What's the most rat bastard thing you've ever done as a DM?

[Piratecat]

Not long after Sagiro tried to trick us into using a trapped magical key, I began thinking about evil DM tricks. What's the sneakiest, trickiest, rat bastardy thing you've ever done as a DM? I figured it might be fun to share stories and steal ideas... err, share DMing tips.

I think that mine might be having an erinyes that the PCs offended while in the outer planes. They left her alive, so she tracked down where they were from. While they still dallied in Sigil, she went to the PCs' home city, charmed and married the rogue's father, and then started tricking the local peasants into selling her their souls. By the time the adventurers returned home, it was a fait accompli.

The rogue was understandably upset. But his new step-mother was so sweet to him... call me Mommy, and all that... even as she turned his room into a nursery for her unborn child and spent all of his inheritance.

When the PCs discovered the truth at a grand ball, she sneered at them. She explained that:
(a) she was too tough to kill all at once,
(b) she could teleport without error,
(c) consorting with fiends was a crime punishable by death and the crown seizing all assets, and
(d) she still had contract to a dozen or so innocent souls.

Thus, if they attacked her, she'd reveal herself in public to be a fiend (dooming the PC's father to death and disinheritance), then teleport away with the souls. Same thing if they even told anyone the truth. If they attacked her and DID somehow kill her, the souls she had claimed would be forever doomed. And while the PCs tried to digest this nasty little catch-22, she waved at them prettily, smiled, and swept away to dance with someone else.

It was a fun conundrum.

What's yours? Let's hear them!

 

[thundershot]

Oh, man... that is SO EVIL! I love it! I'll have to ponder some of the ones I've done over the years... But first, off to work!



Chris

 

[alsih2o]

And while the PCs tried to digest this nasty little catch-22, she waved at them prettily, smiled, and swept away to dance with someone else.

this is like posting "what is your greatest athletic accomplishment? for me it would be my 7 medals in the '84 olympics"

do you really expect many folks to try and follow this?

 

[Psion]

Does pumping up a player on the mystic theurge when he considers adding cleric levels to his wizard and then killing his deity count?

 

[carpedavid]

What alsih2o said.

The most rad-bastardly thing I've ever done as a DM is to read your story hour, PC. That's given me more inspiration to be a better and more rat-bastardly DM than every other source combined.

 

[Piratecat]

Does pumping up a player on the mystic theurge when he considers adding cleric levels to his wizard and then killing his deity count?

Yes. Yes, it does. That's evil.

Less compliments, more rat bastardiness!

 

[JChung2003]

(d) she still had contract to a dozen or so innocent souls.

Is anyone who has sold their soul to a devil still considered innocent?

 

[Talix]

Here PirateCat, let me put it this way.

For those of us who have no chance of ever aspiring to the evil ratbastardiness level of PirateCat, can some of you others post some less intimidating examples that we may borrow/steal/admire?

 

[Joshua Randall]

I'm not sure that this is eeeeeeevil, but maybe it's at least somewhat naughty.

PC #1 blunders upon a religious relic, but in the confusion and fighting against some bad guys, leaves it lying by the side of the road (!). Authorities are understandably upset, and cannot afford for word of this to get out. PC #1 is quested (as the spell) not to speak or write of the relic gone missing.

PC #2, meanwhile, is meeting with his religious authority figure, who tells him in confidence that a certain religious relic has gone missing and must be recovered at all costs. PC #2 is authorized to seek the aid of his adventuring companions in this regard.

Later, PC #2 meets up with PC #1 and asks, casually, "So... ever heard of the Shard of Gareth? We've got to track it down."

Heh. Heh.

I also thought it would be funny to put antipathy on the relic to keep PC #1's race away from it. But maybe that's too mean.

 

[MojoGM]

In a Spelljammer game a bunch of years back:

The Hammership that the party owned was ambushed by Scro (sort of spelljamming orcs) when they crossed over into their territory. There were several ships surrounding them, and they were ordered to surrender.

One of the players wanted to fight it out, but the others realized it was a no-win situation and decided to surrender to save the lives of the crew.

After putting the PCs in chains, the Scro slaughtered the crew and burned the ship.

They were not too pleased...