I look forward to a chance to do something noteworthy in future games, but this was such a surreal moment for me. I've been playing D&D for, hell, ten years, and I just fought my first were-rat. How cool is that?
I hopped in on a friend's game tonight, after a rather depressing day. While the rest of the group went through some Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser-esque misadventures in a city of Dwarves, I rolled up my character, 6th level.
Str 7
Dex 13
Con 6
Int 11
Wis 14
Cha 17
My big trick is, as a rogue/sorcerer, invisibility, true strike, sneak attack, which almost makes up for my abysmal Strength. I mean, I've got a +15 Bluff check and +18 Diplomacy, but my AC is 11, and my only magic item is a wand that can cast invisibility once per day.
We were trying to track down a thieve's guild in this city, and having crappy luck. There are two guilds, the Clan of the Rat and the Clan of the Wolf, and we needed to find the Clan of the Wolf and try to figure out why a bunch of bugbear-ish critters called Crags were trying to kill their leader. Our attempts to find the guild were going badly, and in the evening as we were heading back to our inn, we heard a woman screaming from down an alley. We run down the alley to help, and find that it's a dead end, with two thugs picking on a young lady.
Two rounds of combat later, I fire my first shot, getting a nat 20 and a critical hit, landing an arrow square in the back of the lady, who was of course a thief luring us into this ambush. I roll 3d6-6 for my arrow damage, +2d6 for sneak attack, dealing 11 points of damage. The lady is unfazed, as are the thugs, who have been getting beaten on quite a bit, but look no worse for wear.
It's about this time that more thieves begin to come up out of a manhole in the back of the alley, and three come from the street to block our exit. Realizing we're outnumbered, I turn invisible, our foreigner monk sprints and leaps over the thieves blocking the way, and the barbarian tries to force her way through them. Both I and the barbarian end up getting tripped, and I get hit for 13 points of damage (dropping me to 2).
The monk grabs one of the thieves blocking the way and throws him bodily at another, and I'm starting to scramble free across the ground (moving silently on hands and knees), when a silver crossbow bolt imbeds in the chest of one of the thieves. He squeals in pain, and his body contorts into the features of a man-rat, and then he falls to the ground. The other thieves flee, leaving us barely alive, and thanking our rescuer.
He explains that our foes were lycanthropes, were-rats from, of course, the Clan of the Rat. We ourselves killed not a one, but we survived.
Man, that was a fun game. I mean, sure, I look forward to a chance to do something noteworthy in future games, but this was such a surreal moment for me. I've been playing D&D for, hell, ten years, and I just fought my first were-rat. How cool is that?
