Brand new DM (3 weeks) running the starter set for a brand new party. They’re progressing nicely and we are LOVING DnD. They come across some bugbears in a certain hideout and it goes south QUICK. One PC gets knocked down, remaining two with less than 10hp. Bugbears turn comes up, crit fails back to back to back. It was as if the Dice Gods smiled down on my newborn party and gave them the time they needed to finish off my bugbears. It was the best moment, I even lifted the DM screen just so they could see and enjoy these fails with me. Greatest introduction to DnD we could have had. Our party is now growing from 3 to 5. (Cousins heard the story and are excited to join)
We all know the heart racing moments of Dungeons & Dragons: Critical fails. Nat 20s. We want you to share the moment where rolls made YOUR pulse race for a chance to win!
Reply to this thread with your response and the #DDBStyle hashtag, then complete your entry at using the entry form.
It has to be the last session me and my group played before breaking up because of lockdown. We were playing Lost Mines and were fighting the Young Green Dragon on horse back. I, a warlock, went to scoop up the rogue who had fallen off his horse but he thought it would be funny to try and kick me off the horse while I tried to drag him up. We both rolled Athletics checks, he rolled a Nat 1 and I a Nat 20, which had everyone in hysterics. The end result was I pulled him up on to the horse but in doing so the rogue spooked the horse, causing it rear up and send the rogue back on the ground, this time prone with a dragon approaching. #DDBstyle
Our DM decided to up the difficulty and create an encounter that was supposed to be deadly. What should have been a long and harrowing battle turned into a cake walk as every other roll or so was a natural 20. #DDBStyle
The moment my heart pumped the fastest while playing D&D? Sure, hold my dice. But first, a little background.
When our playgroup is playing, I've had this uncanny ability to predict when a player, including myself, is going to roll a natural 1. It doesn't matter if it's a d20, a d10, or a d6. I call out "1", and the Gods of Chaos make it so.
It's gotten to the point where the other players have come to fear my predictions, being unsure whether or not they should roll the dice and gamble. The words "watch me nat 1 this" have become the stuff of nightmares for some. One player remarked that he wouldn't have been able to believe it, if he hadn't seen it occur this often, and with different dice rolled by different players. Think of it as having the Wil Wheaton Dice Curse, but you get a strange gut feeling you can't control whenever the result is about to be a 1.
But, I digress.
My story takes place far beneath Castle Hallowheart, inside the tomb of the Hallowhearts' ancestors. There, our party fought a homebrewed succubus for control of an ancient map which revealed the locations of a certain set of magical keys we were trying to keep out of the demons' hands. With her being cornered, she attempts to forcefully kiss my character, the paladin of the group. Being a forceful attempt, our DM asks me to make an Athletics check for a Strength contest.
Now, to be clear. My paladin has very few hitpoints left. A Draining Kiss would, without difficulty, suck the soul out through his mouth for the succubus to snack on. We had joked around several times about how my character was going to die horribly from always taking the vanguard in every fight, and although he had fallen unconscious more times than any other character, this was the first time a single dice roll would immediately decide the fate of my character.
Our DM rolls his die, and his face turns white as a sheet, eyes widening to the size of saucers. 'It's a natural 19' he says, adding the +4 modifier for a total of 23.
I feel my heart race. The only way I would succeed this contest was by rolling a nat 20. I search my gut for that familiar feeling, finding nothing. The Gods of Chaos wasn't going to screw me over today, it seemed. Instead, I feel something else. A source of confidence surging in my gut. Something pushing me to roll the die, reassuring me that everything is going to be fine. I had felt anything like it. Doubt fills me, but I push it aside. We're having the contest, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. I decide to trust the foreign sensation.
Next to me, our monk is freaking out. The stakes are indeed dire. He has already given up on the idea of my character surviving. I calmly turn to him, place a hand on his shoulder, and quote My Hero Academia:
'Don't worry. Heroes can always get out of a pinch.'
I allow the die to fall into my dice tray, my heart beating out of my chest, praying that I haven't misinterpreted the Gods of Chaos. The suspense in this moment is thick enough to carve with a steak knife, fingers having dug into clothes, the sofa, or one's palms. The other group members gasp for breath as the die begins to roll across the tray.
It comes up a Natural 20. I force away the consent-ignoring succubus, and vanquish her a few turns later with a Divine Smite.
We still speak fondly about this moment, all of us agreeing how tense and, ultimately, disgusting it was to have a player speak with such confidence and succeed with a crit.
TL;DR: I used my prophetic dice powers to see a crit coming, telling my party "it's fine, I got this", before refusing a succubus to snog me to death.
Heartbreaking moment when my Dwarven Fighter hefted his shield and stood in the way of a Troll to let his friends get away. After being pummeled for several rounds, he tried to join his friends in safety but fumbled the getaway and died a hero #DDBStyle
Ive played most versions, started with handbooks greyhawk, blackmoor, eldricht wizardry. Then the blue book came out then on to 2nd and the rest. Currently slowly starting to collect 5th (we all ditched 4th).
The most nerve wracking and weirdest was a campaign in 2nd edition which ran for few years, the DM had a policy of letting us roll and he determined a single magic item we started the game with. I rolled a wish sword with 3 wishes. I started life as a paladin so a wish sword was something I was not keenly interested in. During my adventures I came across a shield that was terrified of being hit, a dwarf who had vorpal swords and such in his trash treasure pile and was cursed with continually encountering tarasque. Somewhere along the line I decided to subdue good dragons had quite a few even some silver and a gold, later they admitted they couldnt be subdued but I offered them safety and security for there hoard (dont figure). Along our adventures I was asked for aid by a maiden in the middle of nowhere, so as all paladins would after finding a cute lady in the middle of nowhere and found her evil went off the scale. What was I to do, kill her for being evil or answer her request for aid, seems she was trying to protect a village that had saved her life. This was my first encounter with a tarasque, then came the dwarf who let be borrow one of his trash items (vorpal sword) and a scaredy shield. I met the tarasque and during combat (the shield hid behind me) I rolled a nat 20, DM decided that as it was so big a creature I would have to roll another for the vorpal power to work. Gods of dice were with me and I rolled a nat 20 so tarasque died. Now the lady of evil, dont ask me how or why but she swore herself to me (I was expecting a dagger in the back) after time and the intervention of a deity she became TN and my wife (I was tricked). After coming across three more tarasque (there can be only 1 in a world at a time) I was annoyed that they seemed to have it in for me, so I used my first wish to ensure it was somewhere I would never be (apparently it liked its island). I'm telling you, tarasque are nasty and terrifying so that 2nd roll for a nat 20 it almost gave me heart failure waiting for the dice to stop.
* as a note, it was decided by those of us that would be DM'ng that wisdom and intelligence would be used to determine the accuracy and success for a wish.
I came across an alu demon guarding a brass dragon I was out to subjugate, not really wanting to fight such a gorgeous guardian (alright I admit it she was stronger than me)I said on the spur of the moment $%#^ or fight, DM rolled and had me sweating as I didnt think I could defeat her, after a time the DM with a malicious smirk said she chose the first one and she ended up coming with me and the brass dragon.
I had annoyed Orcus a number times, also had met many weird and powerful (though not evil creatures), used my second wish to befriend a baby dragon turtle after I had killed its mother and was not happy killing it as well (was pretty beaten up so sweating bullets waiting to see if it worked) sadistic DM finally after he was going through the motions of breathing on me grinned and said it was successful.
At this point we were epic level, I had a wife and 2 children, numerous henchmen and creatures using my area to live safely, next thing I know asmodeus pops in and tells me Orcus is on his way with an army to kill me and my family. So I assemble all my minions and send word that I would like help, but everyone it seems is too busy or does not answer (heart sinks). Day of the battle Orcus and his army arrive and I faint at there numbers, I tell my troops we cant win this so get out of here and save yourselves (DM rolls) and the dumbasses refuse to go. I prepare to fight to the death when bugles sound and from to my left and right 2 armies appear flying friendly banners, from the skies winged allies appear, in fact all the friends I made during my adventures appear in my hour of need (yes I said an expletive and fell of chair). You have to realise, if killed here that would be the end of my character, from this battle there would be no come back (so yeah fell off chair). End of story, we win but not before orcus tries to kill my children but is thwarted by asmodeus (dont ask me) apparently he has been watching me for a while and found my travels and adventures entertaining. In the end we were pissed off with Orcus so we went to his plain and killed him permanently, his replacement sent me a message assuring me he had no intention of bothering me or my family.
Out of all the adventures, modules and campaigns I have played this would have been the most nerve wracking, traumatising and rewarding.
There were others, I played RPGA in perrenland a lot as player and DM including tournaments where I was playing a blind paladin I won an award for realistically playing a blind paladin, I cheated though one of my best friends was blind so I just did what he does normally lol, but I really enjoyed that session (flailing around looking for my can of coke, fumbling for the dice and asking what I rolled).
Shortest campaign I had lasted for 1 encounter, I was a dwarf and a human in a village asked "whats the weather like down there", so i kicked his feet from under him and said "now your here, now you now". At the time I though it was a fair reaction, in hindsight however not so much. He picked me up and shoved me head first into barrel of water (yep you guessed it, I drowned LOL). Yeah gods of dice were not with for that one but it was nerve wracking failing the con save time after time after time oops you drowned....
Sorry for the length, am trying to remember sessions from as far back as late 70's.
Yeah im an old fart, service pensioner now so not a lot of money to buy Beyond D&D books (not to mention in Australia there even more expensive), have the players so far woohoo !!
We were playing a custom campaign and were trying to heal a wounded celestial. My oath of vengeance paladin failed a Wisdom save and was profoundly shaken, started questioning his god, became best friends with a bull, and re-classed into a barbarian (due to not believing in his original deity)... #DDBStyle
Nothing better than rolling a Nat20 on a deception check of a shady NPC against a 19 of one of your players sending them on a job for one of their enemies #DDBStyle
I was playing Victor the mad thong maker. He is a wildmagic sorcerer. On his quest to make the world a better place by spreading fashion we ended up in an intense battle vs a thiefs guild. The encounter was really hard our paladin had fallen and the fighter too so I was the last one standing, I had no chance to play any spells due to a hold person but in the last round I managed to get free right before my teammates would fall. So on my last round I cast fireball then i had to roll to see if I get a wild magic surge, I rolled a 1 so now i was standing alone and a wild magic surge was about to happen. I thought well it can't get any worse than that. I rolled my d100 and got an 81, I was rushing through the pages to find out what that meant...it was one additional action immediately so I cast another fireball and wipe-out all the enemies it was insane!!! Definitely one of the coolest moments I had, because my team was down and all the enemies where closing up in front of me, I just snapped out of the hold person and blasted them twice right in front of me xD the blast radius ended literally in front of me. So yea Victor is still happily designing thongs and spreading fashion all around a medieval world
After our hot blooded monk ran after a Nighthag , the rest of the party followed, more concearned about him beeing eaten by wolves than him catching up. He did catch up. And instead of attacking, which the big bad undbeoubtetly would have simply shrug off, he began to taunt the villain. We weren't prepared for the ensuing battle at all. The only reason this did not result in a TPK were two lucky crits, first a Death Saving Throw, allowing me to regain conciousnes, followed by another crit, causing my arrow to slay the foe.
The God my Character followed send us to a cliff and in Visions we could see followers of him leaping down towards the ocean. We found a invisible portal and dumb as I am I jumped with most of the party falling too while trying to stop me. On the other side we saw a pit full of dead people witch did the same. The Sorcerer has used her “wingsuit”, the wizard casted feather fall, it was up to our aarakocra to save my tiefling and our goliath from falling to death by a athletics check and he nailed it. Since the I am not allowed to make any decisions where to go…
The time where a PC died during a shopping episode, a lvl 4 character got a Ring of Teleportation, when he tried it out, the DM rolled 6 times below 33, which resulted in 18d10 worth of damage, instantly killing the character. #DDBStyle
I remember my first game. It was Lost Mine of Phandeler and the whole party was down with only two goblins alive. We were all making death saves and I rolled a 20 and stood up. I hacked down the goblins and saved the cleric that healed the rest of the party. #DDBStyle
I'm currently playing an Halfling Warlock and one of my signature spells is Shadow Blade.
During one of our most recent fights I managed to roll a Nat 20 (thank you Advantage) for a grand total of 8d8+4 psychic damage... except that I managed to roll only 1s and 2s...
I started a new campaign for a few people who have never played D&D before and one person who hasn't played in years. It was funny to see them all enjoy the classic "rats in the cellar" mission, even those who were new to the experience. We're making memories within this campaign and that to me is the most epic adventure ever to be had!
Ah, the first real big boss fight I DM'ed with my group of brand new players. I had totally forgotten that the Warlock had just added Banishment to their list of spells. Cue the giant, homebrew spider with magic spells being Banished with a nat 20, and me having to on-the-fly beef up both the volume and HP of the minions as they tried to get at the Warlock and bring back the Boss-Spider. Made it totally imbalanced when the Boss-Spider did eventually Un-Banish themselves, as the party were then at drastically reduced HP and spell slots - but it's been the fight that everyone remembers as being the most perilous! #DDBStyle
While in a tavern, my Rogue Assassin, Jik, watched a wrestling match on "the portal" (it's a magical holographic TV in our world) as a conversation for food and lodging took place. Money Bags Dan was pinned but the ref was distracted on the two count. Dan broke free, grabbed a chair from the side of the ring, bashed his opponent over the head and when the ref turned back, Money Bags Dan had his opponent pinned and won the match. While he is a rogue, Jik has a very high regard for honour and was outraged by what he saw. Everyone in the party who was watching, passed a wisdom check other than me, who rolled a Nat1 and therefore believed Money Bags Dan had dishonoured the warriors code and was added to Jik's kill list. We were in a town heading towards the capital, which is a significant distance at this point, where Dan lives and works. Jik was gathering information about Dan at every opportunity and everytime Jik had the chance to understand that it was just a show, the dice rolled unnaturally low. He even managed to obtain a letter of introduction to Thwayne "The Rock" Johansen, king of the land and legendary warrior so as to get close to Dan. Due to the dice rolls, it got to the point where Jik's hatred for Money Bags Dan was all he could think about and started to affect his decision making. Upon reaching the capital, he bolts straight for the arena, where he Nat20 looses the party in a crowd, Nat20 lifts a ticket from someone as he heads to the gate and gains entry. Thwayne is in the ring and Jik is in absolute awe of this man. Just before the match ends the party catch up with Jik. Thwayne is in trouble, staggering all over the ring but suddenly a second wind catches him and he resists a clothes-line. He starts stamping his foot and calling on the crowd (think Hulk Hogan in his prime) and raises his hand to the sky, at which point a member of the party successfully casts thaumaturgy to cause the sound of thunder from the roof without anyone noticing. DM asks for a wisdom check, the WHOLE PARTY rolled above 15 understanding, once again this is just theatre but Jik rolls a Nat1 and is all-in! We meet with Thwayne after the match, Jik fanboi's HARD and because this is his business, rather than telling Jik it is all staged, as the party requested, reinforced Jik's belief that it's all real. Reaching fever pitch, Jik spots Money Bag Dan in the crowd, draws his shortswords and charges with absolute ferocious anger and hatred. What he didn't know is the NPC ref is actually a lv.20 wizard, who rolled a Nat20 to see Jik start his attack and banishes him to the fish plane, where he is bound to a post, in front of which is a goblin on a bicycle. The back wheel of the bike is mounted just in front of Jik, where a fish attached to the wheel is continually spinning round and slapping him in the face. Another bad roll led to this enraging Jik further, who upon returning from banishment, persisted to attack again. The wizard ref cast hold person and thankfully one of our more intelligent party members asked for him to be put in a cell and spent the night in the cell with Jik. He burnt all is remaining spell slots to stop him escaping and to rest. The following day, this party member declined to have us released until he had got through to Jik and he understood it was just entertainment. I appreciate this is a bit of a long one but this was an example of where, over the course of at least 5 or 6 weeks, "perfect" dice rolls created one of the most exhilarating, tense, exhausting and fun sessions of D&D I've ever had. Kudos to our DM and other party members for making it so!
My most cherished moment as a DM is my party of four PCs trying to retake an overrun Winery in the dead of night. Unbeknownst to them, an army of twig, needle, vine blights, and a tree blight hide in the vineyard. They managed to retake the top floor of the winery from a group of evil druids. However, with a flash of lightning, they see the plant army surrounding their building. A battle ensues: the dwarf cleric ignites the slowly approaching tree blight, the goliath barbarian charges the archdruid in the basement, the southern wall is brought down, the wood-elf ranger and a dwarf cleric fight back to back... a Nat1 causes the party to say goodbye to their wood-elf adventuring companion *just* as the magic staff controlling the tree is retaken. His soul belongs to the Count now. #DDBStyle
Dm'ing one of my first games. Had a party of 6 fighting awakened shrubs and 1 awakened tree. The party decided to focus all different targets and due to high rolls and a few nat 20s. The party ended up being TPK'd by the Awakened tree. In the Tutorial Area. #DDBStyle
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We all know the heart racing moments of Dungeons & Dragons: Critical fails. Nat 20s. We want you to share the moment where rolls made YOUR pulse race for a chance to win!
Reply to this thread with your response and the #DDBStyle hashtag, then complete your entry at using the entry form.
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It has to be the last session me and my group played before breaking up because of lockdown.
We were playing Lost Mines and were fighting the Young Green Dragon on horse back. I, a warlock, went to scoop up the rogue who had fallen off his horse but he thought it would be funny to try and kick me off the horse while I tried to drag him up. We both rolled Athletics checks, he rolled a Nat 1 and I a Nat 20, which had everyone in hysterics.
The end result was I pulled him up on to the horse but in doing so the rogue spooked the horse, causing it rear up and send the rogue back on the ground, this time prone with a dragon approaching.
#DDBstyle
Our DM decided to up the difficulty and create an encounter that was supposed to be deadly. What should have been a long and harrowing battle turned into a cake walk as every other roll or so was a natural 20. #DDBStyle
The moment my heart pumped the fastest while playing D&D? Sure, hold my dice. But first, a little background.
When our playgroup is playing, I've had this uncanny ability to predict when a player, including myself, is going to roll a natural 1. It doesn't matter if it's a d20, a d10, or a d6. I call out "1", and the Gods of Chaos make it so.
It's gotten to the point where the other players have come to fear my predictions, being unsure whether or not they should roll the dice and gamble. The words "watch me nat 1 this" have become the stuff of nightmares for some. One player remarked that he wouldn't have been able to believe it, if he hadn't seen it occur this often, and with different dice rolled by different players. Think of it as having the Wil Wheaton Dice Curse, but you get a strange gut feeling you can't control whenever the result is about to be a 1.
But, I digress.
My story takes place far beneath Castle Hallowheart, inside the tomb of the Hallowhearts' ancestors. There, our party fought a homebrewed succubus for control of an ancient map which revealed the locations of a certain set of magical keys we were trying to keep out of the demons' hands. With her being cornered, she attempts to forcefully kiss my character, the paladin of the group. Being a forceful attempt, our DM asks me to make an Athletics check for a Strength contest.
Now, to be clear. My paladin has very few hitpoints left. A Draining Kiss would, without difficulty, suck the soul out through his mouth for the succubus to snack on. We had joked around several times about how my character was going to die horribly from always taking the vanguard in every fight, and although he had fallen unconscious more times than any other character, this was the first time a single dice roll would immediately decide the fate of my character.
Our DM rolls his die, and his face turns white as a sheet, eyes widening to the size of saucers. 'It's a natural 19' he says, adding the +4 modifier for a total of 23.
I feel my heart race. The only way I would succeed this contest was by rolling a nat 20. I search my gut for that familiar feeling, finding nothing. The Gods of Chaos wasn't going to screw me over today, it seemed. Instead, I feel something else. A source of confidence surging in my gut. Something pushing me to roll the die, reassuring me that everything is going to be fine. I had felt anything like it. Doubt fills me, but I push it aside. We're having the contest, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. I decide to trust the foreign sensation.
Next to me, our monk is freaking out. The stakes are indeed dire. He has already given up on the idea of my character surviving. I calmly turn to him, place a hand on his shoulder, and quote My Hero Academia:
'Don't worry. Heroes can always get out of a pinch.'
I allow the die to fall into my dice tray, my heart beating out of my chest, praying that I haven't misinterpreted the Gods of Chaos. The suspense in this moment is thick enough to carve with a steak knife, fingers having dug into clothes, the sofa, or one's palms. The other group members gasp for breath as the die begins to roll across the tray.
It comes up a Natural 20. I force away the consent-ignoring succubus, and vanquish her a few turns later with a Divine Smite.
We still speak fondly about this moment, all of us agreeing how tense and, ultimately, disgusting it was to have a player speak with such confidence and succeed with a crit.
TL;DR: I used my prophetic dice powers to see a crit coming, telling my party "it's fine, I got this", before refusing a succubus to snog me to death.
#DDBStyle
Heartbreaking moment when my Dwarven Fighter hefted his shield and stood in the way of a Troll to let his friends get away. After being pummeled for several rounds, he tried to join his friends in safety but fumbled the getaway and died a hero
#DDBStyle
Ive played most versions, started with handbooks greyhawk, blackmoor, eldricht wizardry. Then the blue book came out then on to 2nd and the rest. Currently slowly starting to collect 5th (we all ditched 4th).
The most nerve wracking and weirdest was a campaign in 2nd edition which ran for few years, the DM had a policy of letting us roll and he determined a single magic item we started the game with. I rolled a wish sword with 3 wishes. I started life as a paladin so a wish sword was something I was not keenly interested in. During my adventures I came across a shield that was terrified of being hit, a dwarf who had vorpal swords and such in his trash treasure pile and was cursed with continually encountering tarasque. Somewhere along the line I decided to subdue good dragons had quite a few even some silver and a gold, later they admitted they couldnt be subdued but I offered them safety and security for there hoard (dont figure). Along our adventures I was asked for aid by a maiden in the middle of nowhere, so as all paladins would after finding a cute lady in the middle of nowhere and found her evil went off the scale. What was I to do, kill her for being evil or answer her request for aid, seems she was trying to protect a village that had saved her life. This was my first encounter with a tarasque, then came the dwarf who let be borrow one of his trash items (vorpal sword) and a scaredy shield. I met the tarasque and during combat (the shield hid behind me) I rolled a nat 20, DM decided that as it was so big a creature I would have to roll another for the vorpal power to work. Gods of dice were with me and I rolled a nat 20 so tarasque died. Now the lady of evil, dont ask me how or why but she swore herself to me (I was expecting a dagger in the back) after time and the intervention of a deity she became TN and my wife (I was tricked). After coming across three more tarasque (there can be only 1 in a world at a time) I was annoyed that they seemed to have it in for me, so I used my first wish to ensure it was somewhere I would never be (apparently it liked its island). I'm telling you, tarasque are nasty and terrifying so that 2nd roll for a nat 20 it almost gave me heart failure waiting for the dice to stop.
* as a note, it was decided by those of us that would be DM'ng that wisdom and intelligence would be used to determine the accuracy and success for a wish.
I came across an alu demon guarding a brass dragon I was out to subjugate, not really wanting to fight such a gorgeous guardian (alright I admit it she was stronger than me)I said on the spur of the moment $%#^ or fight, DM rolled and had me sweating as I didnt think I could defeat her, after a time the DM with a malicious smirk said she chose the first one and she ended up coming with me and the brass dragon.
I had annoyed Orcus a number times, also had met many weird and powerful (though not evil creatures), used my second wish to befriend a baby dragon turtle after I had killed its mother and was not happy killing it as well (was pretty beaten up so sweating bullets waiting to see if it worked) sadistic DM finally after he was going through the motions of breathing on me grinned and said it was successful.
At this point we were epic level, I had a wife and 2 children, numerous henchmen and creatures using my area to live safely, next thing I know asmodeus pops in and tells me Orcus is on his way with an army to kill me and my family. So I assemble all my minions and send word that I would like help, but everyone it seems is too busy or does not answer (heart sinks). Day of the battle Orcus and his army arrive and I faint at there numbers, I tell my troops we cant win this so get out of here and save yourselves (DM rolls) and the dumbasses refuse to go. I prepare to fight to the death when bugles sound and from to my left and right 2 armies appear flying friendly banners, from the skies winged allies appear, in fact all the friends I made during my adventures appear in my hour of need (yes I said an expletive and fell of chair). You have to realise, if killed here that would be the end of my character, from this battle there would be no come back (so yeah fell off chair). End of story, we win but not before orcus tries to kill my children but is thwarted by asmodeus (dont ask me) apparently he has been watching me for a while and found my travels and adventures entertaining. In the end we were pissed off with Orcus so we went to his plain and killed him permanently, his replacement sent me a message assuring me he had no intention of bothering me or my family.
Out of all the adventures, modules and campaigns I have played this would have been the most nerve wracking, traumatising and rewarding.
There were others, I played RPGA in perrenland a lot as player and DM including tournaments where I was playing a blind paladin I won an award for realistically playing a blind paladin, I cheated though one of my best friends was blind so I just did what he does normally lol, but I really enjoyed that session (flailing around looking for my can of coke, fumbling for the dice and asking what I rolled).
Shortest campaign I had lasted for 1 encounter, I was a dwarf and a human in a village asked "whats the weather like down there", so i kicked his feet from under him and said "now your here, now you now". At the time I though it was a fair reaction, in hindsight however not so much. He picked me up and shoved me head first into barrel of water (yep you guessed it, I drowned LOL). Yeah gods of dice were not with for that one but it was nerve wracking failing the con save time after time after time oops you drowned....
Sorry for the length, am trying to remember sessions from as far back as late 70's.
Yeah im an old fart, service pensioner now so not a lot of money to buy Beyond D&D books (not to mention in Australia there even more expensive), have the players so far woohoo !!
#DDBStyle
“Animals die, friends die, and I shall die, but one thing never dies, and that is the reputation we leave behind at our death.”
We were playing a custom campaign and were trying to heal a wounded celestial. My oath of vengeance paladin failed a Wisdom save and was profoundly shaken, started questioning his god, became best friends with a bull, and re-classed into a barbarian (due to not believing in his original deity)... #DDBStyle
#DDBStyle first campaign i played in , against the final boss: a shadow dragon.
my dex save ? fail. also the wizard.
however , our barbarian got a nat 20! saved me by dropping a healing potion into my mouth >:]
by the gods though, thought i’d lose curio 🥲
they/them
Nothing better than rolling a Nat20 on a deception check of a shady NPC against a 19 of one of your players sending them on a job for one of their enemies #DDBStyle
I was playing Victor the mad thong maker. He is a wildmagic sorcerer. On his quest to make the world a better place by spreading fashion we ended up in an intense battle vs a thiefs guild. The encounter was really hard our paladin had fallen and the fighter too so I was the last one standing, I had no chance to play any spells due to a hold person but in the last round I managed to get free right before my teammates would fall. So on my last round I cast fireball then i had to roll to see if I get a wild magic surge, I rolled a 1 so now i was standing alone and a wild magic surge was about to happen. I thought well it can't get any worse than that. I rolled my d100 and got an 81, I was rushing through the pages to find out what that meant...it was one additional action immediately so I cast another fireball and wipe-out all the enemies it was insane!!! Definitely one of the coolest moments I had, because my team was down and all the enemies where closing up in front of me, I just snapped out of the hold person and blasted them twice right in front of me xD the blast radius ended literally in front of me. So yea Victor is still happily designing thongs and spreading fashion all around a medieval world
#DDBStyle
After our hot blooded monk ran after a Nighthag , the rest of the party followed, more concearned about him beeing eaten by wolves than him catching up. He did catch up. And instead of attacking, which the big bad undbeoubtetly would have simply shrug off, he began to taunt the villain. We weren't prepared for the ensuing battle at all. The only reason this did not result in a TPK were two lucky crits, first a Death Saving Throw, allowing me to regain conciousnes, followed by another crit, causing my arrow to slay the foe.
#DDBStyle
The God my Character followed send us to a cliff and in Visions we could see followers of him leaping down towards the ocean. We found a invisible portal and dumb as I am I jumped with most of the party falling too while trying to stop me. On the other side we saw a pit full of dead people witch did the same. The Sorcerer has used her “wingsuit”, the wizard casted feather fall, it was up to our aarakocra to save my tiefling and our goliath from falling to death by a athletics check and he nailed it. Since the I am not allowed to make any decisions where to go…
The time where a PC died during a shopping episode, a lvl 4 character got a Ring of Teleportation, when he tried it out, the DM rolled 6 times below 33, which resulted in 18d10 worth of damage, instantly killing the character. #DDBStyle
I remember my first game. It was Lost Mine of Phandeler and the whole party was down with only two goblins alive. We were all making death saves and I rolled a 20 and stood up. I hacked down the goblins and saved the cleric that healed the rest of the party. #DDBStyle
I'm currently playing an Halfling Warlock and one of my signature spells is Shadow Blade.
During one of our most recent fights I managed to roll a Nat 20 (thank you Advantage) for a grand total of 8d8+4 psychic damage... except that I managed to roll only 1s and 2s...
What can I say except... #DDBStyle
I started a new campaign for a few people who have never played D&D before and one person who hasn't played in years. It was funny to see them all enjoy the classic "rats in the cellar" mission, even those who were new to the experience. We're making memories within this campaign and that to me is the most epic adventure ever to be had!
#DDBStyle
Ah, the first real big boss fight I DM'ed with my group of brand new players. I had totally forgotten that the Warlock had just added Banishment to their list of spells. Cue the giant, homebrew spider with magic spells being Banished with a nat 20, and me having to on-the-fly beef up both the volume and HP of the minions as they tried to get at the Warlock and bring back the Boss-Spider. Made it totally imbalanced when the Boss-Spider did eventually Un-Banish themselves, as the party were then at drastically reduced HP and spell slots - but it's been the fight that everyone remembers as being the most perilous! #DDBStyle
While in a tavern, my Rogue Assassin, Jik, watched a wrestling match on "the portal" (it's a magical holographic TV in our world) as a conversation for food and lodging took place. Money Bags Dan was pinned but the ref was distracted on the two count. Dan broke free, grabbed a chair from the side of the ring, bashed his opponent over the head and when the ref turned back, Money Bags Dan had his opponent pinned and won the match. While he is a rogue, Jik has a very high regard for honour and was outraged by what he saw. Everyone in the party who was watching, passed a wisdom check other than me, who rolled a Nat1 and therefore believed Money Bags Dan had dishonoured the warriors code and was added to Jik's kill list. We were in a town heading towards the capital, which is a significant distance at this point, where Dan lives and works. Jik was gathering information about Dan at every opportunity and everytime Jik had the chance to understand that it was just a show, the dice rolled unnaturally low. He even managed to obtain a letter of introduction to Thwayne "The Rock" Johansen, king of the land and legendary warrior so as to get close to Dan. Due to the dice rolls, it got to the point where Jik's hatred for Money Bags Dan was all he could think about and started to affect his decision making. Upon reaching the capital, he bolts straight for the arena, where he Nat20 looses the party in a crowd, Nat20 lifts a ticket from someone as he heads to the gate and gains entry. Thwayne is in the ring and Jik is in absolute awe of this man. Just before the match ends the party catch up with Jik. Thwayne is in trouble, staggering all over the ring but suddenly a second wind catches him and he resists a clothes-line. He starts stamping his foot and calling on the crowd (think Hulk Hogan in his prime) and raises his hand to the sky, at which point a member of the party successfully casts thaumaturgy to cause the sound of thunder from the roof without anyone noticing. DM asks for a wisdom check, the WHOLE PARTY rolled above 15 understanding, once again this is just theatre but Jik rolls a Nat1 and is all-in! We meet with Thwayne after the match, Jik fanboi's HARD and because this is his business, rather than telling Jik it is all staged, as the party requested, reinforced Jik's belief that it's all real. Reaching fever pitch, Jik spots Money Bag Dan in the crowd, draws his shortswords and charges with absolute ferocious anger and hatred. What he didn't know is the NPC ref is actually a lv.20 wizard, who rolled a Nat20 to see Jik start his attack and banishes him to the fish plane, where he is bound to a post, in front of which is a goblin on a bicycle. The back wheel of the bike is mounted just in front of Jik, where a fish attached to the wheel is continually spinning round and slapping him in the face. Another bad roll led to this enraging Jik further, who upon returning from banishment, persisted to attack again. The wizard ref cast hold person and thankfully one of our more intelligent party members asked for him to be put in a cell and spent the night in the cell with Jik. He burnt all is remaining spell slots to stop him escaping and to rest. The following day, this party member declined to have us released until he had got through to Jik and he understood it was just entertainment. I appreciate this is a bit of a long one but this was an example of where, over the course of at least 5 or 6 weeks, "perfect" dice rolls created one of the most exhilarating, tense, exhausting and fun sessions of D&D I've ever had. Kudos to our DM and other party members for making it so!
#DDBStyle
My most cherished moment as a DM is my party of four PCs trying to retake an overrun Winery in the dead of night. Unbeknownst to them, an army of twig, needle, vine blights, and a tree blight hide in the vineyard. They managed to retake the top floor of the winery from a group of evil druids. However, with a flash of lightning, they see the plant army surrounding their building. A battle ensues: the dwarf cleric ignites the slowly approaching tree blight, the goliath barbarian charges the archdruid in the basement, the southern wall is brought down, the wood-elf ranger and a dwarf cleric fight back to back... a Nat1 causes the party to say goodbye to their wood-elf adventuring companion *just* as the magic staff controlling the tree is retaken. His soul belongs to the Count now. #DDBStyle
Dm'ing one of my first games. Had a party of 6 fighting awakened shrubs and 1 awakened tree. The party decided to focus all different targets and due to high rolls and a few nat 20s. The party ended up being TPK'd by the Awakened tree. In the Tutorial Area. #DDBStyle