The last sentence spoils the fun

[Prince of Happiness]

Every. Single. Time.

 

[Tewligan]

Ancient thread, thou art summoned from thy two and a half year slumber! Rise, beast from yesteryear, RISE!

I remember that for a while back in the 1e days, I had confused the clerical spells Sanctuary and Word of Recall - the first making monsters likely to disregard you, and the second teleporting you to your sanctuary/temple (I believe). My cleric got a LOT of mileage out of that humble Sanctuary spell until I double-checked it in the book - my friend who was DMing had very little grasp of the rules or balance (much like myself, apparently), so neither of us batted a lid at the power of such a low level spell.

 

[kenmarable]

I actually thought about doing this as a sort of prank product, except it would've been feats. They would've been these super-munchkiny feats with sort of bizarre drawbacks. Like this:

Fury of the Blade [General]
In the midst of battle, your lust for blood transforms you into a killing machine.
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus to damage with all melee attacks. When you gain a bonus attack due to Cleave or Great Cleave, you gain a +4 bonus to that attack. Also, you are incontinent. At the end of every combat, you enjoy crapping in your pants.

Spell Master [General]
You are a powerful arcane caster.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus to the save DC of all spells you cast. You enjoy having sex with squirrels.

That's hilarious!!

It reminds of one of my first published credits in the Portable Hole Full of Beer. I had a template in there that granted immunity to all damage... because you were dead. Not undead, but dead-dead. It was the Dead Template. It had other gems like:

Skills: Dead creatures lose the ability to make most any skill checks. However, under certain circumstances (on GM's discretion) dead creatures gain a +10 bonus to bluff, hide, and tumble checks.

Fun stuff. I think there should definitely be a Port4ble Hole Full of Beer next summer and Mearls' feats should see the light of day in all their squirrel-loving glory.

 

[Samnell]

I have something close. It took five years (no, I am not exaggerating) for two of my players to get how bonuses did and did not stack through their heads. It happened, I'm sure by coincidence, not long after I started very nastily accusing them of cheating every time they tried to play that trick.

 

[Nifft]

One of my players does seem to read his spells with creative omissions.

It's a problem. :\

Cheers, -- N

 

[Lancelot]

The Delay Death spell, from Spell Compendium. One of my players just focused on the bit that said you don't die until the end of the spell duration, even if you go into massive negative HP. Sort of like an uber-Frenzied Berserker.

He failed to notice the point that the spell doesn't prevent the Dying condition (i.e. if you go into negative HP, you drop unconscious). Much to my embarrassment, I didn't challenge it until after the first time he used it. I went and read the spell description myself after the session, when his cleric took down a huge black dragon alone, despite dropping below -100hp...

 

[cthulhu_duck]

Nowadays, it's not always the last sentence. I always double-check a spell that a player has never used before, just to make sure there's no miscommunication. but yeah, it's usually due to the player skimming the spell, and only reading the part that appeals to him, or more recently an edition-version mix-up.

I have several players who do this, and it's not just with spells - feats/skills/class abilities/attack options/combat actions have all come up in situations where the player skim reads enough to cause me or another group member to have to clarify things.

It happens. I've tried to encourage people to read up on the rules for their characters and actions they may want to use in the game, but beyond that I don't know that there's much I can do.

 

[blargney the second]

Find some way to get them to sign a contract with fine print. >:>
-blarg

 

[DM_Jeff]

Wow. Old thread.

I thought I invented the "last sentence of the spell" phrase that I've used to haze two of my players for years. Yes, two, out of oh, 20 or so.

So I don't think of it as a problem, more as a feature for folks who seem too impatient to read through their spells so they know what they do ahead of time. That, and selective reading disability.

-DM Jeff

 

[theredrobedwizard]

The Delay Death spell, from Spell Compendium. One of my players just focused on the bit that said you don't die until the end of the spell duration, even if you go into massive negative HP. Sort of like an uber-Frenzied Berserker.

He failed to notice the point that the spell doesn't prevent the Dying condition (i.e. if you go into negative HP, you drop unconscious). Much to my embarrassment, I didn't challenge it until after the first time he used it. I went and read the spell description myself after the session, when his cleric took down a huge black dragon alone, despite dropping below -100hp...

Not to derail too badly, but with Diehard, that spell *does* become just that awesome.

Anyway, I just had an instance of that tonight. One of those "I cast grease, then light it on fire" kids from ye olde days. He kept insisting that he could light grease on fire and flambe the baddies with ease.

-TRRW