The strongest monster you've beaten without magic? D&D

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 7:47 pm

My AD&D "dark" paladin drew the hatred of some kind of storm elemental from another dimension by drawing the wrong card from a magic deck.

I actually had to fight the damned thing after one session months later, it caught me by surprise.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:17 pm

My earth elemental worked with a rogue to lure an army of ghouls into oil-soaked grass repeatedly. There were a few items of energy resistance and boosted speed in reserve, but it turned out that we didn't need them since the ghouls never came up with an effective counter-tactic. I figure we killed around 80-100 undead with a few hundred gold in oil and some firebombs.

Negative Zero · Post by **Negative Zero** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:46 am

I killed a handful of pretty tough Zergling-with-bioharpoons creatures in an online campaign a few months back as a Drider schoolgirl using a Psionic variant of Genowhirl's 'Tome' Assassin.
I don't think she used any magic, although she might've had some temp HP from Vigor.

Killed a handful of above-CR regenerating fungus monsters within the past week, using a character whose arm was replaced with a Huge-sized chaingun.
Not magic, but the thing was doing like 6d8 damage a round.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 1:08 am

I'm tempted to put the party up against a Starspawn in our naval Pathfinder game. There will be 3 paths toward victory. One could probably be done without any magic, since it involves actually using the incredibly sketchy ship combat rules.

The party will have several war galleys. Each ship has over 1500 hit points and does at least 60d8 damage on a successful broadside hit. The party could probably get by just with good numbers for sailing and aiding the gunnery sergeants. Bonus points for finishing off the monster with a ram attack. Might even be practical if they need to shut off its regeneration, since the ballistas are on different decks and kind of awkard to fit with flaming rounds if you don't have special bolts.

Aryxbez · Post by **Aryxbez** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:48 am

I once played a Minotaur (as a Monster), using the 3 '20' crit = auto-death rule, I charged and exploded through a Frost Worm (CR 12, really?)

Other than that, does playing a Paladin throwing a Vicious Greatsword at a Mindflayer, critting it, and having it run count?

If that's too Fiat for ya, I did once take out a Chuul as a Nezumi Swordsage invisibily Iajitsuing it with a Mango Sword.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:33 am

Aryxbez wrote:I once played a Minotaur (as a Monster), using the 3 '20' crit = auto-death rulecompletely made up bullshit not reflected in any rules,

Fixed that for you.

zugschef · Post by **zugschef** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:50 am

Kaelik wrote:
Aryxbez wrote:I once played a Minotaur (as a Monster), using the 3 '20' crit = auto-death rulecompletely made up bullshit not reflected in any rules,
Fixed that for you.

DMG p. 28 wrote:VARIANT: INSTANT KILL
When you or a player rolls a natural 20 on an attack roll, a critical roll is made to see if a critical hit is scored. If that critical roll is also a 20, that's considered a threat for an instant kill. Now a third roll, an instant kill roll, is made. If that roll scores a hit on the target in question (just like the a normal critical roll after a threat) the target is instantly slain.

Previn · Post by **Previn** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:23 pm

I had a party take out a mature adult black dragon (CR14-18 depending on what you believe) without any spells or magic items to mimic spells/spellcasting, though they setup an ambush so depending on how you view stealth rules…. The party consisted of 2 rangers, a rogue, a fighter and a paladin. The rogue did the vast majority (200+) of the work with a pair of Swords of Subtlety, with the party gibbing it before it got to act on the first turn after the surprise round.

I have seen an entirely no-magic frenzied berserker take out a Nightwalker (CR16) in a single round from full and had a player’s changeling rogue/warshaper that ruined/won an adventure when the party got split up, killing dozens of creatures at or below her CR (12) until she could collect all of the party members.

Also had a strange incident that involved a monk grappling a kobold sorcerer over a cliff and into the water below and then maintain the grapple to drown the sorcerer. Was around CR11 I think and involved a charge from something like 900’ away so the little guy never expected it. I can’t remember the exact details though. I do know the kobold was given a more fluff spell selection which contributed to his drowning.

I’ve played a ranger that mixed poison and ranged combat to good effect, relying on volume of fire to force poison saves over actual damage. Play was very hit or miss, game ended at 15th, so there was probably at least a few things at or above his CR that he took down.

Aryxbez · Post by **Aryxbez** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:27 pm

Kaelik wrote:Fixed that for you.

Well, I did admit it was "fiat" in some sense at the end. Although as zugschef pointed out, it's an actual variant rule reflected on page 28 of the DMG.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:20 pm

If you count how many things we've killed inside an antimagic field, the list would be pretty extensive. I'm not sure if antimagic counts as magic in and of itself or, because it suppresses magic, counts as being without magic. For example, I've watched someone squeeze a lich to death inside an anti-magic field. We felt bad for the Lich by the end.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:22 am

I would say Antimagic counts as magic because you're using magic to shut off the defenses and attacks of a lot of creatures.