Spellcasters that go OOPS

[Negative Zero]

heh heh
i had to drop two fireballs on the party, on purpose a few weeks ago. nasty tentacled beastie in the swamp was waving at us going: "yoohoo ... i think you dropped this, it's your @$$ ... thought you might like to have it back." wasn't pretty at all. we barely survived, but we survived!

~NegZ

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Is he a new player, or new to playing a spellcaster? If so, you might want to remind him of things he's about to do that will effect his comrades, at least for a little while. I've found that most players don't actually read the spell descriptions, they just glance it over and assume they know how it works, but don't take little things like area of effect or selective vs. non-selective. If I had a dollar for every time a stupid mage has put half his party to sleep, I'd be able to afford the 3.5 books when they come out. Maybe.

Anyhow, if it's not his fault, just give him some time to get used to spellcasting. If he's doing it on purpose or just doesn't care, you can handle it either ICly or OOCly. ICly, the party either kicks the crap out of him when they finally get sick of it or just refuses to adventure with him any more (there's no rules saying they can't just leave his butt behind in the next town). OOC, you may just tell him he can't play spellcasters if it's obvious that he isn't getting the rules down.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Is he a new player, or new to playing a spellcaster? If so, you might want to remind him of things he's about to do that will effect his comrades, at least for a little while. I've found that most players don't actually read the spell descriptions, they just glance it over and assume they know how it works, but don't take little things like area of effect or selective vs. non-selective. If I had a dollar for every time a stupid mage has put half his party to sleep, I'd be able to afford the 3.5 books when they come out. Maybe.

Anyhow, if it's not his fault, just give him some time to get used to spellcasting. If he's doing it on purpose or just doesn't care, you can handle it either ICly or OOCly. ICly, the party either kicks the crap out of him when they finally get sick of it or just refuses to adventure with him any more (there's no rules saying they can't just leave his butt behind in the next town). OOC, you may just tell him he can't play spellcasters if it's obvious that he isn't getting the rules down.

He knows the spells quite well. He even has little paper AOE templates he has created that he can lay on the map to make it easier to determine exactly who will be affected by the spell.

 

[Blacksway]

For tricky perimeter AOE shots, and trying to hit-two-monsters-but-miss-PCs with the likes of lightning bolt (its a 10ft wide beam IIRC) my DM usually requires some kind of spellcraft roll - which I find quite a good method.

 

[Victim]

Heh. My party has actually asked for me to unload spells on them. In order to respond quickly to an enemy attack, we had to teleport into battle without buffs running, so no GMW. My cleric who had crafted some of the group's magic weapons, assumed that it would be available. So, when fighting the Death Slaad a few minutes later, the gang beating our fighters attempted to deliver proved less than effective. Therefore, when someone asked for fire support, my character dropped a Flamestrike in the middle of the whole melee and then asked someone to grab this Fire Seed and throw at the monster. I probably did more damage to the group with the flamestrike than the slaad did - but we survived and it died.

 

[seasong]

My favorite AoE anecdote is in 1st edition: the party is working their way through the sewers, trying to find a secret library said to have been built down there by some crazy necromancer or another. They find a door, break their way in, surprise some orcs.

The spell caster casts web and fills the room. That's fine, no big deal, they can't burn it (in case there are books beyond), but I rule that they can slowly shove a hole through it. So they do so, killing orcs as they go. They figure the room is about 20x15 (although not easily visible through the web), come to a door, bust it down, see a pair of bugbears.

The spell caster casts stinking cloud. Remember, this was back in the days when overall volume mattered. It fills the room with the bugbears. It fills the room with the webs. It pours out into the sewers. And there's no wind to blow it away.

By the time the party has managed to crawl out of the stinkhole they've just found themselves in (along with gasping bugbears), the dwarf in the party has to be dragged off the spell caster's throat.

 

[Aluvial]

I know this thread mentioned spells but all of these stories reminded me of a pair of encounters with a new member to our group...

A mutual freind of ours rolled up a ranger in 2 ed. He was relatively new to the game and were around 11th to 13th levels. So when the DM introduced this guy into our group, he made up this back story that the ranger was the protector of the forest that we were currently skirting.

So up comes the brand new player and ranger. Now we're really good about accepting new players to the group but this time was just funny. So the ranger walks up and says, "Halt! I am the LORD of the Wood, and you have set foot in MY wood, prepare to DIE!" We draw arms, and there are a couple of snickers. I have my character step forward and toss something at the ranger and I say, "Catch!" The DM looks at the new guy and says, "Well. Do you catch it?" The guy looks at me and says, "Sure" Then the Iron Bands of Ballarro wrap around him and catch him fast. My character walks up to him and kicks him over onto the ground and say, "Lord of the Wood, bah!"

So eventually we let the guy go, but it sets up some animosity between our characters for the remainder of their adventures... I always teased the Lord of the Wood and he was always having his character compete with mine is some way....

So the guy is becoming a good player and a welcome member, but tensions are running high and the characters are just getting hot. Then we have a encounter with some undersea creature who can charm while we are on a ship between destinations. I fail my save. The DM pulls me aside at an opportune moment and tells me to destroy the others... I actually believe I was Dominated... So I ask ir I need to do my very best or half-ass it and the DM says kill them all if you can. So I manage to slit three throats of those sleeping, and then go for the two left on watch. One wizard, who might be a tough challenge, and the ranger. I walk up to the ranger on the forecastle and say, "Catch!" The DM looks at him and asks him if he does or not....

And he does! Whack, wrapped up in the Iron Bands, again! Then I walk up to him and kick him over the side to honor "my master." Ker-plunk. Spash! No more ranger. The wizard ended up stopping me with some spell and the party members were brought back except for the ranger who just became drowned fish food.

Unfortunately, the guy quit. He really took it personally and MOVED out of town. No kidding. So my advice is DON'T lose a good player to animosity. It just isn't worth it.

Aluvial

 

[Taloras]

interesting. Usually in our group, we usually dont worry about the rogue(he can usually make the save), but we do have to worry about the fighter. I drop a fireball, try to miss the fighter, but dont worry bout the rogue. They like the fireballs, its just a question of how many can i drop?

 

[s/LaSH]

Because of the shape of the dungeons and the typical close marching order of the party I DM, if one person gets fireballed, everyone gets fireballed. And casters have the least hit points of the lot. So when this happened to my group, the party looked at the charred mage lying on the ground, said 'Sod him', and walked off.

That's about the only AOE mishap ever to occur in my game.

 

[Ukyo the undead]

Well, I have some experiences with the dangers of magic...

A PC in a old Planescape Campaign killed the whole party. Not at the same time, but each time one.

1st, my Female cleric was dying(-5) and the elf fighter/ranger failed a easy savig and got enchanted by a strange monstaer( a flying monkey, IIRC), attacking the nearest person. the Wizard have no choice but use a fireball to neutralize the elf, but in the process killing all the enemies and my PC, who was at the spell´s border.

Ok, later she was raised.


Later, in a fight inside a burning church( playing Harbinger House adventure), the wizard fireballed the Bariaur fighter, but that was just because he didnt noted the wizard using the spell, and charged, positioning him exactly at the spell´s target.

Ok, he was raised later.


Then, we were in Ravenloft. The elf fighter ranger was charmed by some bad wolfs, and he started to see us as if we were wolfs too. He climbed a tree, and wasnt wnting to go down.

Then the wizard casted Magic Missile.

The spell didnt kill the elf!

But the 35 ft fall did.

Ok, we reincarnated him as a black bear...

Later in the near end of our cursed existence, We had a thoug fight with a hag. the cleric was dead, and the others badly wounded.
The wizard found a ring of wish. By this time he was affected with a Ravenloft curse, and his alignment was changing everyday.

That day was the time to CE change...

He choose to wish he was back home, but since planeshifting spells dont work in RL, the wish was wasted.

Well, in the following morning, 3 Yetis appeared ( thanks to a random encounter the DM rolled: he nedeed a 14 to something appear, and he got a 13...) and the whole party died. Including the wizard.
So we can say that the wizard killed the whole party, including himself.

I hate Ravenloft.