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    Canonfire :: View topic - Invisible Medusas and other dirty dungeon master tricks.
    Canonfire Forum Index -> The Backalley
    Invisible Medusas and other dirty dungeon master tricks.
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    Journeyman Greytalker

    Joined: Mar 04, 2003
    Posts: 156
    From: Nyrond

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    Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:13 pm  
    Invisible Medusas and other dirty dungeon master tricks.

    I posted a comment on another thread about a memorable battle in which my players were having a hard time fighting an invisible foe. They finally managed to dispel the invisibility... only to discover they were fighting a medusa.

    It kind of got me thinking and wonder what other fun, but dirty, little tricks other dungeon masters out there torment their players with.

    Here are a few others I've encountered or used:

    Monstrously monstrous combo trap:

    50ft Pit trap. 1st ten feet down is normal open air. 2nd ten feet down is permanent magical darkness. 3rd ten feet down is a small ledge with a door to a guard room and some kind of alarm to tell the guard someone fell into the trap. 4th ten feet down is a zone of permanent silence. 5th ten feet down is a gelatinous cube.

    Character falls into the pit, triggering the alarm and falling into the gelatinous cube. The guard is a doppelganger. He comes out, gets a good look at the character and changes form to mimic the character and spends some moments reading his mind. The darkness prevents the rest of the party from seeing what is going on, the silence prevents the trapped character from communicating with the party (if he/she even can, being engulfed by the cube). The Doppelganger yells up through the darkness (he's above the silence) in the character's voice that he's a bit banged up but ok and oh yes, could someone lower a rope and pull him out?

    Scratch one character and add one monster to the party.

    Now to be honest, this is all a bit unfair. The only time I've used it the player was tired of his character and wanted to bring a new one in. Before we got together to play he and I arranged all this and the player himself played the doppelganger infiltrated in and working AGAINST the party for several game sessions.

    What's its damage resistance?

    We encountered a blue skinned, two-headed ogre (several skill checks later we were sure it wasn't an Ogre magi or an Ettin... just a magically mutated ogre.

    The Fighter smote it repeatedly with his mega-powerful magic sword of death, rolls tons of damage, and barely scratches the thing.
    The Wizard (me Happy ) shot it with various rays and cones of colds. Whole cubes of d6s of damage are rolled and the thing is hardly fazed.
    The Cleric called down columns of fire and divine vengeance on it... Nothing.

    What kind of diabolical monster was this thing! It was resisting a huge amount of damage (3rd edition damage resistance)

    Eventually our party Bard, who sucked so bad in melee that he didn't even own a magic weapon, moved in and attacked... mostly just to provide flanking for the fighter. He lands a weak blow... and does more damage than the rest of us combined.

    This went on for most of the rest of the combat. The fighter, wizard, and cleric pulling out all the stops and hardly having any impact. The Bard (who's player was equally confused but was really enjoying the rare limelight of being the 'big hitter' in combat) was doing more that all of us.

    Finally we figured it out (after an embarassingly long time)... the thing had damage resistance to anything magical... all the damage from the bard's non-magical sword was getting throu while most of the damage from the fighter's magical weapon and the caster's magical spells was being resisted. Damage resistance/non-magic
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: Jun 25, 2007
    Posts: 951
    From: Neck Deep in the Viscounty of Verbobonc

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    Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:15 pm  

    Much to my shame, I've never considered myself a particularly clever DM. The closest I've come (I think) is my oft-used ploy of using dragons polymorphed into other creatures. It always gets a great reaction when the cute little kitty resists all sorts of damage and then blasts fire in the faces of the PCs.

    Oh, and I used to use the Grimtooth's Traps books a lot. I had a good time compounding traps - the pit drips you onto a gelatinous cube, escaping from which leads you to a razor-imbedded slide, which leads you to a pit with scything blades in the walls and floor, which dumps you into a pool of acid, which drops you off a cliff - you get the idea. And, of course, my players just loved me for it! Wink
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: Nov 01, 2007
    Posts: 699
    From: On a Cape on the East Coast

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    Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:56 pm  
    My dirtiest trick

    Dirty DM tricks, huh?
    Drow are evil, right? Everyone knows that. Especiallly PCs that insist to their DM that they want to play in a good UnderOerth campaign where they get to play with alot of the stuff they normally can't touch: drow, mindflayers, derro, sahuagin, psioncs, poisons ... you get the idea.

    So, the party (comprised of at least two drow) approach the Vault of the Drow (the Dragon Magazine era edition) and they find traffic in some of the approaching caverns and tunnels. Just before they get there, there are merchants from one of the major houses heading out, but selling to people along the way.

    When I describe one of the caravan matrons in a decidedly sexy drow way, a PC decides to flirt with her very overtly to try and get a discount on healing potions. ("Really? A drow male acts this way?", I ask. Confused ) So, to shorten it all up, she responds favorably, offers curative salves for next to nothing, flirts back and even says that when they return to the city, he should look her up and they can have a romp in the sack! Question

    Fast forward to a combat scene a day or two later, and I've been keeping careful track of what healing they are using. They get into a pretty tough spot and the PC takes a five foot step back to use the salve. I desribe it something like, " ...as you spead the healing salve across your arms, you can feel the warmth of it begining to spread. It is surprisingly warm, but you feel the tingles as it starts to work... but it is rather warm, and the tingles are sort of stinging ... it's really kind of hot, and it stings and itches really bad ... no, it kind of hurts ... it burns! IT BURNS!!! Shocked <rolls dice for damage> Shocked Evil Grin

    I think that it goes without saying that the PC was a little bit pissed about not only having been duped, but having paid for Contact Poison that he put on himself when he was at low HP, almost making him die on the spot (and did put him below 0!). He tried hunting her down relentlessly. He wanted payback! He never found her again until a couple levels later when he found out that she was a recurring villain who had influence with the drow houses.

    Drow are evil, right? Everybody know that!
    Never get a haircut or a healing potion from a merchant you don't know. Evil Grin Happy
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