Strangest Rule Lawyering

[Bagpuss]

I think the best example of Cleave that I've seen given is what Sauron does to the poor warriors in the Prologue of Fellowship of the Ring...though that's more Great Cleave.

As I ment to say you could make up your own visuals or spend several million dollars, hire an amazing director, actors and costume designers then spend several months post-production in visual effects studio and get them to do it for you.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

As I ment to say you could make up your own visuals or spend several million dollars, hire an amazing director, actors and costume designers then spend several months post-production in visual effects studio and get them to do it for you.

Every gamer's(or at least DM's) dream is in number option number 2.

"Awww! Why can't I show the players a Beholder ripping their PCs to pieces? It would just be a JOKE...they'd get a kick out of it! Especially with real actors!"

 

[Sanackranib]

OK, I experienced a wierd bit of play at Gen con in one of the Living Jungle modules. It was a rules interpretation by the DM which managed to floor the whole table.

Here's the situation. My character, a front line fighter, is up against some spectres and three Tamara (BBEGs from the campaign). The spectre next to the Tamara is quite injured (I know this from the spells and whatnot that have hit it), so I hit it and expect to use cleave to hit the Tamara.

As according to plan, I smack the spectre, destroying it, and start to roll for the cleave and the DM interrupts -
"No, you can't cleave on that creature, because it doesn't drop. I've read this very carefully. The spectre doesn't drop, it dissipates, so you can't cleave."

This prompted a rather heated argument which caused him to back down. Later the DM ruled that stone skin only applies it DR once per round, but at that point we didn't bother to argue (much) since it didn't have much effect.

I am curious if y'all have seen such a twisted rule interpretation.

buzzard

just remember, "crack kills"

 

[NoOneofConsequence]

I have a story I consider just as bad:

Tournament play - my character is the party fighter and I borrow the thief's ring of Feather Falling to drop to the bottom of a ten foot wide pit. The DM rules that as the spell description (1e) says the that the character becomes "falls like a feather", my character would float back and forth (like a feather) banging into the walls and taking damage all the way down!

In a tournament this kind of call is just fatal - either you suck it up, and lose your fighter to a non encounter, or else you waste an hour persuading the DM to call it right and run out of time to finish the scenario. Needless to say we lost - by a mile.

 

[Taluron]

quote:Originally posted by Ankh-Morpork Guard
I think the best example of Cleave that I've seen given is what Sauron does to the poor warriors in the Prologue of Fellowship of the Ring...though that's more Great Cleave.

No. That's the best example of Whirlwind Attack ever filmed. Or really Improved Whirlwind Iguess, since he hit every target within reach.

 

[Pielorinho]

Bad DMs! No biscuit!
*********

I have my own story to tell, but in this story, I'm the DM.

I was running a first-level Living Campaign adventure (The Gray Hunt, for Legacy of the Green Regent), with four reasonable people and two total munchkins (these guys brought three-ring binders full of dozens of cards of perks they'd gotten from playing in related Living Campaigns).

Anyway, one of the rules of the campaign was that expendable items -- potions, wands, ammunition, etc. -- automatically "recharged" at the beginning of each session. In other words, if you bought a potion of cure light wounds, you could drink it once per session. Next adventure you played in, it came back. This was balanced by charging five times normal costs for rechargeable items.

One of these munchkins had a card allowing him to play a Sun Elf. Acording to him, this gave him the option of receiving a first-level wand with 20 charges as bonus equipment. He chose a wand of color spray.

After he'd expended charge after charge after charge of this wand, and mentioned that it was going to regenerate at the start of each adventure, I got to thinking about it. I told him that I was going to apply the quintuple cost rule to the adventure, and give him only four charges instead of 20 charges in his wand. My goal was to prevent him from having an easy way to win every non-undead encounter in the adventure.

Oh, he bitched and moaned about it -- and he and his friend sulked through the rest of the adventure, not a pretty sight for two men in their late forties.

So what do y'all say? Who was on crack here?
Daniel

 

[Arnwyn]

As according to plan, I smack the spectre, destroying it, and start to roll for the cleave and the DM interrupts -
"No, you can't cleave on that creature, because it doesn't drop. I've read this very carefully. The spectre doesn't drop, it dissipates, so you can't cleave."

That's the kind of gamer pedantry that makes me avoid cons like the plague.

 

[Mark Chance]

That's the kind of gamer pedantry that makes me avoid cons like the plague.

Ditto. Although con-goers probably don't miss me. I'm fond of counter-questions such as, "Are you stupid?", "Do you really think you should be running a game when you don't know the rules?", et cetera.

Reminds me of a RPGA event years ago. I was running a pacifist priest who was an expert in nonlethal combat. When attacked by bandits, my character succeeded in getting an arm lock his foe's sword arm.

The next round rolls around, the DM rolls some dice, and them informs me that my character had just be struck twice by the longsword-wielding bandit.

"How when I have his swordarm in a lock?"

"Uh...he broke free."

"Ah. And managed to hit me twice."

"Uh...yeah."

"All in one round."

"Yep."

 

[buzzard]

Bad DMs! No biscuit!
*********
Oh, he bitched and moaned about it -- and he and his friend sulked through the rest of the adventure, not a pretty sight for two men in their late forties.

So what do y'all say? Who was on crack here?
Daniel

Well I probably would not have let him have the wand in the first place. However your solution is probably fine as well.

As for munchkins at Gen Con, I had some real beauts at my first table (of LG). This guy had a 1/2 Orc barb/tribal protector using rhino hide armor, power lunge and a mercurial greatsword. Somehow, conveniently, he didn't have the errata for the sword (neither did the DM). At one point during the adventure we enter an area which drains magic from items (though later we find out it was only temporary). When he found that his sword had been drained, he was sulking like a three year old who didn't get his candy. It was utterly pathetic.

I can guarantee that if I were DMing that little twink, the Merc greatsword would be sundered ASAP. I imagine I'd probably get tears in that case, and I would laugh in his face.

buzzard

 

[Piratecat]

*Sob* It was a good ruling! You were being mean to me! I'm never running LJ AGAIN! *runs away crying*