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mastershakeman posted:So your solution to a DM that doesn't hand out healing potions and also sticks to time pressure is to say gently caress it, we'd rather suicide our characters? I forget, are you the one who cuts off dicks and is upset that they can't be sold, or the one that uses fetuses as spell components? slydingdoor posted:Do note that dipping Cleric 1 for the Life domain gets you heavy armor, shields, and 5 more healing per round on AoV, 50 more hp over the whole channel. 20-120 avg 70 becomes 70-170 avg 120. That helps with the variance. That 27 damage per round monster gets pretty much outhealed if it doesn't hit every round consecutively, or if you have a Heavy Armor Master, or a Rogue with Uncanny Dodge, or a raging barbarian. Dipping Cleric 1 for the Life Domain is like the absolute best thing bards and Wizards can do at level 1. Its pretty amazing overall, giving you bless, basic healing, more cantrips, better saves, and heavy armor + shields. That being said, I had totally missed how the disciple of life feature is worded; a channeled heal certainly benefits from it on each pulse. The combination of 20 AC (Full plate + shield) and healing 2d6+5 (avg. 12) per pulse vs. a straight 2d6 (avg. 7) actually makes the scenario of out-healing an enemy possible. I don't think a normal bard should take this, but I think Cleric 1 (Life) + Lore Bard makes it viable. Laphroaig fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Apr 13, 2015 |
# ? Apr 13, 2015 15:18 |
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# ? Jun 1, 2024 04:57 |
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Laphroaig posted:I forget, are you the one who cuts off dicks and is upset that they can't be sold, or the one that uses fetuses as spell components? The fetus was the spell's target, not a spell's component
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# ? Apr 13, 2015 18:20 |
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Dick Burglar posted:The fetus was the spell's target, not a spell's component Please remember that the whole topic came up because the evil sorceress was going to use the human fetus as the spell component, as it required a 'living person', and the "does the baby-bump get hit by lightning bolt?" question was a Real Issue in the game mastershakesman plays in. and he was proud of this, and told us. Which is why any opinion or advice he has on how newbies should play D&D next is hot garbage and safely ignored
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# ? Apr 13, 2015 18:30 |
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Squifferific posted:One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike an MMO, there is no "end game content", no level grinding, and no real point in rushing things through.
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# ? Apr 13, 2015 19:03 |
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Yep. XP should be a tool for working out how many monsters of what types to put in the encounters; level the players at the points where the story feels like they ought to, when the players feel like it's time, or when you feel a need to inject a bit of interest into the characters. And ALWAYS level them together.
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# ? Apr 13, 2015 19:38 |
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Laphroaig posted:Please remember that the whole topic came up because the evil sorceress was going to use the human fetus as the spell component, as it required a 'living person', and the "does the baby-bump get hit by lightning bolt?" question was a Real Issue in the game mastershakesman plays in. and he was proud of this, and told us. While the first paragraph is correct the second isn't. If you're going to rant and rave nonstop about how horrid 5e is, just let characters move throughout each round like 2.5e and prior did, it'll solve a huge number of issues. However, I didn't realize this is the newbie thread since there's so much crossover with the other one, so maybe the advice of 'suicide and reroll' is more appropriate for new players who likely won't be investing as much effort in character creation.
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# ? Apr 13, 2015 20:00 |
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mastershakeman posted:If you're going to rant and rave nonstop about how horrid 5e is, just let characters move throughout each round like 2.5e and prior did, it'll solve a huge number of issues. Firstly, this hardly fixes all of the issues people have with the game (rightly or not). But, secondly, suggesting that new players can fix their game by applying optional rules from a supplement, for a different edition, published in the mid-90s, when 5e isn't written to support those rules is pretty obtuse.
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# ? Apr 14, 2015 08:20 |
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Last night my party and I were in Leo's Tiny hut. One party member exited the hut, failed is Wis Sv. versus a suggestion spell and re-entered the hut. I asked the DM for a ruling whether or not the suggestion would wear off or be dispelled upon moving back into the hut. He ruled no, which I am perfectly fine with. I hadn't planned on using it that way. It just came up while I was perusing the spell description while we were trying to figure out what to do. I was curious as how you guys would interpret/rule that scenario. Leo's is on pg. 255 of the PHB stating: ..."Spells and other magical effects can't extend through the dome or be cast through it."
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 00:46 |
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odinson posted:Last night my party and I were in Leo's Tiny hut. One party member exited the hut, failed is Wis Sv. versus a suggestion spell and re-entered the hut. I asked the DM for a ruling whether or not the suggestion would wear off or be dispelled upon moving back into the hut. He ruled no, which I am perfectly fine with. I hadn't planned on using it that way. It just came up while I was perusing the spell description while we were trying to figure out what to do. I was curious as how you guys would interpret/rule that scenario. Leo's is on pg. 255 of the PHB stating: ..."Spells and other magical effects can't extend through the dome or be cast through it." That's... pretty poor wording. To me it sounds like the intent is to stop AoEs entering the Hut or spells being cast in/out of it. It also sounds like it'd be a dick move to cancel a PCs buffs because they went into the Hut. Given those two things, and the way that it's not funnier or more awesome to interpret the rule differently, I'd probably do the same thing your DM did.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 01:47 |
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Hut is very gamebreaking, but not in that particular way. It just blocks line of sight or effect for spells, just like terrain. If you wander out of it where an enemy is that tags you with Suggestion, going back in doesn't end the spell prematurely. After all, there's no 'tether' or line or anything to break at that point. The spell already hit and changed you, and you are still free to move in and out of the hut freely. If on the other hand you got hit with some AOE spell that followed you around, like a tether or an aura or something, then the hut would block that just like any other terrain, so no benefiting from auras unless everyone's in the hut or everyone's out. If blocking the spell like that ends the duration, like with Witch Bolt, then running into the hut would work like you think. Fun fact. You can shoot (not cast) through the hut at things outside from within as long as the ammo was inside it when the spell was cast, and things that weren't can't be shot into it. However, the same ammo can be shot back inside the hut. Since it's invisible, if you can kite enemies back to it they are hosed. Also it's non-concentration. Also it's a ritual, so if you have 11 minutes to cast it it doesn't use up a slot. Also it doesn't end when recast. So... you could leapfrog a line of huts all over the whole dungeon if you wanted/had time with nearly zero risk, depending on whether the dome includes a bottom, if the enemies have launchers capable of firing the ammunition you're using. Though if you use grenades (oil pots, alch fire, acid, holy water) they can't be thrown back after they splash.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 02:36 |
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The spell ends whenever you leave it . You can't chain them. My incorrect thought process was that since my party member didn't have the suggestion on them when the hut was erected, that it would be dispelled upon returning to the hut. I was playing in a different group that was several levels ahead of me (more lethal) and was grasping for straws. e* It includes a bottom and is opaque, not invis. odinson fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Apr 18, 2015 |
# ? Apr 18, 2015 19:39 |
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Yeah, I forgot to mention the invulnerability line only works with two wizards/bards. With only one they can start casting Hut while inside a Hut, then only move out of it, ending the spell, right at the end of the cast time, finishing the spell farther into the dungeon. The party'd only be vulnerable briefly while leapfrogging.
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# ? Apr 19, 2015 02:13 |
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What if you cast Tiny Hut while inside a Tiny Hut? The second Hut can't cross the boundary of the first Hut, so where does the force field of the second Hut end up? Or if you cast the second Hut outside but near the first Hut, do you end up with an oddly shaped Hut? What happens if you cast Tiny Hut inside an area smaller than 10' radius? If it creates the force field anyways, can you use it to slowly create a tunnel by slicing chunks of rock with force fields? Does casting Tiny Hut while on a raft on a river result in a makeshift dam?
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# ? Apr 19, 2015 02:43 |
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areas of effect posted:A spell’s effect expands in straight lines from the point isndl posted:What if you cast Tiny Hut while inside a Tiny Hut? The second Hut can't cross the boundary of the first Hut, so where does the force field of the second Hut end up? Or if you cast the second Hut outside but near the first Hut, do you end up with an oddly shaped Hut? quote:What happens if you cast Tiny Hut inside an area smaller than 10' radius? If it creates the force field anyways, can you use it to slowly create a tunnel by slicing chunks of rock with force fields? quote:Does casting Tiny Hut while on a raft on a river result in a makeshift dam? odinson posted:e* "The dome is opaque from the outside, of any color you choose, but it is transparent from the inside." For the purposes of shooting from the inside, it's see-through. For the purposes of enemies shooting your arrows back at you, you're all invisible.
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# ? Apr 19, 2015 04:02 |
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How badly does a 16 matter in your primary stat? I'm starting my first 5e game ever with intent to play a fighter, and I don't immediately hate the game, but I do miss the ability score bonus coming from both class and race, since I want to be a tiefling.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 18:34 |
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Captain Walker posted:How badly does a 16 matter in your primary stat? I'm starting my first 5e game ever with intent to play a fighter, and I don't immediately hate the game, but I do miss the ability score bonus coming from both class and race, since I want to be a tiefling. It's pretty drat important
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 18:36 |
Captain Walker posted:How badly does a 16 matter in your primary stat? I'm starting my first 5e game ever with intent to play a fighter, and I don't immediately hate the game, but I do miss the ability score bonus coming from both class and race, since I want to be a tiefling.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 18:43 |
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Captain Walker posted:How badly does a 16 matter in your primary stat? I'm starting my first 5e game ever with intent to play a fighter, and I don't immediately hate the game, but I do miss the ability score bonus coming from both class and race, since I want to be a tiefling. As long as you get to +3 by level 4, +4 by level 8 and +5 by level 12 you will be keeping pace with the rest of the game's math. If you are behind, how much that will matter is up to the specific encounter design and difficulty.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 18:53 |
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It's no big deal: you can make up for a +2 to hit as a level 1 fighter with Archery style. As long as you don't roll 2 or lower on damage (use the highest damage dice weapon you can) you'll still oneshot kobolds.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 20:06 |
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Ended up switching to half-elf and putting the floating +1 in STR. Plus I'm rocking a greatsword. How much do the physical damage types matter? Are skeletons resistant to certain weapons or poo poo like that?
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 20:13 |
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Skeletons, are vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage. Damage types are as important as your DM implements them, but yes, they are a thing as far as RAW.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 20:45 |
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They only matter for a few types of monsters and objects (can't cut a rope with a lance or a maul, can't batter down a door with a longsword). Skeletons in particular don't have weapon resistances, but are vulnerable to bludgeoning. Spoiler guide to the whole Monster Manual in terms of weapon resistance/vulnerability: Get a bludgeon to exploit skeleton vulnerability and bypass some resistances. Magic it and silver it for certain other monsters. Get a slashing weapon for plant monsters. Magic and adamantine for certain other monsters and breaking objects. Piercing, meh. If you fight a lot of Rakshasas and are Good aligned get a magic Lance or something to exploit their weird vulnerability to that specific combination. Swarms always resist weapon damage, but they mostly aren't that dangerous other than piranha and snake versions.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 20:45 |
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Basically, remember that golf bag you're not supposed to need? Hand me a 9 silver, will you Bertie!
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 20:49 |
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So it's like that terrible Pathfinder image of the fighter. You know the one.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 21:59 |
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Yeah holy crap who'd think that on a weaponmaster class that's starts with 2-5 weapons you might need to upgrade a whole 3 of them.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 22:22 |
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slydingdoor posted:Yeah holy crap who'd think that on a weaponmaster class that's starts with 2-5 weapons you might need to upgrade a whole 3 of them. In a game where magic items are supposed to be rare and aren't considered necessary. I feel like when my DM told my group to give him a magic item wishlist, I was the only one who actually looked at the armor and weapons for +1 or other mechanical bonuses I knew I'd need to keep competitive in higher levels. Just hoping my DM gives me the Warning Weapon at some point. Having advantage on initiative rolls at least ensures I get to fire the first rocket in the tag game. Plus you can't be surprised. It's a REALLY good uncommon item.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 22:30 |
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I am creating a level 5 character for a campaign starting soon, and want to go with an Abjuration Dwarf Wizard. My plan is to load up on defensive and reactive spells and medium armor, and be a front line caster. We're allowed to each start with an Uncommon item and was looking at the Sentinel Shield (the DM is letting me engrave runes on my shield to use it as an Arcane Focus). The item gives advantage on Initiative and Perception checks. I already have advantage on Perception checks from my background, and have the Observant feat from level 4 (I started with 15 int, so I wanted a feat with +1 int attached, since that's the same benefit as +2 int from the ability increase) Since I already have a 19 passive perception, is it still worthwhile getting advantage on active perception, or would something like a Warning Hammer be better?
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 22:41 |
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It's fine. Just strongly suggest someone else gets a Weapon of Warning and don't stray 30' from them.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 22:59 |
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Are there any "must have" feats for a human cleric who will probably focus more on spellcasting and maybe not wading directly into fights? I decided to take the alternate human package that gives you a feat at level one since I'm only giving up a +1 in the abilities I don't care much about, and because I liked the idea of getting more flavor stuff instead, but when I try to actually look over the feat list my eyes just kind of glaze over and none of them really look that great. I guess I could just pick up whichever one gives a +1 to my wisdom and has some other effect, that sounds like a great roleplaying choice! I also just realized that clerics no longer get spontaneous conversion to healing spells like in 3.x. God I hate spell slots so much.
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 19:53 |
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I don't know about "must have", but War Caster is very useful for letting you side-step the whole Concentration mechanic as supposed to be a limiter for casters, as are either Magic Initiate or Spell Sniper for grabbing cross-class cantrips like a Warlock's Eldritch Blast. Alert and Lucky are powerful feats for anyone.
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 20:02 |
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You kinda do get spontaneous conversion of all the spells you prepare in any given day. Just because you prepare a spell doesn't mean you need to spend a slot casting that spell that day, and just because you spend a slot casting a spell doesn't mean you forget it for the rest of the day. If you're afraid of running out of spell slots, take Healer. It lets you pick people back up from dying w/o spending a spell, and lets you double heal someone from dying with Healing Word + Healing kit. The extra hp can mean the difference between their getting oneshot right after you pick them up and wasting more of your time or not. slydingdoor fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Apr 21, 2015 |
# ? Apr 21, 2015 20:08 |
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Yeah, you could use every spell slot you have casting Cure Wounds if you wanted to. I prefer the way things scale with slot levels rather than having a handful of different "Cure [Severity] Wounds" spells, it's just a little rough that some spells have no scaling built into them. War Caster, and Resilient are always very powerful choices, but if you're focusing on support, the best choice I can think of would be Ritual Caster (Wizard). Getting Find Familiar at first level is worth a feat slot by itself in my opinion, but you'll be able to get some other cool stuff later on.
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 20:27 |
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What type of cleric were you planning on playing and what does the rest of your party look like? This WotC forums post has 3 different cleric guides to help you figure out what you want to do. (One hasn't been updated in over a month, but still has some okay info.) http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4138726
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 20:56 |
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Some of those options actually do look pretty good, so I guess at least I'm choosing from a narrowed down list instead of all of them. The party consists right now of myself, a paladin, a rogue, a sorcerer and something else. Maybe ranger. We're all new to this edition, half of the others have never played anything beyond AD&D and the other half are completely new to tabletop in general, so I decided I'd be the healer. I've gone with Knowlege domain because it's set in FR and I wanted to be a priest of Waukeen, and the DM is a bit of a Basically I am making a terrible mechanical mess of a character and deserve everything I will get.
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 21:14 |
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Starting cleric for the hp, med armor and shields multiclassing into Wizard starting at level 2 for futurelichery is legit. Also the domain lets you be the party nerd, which can be useful. Alternatively as a Waukeenar you can start with the Trickery domain, I'm sure your rogue would appreciate that.
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 21:53 |
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Judgement posted:Some of those options actually do look pretty good, so I guess at least I'm choosing from a narrowed down list instead of all of them. It's okay, I've got a Dex-Based Valor College Bard Warforged (based on the Unearthed Arcana article), which means neither of the +1's I got went towards either of my main stats forcing me to point buy to get to the 16 I needed. Even then my spell-casting DC feels a level behind because it had to start at a 14 and I only just got it to 16 at level 4. You'd be surprised how many times I've had to go, "Yep, that monster just matched my spell DC. Thank goodness for damage on a miss..." And yes, thank goodness for damage on a miss. You've picked a spell caster so you should be fine. My spell caster has taken damage all of like twice in the last six levels.
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# ? Apr 21, 2015 22:02 |
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I'm planning an act 1 final fight which must have a spell caster and a fighter type, and a barbarian type. For the two former I think I want a Warlock and a Battle master, but what level should I make them in pc classes to make it a hard encounter for a group of 4 level 3 pcs?
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# ? Apr 26, 2015 22:27 |
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I just DMed my first DnD game with some friends using the beginner adventure. I had a lot of fun and my players said they did too. I tried to read everything ahead of time and be ready for anything that happened, but it's amazing when you have 2 party members wanting to go one way and 3 another, to keep up with what happens (with traps, collapsing parts of the environment). I saw they had low health and had some mobs drop some "health potions" to try and help them out. Didnt want to really kill anyone in the first session where no one had played DnD before. Thanks for the advice in this thread. It helped me get in the right mindset.
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# ? Jun 27, 2015 05:40 |
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I've been running the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter adventure too. Not my first time as DM, but I can't say I've ever had a campaign go haywire in such a weird way before. Sometimes all the reading in the world just doesn't prepare you for what they do. In one part, where they go to a small ruined town they stumbled on a young green dragon earlier than expected. This is not a fight they are likely to win through strength of arms, and they are informed as such. A few good persuasion rolls and them roleplaying to convince the dragon they had heard tales of its might and had to come see, and they got away only having to leave their only magic weapon so far as 'tribute'. (I had the dragon continually refer to them as 'morsels' because I found it amusing and it highlighted the power differential.) That's all well and good until they go to deal with the nearby cultists, who are trying to strike an alliance with the dragon. The party figures they'll help the cultists meet the dragon and turn on them at the last second, feeding the cultists to the dragon as further 'tribute' instead of dealing with them the traditional way. This is ironically exactly what the cultists had planned, and goes horrifically awry when the cultists start speaking to the dragon in draconic with a bunch of gemstones as a gift, succeeding in their goals. Oops. The party runs and hides in the surrounding woods, but the sorcerer rolls poorly and gives away their location. Out of options, and with not enough treasure on them to give a better offer than the cultists they are forced into one last, desperate, gambit. The sorcerer runs out and actively flags down the dragon, shouting that they have an offer to make, and piquing the dragon's interest. In exchange for their lives, they tell the dragon about the cave of magical treasures they found (Wave echo cave, for those familiar with the module) and offer the dragon the treasures within. A good persuasion roll and the dragon takes them up on the deal; they are to each return with as much treasure as they can carry and they will be spared. Good rolling even lets them convince the dragon to eat the cultists instead as a show of good faith. There is one catch though; Green dragons are noted in their stat block/description to 'delight in subverting and corrupting the good-hearted', so the dragon enforces the deal with a geas (magical compulsion). They have to keep their end up, or face potentially unpleasant consequences. The problem is, they were bluffing. The party knows about the cave but hasn't actually found the person who knows the location or his map yet, which now adds a measure of desperation to their quest. They aren't even sure if there's any treasure there. I can see reasons why it can be interesting to include situations/creatures the party can't really fight their way out of, but you should plan hints towards a couple potential exit strategies if you do, I think. The module doesn't really characterize that encounter, so anyone running it should put some thought towards how they want it to go. TL;DR - Party tries to feed cultists to a dragon they find, but end up having to give the dragon a bunch of treasure to not be eaten instead.
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# ? Jun 30, 2015 07:38 |
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# ? Jun 1, 2024 04:57 |
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Frush posted:I've been running the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter adventure too. Not my first time as DM, but I can't say I've ever had a campaign go haywire in such a weird way before. Sometimes all the reading in the world just doesn't prepare you for what they do. Thanks for that write-up. It never really occurred to me to run the campaign that way. I saw that and if my party had run across him, it would have been "Ok, Everyone roll for initiative". All the people playing with me this is their first time playing any Tabletop, and other than one or two Pathfinder games under my belt, it is for me too. I need to do a better job of encouraging my players to role play things instead of just "Ok, there are 5 goblins in this room" and immediately start the fight.
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# ? Jul 18, 2015 23:13 |