Awesome stuff you've done off the main routes

[Meister]

Mainly in PnP games, I guess, but if you've done something awesome not quite intended by the creators in a video game, feel free to share.

I'll start with some D&D stories. My character's an Arcane Trickster, which is basically a rogue with access to spellcasting.

The Deck of Many Things

So we were on this plane where the Big Plot Device was hidden, and we met a trickster along the way who offered to play a game, i.e. drawing from the Deck of Many Things. As usual this turned out beneficial for some of us more than others. Our Ranger, for example, got captured by the trickster and we had to go rescue him.

We eventually found him in a room with the trickster suspended from the floor over a fire - there was a zone of reverse gravity in effect where he "hung", directly beneath a hole in the ceiling which led to the outside. When I say "outside", I mean "actually not quite existing area outside the building we're in which is the only thing that actually exists on this plane." Long story. Anyway, the trickster decided he wanted us to be in his service as well, an idea we didn't take kindly to, so fight we did. It went well until we discovered he could heal himself simply by touching his card deck. So, brilliant as I am, I figured I'd Mage Hand his deck into the fire - it probably wouldn't destroy it, but maybe make him think twice about whether he really wanted to go there.

Of course I'd forgotten all about the reversed gravity.

Basically with that one spell I robbed him of the source of his power. The deck went up to the nonexistant outside and is, presumably, quite thoroughly lost. The fight after that was quite short, although he did escape. The last I heard of him was that he'd bought 2,500 metal spikes.

I think he doesn't like me now.

Coming up: the long story of how we instilled belief in the citizens of the capitol city and got away with far, far more than we should have.

[Tendronai]

I've made a couple of older games crash because I did stuff the creator's didn't think about, if that's what you mean. For example, in Quest for Glory 1, I know of a few things that, if you choose to look at them, gives you a nifty error message followed by you being kicked out of the game. Taught me to save before I make any actions, which is handy for DnD games.

Just DnD, though, and I screw up the DM's plans all the time. Most notable was when we were exploring an abandoned castle, and the paladin in my team let the guard with the key escape because he was begging for his life. The exchange went like this...

Me: So now we have to follow the guy, track him down, and get the key back?

DM: (trying to appear nonchalant) If you guys want.

Me: Hmm... (tells rogue to examine the lock)

DM: I already told you, it's too complex to pick.

Me: Detect Magic.

DM: You sense a fairly powerful aura deep within the castle...

Me: No, no, I meant the door.

DM: Hm? Nothing.

Me: Excellent. Give me ten minutes, guys, I have an empty 2nd level slot and Knock in my book.

DM: God DAMNIT.

[Mannix]

Originally Posted by Tendronai

I've made a couple of older games crash because I did stuff the creator's didn't think about, if that's what you mean. For example, in Quest for Glory 1, I know of a few things that, if you choose to look at them, gives you a nifty error message followed by you being kicked out of the game. Taught me to save before I make any actions, which is handy for DnD games.

Just DnD, though, and I screw up the DM's plans all the time. Most notable was when we were exploring an abandoned castle, and the paladin in my team let the guard with the key escape because he was begging for his life. The exchange went like this...

Me: So now we have to follow the guy, track him down, and get the key back?

DM: (trying to appear nonchalant) If you guys want.

Me: Hmm... (tells rogue to examine the lock)

DM: I already told you, it's too complex to pick.

Me: Detect Magic.

DM: You sense a fairly powerful aura deep within the castle...

Me: No, no, I meant the door.

DM: Hm? Nothing.

Me: Excellent. Give me ten minutes, guys, I have an empty 2nd level slot and Knock in my book.

DM: God DAMNIT.

I don't get it. That may or may not be due to the fact that I've never once played DnD in my life, but I'm intrigued enough to desire an explanation.

[Tendronai]

Knock is a fairly simple spell which unlocks a door. Having already gotten the DM to admit that there was nothing magical in place to prevent it, I avoided the entire "have to go track down some schmuck and get his key" thing.

Apparently, we missed out on "good treasure", but I think that was just his way of saying "C'mon, I spent time thinking this up, do it."

[EVILNess]

The Knock spell will open any non-magical lock, and I think some magically sealed locks.

In other words, he outsmarted the DM.

[Demetrius]

That is a wonderful thing Tendronai! I'd watch out in the future for shaped antimagic fields, epicly crafted doors and the ever annoying door mimick. I have found that upsetting a DM by taking away a plot point often results in baddies much higher than your ECL having a "random" encounter with your butt.

Funny story:

In our current campaign I am a Halfling Barbarian/Rogue ('stalted), by far the smallest and possibly least threatening member of our group... Yet he seems to have a particular magnetism toward baddies, they all ignore everyone else, rushing Hassleboff, incurring attacks of oppurtunity to get to me! The best part is that this isn't even the GM's doing! He rolls random agro and decision making for the baddies, they just really have a hatred for halflings I guess.

[Tendronai]

Actually, he did many things to spite me. Including a fight with a quarterstaff-master that went something like this...

DM: He hits you six times with his staff. Let's see... you take

Me: Hold on. I have stoneskin.

DM: Oh yeah, right. I forgot to mention. The quarterstaff is adamantine.

Me: Adamantine.

DM: Yes.

Me: You realize that you said it looked like a normal, enchanted quarterstaff, right? And any metal quarterstaff would be too heavy to use properly?

DM: ...I forgot to mention it. In any case, you're dead now.

[Meister]

I was thinking of "stuff within the rules" but eh. Good one with the lock though. Gotta love using low-level spells to achieve great goals.

I suppose my Mage Hand story is another example for that; that character really learned to be resourceful over time and use the surroundings to his advantage, which is something everyone with a crappy BAB, low HP and relatively low-level spells must do. One time I was in a one-on-one fight with an Illusionist, flying directly above him, and instead of using normal attacks I went through my trusty bag to see if there was something with a little more kick.

"Hypothetically speaking, how much damage would a Ferron Greataxe do if it fell on someone from roughly the height I'm at?"

Originally Posted by Demetrius

The best part is that this isn't even the GM's doing!

If your DM rolls hidden from the players there may be an inconvenient truth here.
=========================
But anyway! Here is the epic story of Samar and his misadventures with the city guard and the clerics.

Loose Ends

All through the campaign we'd been searching for the pieces of a mysterious crystal ball. The last one was supposedly hidden deep beneath the capitol city, accessible via a water-based mechanism in the city's temple. To keep a low profile, we entered the city by parachute. I landed on the city hall's roof.

Me: "Anything valuable up here?"
DM: "Half a dozen frisbees and the large weather dragon made of diamond spar."
Me: "Dude. I have tools and a bag of holding. I practically have to try it."
DM: *sigh*

Before I could detach it, the city guard approached, and I thought it best to Dimension Door myself away and join the others at the temple. Next problem: the temple was packed, and how do you convince the people and the clerics to let you access the old mechanism freely and play around with water?

"Please, good people, make room for us Water Clerics so we may practice our sacraments!"

To this day I don't know how that worked.

Anyway, the next few sessions were spent exploring the vast dungeons underneath the city, gathering the last crystal piece, participating in a grand battle, weakening the Iconoclasts who'd pursued us for the whole campaign, destroying and remaking the world, you know, what you do. Finally there came the time for the epilogue, wherein our party was asked to help the people at the other end of the multiverse. We decided to visit some of the key locations of our journey again as prospects of our return were anything but safe (well, I ended up not coming along, but that's another story). By an amazing coincidence we ended up entering the capitol city by parachute again.

Me: "I'm steering towards the city hall. I've got unfinished business there."
DM: "Okay, you're on the roof. Directly in front of you is a city guard who yells 'I knew it! I knew you'd return! Everyone said I was crazy!"
Me: "'And you are. I'm not here at all. You've gone off the deep end.' Suggestion."

My DM rolled the guard's will save... 1. So that was done with. While he fell down a skylight, I sawed off the dragon. I'd just crammed it in my bag when a group of other guards appeared. My DM sure knows how to keep a thief on his toes. Fortunately I know Disguise Self.

Me: *as the previously mentioned guard* "It was him! I told you! He took the weather dragon and disappeared in a puff of smoke!"
Guards: "Swarm out and get him!"

And in the confusion I changed back and joined the others. Out NPC fighter companion was easy to find, our cleric and our ranger, by the name of Talar, however had crash landed in the temple and it was up to us to get them out of their predicament - the roof had a big hole and the ranger was suspended in mid-air by his parachute. It pays to remember a few things about the places you visit.

"Make room for the Water Clerics!"

I'd like to reiterate that this should not ever work.

"Brother Talar, how thoroughly you practice your sacraments! You truly are an example to us all. But come now, let these good people pray to their non-watery gods in peace, and let us return to where we came from. Very quickly indeed."

A temple cleric: "Hold on. Who will pay for our roof?"
Me: "Just make it out to the Holy Order of Water, courtesy of the Iconoclasts. *showing their stolen insignia* And now we really must be on our way."

I can never ever go back to this city as long as I live.

[ArlanKels]

These make me want to play D&D...yet sadly I lack anyone even remotely near me to play with.

[Flarecobra]

Ok, I don't really play D&D, but I like making up stuff. Anyway, me and a friend of mine were at a Wal-Mart picking up some stuff for our rooms when we found a 5-lb bag of Gummi bears. He told me a story about when he was in Iraq, his parents tried mailing him such a bag to him, but all the gummi bears had melted and resolidified into one giant gummi blob. I commented that it'd make a great boss for a tabletop game, and it just ended up snowballing into a whole campain for D&D in Candyland. I personally liked the Flying Marshmellow Peep mounts and the Jawbreaker Ballista Armemants.