God Damnit Batman

[Cavara]

So i am running a standard 3.5 campaign.
Setting has the party running around as local guardsman in this frozen little hell hole down in the southern tip of a custom made continent. My party got bored though and decided WHY NOT LETS MAKE THE JUSTICE LEAGUE or other DC related characters. So we have Batman, the Flash, Catwoman, Green Arrow, Lobo, and a generic fire based super hero.

So for loss of a better idea i sent my party up against a group of npcs 2 levels higher than them in an arena. the gimick. the arena floor is broken up into twenty segments and each round a single segment will smash into the ceiling possibly squishing a player.
The solution? Batman realizes that he can exile himself to another dimension for up to 60 min and does the math that if each round is 6 seconds than by probability standpoints with 20 different sections that the enemy party will be completely dead due to floor squishing before his spell runs out... stupid factotems.


TLDR: Batman is a fracking Genius....GOD DAMNIT.

[Geigan]

So is there a topic to discuss here or are you just sharing a moment from your campaign? Batman appears to be living up to the character he's channeling.

[Shadowleaf]

%-based no-save kill mechanic?

That seems like a good idea.

[Tebryn]

Ummm...the other team is taken off the arena floor and the guards wait for the team to return. When they return an Anti-Magic zone is put in place. Should end that issue at the very least.

[EagleWiz]

Honestly, I would just let him have the win. It's not like it can become a standard tactic, and it is a rather clever solution.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Depending on the level an AMF might be more of a hindrance since at higher levels you need magic no if's and no but' the game for better or for worse ended being like that. Not even Vow of Poverty would save you here as most of it's benefits are SU abilities and therefore suppressed inside AMF's.

On the other hand I don't see why that is a problem, the player came up with a good, clever plan. That is why there is a DM to allow freedom that can't be found in any other medium (except perhaps writing fiction),

[Cavara]

The arena was set up to never kill a player and i let them take the win in that round because Batman.

[Namfuak]

Maybe you should have just given the same spell to the enemy team.

[Shadowleaf]

Why does everyone want to punish Batman for using his spell in a creative manner? I'd allowed him to do it and highfived him in the process.

[Ravens_cry]

Why does everyone want to punish Batman for using his spell in a creative manner? I'd allowed him to do it and highfived him in the process.

Indeed, this is completely Batman like behaviour and is excellent example of using resources well. It wasn't metagaming, it just didn't work-out the way the OP wanted.
Boo-hoo.
Surely if you , Cavara, have Dungeon Mastered for a while, you would know this is actually typical PC behaviour?

[Shadowleaf]

Indeed, this is completely Batman like behaviour and is excellent example of using resources well. It wasn't metagaming, it just didn't work-out the way the OP wanted.
Boo-hoo.
Surely if you , Cavara, have Dungeon Mastered for a while, you would know this is actually typical PC behaviour?

Typical PC behaviour is playing smart and being creative?

Where do you get your PC's? I want some.

[Tebryn]

It's not a punishment to have the enemies not be retarded. The problem I find on these boards is if the DM throws any actual threats or ways of being clever themselves they're considered to be "punishing players".

[Greenish]

I hope you kept one enemy alive, just to remind him that probability is probability.

[Zonugal]

So you are angry that your Batman was Batman?

[Ravens_cry]

Typical PC behaviour is playing smart and being creative?

Where do you get your PC's? I want some.

I meant that typical player behaviour is to do what you don't expect. When you hope they'll be smart, they're dullards, when you wish for to not suspect something or see through your plot, they'll turn into geniuses.
Still, this was exceptional, bravo to the player.

[navar100]

It's not a punishment to have the enemies not be retarded. The problem I find on these boards is if the DM throws any actual threats or ways of being clever themselves they're considered to be "punishing players".

Challenging the party is not the problem. It's when the party finds a solution then the DM complains here and people offer advice to nullify the players ever defeating the bad guys again that's the problem.

[jaybird]

Typical PC behaviour is playing smart and being creative?

Where do you get your PC's? I want some.

Creative is par for the course with PCs. Smart, on the other hand...

My GM generally handles these sorts of tricks as a one-time deal. We're allowed to pull off a single game-winner...once. After that, we need to find new tricks. Works well for keeping things fresh.

[Urpriest]

What was Batman using by the way? Time Hop seems the most obvious, but the Factotum doesn't generally have access to Psionic Powers.

[Ravens_cry]

Good point. Maze would keep you away for 10 minutes if you intentionally fail your intelligence check (can you do that?). But otherwise I do not know.

[limejuicepowder]

I still don't see how the enemies would get crushed....

Couldn't they just stand in a square that had already fallen (so standing in the rubble), and wait for the other ceiling tiles to fall? The only way this situation would be dangerous is if the characters were unable to devote their attention to the falling tiles; i.e., be in combat. Even with no save from the falling ceiling, which is rather cheesy, the chances of them being hit in the first round or two is quite low.

[Venger]

Good point. Maze would keep you away for 10 minutes if you intentionally fail your intelligence check (can you do that?). But otherwise I do not know.

Yes, you can intentionally fail any save you want, it's how buffs like stoneskin and enlarge person and stuff work. you can fail saves for non-harmless spells (such as maze) if you're in an oddball situation that needs you to not be where you are.

I'm with the mob on this, that was some clever thinking by batman

I still don't see how the enemies would get crushed....

Couldn't they just stand in a square that had already fallen (so standing in the rubble), and wait for the other ceiling tiles to fall? The only way this situation would be dangerous is if the characters were unable to devote their attention to the falling tiles; i.e., be in combat. Even with no save from the falling ceiling, which is rather cheesy, the chances of them being hit in the first round or two is quite low.

from what it sounds like, the ceiling/floor was on pistons that crushed up like in portal and batman deduced that if one thrust up/down every 6 seconds then every square would be affected many times over in 3600 seconds, so he got the party out so the NPCs could get crushed.

while the odds of being hit in the first or second round are low, the odds of avoiding the hit consistently for 600 rounds are very low.

[erikun]

I still don't see how the enemies would get crushed....

Couldn't they just stand in a square that had already fallen (so standing in the rubble), and wait for the other ceiling tiles to fall? The only way this situation would be dangerous is if the characters were unable to devote their attention to the falling tiles; i.e., be in combat. Even with no save from the falling ceiling, which is rather cheesy, the chances of them being hit in the first round or two is quite low.

This. What kind of a building were they in that there was a continuously collapsing ceiling for an hour straight? If nothing else, I would think that most of the enemies would survive, grab all the stuff off their fallen comrades, and wander off by that point.

[tyckspoon]

Yes, you can intentionally fail any save you want, it's how buffs like stoneskin and enlarge person and stuff work. you can fail saves for non-harmless spells (such as maze) if you're in an oddball situation that needs you to not be where you are.

Not quite true- you can choose to forgo a save entirely, assuming you trust the source of the ability. If you don't make that choice and you roll the dice, you have to deal with the results of your roll; there isn't an option for "oh, I did too well on that, can I just Take 1 instead?"
(Also, Maze doesn't offer a save- it's an Intelligence check. Even if you could purposefully fail a save, it wouldn't apply. And it still works anyway, because Maze's language is permissive, not demanding- you don't have to make those checks to escape if you don't want to.)

[Tr011]

Noone did mention Joker yet???
If they make the League of Justice, just watch 2 or 3 episodes of it and think about what makes them good stories. Then build your next part of the campaign.

[Ravens_cry]

Noone did mention Joker yet???
If they make the League of Justice, just watch 2 or 3 episodes of it and think about what makes them good stories. Then build your next part of the campaign.

That is for a Batman Wizard. This is a BatmanFactotum .

[Tr011]

That is for a Batman Wizard. This is a BatmanFactotum .

OH. Then I didn't read very well. But I think it is basically almost the same since it is still batman, and Joker is his Bane.

[skycycle blues]

OH. Then I didn't read very well. But I think it is basically almost the same since it is still batman, and Joker is his Bane.

The Joker is his Joker. Bane would probably be a Barbarian/Warblade/Factotum who fights unarmed.