Home
Artists
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register
Partychan Matrix ThePornDude
Home Artists Posts Import Register
Patreon importer is back online! Tell your friends ✅

Calling for Cases (Patreon)

Published:
2023-01-02 14:40:24
Imported:
2023-01

Content

Hey there friends. Bailiff Jake here. The Supreme Crit is convening this afternoon, so submit your (BRIEF, AKA 1-2 paragraphs!) cases on this thread and we will bring you true justice.

Love,

Jake

Comments

Anonymous

To the fabulous justices and strong bailiff I prostate myself to you in my time of need as I a new young DM belive I may have sinned in my previous session I gave one of my player the mystical bag of beans to which they promptly used while escaping from monsters that invaded the small village they were in, this sprung the massive lair of a mummy lord, they are a level 5 party, clearly not being high enough level to face such an advisory I am stuck deciding if I should allow them to face the mummy lord as a result of their actions, or should I find a way to nerf the mummy lord to make it more of a fair fight? I humbly wait any punishment I may receive for my misjudged bag

Pearl of a Girl Nursery

Tess from Virginia Beach (shoutout to belly chains…which I’ve actually never in my life seen here) Justices Murphy, Tanner, and my Queen and Multiclass inspiration Justice Axford: I bring you the case of the incompatible party. I run a campaign that’s about to start streaming on the 9th, with a DM of 30 years experience and 6-8 alternating players. Our DM has gone above and beyond with multiple session zeros, even solos for each one of us and small groups as we joined together leading up to the first stream. However, this has brought to light that certain characters are going to be extremely hard to mesh. For example, an assassin whose first words to my 17-year-old Sorcerer/Wizard were “I’m just here to kill people” as he had just arrived in my home city where my family lived. DM gives so much freedom, and I sometimes wonder as someone who NADDPODs and Dimension20s religiously if there is such a thing as too much. I’ve grown to love the boundaries I see set by Murph & Brennan. Conversations have been had and no one seems to think that our characters getting along is important. I guess I don’t need them to get along either but DM has set my character as the one to bring the others together, and the one with the most information on the campaign’s hook - repairing a broken, apocalyptic rift in time itself (my Wizard levels are Chronomancy). I’m especially interested in Em’s insight as I know it couldn’t have been easy playing Saccharina in ACOC when the party seemed to split. What do you guys think? Should the DM be doing more to guide PCs into being team players, or is that up to us? If I’m to sit with some characters having a rift but needing to work together, any tips?

Anonymous

Honorable Justices Murphy, Tanner, Axford, and the untenable Baliff, I present the case of the Foolish Fighter. I've been part of a game for about a year with friends. One of the players rolled a very low intelligence fighter. As something of a jokester, this player leans very heavily on that character trait while playing the game, usually in a way that is good fun for the whole table. However recently, magical items were handed out to the party including a Rod of the Pact Keeper, an item obviously meant for our only Warlock. The Fighter was the one who found the items and did an investigation check, netting himself a natural one on the roll. The DM said that the Rod of the Pact Keeper looked like an excellent mace, prompting the Fighter to insist that he keep it when the group collected and started Identifying the items. At first it was taken as a joke, but eventually the conversation moved from in-character to out-of-character with the Warlock quite frustrated that they would get a +1 Longsword instead of the Rod. The Fighter player eventually acquiesced and said he wouldn't hold onto it long, as once his character used it for one fight he would see it is worthless as a melee weapon. In our next encounter, the Fighter swung with the Rod and the DM asked for a luck roll. The Fighter got a two, and the DM said the Rod snapped in his hands when he swung it. The Warlock became incredibly quiet, and after about fifteen minutes more of gameplay they silently left the discord call. Obviously this situation was not good, and resulted in the session ending early. However, in our next session, the Warlock player apologized to the DM and the Fighter, saying it was them who acted poorly. The DM responded by saying the Warlock could have a Rod of the Pact Keeper, but the Warlock refused and said they would earn it again later. the Fighter suggested they make this somewhat canon and that his character would work to repair the rod. Again, the Warlock refused and said they should just continue playing. So I pose to you, Justices, was the Fighter at fault, or the DM? Are the actions of the Warlock somewhat sour considering the other two parties attempted to work something out? I leave it in your honorable hands.

Anonymous

To the honourable, venerable Justices Axford, Tanner and Murphy and the sometimes working Bailiff, I submit the case of the ungodly cleric brawl. In a recent all-clerics one-shot, I was playing a multiclassed crown paladin order cleric who was fiercely devoted to the king of the nation all our PCs had been dispatched from. Right towards the end of the session, one of the other players revealed their intention to betray our orders and the king and deliver the lich heart we had painstakingly retrieved to a priestess of a rival nation. Naturally this kicked up tension with my character and I moved to attack them, knowing that the other players would back up the other character and I would get to die in a blaze of glory following my king's instructions. What happened instead however, was one of the other players casting modify memory on mine and attempting to re-write his memory of the encounter so that he had witnessed no betrayal, I argued that the DM should not allow this as if would take away my agency as a player and that that other player should instead just attack me. The DM ruled in their favour and when I failed the save, my character walked away thinking the mission was a success and that none of the others had betrayed their orders. Was I wrong to protest the DM's decision or should spells that take away a player's choices be restricted to casting at NPCs? I humbly await your collective judgement

Anonymous

To the esteemed Justices of the Crit and that one guy who was in that thing, I present the case of the Metagaming Lie Detectors. After playing in a campaign for 2 years as a goody two shoes cleric I was bored with the character and wanted to try my hand at playing an "evil" character. The new character was a tiefling warlock of the genie that used its powers to be a selfish conman and thief with the actor feat, making him adept at lying. I had no intentions of robbing or conning the party however, I just wanted to introduce a character to the party that had like-minded goals but motivations for doing so that were not "good" at heart. I introduced the character with the DM's blessing by smuggling onto their ship and hiding in my Genie lamp, and upon being discovered claimed that I was just a humble adventurer looking for a group (the plan was to eventually tease more and more that I was not an honest person but still very much on their side). They rolled an insight check, and I was asked to roll Deception out loud in front of the party. I passed with something insane like a 26 to the 13 insight check, but the party still refused to believe I was telling the truth. They peppered me with questions for a half hour, grinding the session to a halt, until I finally rolled low enough to discover I was lying and ejected from the ship, which meant I had to roll a new character. Was it just a bad idea to introduce a morally challenged character to the group, or should the party have abided by the rules of the check and accept the answer despite knowing OOG that it was a Deception? I feel I was wronged and not given the benefit of the doubt but I throw myself at the mercy of the court.

Anonymous

My humble greetings to the honorable judges and the dutiful bailiff. I bring you the case of the Demon Deal Gone Wrong: my DM, who is also my partner, took away a critical hit. We were fighting a dragon and were hurt badly. The dragon was looking pretty hurt and my character crit for 4d8 plus 2d6 plus 2d4 of damage. At that moment, the DM decides to trigger a deal my character made with a demon. I had no real knowledge of how it worked, I just “owed a moment of my time.” At the DMs discretion, my character is teleported to the demons location for that moment, and then teleported back. My crit is nullified and my turn ends. To further put salt in the wound my DM admits he was going to teleport me earlier but forgot. While I understand my character made a bad deal, I think it’s a horrendous crime to deliberately take away a crit during an important moment, especially when my DM agreed from previous rulings that taking one away is awful. I ask you, did I get what I deserve, or did my DM wrongfully take away an important crit from me and my party? Added note, this hasn’t put any stress on the relationship, and we have agreed to honor your judgement. - Tara the Faithful Nerd

Anonymous

To the slayest of judges and phantasmagoric bailiff. I bring forth the case of the Total Party Mishap. I ran a murder mystery one-shot a few months back with some friends...yet it still haunts me. There were four players and the idea was they were kids at a summer camp, everyone had their characters and was ready to go. One player I chose to be the killer, we planned for about a month on how it would work, and seeing that the other three were level 4 I made him level 9. I use a 5-level formula for big bosses in all my gameplay for party fights, so I know this works (or should). Anyways two of the other players were newer to D&D and the rules were fine, but this did not work for the actual session. With a few hints pushing the idea that the killer was amongst them, they still did not pick up on it, even when an NPC mentioned: "the person was about his height" (gesturing to the actual killer). They continued to believe it was the camp nurse who had a single piece of evidence and they went off to find more clues they split up. The killer player though had a familiar (all in the rules of their class) and used it to attack one of the players resulting in their death. Then they continued on and one of the other players was killed right when they were about to find more evidence, leaving one person who managed to kill the murderer. After the session, I and the murderer player left our call, but the other players stayed on. My friend on the call later told me of what happened and how they were upset by the leveling system and the fact they weren't given any clues or warnings. However, there were multiple clues that matched with the character description/whereabouts and what have you. They also were annoyed by the level difference, yet the ultimate plan was a big boss fight, which they failed to get to because of their lack of teamwork. So was I in the wrong for making the boss five levels higher, should I have made the clues stick out more than they were, or were they just clueless? Please help in my hopes of moving past this trauma. -Alex

Anonymous

To the venerable judges and the underdog bailiff, I come to the court seeking legal counsel. This happened a couple years ago, but it still weighs heavy on everyone involved. My husband spent years building his own campaign from scratch and was very proud of it. I convinced him to run the campaign with our regular D&D group, which included me, his best friend & his wife, and his other close friend. He was super pumped and spent weeks role playing imaginary situations with each of us to help build NPCs and develop our characters. During our very first session, things went well until the last 20 minutes we played. My tiefling sorceress Fierna rolled a nat 20 diplomacy check to talk to a group of starving orphans to convince them to come with her. My intent was to bring them to our gnome swashbuckler who was a therapist, but before I could even speak, our cleric Gelbus (played by my husband's close friend) started talking over me and took over the Entire encounter without doing any kind of roll. This dissolved into a terrible situation where I was called a 'stupid bitch' by the player and the campaign halted. I told the player that he was not welcome in my home until he apologized to me. He stated he shouldn't have to, because he was "doing what his character would have done" and he didn't do anything wrong. After 2 months of arguing, he finally apologized to me but told my husband that he didn't think he could play in the campaign with me anymore. We don't know many people who play D&D, and he knows this, so he was basically holding my husband's campaign hostage. Since then, we've all reconciled, Gelbus's player has made a new character, and we've agreed to have Gelbus become an NPC. However my husband is still very uneasy about restarting the campaign because of what happened. Judges, what should I do? Should I try to convince my husband to give the campaign another shot? Or should I let sleeping dogs lie until he feels confident that he can run it again, possibly with a different crew? (Note: we are still playing D&D in a different campaign, but tension is still there between me and the former Gelbus) I humbly await your advice.

Anonymous

To the wise judges and try hard bailiff Jake, I come bearing the case with a question: My boyfriend and I are in law school and the same dnd party. Our group has historically met every Sunday for most of the day. The game is so fun but it makes it difficult to do things on the weekends like clean, spend time together, or finish the schoolwork we need to. As it stands we are constantly harshing the vibe by leaving early or not being able to come to session at all. Are we being assholes by not quitting and subjecting our friends to our rudely sporadic attendance? I await your scouring judgment.

Anonymous

Two of the three characters involved in this story will be at the live Dungeon Court in Boston, so would love to have it read there if you decide to select it!! :) Good evening your honors and the humble, wise Bailiff John, and may it please the court. I bring to you the case of the ranger-kabob, a moment from our first campaign that our group still talks about more than five years later. Our party was fighting a massive ghost shark on a ship deck and my character, a multi-classed Phoenix Sorcerer and paladin half-elf with an explicit fire theme, used a fire AOE spell to burn up the shark from the inside. Our dwarf fighter took a few points of damage from the spell, hurting her but not causing significant damage. However, the fighter had previously told the party that she was afraid of fire several times (didn’t explain why) and in character repeatedly told the sorcerer not to use fire. Pissed off by the fire spell, the fighter (in her dope half-werewolf form) attacked my character in retaliation, swiping the sorcerer with her claws. In self-defense, my character swung her sword at the fighter’s legs to avoid lethal damage. In the heat of the moment, our DM ruled that a slashing damage attack with a sword could not be non-lethal. Enraged, the fighter attacked again, disarming my character and sending her sword flying. The DM narrated that the sword flew toward our elf ranger, who was standing nearby. She failed her DEX saving throw and was impaled by the sword, getting pinned to the wall of the ship. On the heels of a tough fight against the ghost shark and its minions, it was a tense healing moment to bring her back to safety. The debate over who was at fault for impaling our ranger pal raged on for a loooong time, both passionately in character and – after a couple drinks – sometimes in person. We ask you now, honorable justices, who should be blamed for this near-death experience?

Anonymous

To the honourable, Justices Axford, Tanner and Murphy and the underpaid BAILif Jake, may it please the court. I bring the case of the impounded ship. I am playing my first sci-fi campaign set in the Astral Frontier, a play by post. We have a 'space ship' that we go around in, and this is the first time we've ever docked it at a crowded place with actual people. When we were leaving the ship on the second day to go into the sewers of this space station, I asked the DM if it would be alright to just leave our ship alone like this for so long. His answer was 'it was what you did yesterday', and on that day, nothing bad happened to our ship. Cut to us down in the sewer, after a particularly nasty fight and phone call with my characters mother. His sister, who was a political figure on the space ship texted him during out short rest to freak out over the conversation. Their relationship is very contentious, and the day before she even cast Geas on him to try and convince him that the crew was only friends with him to sell his body parts on the black market. She antagonized him, and he taunted her with the fact that their mother never says that she loves her. This resulted in the characters sister IMPOUNDING our ship, with us deep in the sewers and no way to stop it. One of our party seems to keep harping on this fact, but I personally don't think its fair for me to have expected that consequence when I didn't even know impound lots exist. We just found out phones exist in this world, and where the technology starts and ends is unclear, since we've been in space for most of the campaign. I ask, with the due diligence I did before hand with asking about our ship, and the implication the DM gave me that it would be fine, do I deserve to be put out in the airlock? I humbly await your deliberation.

Anonymous

May it please the court. I play in an Adventure League game at a local game store with a DM who tends to be pretty stingy when it comes to letting us find magic items and loot. In one quest my character found a pearl that I knew (out of character) was something valued at 500gp. At a later time after we had leveled up, I used Distort Value on the pearl and tried to sell it. The NPC jeweler offered 700gp, stating that they were only a traveling merchant and would still have to resell the pearl. I was annoyed because the spell is supposed to double the value of the item. I didn’t push the issue and moved on, but I feel that using a specific spell for something like this as it is intended should be honored. He insists on going by the book whenever the PCs want to do things, but always seems to skew things away from giving us gold or cool items. Am I wrong?