Moff_Tarkin
First Post
Warning: wall of text incoming
I used an interesting tactic to escape death in our current game, didn’t work though. Most people thought it was stupid. I think, that because the method was so ridiculous, they just dismissed it as dumb without actually seeing the solid logic behind it. The game is 3.5 D&D.
A Vrock attacked our group of 5 level 4 adventurers. After a few rounds, I found myself with 1 hit point, and toe to toe with the Vrock. The bow was my primary weapon, but it only did 1d8+4 damage, and the Vrock had a 10-damage reduction.
As always we compared the numbers the DM was rolling vs. the ones he was calling to get an assumption of what this particular Vrock had for hit and damage bonus. Maybe DMs should always roll behind screens. Anyhow, with his attack, and my very low AC at the time, a hit was practically guaranteed. And with the damage, going to –10 was practically guaranteed.
So, toe to toe with the Vrock. His next action will be to attack me. That attack will kill me. There is no party member who can help me. No cleric to heal or wizard to distract the Vrock in some way. Death is assured, what are my options?
Running provokes an attack, which is death. I think disengaging makes the first square safe, but he had reach. Anyhow, the had already proved he was willing to take multiple attacks of opportunity from my party members in order to charge at me.
Shooting with the bow, the only weapon with a chance to damage him, provokes an attack, which is death.
The Vrock goes next, so just standing and doing nothing is death.
All is death.
So I punch myself in the head, did some damage and went unconscious. Everyone was shocked. Was it stupid or genius?
In the middle of battle, enemies, especially intelligent ones, don’t use a round to coup de grace an unconscious character while 3 others are whacking it. I am not saying there aren’t situations where it does happen, but my friend and me, both with 16 years of gaming experience, cant recall a single time that is has happened. Now, characters typically go unconscious from being attacked, and not from punching themselves. But the end result is the same.
Anyway, the Vrock takes attacks of opportunity from everyone on him so that he can coup de grace me. The second time he took multiple attack of opportunity just to slaughter the guy who could only do 1 or 2 points of damage, if he was lucky.
So did my idea have any logic behind it? And if you think it was stupid, then please explain why. You see, punching yourself in the head is viewed as a inherently stupid action. Because of this, people mark the action off as stupid without actually asking “Why was it stupid.” I’ll bet that if people actually did ask this question, they would have a hard time finding an answer. But if there is and answer, I am certinally not opposed to hearing it.
I used an interesting tactic to escape death in our current game, didn’t work though. Most people thought it was stupid. I think, that because the method was so ridiculous, they just dismissed it as dumb without actually seeing the solid logic behind it. The game is 3.5 D&D.
A Vrock attacked our group of 5 level 4 adventurers. After a few rounds, I found myself with 1 hit point, and toe to toe with the Vrock. The bow was my primary weapon, but it only did 1d8+4 damage, and the Vrock had a 10-damage reduction.
As always we compared the numbers the DM was rolling vs. the ones he was calling to get an assumption of what this particular Vrock had for hit and damage bonus. Maybe DMs should always roll behind screens. Anyhow, with his attack, and my very low AC at the time, a hit was practically guaranteed. And with the damage, going to –10 was practically guaranteed.
So, toe to toe with the Vrock. His next action will be to attack me. That attack will kill me. There is no party member who can help me. No cleric to heal or wizard to distract the Vrock in some way. Death is assured, what are my options?
Running provokes an attack, which is death. I think disengaging makes the first square safe, but he had reach. Anyhow, the had already proved he was willing to take multiple attacks of opportunity from my party members in order to charge at me.
Shooting with the bow, the only weapon with a chance to damage him, provokes an attack, which is death.
The Vrock goes next, so just standing and doing nothing is death.
All is death.
So I punch myself in the head, did some damage and went unconscious. Everyone was shocked. Was it stupid or genius?
In the middle of battle, enemies, especially intelligent ones, don’t use a round to coup de grace an unconscious character while 3 others are whacking it. I am not saying there aren’t situations where it does happen, but my friend and me, both with 16 years of gaming experience, cant recall a single time that is has happened. Now, characters typically go unconscious from being attacked, and not from punching themselves. But the end result is the same.
Anyway, the Vrock takes attacks of opportunity from everyone on him so that he can coup de grace me. The second time he took multiple attack of opportunity just to slaughter the guy who could only do 1 or 2 points of damage, if he was lucky.
So did my idea have any logic behind it? And if you think it was stupid, then please explain why. You see, punching yourself in the head is viewed as a inherently stupid action. Because of this, people mark the action off as stupid without actually asking “Why was it stupid.” I’ll bet that if people actually did ask this question, they would have a hard time finding an answer. But if there is and answer, I am certinally not opposed to hearing it.
