The problems start in character creation. Since this was 2005, the whole AD&D cycle was over and there were like over 9,000 options. So I did what anyone would do wioth 2 weeks untill game time with an entire system to learn: curl into a ball and cry for 7 days straight. Mercifully, Chrissy took pity on me and asked the question all people ask when they want to help but don't know what the hell they are doing: "Hey, does this sound cool?"
7 days later we settled on a Tiefling Monk. So I show up an hour early to the game with Chrissy and we sat down with Jeff to hash out what the character should be. I roll the stats and Jeff asks 3 times if I want to keep them or reroll, but you see he just said they were average so I thought the stats were OK. Then he said "Hicks, I really don't want to convert a 1e class to 2e." So I was like "Kay!" and we picked psionicist because I thought it was cool. He was called Alekzandr Madrigore, and boy did he suck
TWO MONTHS LATER
It was the end of the campaign, we were to fight the evil Werewolf Dark Lord in his mountain fortress, and I had failed at everything I had touched. I failed at character introductions: when asked what my job was I told them that I made watches because I could cut gems. And then I was wrestled, diliverance style, by the party cleric when tested for fighting capability. Since I was a psionicist, I disintegrated a rock as a show of my power. That was the last successful use of my power, like ever, because mercifully my power would shut off for the rest of the day because the mind of an undead or flesh golem or witch or anything would induce face clawing maddness. Every time I decided to use my "psychic power" it failed and my power would be cut off for 24 hours. So I started using my Flint-Lock musket and when that failed I resolved to using a sword i was not proficient with. Not that it was magic or I had any bonus to hit; I'd roll a d20, then subtract numbers, all before I got to use my pitiful THac0. Nothing I tried ever worked. In the last session, our party sourrounded in a podunk town by an encroaching cloud of evil monsters, I used dream travel to take the party to the fortress of the BBEG. I didn't get the success number right, and by the time I had figured it out the party had started infiltraiting the lair, so I shut the hell up and didn't correct my mistake. Immidieatly after, we faught a flesh golem and BAM, no more psionic mojo.
Then we fight the boss, and the DM asks me
- "do you have a +3 magic weapon?"
"No."
"Whats its magic bonus?"
"It's not magic."
- "Hicks, roll a save vs. Death"
"(sigh..) I failed."
"You die.""
"LOL WAT?"
- Here lies the mind,
Who could not find,
A single, small success.
Killed by his friend
In Demon's Den;
Damn Dwarf who caused this mess.
Now I can't stress enough just how good a DM Jeff was or how Chrissy is still and extreamly good friend of mine. The mistakes I made (from ability score generation and placement, class and race combinations, power selection, and in play tactical choices) were corrected. I became a Power Gamer for the sole purpose of preventing this "experience" from happening to anyone I game with.