The Story So Far

I missed the first couple of sessions, and I'm summarizing the sessions I played in before I started.

The band of adventurers came to a town in the Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms called Greenest (I didn't name it). They found it being attacked by raiders and kobolds from the Cult of the Dragon. They battled their way to the keep at the center of town, They cleared out a secret underground passage leading out of the keep, they made their way along a riverbed running through town to a temple of Chauntea, the goddess of agriculture, where several of the towns' citizens were barricaded.

This is where I came in. When I arrived, I asked the question any responsible player asks: "What does the party need?" It turns out they needed a healer. So I pulled out a cleric I had created previously, and joined the party. We had two human fighters, a melee specialists and an archer, a ranger, a wizard, a warlock, and a rogue.

We agreed to escort the refugees in the temple back to the town's keep. However, we ran into trouble: a group of raiders and Cult of the Dragon acolytes. Our melee fighter, being the only tank in the group, closed in and promptly got dropped to 0 by overwhelming numbers. I closed to do some back-up tanking, and also to help heal the fighter. Unfortunately, one of the raider scored a critical hit, and I got dropped as well. Fortunately, there was a healing potion available.

Let's pause to talk about combat in 5th Edition. Not much has changed. However, unlike 3.5 and 4th, the basic rules are conspicuously lacking in miniatures and grid rules. Still, movement and area of effects are all divisible by 5, so the classic one square equals 5ft can still work. Our DM favors using the grid a miniatures. I agree with this. It adds a visual, tactical, and tactile element to the game. The action economy has been simplified: you can move up to your speed, and take an action. Some abilities require the use of a bonus action, which you have one of during your turn.

Once we defeated those foes, we returned to the keep. Then we were tasked with defending the gate from raiders. During that battle I was able to use one of my offensive spells to drop one of the enemies.

That's enough for now. Stay tuned for the conclusion of what came before.