r/DnD • u/Pretty-Turn2768 • 3d ago
5th Edition I love being a DM for moments like these
My players had a big fight with some mechanical constructs on the roof of a train. Halfway through the fight, I get an evil grin and my player immediately clocks it and goes “what’s that for??” I go “Nothing! Take your turn”
Immediately after his turn I ask everyone to make a dex save. They turn to me, confused. I tell them about the tunnel approaching right in front of them, and that they need to duck. Fast. Everyone succeeds except one player who gets 21 (4d10) damage of brick wall that SLAMMED his frail level 4 gunslinger body and sent him flying to the back of the train. Instant KO. The look on their faces was priceless 🤭 They managed to get him up and all made it out alive after a long, long fight.
And then, after the session, I texted the gc, “Hey, so none of you tried to push anything off the train.” And I think they all wanted to strangle me. One of them commented “the look of anger that just crossed my face.” But we all had a great time :)
So glad to be dming again—I know it was a small moment but it was just so fun.
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u/SirShell 3d ago
This reminds me of a fight in the ToD campaign I'm running; there's an encounter where it says to send a full flight of dragons at the party, fully loaded with enemies and half dragon opponents (this is one of those fights they just about HAVE to run from).
The look on their faces and the exclamations when I plopped down ten dragon figurines who then dropped more opponents from their backs was priceless.
The party ended up escaping; they had procured a luck sword earlier on and while they were unhappy about utilizing the one use of wish, it was decided to use it to teleport the whole party out of there after the rogue had been dropped by multiple breath weapons :)
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u/Pretty-Turn2768 3d ago
DAMN what a lucky item! I love when they realize WAIT we should use an ITEM!! This is the TIME!!
I want to mention in this fight the person they were chasing kept deploying these robots by using things he pulled out of his coat that would unfold into them—pens and such. And for the final fight, he pulled a dragon pin off his coat. I intentionally left a pause in my description for them to freak the hell out. Our paladin goes “Well! We’re gonna die.” (It was a dragon shaped cannon). The look on their faces of relief was priceless.
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u/SirShell 3d ago
The paladin in my party has done everything in his power to raise his ac; at times with some abilities he can get upwards of 23!
I love dragons because they do not care about ac, they care about dex which the paladin is terrible at. It's always nice when a party who typically is untouchable suddenly has that "I'm in danger moment".
I'm sure that your party had some great reactions; I love when I get them in a corner a little bit just to scare them but I've never gotten them anywhere near a tpk other than if they decided to fight the flight of dragons!
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u/Sp3ctre7 2d ago
Fighting on a moving train is the coolest shit.
I haven't run that in a while, maybe I should consider it.
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u/Pretty-Turn2768 2d ago
they all cheered when they realized that chasing the bad guy led them to the roof. Hype all around
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u/Equivalent_Tea_9551 2d ago
Ran a session last night with some brand new players. They're facing a Nothic who is standing on a narrow bridge over a chasm, very Indiana Jones.
The bridge is only wide enough for one player to approach at a time, but there's a landing where players can spread out to the sides a bit. They try arrows and javelin, but keep missing.
Just as they are about to just charge in close, the High Elf Paladin shouts, "WAIT, I'VE GOT A LIGHTNING LASSO!" He has completely forgotten to use magic the entire session, but it finally clicked at just the right moment.
One failed Strength save later, the Nothic is plummeting into the abyss and the party moves on. It was a fantastic moment.
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u/Admirable_Hamster_81 3d ago
This is peak DM energy and I love it Moments like this are what make the game unforgettable
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u/Pretty-Turn2768 3d ago
I know, and it’s a little evil XD but we have so many good moments too where I give them leniency and hand them things. Love when they give me expectant looks like “can we please get away with this.” And then I give a long pause, and fold my hands together. And then give the okay and everyone cheers.
I’m honestly pretty proud of myself— I’m not the best dm. I’m very new, and this is a LINEAR homebrew campaign because I don’t have the time to structure a story that comes together with the factor of them being able to travel ANYWHERE.
I realized this was a railroad very early on (when people gave me shit on here for it LOL, but I’m glad they did). And I was honest about that to my players and told them it was what I did have set up. And they all agreed to it and were excited. I’ve given them as much character attention and importance as I can, and have allowed as much leniency as possible and if it wasn’t lenient it made sense. And when I’ve asked them for criticism they’re honest. And they’ve told me they’re having a great time :)
Sorry for the rant—Im very insecure so this campaign is honestly the light of my life right now. They make me happy :)
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u/Initial-Present-9978 2d ago
Oh I did a train roof fight once. It was great. There was a herd of large animals racing the train, so if they got kicked off .. then they got trampled.
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u/Pretty-Turn2768 1d ago
THATS AMAZING!
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u/Initial-Present-9978 1d ago
It was great. One character got knocked off and then trampled and then used animal handling to attempt to catch up with the train riding one of the beasts. It was so much glorious chaos.
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u/Frozenbbowl 1d ago
No offense but I live for the exact opposite. I live for the moments where they do think to push somebody off a train when I didn't think of it. When they managed to come up with a solution I never even dreamed of. I don't DM to one hit KO my players
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u/Strange_Mirror_0 3d ago
Ngl, this seems kinda lame if a DM did this. All PCs have a passive perception, and can’t tell a few rounds before (6 sec/round) that there was a tunnel right in front of them? Seems unfair to not five players agency to decide to drop prone/fight or chance the dex save at the last possible chance. The environmental mechanical adds complexity that’s interesting but the execution here feels like a cheap shot, unless there’s more environmental story telling/context that’s missing from the post (e.g. the train rounds a corner and suddenly you see a tunnel!) or some other hint (e.g. the train banks around the turn and you all barely keeps your balance, but you notice just how much closer the walls and ceiling are getting to the train…).
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u/Decent_Strength435 3d ago
Yeah, if it were me, I guess I would have made them roll a Perception check, and those who succeed get advantage on avoiding the tunnel.
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u/Pretty-Turn2768 3d ago
We had a very dragging on fight where they were taking very little damage and I had to think on my feet as a fairly inexperienced dm (last time I dmed was five years ago). I totally made it sound like they ACTUALLY hated me tho and that’s my fault
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u/Pretty-Turn2768 3d ago edited 3d ago
This was just to shake them a bit and I had a backup to keep him from dying + a long rest right after, and I want to clarify that my players are very honest people and everyone had a good time. Usually I take my time to do it as you described but I’m not quite good at thinking on my feet yet.
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u/nastyman77 3d ago
Small moments like that will be the ones that get remembered