Unconventional Situations and Rulings?

[CruelSummerLord]

Back in the days of 1E, I remember some arbitrary rulings on the part of Gary Gygax in the 1E DMG-like arbitarily deciding that, even if he saved against the web spell and was only partly entangled, a villainous NPC could not free himself fast enough to be subdued or killed by the PCs, that arrows or warhammers tossed at an enemy at the same time as a lightning bolt or fireball would be destroyed, that a gust of wind spell could dissipate a wall of fog, etc.

Can these sorts of things happen in 3E? Do they happen? Have you ever made off-the-cuff rulings in response to a set of circumstances that you remark on?

Examples:

Vampire turns to gaseous form to escape. PC casts Gust of Wind at him to dissipate some of the gas and cause damage. Either that, or the villain uses a poisonous gas attack, obcuring mist, or what have you, and the PCs summon some winds to blow the offending gases away?

PCs are fighting giants in a forest, and the PCs try snagging them with a web spell anchored among the trees. The giants, however, have other ideas-with a successful Strength check, they simply bull through the web spell, uprooting the trees and either using them as clubs, or simply dragging them behind them until the webs wear off.

PC climbs a tree to escape an ogre. The ogre, given that his usual response when confronted with something he doesn't like is to hit it, whacks the tree with his club. Vibrations cause the PC to lose her balance, and the PC must suddenly make a Balance check. If she fails, she falls out of the tree, taking 2d6 damage, and is unable to act for the next round, as she's too stunned to do anything. If she succeeds, there's not much she can do anyway, since she's forced to spend the round grabbing the tree trunk to regain her balance.

PCs cast grease spell to make opponents slip up. Opponents stop short, use their tinderboxes to set the grease on fire, and then order their iron golem into melee, standing back and using arrows. Iron golem gets the benefits of a regenerate spell from the constant heat, and does additional damage, due to the superheated metal of its sword.

None of this is covered under the RAW, but I as DM rule these things anyway, based on my interpretation of the situation. By the same token, of course, if players point similar things out that work in their favor, or try and pull some sneaky tricks of their own, giving a convincing rationale of why things will work the way they say, I might go ahead and have them turn out that way.

The PCs might try a similar trick, using a grease spell themselves to trip up a band of pursuing trolls, and then setting the grease on fire themselves with their torches. Players think that the trolls can't escape the grease, since they're trapped in the flames the same way a human might be, and are almost certainly doomed. Worse even, since trolls are vulnerable to fire. Saving throws might work for some of the trolls who were able to escape the grease in time, but even they won't be able to cross the burning fire to reach the PCs. The trolls being burned alive are too blinded by pain to think straight and escape.

The result?

A lot of PCs escaping safe and sound, leaving behind a dish of Roast Troll Surprise for any carrion crawlers that might happen along later.

How would you as DM handle any of the above situations? Have you ever pulled something similar that didn't fit in under the rulebooks? Got any good stories for unusual tactics that either you or your players pulled off?

 

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

I do it on occasion, sure. Usually I do it to reward a player who actually describes his action, especially if the combat has turned into a dice slog. When I'm doing it for a player, I try to make it such that I give them some sort of bonus after they describe what they were going to do anyway. Otherwise I find that (power)gamers will constantly fish for "special" things that will be somehow better than their core attacks. When I set the pace, they just give cool descriptions and occasionally that works out well for them.

I usually only have side effects go against the party when they've done something foolish anyway. It helps to underscore it . Like casting a fireball into the side of a precariously mounded mountain of snow (avalanche!).

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Thats how I do all my rulings! j/k

I do try to stick to the RAW and avoid granting things like 1st level spells an effect that is far beyond what it should be. The Grease spell is a prime example of this... in your two examples of off-the-cuff you miss this minor bit:

Target or Area: One object or a 10-ft. square

I don't think a flaming 10' square would hinder Trolls much. Beyond the RAW, a flaming Grease spell shouldn't deal more damage that Flaming Spere {and offensive application of magical fire}, so at most should deal 1D6 fire damage on contact with a chance to catch on fire for a continuing 1D4 damage {per normal catching on fire rules}.


I do like the visual of the Giants just ripping through a Web and dragging trees behind them!

I do prefer to encourage player inventiveness, but not player rule-exploiting. Sometimes that is a fine line.....

 

[CruelSummerLord]

Thats how I do all my rulings! j/k

I do try to stick to the RAW and avoid granting things like 1st level spells an effect that is far beyond what it should be. The Grease spell is a prime example of this... in your two examples of off-the-cuff you miss this minor bit:



I don't think a flaming 10' square would hinder Trolls much. Beyond the RAW, a flaming Grease spell shouldn't deal more damage that Flaming Spere {and offensive application of magical fire}, so at most should deal 1D6 fire damage on contact with a chance to catch on fire for a continuing 1D4 damage {per normal catching on fire rules}.


I do like the visual of the Giants just ripping through a Web and dragging trees behind them!

I do prefer to encourage player inventiveness, but not player rule-exploiting. Sometimes that is a fine line.....

Well, I made these examples up from the perspective of a fiction writer, rather than a gamer, as I don't game with anyone, and am hardly an expert on the 3E rules.

But even so, you provide an example of what I was talking about. Your ruling that it shouldn't do more than 1d6 damage with a chance to catch fire is exactly what I'm talking about. You use the fire contact rules to rule on something out of the ordinary.

 

[GreatLemur]

I live for home brew. A lot of the little incidental mechanics for our weekly sessions are things I come up with on the train ride to the game. It's really rare for me to end up actually making up rules on the spot, though.