The devil stands before your character.
Don't try to fight him; this encounter is over CR'd by a fair margin.
However, the devil is willing to spare your life if you would entertain him with a simple game.
The devil lays twelve treasures out before you:
>+3 Longsword
>+3 Plate Armor
>Ring of Regeneration
>Ring of Invisibility
>Girdle of Gender Change
>Headband of Intellect
>Periapt of Wisdom
>Cloak of Charisma
>Gauntlets of Ogre Strength
>Gloves of Dexterity
>Gorget of Constitution
>Gem worth 20,000gp
Here is how the game is played:
You and the devil take turns selecting 1-3 items from the loot pile (you must select at least one item and no more than three during your turn.)
If you take the last remaining item from the pile, you are free to leave in one piece with all of the items you have selected.
If the devil takes the last item from the pile, then your soul belongs to him.
What do you do?
>>48036482
Ask if I can challenge him in a fiddle contest instead. I might win that.
This game seems rigged.
Do the gauntlets and gloves count as one item or two?
I insist on going second.
Take the Periapt of Wisdom first so that I can know how to win.
>>48036482
Say no thanks and leave, cause I don't trust the Devil to play fair.
Assuming I HAVE to play, the only way to win is if the devil goes first.
However many items he takes, I take 4 minus that many.
After the first round there will be 8 items left, after the second round there will be 4 items left, and it is his turn to go, he can't take all 4, since the max is 3, and if he takes 4, I can just take the last one and win. If he only takes 1, that leaves 3 which means I can take all that remain.
>>48036571
Raises a fair point, this should be asked first. If they count as 2 and the total count is 14, you need to go first and take 2 items to effectively make it the same game as above.
>>48036571
Each is a pair of items. Each only functions when worn as a pair.
>>48036482
Obvious Nim game is obvious.
There is no way to win as they will just take out any of the remaining 4 in the 3 sections.
The only way to win is either to cheat or to take the girdle of gender change and offer him a blowy or something to spare you.
>>48036482
Take the Headband of Intellect and the Periapt of Wisdom and hope that they make me smart enough to come up with an actual plan.
>>48036482
Take the Girdle of Gender Change and Cloak of Charisma, put both on, and bend over.
... You can just tell the Devil to pick first. Then no matter what he does you will eventually be at a point where you can pick the last items.
Is that really not obvious?
Okay, so you need to take the last one to win. So you win if there are ever three, two or one item left, and it's your turn. To ensure this, you need to take the 5th from last item, leaving him with 4 -- then no matter what he does, you can win. So really, you win if you take the 5th from last. Which means you win if you take the 9th from last. Which means you win if you take the 13th from last -- which you can't because there's only 12.
TL;DR You can't win if you go first. If you go second, take X items each turn, where X is 4 minus the number the devil took on his turn. Then you can't lose.
> take cloak of charisma and girdle of gender change
> seduce devil
>the devil
>able to act outside of God's will
>the incorrect version that can act outside of God's will
>having any power
He's either an angel who performs the task of tempting people away from God, on God's bidding, to test their faith, or he's a snivelling has-been with no power, because his power was derived from God's and when he fell he lost it.
Take Ring of Invisibility and maybe a couple other things.
Devil takes whatever he wants.
Instead of taking my turn I make myself invisible and leave. If I never take my turn, the last item form the pule will never be claimed.
>>48036631
wat
are you for real?
Am I on drugs right now?
>>48036600
DUBS!
"How bold of you to let me go first!" the devil beams. "Let's make this more interesting..."
The devil adds a deck of many things to the loot pile.
"Okay, I'll take the Ring of Invisibility" he says. "It's your turn."
>>48036482
Ask the devil to choose first
check my math if you would,
3 (you) +2 (him) +3(you)+X(him)+remainder(you)=win, right?
>>48036658
Oh please, a deck of many things has 22 cards, it is still a par number, so instead of 12 you have 34.
Same deal. Devil goes first, you keep picking cards one by one until they are exhausted and the plan doesn't change.
>>48036658
>"Okay, I'll take the Ring of Invisibility" he says. "It's your turn."
"Well, since we're adding things to the pile, here's my lucky sock."
"I take the longsword."
This probably gets you killed for trying to cheat the devil, but what can you do.
>>48036482
Fuck, the "Devil" in my setting is literally the god of laws, contracts and the underworld, it would definitely be his kind of game to play.
I'm playing a not so smart undead cleric of the Goddess of Death, the devil would know better than to break someone else's contracts and deals
>>48036658
What a cheating bitch
>>48036658
I add a magic item of my own to the loot pile and then take it back.
And if there is any getting pissy about that since it is pretty clearly in the rules of the game, since the devil did it or there is any further cheating I have a talk with my GM about how I feel like I am being railroaded here which either leads to me going along with losing my soul cause the GM has a good pitch for the rest of the game or me leaving the table cause he's obviously shit.
Get it down so that on the devil's turn, there are 4 items.
You win, since he must take 1-3, which means that what will be left, will be 1-3 items, meaning you win.
>>48036677
If your plan for winning assumes that the Devil doesn't know there's a strategy that lets the person going second win 100% of the time >>48036617 and messing up, I think your math isn't going to help you.
>>48036482
>go first
>grab cloak of charisma & ring of regeneration
>tear cloak in half
>wrap pull cloak through ring, I now have two complete cloaks
>put one back on the pile
Your move Satan.
>>48036772
Why would regeneration work on clothing?
>>48036482
My picks:
>+3 longsword
>+3 plate armor
>gauntlets of ogre strength
Now we fight as men do. Taste steel, Satan!
>>48036772
>>48036785
DEAD clothing, btw.
>>48036772
breaking an enchanted item removes the enchantment, also >>48036785
>>48036785
>>48036808
>>48036810
There's also the fact that even if this works exactly like he planned he mathematically still loses as there are now 11 items in the pile.
>>48036796
>Satan goes first due to have 22 more initiative than you
>Satan casts Level 9 Disintegration Ray
>roll for a Dexterity save
>also you're at -3 to Dexterity saves because that plate armor is cursed why the fuck wouldn't Satan have cursed items he's literally Satan
>also the sword is trying to stab you now but we'll roll for that if you survive the Distentegrate
>>48036482
Shoot him until he dies.
>>48036854
"Died fighting Satan" sounds better on a gravestone than "Died playing Nim against Satan"
>>48036600
>I don't trust the Devil to play fair.
That's what the devil does. Tom Walker knew the deal when he signed that contract. Daniel Webster beat him in a court of law and the devil didn't even try to appeal.
He'll trick you with loopholes and try to bait you to choose your own destruction, but he plays by the rules.
>>48036976
>gravestone for someone that got disintegrated
Maybe you get a plaque somewhere.
>>48036977
Depends on theculture
>>48036482
Take the cloak of charisma, the girdle of gender change, wear them both and then roll to take a ride on his dick.
If I go out then let it be in my terms.
Challenge him to a fuck off.
first one to orgasm through Vanilla sex looses.
>>48037019
It's something. We've all gotta go sometime, might as well make it awesome.
>>48036482
Take 6 items then run off before making the damning pick.
Slip a silver crucifix into the pile and lose intentionally.
>>48037099
devil follows you for all eternity, Trying to trick you into choosing the last item. you become fast friends.
then he tricks you and takes your soul anyway.
No hard feelings though.
>>48036698
Really? You really wanna be pulling individual cards from a DoMT?
>>48037659
To be fair, it would give the game a boost in the entertainment department.
"Ok, now the Knight picks an item, then the four kobols... oh, they disappeared, then throw their items into the pile again."
"Now it is your turn, Devil number 2."
>>48036507
I'm sorry everyone passed over this to rush to posting. No one reads threads anymore. I chuckled, quite a lot. Thank you for trying.
>>48036482
Leaving in one piece =/ leaving alive or with my soul.
I pick up the girdle of gender change and roll to seduce.
>>48036482
The winner is decided by who does first.
I refuse to play unless the devil goes first.
Assuming I go first:
>The devil takes X items
>I then take (4-X) items
If I repeat this, I will win every time, assuming I go first. Although knowing the devil, he'll probably make sure that he gets the first turn so that I can't win.
>Bait a character into this
>Devil has control of the count, is inevitably going to win
>On the last grab, he slips and drops a ring
>Player passes a Dex check to grab it
>Devil congratulates them on a job well done, says he'll be watching
>Smug players have 5-7 magic items with terrible curses that will come to fruition in time
>Devil laughs in his armchair
>>48038357
Oooh cursed itens sound like one of those win-win situations self-respecting devils would use.
Even better, double twist and make some cursed item actually useful. Helloooo grass sword.
>>48036482
A creative GM could salvage an adventure hook out of this.
>"Oh... too bad about you losing your soul. But, since you're such a good sport, I'll cut you a deal. I'll give you your soul back if you do little quest for me..."
>>48037085
>vanilla
Who whoa - even the devil would be appalled.
>>48036772
Obviously he's the devil and can probably read my mind, but here's an alternative attempt using rings.
Take the gloves of dexterity, ring of invisibility, and ring of regeneration during my turn. Slip on both rings, cut a finger off if I have any knives or anything, else wait a turn and hope for longsword. Later, hiding hand with gloves, try to slip the ring, invisible as it is on your severed finger, back into the pile during your turn. The devil never said SHIT about putting items back, but you don't want him to know that you know this. At the end of the match, after the devil has taken the "last" item, walk over and pick up your invisible finger wearing the true last item, the ring of invisibility, revealing your bluff.
>>48036482
I don't know the exact solution but isn't there a trick to always winning this game as long as you go second?
>>48038349
This. If he disagrees, then I'm screwed anyways unless he makes a mistake (not counting on it).
>>48038928
Make sure that the rounds add up to 4 items taken between you. So if the first guy takes 1, you take 3. If he takes 2, you take 2. If he takes 3, you take 1.
There's nothing he can do to avoid each round adding up to 4, and three rounds of 4 items ends the game. (After two rounds of picks, there are 4 items left in the pile and any amount the first guy chooses is inadequate to finish the game, but enough that the other guy can.)
>>48036482
>What do you do?
I go first, because that's how you beat someone at Nim.
>>48039101
fuck me, meant "I don't go first".
My sleepy typo has damned me to hades.
>>48036482
i would start off by taking the headband of intellect, and then figure it out from there
>>48039204
>ahh, with this +6 Int headband I can now fully appreciate how fucking stupid I was for agreeing to play a rigged game
>>48038542
>the devil
>giving a soul back
kek
>>48036482
The Devil likes word games yes?
If you go second you still win because he said that if you take the last item from the loot pile you can go. Not the last piece of loot, the last piece in the pile. If you are taking the second to last piece of loot you're taking the last in the pile because a pile is literally defined as "A heap of things". At the point where there is only a single piece left it can no longer be considered a pile because it is a single item (best to take the gauntlets and gloves yourself though so he doesn't try to say those make a pile singe they're separate.
>>48036482
Get this gore porn off of /tg/.
>>48037700
I admit, I would be more inclined to play this game than the one previously stated.
>>48036482
Important question, can the devil see through invisibility?
>>48040107
No blood, so it's okay.
>>48039475
No, you keep doing his stupid quests so as to not draw suspicion whilst preparing to assault his shit and take your soul back by force.
>>48036576
This.
>>48036482
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KABcmczPdg
