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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6218757" data-attributes="member: 5143">You have to keep in mind that this group was so slavishly devoted to the rules beyond all else that we had a character who went up 4 levels by picking up one spellbook since our DM was able to be convinced that a spellbook was a collection of scrolls and that we were using the XP for magic items found rule from 1e therefore if we find a spellbook we should get XP as if we found a scroll of every spell in it.  We managed to defeat the Wizard who had the spellbook by rules lawyering the DM's plans.  The mage was supposed to teleport away after projecting an illusion of themselves taunting us and then creating an illusion of the room collapsing.The full details escape me now, but our Wizard disbelieved both illusions.  Then he pointed out that the range of the spell that projected the illusion was short, so the person who cast them had to be around here somewhere.  I'm not sure if the DM planned on them being around...but our Wizard, Gord pointed out that the enemy Wizard HAD to be nearby according to the rules...so the enemy Wizard was just invisible nearby.  He cast see invisible and then used a Wand of Telekinesis to steal the Rod of Teleportation that the enemy was about to use to get away.  Then, I believe he cast some spell to kill her outright.The Wizards original plan was to taunt us, then after trapping us under invisible rubble to walk through a secret passage, retrieve her belongings and then teleport out.  We managed to thwart her plans, get her spellbook, and have our Wizard go up 4 levels.  All of which the DM didn't want and was kind of annoyed happened.  The NPC was supposed to become a reoccurring villain and she had to change all her plans.Another time the same DM said "Don't +1 swords only add to damage?" and one of our players said "No, +1 to hit and damage".  She said "That doesn't sound right to me.  I think it's only damage."  He said "Alright, if I can prove to you that I'm wrong, can I create a character with average equipment for his homeland for your game?"  She said "Sure".  She was wrong.  So, he created a character who rode a dragon and had +5 fullplate and a +5 longsword...since that was standard equipment for the Dragonriders in a city that he invented and added to her game.  He was, of course, one of the dragonriders....at first level.  She agreed to it because she felt she had to, having lost the bet.  The rest of the players thought she was insane for agreeing to both the bet and adhering to it afterwards.That same DM allowed a Netbook of Spells that was making its rounds on the BBS scene at the time.  One of the spells extended the range of the next spell you cast by turning it into MILES instead of feet.  Our Wizard then used his spells to destroy...I believe it was Luskan from days travel away.  We had a psion who asked if he could invent his his own powers.  She said yes, so he came back with a power called "Lesser Spell" and another one called "Greater Spell".  One let him recreate any Wizard of Cleric Spell of 5th level or lower and the other one let him do 9th level or lower.  She approved them because she liked creativity.  So, he used the one psionic power to create crystal based copies of himself who knew all his powers and could essentially cast every Wizard spell in the book many, many times per day.  He decorated his house with them so no one could break in.The character I was given as one of my first characters, Majoru Oakheart was originally run by Gord, the Wizard player.  At one point they broke into Menzoberenzan(sp?) and stole a bunch of stuff.  So the Matron of the largest house in the city sent her daughter to get it back.  He used a Rod of Beguiling to charm her and made an amazing roll that worked through the magic resistance.  His command?  Here, put this on.  It was a Helm of Opposite Alignment.  The newly charmed, lawful good Drow princess decided her mission wasn't the best idea anymore.  He then used 2 scrolls of wish he had lying around to Wish both effects permanent.  He then asked her to marry him.After I took over that character, I started learning to powergame.  I kept trying to get lower and lower ACs.  The problem is, I had already reached -10 and had the best magic items I could find.  So, I asked her if there were such things as Bracers of AC -3 jokingly.  She said yes...and gave me them as treasure.  I said that was fine, but I had reached the limit on AC for the game so they were useless.  She house ruled a new limit of -13.Overall, all that game taught us was that you shouldn't allow random 3rd party supplements into your game because they break everything.  If you want an NPC to escape, you're the DM...find some way to allow them to escape.  Don't allow everything players come up with simply because you want to say yes, it causes disastrous results.  It also taught me that players will do everything in their power to get more powerful and you should keep constant vigilance to make sure that doesn't happen.  Players will be more than happy to attempt to disguise their powergaming as simply out of the box thinking.It should be noted that we played at least 8 different D&D games in that group that we switched between weekly.  The only one with the severe problems was her game.  Because the other DMs would just say no to most ideas people came up with.</blockquote>

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