D and December 2017: Week 4 - Day 7(Belated)

 7- Your Favourite Spell/Item

Tongues/Speak with animal.
Creating RP where there was SUPPOSED TO BE COMBAT!
Making me RP a horse talking to another horse
Talking to the Reaver & Shepherd Greygulp instead of a climactic fight.
13 Ninjas & a TIGER! But now the tiger's on our side!

As a long time player & GM, spells/items are like children. There are far too many, and some are fun, but others just shit themselves and you are glad they're not yours.

One of note that seems to get great mileage however is anything that grants the ability to speak with animals/monsters.
 
In RP scenarios, this is an obvious winner. Speaking to the tavern cat, asking a noble stag of the forest, etc. But one of note in my games, is when a soldier's mount seemed to be wasting away after it's rider had perished. The druid then asked her horse to talk to it, and try to cheer it up. As the GM, I was forced to RP two horses, one of which had PTSD, talking to each other. It was the most solemn yet ridiculous thing I can think of in game.
 
It's also great for DEFLECTING combat into RP. For example, because the PC's knew almost EVERY language, had the Tongues spell, and had befriended/been adopted by a major monster NPC, ended up tricking the enemy monster into just running away. No clever ruse, just some really good rolls and the ability to speak to it.
 
And of course, IN combat as well! I had set up a large ambush for some mid-range characters, they were in the company of an equally powerful allied NPC, so I'd asked a friend, "how many ninjas do I throw at them?" He replied, "thirteen. And a tiger!" So, I built 13 ninjas to the CR of the group, plus a tiger, that I dropped into the middle of the room, 3 rounds into combat. The ranger proceeds to turn to the tiger, make a silly-high handle animal check to calm it somewhat, casts "Speak with Animal", and tells it to "attack anyone in all black, and we'll help get you home." It agreed, of course, having a count of 5 killing blows!

D and December 2017: Week 4 - Day 6(Belated)

Week 4 - Magic, Items, and Enchantment

6- Forbidden Knowledge



“Oh yeah, well I have detect Asshole”
“Is the bread evil?”
We killed the shit out of that evil door, and when we saw those huggy bears crest that twisted hillock, we showed no mercy.
Were they evil? Undoubtedly. Did we check? No.

Over the course of a 9 month campaign many things came to light that were previously though unspeakable, such as when we met a paladin NPC who questioned the moral fiber of our rogue with "I have detect Evil you know, I could tell if you're good or not." To which the rogue replied, "Oh yeah, well I have detect Asshole”.

Later on down the trail, we'd added a Paladin of our own and a cleric, who also made judicious use of "Detect" spells & abilities. Dubious of some the inanimate objects themselves in a particular malevolent BBG's lair, his kitchen to be exact, there was muttered, “Is the bread evil?”
 

Fast forward again, to an in-between elemental plane. Confronted with 3 doors, one of Law, one of Chaos & one of Evil(We checked, 3 divine casters confirmed, it was "eat babies, Evil.") As such, we proceeded to kill the shit out of that door. We then saw, through the now empty frame, a grey landscape of despair and maltrecense. When suddenly, two vile creatures, who had the form of Care Bears, came skipping & singing, paw in paw, over the crest of a small, damned hillock. We knew what we had to do. Bravely, our Psionic proceeded to Ego whip one of them with such acuity that it was driven to impulses of self destruction. Tossing a crossbow bolt was adequate to vanquish the abomination. The other, visibly shaken by the way we handled it's compatriot, begged for mercy to be sent the way of the other of its ilk. We were all too ready to oblige. Mercifully valiant. To this day, we remember that terrible test, and ask " Were they evil? Undoubtedly. Did we check? No."

Divining Game: Part Two

Peep Part One Here! Context FTW!

Giving up after 1 failed attempt is for quitters. Or something like that.

Maybe it's more along the lines that you hyped a game to a dear friend who bothered that very game's creator to express ship a copy so you could all play at a party and then kinda . . . not shit-all-over-it . . more, lightly farted at it?
(Also, I think I should have typed "Kyle, The Man With the Weave Tattoo" as it sounds more grand with caps.
Here is The Legend himself

CONTEXT FOR THAT, HERE

And now I need to read EVERYTHING about Weave Society, hadn't heard of it yet. THANKS!)

I still loved this system and what I thought it could accomplish, and I dig Kyle, The Man With the Weave Tattoo's style & composure, so looked within myself, to make SURE the next session was a success.

D and December 2017: Week 4 - Day 5(Belated)

5- Power of the Divine

Casting consecrate which drops a bunch of orcs, and also a half the party, who were 

not good-aligned

The party was at a military outpost at the edge of the kingdom, when an orc raiding party ambushed the encampment and attempted to kidnap the Commander.
Through the course of the encounter, everything on the board had damage on it, PC's & baddies included.

A squad of the orcs were carrying off the unconscious commander, and were nearing the gate.
The cleric looked around and thought, yes, this is my time.

(Pathfinder rules) he dropped a Holy Smite on the group of orcs carrying their hostage, which also included the rest of the party. All of whom were Neutral aligned, except for the Cavalier, so EVERYTHING(Except the Cavalier and the unconscious Commander) in the 20ft radius had to make saves, and took various amounts of damage.

After a moment of making saves against their own cleric's spell, the rogue(of course) expressed incredulity ("What the Fuck, Pablo!?") to which he plainly replied " maybe if they were better people, they wouldn't have gotten hurt."
The Cavalier did not help either with something along the lines of "see!? Pick a side. Stop with all the neutral crap. Dedicate to a cause, like me!"

D and December 2017: Week 4 - Day 4(Belated)

4- Trinkets and Treasures

one copper piece, given to myself, that I kept in my hat, that was 5 feet tall

The infamous bard, Ran Dansin (the first, the original), had a top hat that was a relic won from the Mad Hatter on another plane, after the Mad Hatter let it slip there was more than one of them in existence, he was able to ask for one as compensation for besting him at tea/chess.
There was a 70% chance to pull out a random mundane item, 20% to pull out a random uncommon item, 5% a rare, and last 5% truly unique item.
Over the course of a campaign this hat provided, smelly cheese, a perfect red rose, a flask of water, shards of glass, a swarm of sturges, an assortment of Jackalopes, and a wee-jeenie.

One time, Ran was pulled into the hat, and plopped into the hand of a giant. This giant looked just like him. The Giant Ran proceeded to jab at him and say, "I wish for greater physical prowess, specifically Strength, Dexterity & Constitution, much as a magical tome might provide".
Ran replied "I can not grant you this, for I am but a traveler, and have not the ability to bestow it."
"What!?" exclaimed the Giant Ran. "You're not a wee-jeenie?"
"No, I'm Ran Dansin, Troubadour Extra-Ordinare"
"So am I, and each time I've reached into this hat, I've pulled out a wee-jeenie"
"Really? All I get is bullshit."
"Oh, that's too bad."
"Hey, as one Ran to another, don't suppose you could spare some money? Gold, gems, that sort of thing?"
"How does a copper sound" asked the Giant Ran, producing an immense copper coin.
"Sounds fine"! Original Ran lashed it with rope, tied on end to his wrist like a surf board, and was placed back in the Hat.
They kept it hooked to the brim of the hat(from the inside) till they were able to find a smithy that broke it into bars and paid them in platinum for it's worth.

D and December 2017: Week 4 - Day 3(Belated)

3- Arcane Casting

Smell the magic

I'm a fan of casters of all flavors. The ability to manipulate -other- forces in the universe is a fascinating thing to embody.

But, one of my favorite "magic" abilities, was that somehow, it became a joke that one of my Bards could detect magic via olfactory senses. It would result in various schools having aromas with a plethora of notes depending on caster, alignment, and resulting spell.
It became such a prevalent house rule, through most of 3.5, across multiple Groups (and into Pathfinder, if I recall) any full or half-human with the last name "Dansin"(or at least this bloodline) had to burn a/take the feat to gain Detect Magic if they didn't have it from the class, to denote this heritage (Arcane Talent for Pathfinder & Mystic Atunment? for 3.5)

Every so often it still comes up, asking if it *sniff sniff* reeks of conjuration, *big inhale - cough * Illusion. *gak*

D and December 2017: Week 4 - Day 2(Belated)

2- Mimic/Trap

“Today I prepared Explosive Runes . . .”

Many years of playing & Gming, you create, steal & encounter numerous traps, some even become punch lines (as above).
That exact joke ran for years in a game, and never happened.
So, I decided it must be executed.
An Admantine Spellbook, with false "pages", that contained an actual spellbook (like a book safe), but the first "page" had Explosive Runes cast on it, so it could blow up in the holder's face and not damage the actual spellbook locked inside.

Similarly, having a delayed fireball as part of a treasure chest or secure room is a ton of fun as the group thinks they got past the trap, only to realize it had been sprung.

Another favorite is the "invisible wall".
It bisects a room or hallway, it's dimensions are 2 feet off the ground to 8 feet off the ground.
The trick is to describe it so that the party has to think about it/try different ways to "see"/work with the wall, to get over or under it.
This can be expanded as desired for more insidious uses (making the wall "deeper" so they have to crawl under for a distance, or across the top of it, place items or creatures in it/around it, etc)