Poor DM choice

[kitcik]

In a case of:

moderately screwy 1st level characters + unlimited 5d6 fireballs + unlimited CMW

vs.

DM

I am betting on the DM. Any takers?

 

[Dandu]

I think everyone loses.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In a case of:

moderately screwy 1st level characters + unlimited 5d6 fireballs + unlimited CMW

vs.

DM

I am betting on the DM. Any takers?

They're actually level 10, according to the original post. But still, one rogue finely tuned for Sleight of Hand and Use Magic Item, and things will change in a big hurry.

Of course, if they paid a penalty to have the magic item have an unusual shape and to be a ring, that wand could be a lot harder to swipe. (Until someone bit their hand off, anyway ...)

 

[Dandu]

Of course, if they paid a penalty to have the magic item have an unusual shape and to be a ring, that wand could be a lot harder to swipe. (Until someone bit their hand off, anyway ...)

Oh please, how likely is it for someone to bit off a finger containing a magical ring of power from the hand of a PC?

 

[Duke Arioch]

Oh please, how likely is it for someone to bit off a finger containing a magical ring of power from the hand of a PC?

Filthy little hobbitses!!!!1!!

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Oh please, how likely is it for someone to bit off a finger containing a magical ring of power from the hand of a PC?

Nine times out of ten?

 

[Madeiner]

I'd love to be your DM!

I mean, if you get to destroy your own gameplay and abuse the DM who was willing to make you play, he has ALL the rights to screw with you.

If i was your dm, as a starter, i'd put you in a locked room with a CR 15 demon which will knock you all unconscious and steal all your magic items at the first opportunity (which is likely to be 20 minutes into the first session). This is just before he summons another fiend that will turn you all into goblins, requiring Wish to remove.
A vampire will then proceed to drain you back to first level and lock you in a wall of force for how many days it takes for that to become permanent.
After that, the first shop you raid will have a 20-level paladin shopping there, wiping you out.

Then if i were feeling particularly good that night, i would let you make new chars if you promised to never ever screw with the DM (and your friends) again.

 

[Empirate]

If I were the DM, I'd say "you don't wanna play the game? Fine, I'm getting an early break today. Have fun sitting round the table twiddling your thumbs some more, I'm going home to play minesweeper. That'll be a little more entertaining than DMing for you douches". Screwing with the DM is sooooo fun. Yeah. Let's all do it.

What I don't get is the purpose of starting this thread in the first place.

 

[Herzog]

We just had a TPK and our old DM was tired of trying to plan a game while dealing with a hectic life. Everyone agreed to a new DM. The new DM tried to make things easy for himself by stating that we could only use the three core rulebooks for a new 10th level campaign.

Keeping the DM's reference material to a minimum may seem harsh, but I've seen worse. (like getting a pre-rolled PC with two levels of expert and two levels of fighter) I say roll with the punch, and make the best of it.

He then left for work, leaving the rest of us twiddling our thumbs. We then decided to roll up our characters. So far so good.

Did he say you could make characters? Or did he assume you would be spending your time some other way? Did you know beforehand he would be off to work? If so, what had you expected to be doing?

Soon we become frustrated at not being able to use books such as the Magic Item Compendium, or the complete Warrior.

I understand the frustration, but before those books were out, people were playing D&D as well. And were able to create characters.

It was at that point we decided to take out our frustration on the DM.

This I don't understand. What do you hope to gain from that?

So we created some.... interesting characters. In descending normality we had a
Dwarf Cleric
Gnome Illusionist
Lizardfolk Barbarian
Halfling Ghost Rogue
Half Gold Dragon Centaur Barbarian

Assuming you were allowed to pick up those races (and templates) I don't see anything wrong with this. They seem like a silly combination, but given you are limited to Core, might make for an interesting change of party makeup.

Our plan is to ignore the Campaign for a few sessions, and use our ghost as a theif, to raid the stores, or to overshadow people.

I don't see anything wrong with that (as a DM) assuming you inform the DM you might not be following his 'plans' beforehand (preferrably before he has spent too much time preparing a campaign).

We alsomade some fun toys. Our illusionist bought a staff of *unlimited* fireballs. While the Cleric bought a staff of unlimited Cure Moderate Wounds.

This is gonna be fun.

How is this fun? And while you're at it, why didn't you get a ring of unlimited Wish?

Running a adventure-less campaign, centered around some 'different' characters and the mischief they are up to, might provide an interesting challenge for a DM. Whether he appreciates it is another story.

However, intentionally breaking the magic item system to get unlimited power (come to think of it, why don't you have an item giving unlimited timestop? Actions are the most precious resource that exists in the game!) doesn't sound like much fun to me.

But hey, YMMV!

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

In a case of:

moderately screwy 1st level characters + unlimited 5d6 fireballs + unlimited CMW

vs.

DM

I am betting on the DM. Any takers?

The DM has at all times and in all ways the ability to kill the PC's without notable effort. Whether the DM expects to use this ability and actually opts to exercise this ability is a different question.

The players will continue to "win" only so long as they do not actually demonstrate the fact that they stuffed aces up their sleeves. Once the DM realizes the players mercenarily stacked the deck in their own favor the players lose. I'll bet short term on the players, long term on the DM.