Hail to the Thorns

I mentioned Sandi using a spell called hail of thorns. It's a first level spell, with a casting time of one bonus action and a duration of concentration, up to 1 minute. The text read: "The next time you hit a creature with a ranged weapon attack before the spell ends, this spell creates a rain of thorns that sprouts from your ranged weapon or ammunition." This adds 1d10 piercing damage to the target of the attack and each creature within 5 feet of it (save for half).

Spells like this are common on the ranger and paladin spell lists. Importantly, barring other features, they are only on the paladin or ranger lists. This isn't new (4th edition had power lists unique to each class, after all), but I like the feel of this execution. It allows each class to feel special and play differently. The paladin and ranger spells that enhance attacks, in particular, sell the idea that these casters are also warriors. Bards have quite a bit of illusion and enchantment spells, as well as spells based around sound and music. Warlocks and sorcerers have the lion's share of the blasty spells. The cleric and druid spell lists are much as they have always been. And, of course, the wizard features the broadest range of spell types on their list.

There are lots of topics to cover under magic, so I plan on posting more in the future.

Why You Never Pull More than Two Encounters at Once

So, that tail we attacked at the end of last session? It turned out to be a drake in a locked pit. Actually, there were three drakes in the pit. And four kobolds and one of those winged kobolds hiding in the other stuff in the room.

So, younger readers avert your eyes. Averted? Good.

Fucking kobolds!

You can unavert your eyes, now.

We actually managed a fairly strong first round. Sandi used a spell called hail of thorns, an area of effect spell, to take out two of the kobolds and the urd. We managed to drop one more of the kobolds, but one ran down some stair deeper into the cave, looking for reinforcements.

Lokeo followed it to try and stop it. Unfortunately, that other kobold found reinforcements. Six more kobolds and three more urds.

Time again for eye averting.

Fucking kobolds!

It's over, you can unavert your eyes again.

Lokeo made like Han Solo and ran back into the first room screaming for his life.

I expended a second level spell slot to cast healing word. It heals fewer hit points than cure wonds, but can do it at range. Then I took up a defensive position by the mouth of the other tunnel. (Did I mention we really need a tank. Like really.) While I stopped the main kobolds from swarming us, the urds had just enough room to fly around me.

Corrin used sleep. In this edition, you roll "damage," and based on distance from the origin point and number of hit points the target has, they're knocked out. Sean rolled really low on damage, so we only put three of the seven kobolds to sleep.

This did manage to slow their assault, as several took a turn to wake up their sleeping compatriots. But the urds proved difficult to hit, mostly because we rolled low. Sandi managed to kill one of the urds that was going to unlock the drake enclosure.

One of the new second level spells I used in this battle was spiritual weapon, which summons up a weapon you can use to attack enemies. It worked fairly well, but I ended spending my bonus actions on other things. Other times, the next target was out of movement range for the sword, a mere 20 feet.

A spate of bad rolls for the DM, and some excellent use of cover, which grants a bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws in this edition, bought us some time. Lokeo used one of his new area of effect spells, thunderwave, and managed to knock out three of them. The last three managed to drop easily enough, but their pack tactics proved more than enough to leave us the worse for wear.

Then the drakes climbed up out of the pit. At first, only one made it up. And it took almost thirty points of damage to drop it. And not before it dropped me. Then the other two made it up. And then they managed to drop Censura. Lokeo, carrying Corrin (who was dropped by another critical hit), and Sandi beat a retreat, running into the huntresses again. They chased off the drakes, and the others managed to stabilize Censura. But before they could stabilize me, I rolled a 1 on a death saving throw. Remember, that counts as two failures, and I already had 1 failure.

Looks like we'll need to cook up a little DM ex machina to allow my faction's free raise dead to reach us in the dungeon. D.J., the DM, considered a scroll, but I checked the basic rules on scrolls. It needs to be on your class's spell list, and unless you're high enough level to cast it normally, you have to make a check to pull it off. I suggested some mysterious item that the Lords Alliance had given me before I set off.

Oh well. Happy Thanksgiving, internetland.

Concentration Check

I mentioned Concentration as part of spell duration last time. I feel it deserves a little discussion.

Concentration means, more or less, what it meant in previous editions: the caster needs to devote some concentration to it. However, like most things in this edition, that actual rules have been simplified and streamlined. Concentration doesn't require the caster to spend actions or make regular checks. But concentration can be broken. Taking damage can force a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 or half the damage taken, which ever is higher). Also, so environmental conditions might force a save at the DMs discretion. However, the other thing that breaks concentration is casting another spell that requires concentration.

This is important. Why? A reading of the spell list in this edition reveals that most buffs (such as my newly acquired enhance ability) and many de-buffs (such as Sandi's hunter's mark) require concentration. This has some interesting implications.

First, it rewards parties that take a variety of ways to buff and de-buff, rather than trusting that duty to one or two characters. Second, it makes "attack the buffer and de-buffer first" an incredibly viable tactic. Third, it adds an incentive to use a higher level slot. For example, enhance ability becomes mass enhance ability when casting using higher level spell slots. Fourth, it means that planning becomes more important. Especially with spells that can potentially last up to an hour or more with concentration. And lastly, it means that concentration no longer ties down the caster so completely.

Those last two appeal to me. Fourth edition was fun, but it was a very "kick-in the door" style system. There was little planning, and indeed very little need for it. And previous editions made it less than appealing for a caster to utilize concentration spells, so they would see little use compared to fire and forget spells.

Cave Crawling Blues

When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had fought some guards at the entrance to a system of caves held by the Cult of the Dragon.

But first, we got to level up! Upon reaching third level, clerics get access new their second level of spell slots. From my domain I added magic weapon and spiritual weapon, and then chose enhance ability (a spell that use to be prepared as six different spells). Lokeo, Corrin, and Sandi had far more interesting level ups.

Why? They got to choose archetypes. Archetypes are similar in function to Paragon Paths from 4th or Prestige Classes from 3rd. They provide some specialization and flavor to your character. Paul, Sandi's player, chose Hunter. It's a straight forward archetype for the Ranger, making them better at, well, hunting and killing things. His other option was Beast Master, an archetype that would have provided him with an animal companion.

Both Corrin and Lokeo are based off of characters found in the Starter Set. The vanilla versions of these characters use the Thief Archetype for the halfling rogue and the Champion Archetype for the human fighter. The Thief archetype is pretty straight forward-it adds all kinds of bonus for sneaking, climbing, and stealing stuff. One of its higher level features is Use Magic Device. The other rogue archetype is Assassin, and it does what you think it would do. The Champion archetype is also pretty straight forward for fighters. It adds an Improved Critical and enhances your physical and fighting capabilities. Another option for fighters is the Battle Master, which allows the fighter to play a bit more like a 4e Warlord: buffing his allies and de-buffing his enemies.

Sean, Corrin's player, and Reese, Lokeo's player, (feel free to correct my spelling, guys) opted for the third option: spell caster: Arcane Trickster for the rogue and Eldritch Knight for the fighter. Both add limited amounts of wizard spells. The Eldritch Knight adds mostly abjuration and evocation spells (so mostly shooty spells and protection spells), and the Arcane Trickster focuses on enchantment and illusion (tricking people). In addition, the Eldritch Knight gains an ability to bond to up to two weapons, and he can never be disarmed. The Arcane Tricksters gets mage hand and can use it for all sorts of extra shenanigans. I ended up helping Reese with rebuilding his stats for Eldritch Knight and in choosing spells.

All classes get a feature like these archetypes somewhere within the first three levels. Most pick theirs at third, but clerics, sorcerers and warlocks pick theirs at first, and druids and wizards pick theirs at second.

Although Beld had left, and it became known that Kosef was never joining again, Censura did return. Erevan, however, was absent. (Seriously, if your Wednesday nights are free, and you live in Tucson, come to Isle of Game and roll a front-line tank character to join this group. WE NEED YOU!)

So the next room in the cave involved a set of stairs descending into a garden of mushrooms. After Lokeo made it down the steps, Corrin tripped a trap and fell down, rolling to a stop amid a cluster of violet fungi (mobile plant monsters). We managed to handle the mushrooms without too much difficulty, Corrin even managed to scatter a few using one of his new spells.  But he was dropped during the battle. Fortunately, I was handy with a cure wounds spell.

Past that we found a room full of bats. Censura, being an enterprising fellow, decided to try attracting some and even managed to "tame" four of them. Here, "tame," means got them to eat some scraps of food that he offered. Like good dungeoneers, we suspected mischief, and after examining the room, we spotted corpses of bats with strange bite marks. Corrin spotted some creatures on the cieling that were not bats, then blasted one with one of his new spells. So the bats swarmed, and the other critters joined them. Eventually we were able to identify them as stirges, really big mosquito monsters. Again, we managed them without too much trouble, they weren't hard to hit and had few hit points. Also, unlike kobolds and dragonclaws, they lacked a gang-up bonus. In fact, all attacks against me missed in this battle; and I rejoiced at having the highest AC in the party (18) finally paying off. Unfortunately, Corrin got dropped again.

We actually paused the battle at one point to do a bit of rules lawyering. In the first battle, Sandi had used a ranger spell called hunters mark, which gives him bonuses to damage and track a marked target. The spell has a duration of Concentration, up to 1 hour (more on what concentration means later). It does allow you to pass on the mark. Specifically, it says "If the target drops to 0 hits points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature." (PHB 251, emphasis added). The question, of course, was, would the spell last into the new battle or would Sandi need to recast it? Ultimately, we decided that yes it would last between battles, and played it that way. This is definitely something that will need to be in an errata document.

Corrin opted to stay unconscious for the moment, and we continued on. I followed a broad corridor into another large cave. On the way in, Censura stepped in a trap: a poisoned needle that had an effect similar to confusion. We let the poison run its course. The next room had a lower level that was locked off. It also had racks of weapons and practice dummies along the upper level. We spotted the tail of a creature prowling on the lower level, and Censura cast a spell at it. We left on that cliffhanger.

The Books of 5e

I've had a fair bit to say about the system so far. But what about the books that contain those rules?

So far the Players Handbook and Monster Manual have been released and the Dungeon Master's Guide is due out December 9.

They are pretty books. Hardbound, printed on thick glossy paper in full color with some absolutely gorgeous illustrations. It's hard to put my finger on what precisely makes me say so, but the graphic design seems designed to illicit a sense of nostalgia. In the Players Handbook, there is a neat mix of representational art (that is to say, illustrations of people) with more non-representational art (that is to say, pictures of random assortments of stuff). Mixed in there are full page illustrations. At least for me, those recall the days of 2nd edition. Then each race and class entry features its own illustration, recalling third and fourth editions.

There is a little bit of editing that was missed. Drow are available as a playable "sub-race" of elves, and they have spell abilities that are listed as being usable once a day. However, most other abilities are listed as recharging on a short or long rest. Well, if you have the Monster Manual or check the free rules pdf on Dungeonsanddragons.com, you'll find that an ability listed as usable once per day recharges on a long rest. I guess it is a good thing the drow are an optional race.

Each monster and a fair number of the more mundane animals in the Monster Manual are illustrated. That makes it handy for descriptions. Just show the picture. The Monster Manual also features a collection of NPCs that you can use for encounters as well. The things that are missing, though, are notations on what stat is used to calculate save DCs or attack rolls for abilities, one of the more handy features of the 3.5 Monster Manuals. Also, there are a couple of templates (such as the dracolich and half-dragon), but they don't list how the template affects the Challenge rating of a monster. Presumably, that will be listed in the DMG.

Also, monsters and NPCs feature a curious mix of third edition and fourth edition in their experience values. Each monster has a Challenge rating, as low as 1/8 or as high as 30. And each Challenge rating has an experience value associated with it. The Challenge rating works more or less as it did in third edition. A party of four characters at the same level should be challenged by a monster of the same Challenge rating. Challenge also works like a monster's "level" for determining its proficiency bonuses. But the experience value a monster has at a particular Challenge rating is fixed. A level 20 party will still get 25 experience for defeating a Challenge 1/4 kobold. I'm guessing the DMG will have additional information on that as well.

In short, the rules are a bit incomplete, but the full core books aren't out either. I expect errata will follow the release of the DMG.

Back to Battles

We gathered at the same Bat-Time (5:30 to 6) at the same Bat-Places (Isle of Games in Tucson, AZ). We had a new player join with a human barbarian named Beld. It turned out he was one of the prisoners we rescued.

We sneaked away from the raiders' camp with the prisoners we had rescued, taking back routes to avoid confrontation that would endanger the lives of our charges. We got everyone back to Greenest in one piece and managed to get a few days of rest. We received our reward of 250 gp each, and acquired some healing potions. Rather than carry any (being a cleric and all) I gave mine to Beld and earned Inspiration.

Inspiration is a special reward DMs can give out. Its tied to role-playing and making good strategic choices. A player can spend their Inspiration to gain advantage on a roll, or they can give it to another player. A handy new reward feature, all things considered.

As we were shopping and getting some briefing on the next mission, I helped the new player build his character. He had played D&D before, but not 5e, so it was mostly just briefing him on the rules changes and how to build a character using the Encounters rules.

We were assigned to return to the camp and try to get into the dragon hatchery cave we had learned about on our previous visit. We were offered another 150 gp each, and we were to meet our new contact, Leosin Erlanthar, in Elturel.

We set off after being presented with "Heroes of Greenest" medals, and arrived in the camp to find it abandoned. We encountered some hunters that were gathering food to give to the inhabitants in the cave. We learned that they were stockpiling meat to give to whelps.

Learning all we could from the hunters, we approached the entrance to the cave, and tried to do some stealthy exploring. Unfortunately, the guards, ranking cultists called Dragonclaws, out-stealthed used. They ambushed us and managed to surround Corrin and take out poor Erevan. On our first turn, Sandi, Beld, and Lokeo started the offensive. I did my cleric thing and healed Erevan. Erevan did his sorcerer thing and dropped one of the weakened Dragonclaws. Unfortunately, an already weakened Corrin was taken out and Beld, being a level behind, also got dropped.

On the next turn, the Dragonclaws swarmed at Lokeo, Sandi, Erevan, and myself. I went in and used inflict wounds to deliver a blistering 3d10 necrotic damage to a Dragonclaw. Since an attack I had made earlier was unsuccessful, and not wanting to spend a spell slot in vain, I used my inspiration on the spell attack. A good thing, too. I rolled fairly well on damage - 23! Inflict wounds has become one of the more potent single target damage spells available to clerics. Once we outnumbered the Dragonclaws, we managed to drop the last one. Although Beld managed to stabilize on his own, I had to stabilize Corrin, Sandi, and Erevan (yeah, he got dropped again).

Once again, it seems low-level enemies provide a glass cannon feel. Those Dragonclaws shared the pack tactics feature with kobolds, and the DMs dice were white glowing hot that night. Further, once a turn, when they have advantage on attack rolls, the Dragonclaws could inflict 2d6 extra damage on a hit. To top it all off, they had a feature called Multiattack, which allowed them to make two attacks. Fortunately, monsters and NPCs with multiattack can't use it on opportunity attacks.

Later on, the DM let me know that the original encounter called for two Dragonclaws, but since we had a party of six instead of four, he added a third. I think it upgraded the difficulty more than he had expected. The Pack Tactics ability combined with Fanatic Damage is a particularly brutal combination. Although we survived, we used a large chunk of our healing reserves.

I'll return with more random 5e observations.

Leveling Up!

So, I gained enough Xp to level. In 5th, the Xp curve has been overhauled. Interestingly enough, there are advancement options to level up without Xp called the milestone system. But if you are using Xp, you only need 300 to level. But the amped up deadliness of low-level play will make that feel like an achievement.

The level-up tables in 5th edition are interesting. While 3.5 managed to reduce "dead" levels (levels where not a whole lot happens), 4th removed them entirely. Unfortunately, 4th managed this by making each class level up in exactly the same way. The new edition has no dead levels, but each class levels up differently. Each class gains a new feature, a new level of spells to cast, or both.

So how did Alek level? Well, at 2nd, clerics gain Channel Divinity, so I gained Turn Undead, plus a War Domain Channel Divinity that grants me a +10 to an attack roll. That will be handy. Turn Undead has a range of 30ft, and each undead makes a Wisdom saving throw or is turned for one minute or until it takes damage.

Each stat has a save associated with it. Meaning it is a bit harder to justify a dump stat when it suddenly is important for a saving throw.

Casters, and caster abilities like Turn Undead calculate their save DCs as 8 + proficiency bonus + casting stat modifier. Proficiency bonuses start at +2 and apply to anything you're proficient with: weapon attacks, skills, saving throws, and spell attacks. The proficiency bonus goes up by 1 every 5 levels or so, capping at +6 at level 17. Since all casters in Encounters start with +3 modifiers at most, they'll start with DC 13 saves.

Also, I gained another level 1 spell slot.

Next, classes that prepare spells, like Clerics, Druids, Paladins, and Wizards can prepare a number of spells equal to their class level plus their casting ability modifier. So you can add a new prepared spell every time you level up. Also, there's no restrictions by level. You can put all your prepared spells into your highest available level, dump them all into lower levels, or spread them out. Remember that the incentive to keep some low-level spells is that you can use them with higher level slots for increased effects.

Last but not least, I gained hit points. The new edition allows for rolled hit points, but offers an option for diceless, which is what encounters uses. The amount is a little over half the middle point of the die. Clerics use d8s, so I gained 5 + Con modifier. So I gained 7. Not too shabby.

The next session is tomorrow. Expect a new update the day after.

Alek Greycastle

So, I've finally hammered out the back story for my character and role-played him for a few sessions. So what do I have?

He's a human. Alek is 6'1" (about as big as womp rat) and about 250 lbs. He has pale skin and black hair. He grey up in Silverymoon, a city with a high elf population, so he speaks Common and Elvish. Languages work like they did in 4th, so humans speak Common and one other of their choice.

He's a cleric, specifically of Tempus, the god of war in the Forgotten Realms. Clerics pick a Domain at first level, which affects their spells and special abilities. I chose War, so I'm proficient in martial weapons and heavy armor, otherwise clerics are only proficient in simple weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields. Also, between long rests, I get an ability that lets me make an extra attack as a bonus action when I use the Attack action. I can use it a number of times equal to my Wis modifier. I chose Medicine and History as his skill proficiencies.

I tweaked his stats a little. Encounters lets players use the point buy. So based off the default array, I changed Int and Cha to 11 each, so after modifiers, He has Str 15, Dex 9, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 12.

Lastly, background. I chose Soldier. His background feature is called Military Rank, in this case sergeant. Its benefits mostly come into play in role-playing and downtime. In organizations that respect that rank, I can throw some weight around, and even get meals and accommodations for limited periods of time. Next, I gain proficiency with the skills Athletics and Intimidation. He also gains proficiency in a gaming set and Vehicles (land). I chose deck of playing cards as his proficiency. This fits with the "Croaker" aspect of the character, as the characters in the Black Company seemed to constantly play a card game called "Tonk." Based on vague descriptions of play, it seems to work like Rummy or a similar game.

He's equipped with Chain Mail, a Shield, a Warhammer, and a Spear. Based on his background, all his equipment is company issue or hand-me-downs, so it looks used but well cared for. His shield bears the holy symbol of Tempus (a sword wreathed in flame). He also keeps the tusk of the first orc he slew in combat on a leather thong around his neck.

Last come the role-playing characteristics, a feature added to 5th to facilitate role-playing, but also to help the DM hand out a reward called Inspiration. First are personality traits, which characters have two of. Based off of suggestions for background, Alek has: "I can stare down the most horrific of foes without flinching," and "I have a foul mouth and a crude sense of humor." That second is a bit tough to role-play in a game store, as the environment needs to be family friendly. Next comes ideal. I chose "Responsibility. Everyone needs to follow reasonable authority to make the world a better place." A bit on the Lawful bent for a Neutral character, but it makes sense with a soldier. Next comes Bond, which I got from material in the Hoard of the Dragon Queen Adventure. My grandfather was a famous dragon slayer. The Cult came looking for revenge, so I decided to hide in Greenest for a while. Lastly, my character needs a flaw. Originally I had a blind and unreasoning hatred of orcs and vampires. That doesn't seem to be getting much play in this scenario. I considered expanding it to all monstrous humanoids, as kobolds have been a constant thorn in our side. I'll mull it over for a bit.

Next time, I'll go over leveling up.

The Tale of Alek Greycastle

My grandfather, Evendur Greycastle, led the Silverymoon Seven in battle against Althaunagrym, a white dragon that plagued the Silver Marches. Though his whole team contributed to the wyrm’s downfall, he struck the killing blow. My family kept the battle-scarred spear he wielded, and I carry it with me today.

I was raised in Silverymoon, our family able to settle down and live comfortably off of grandfather’s share of the dragon’s hoard. I misspent my youth reading about the adventures of my grandfather and other heroes of the North. Hoping to claim some of that glory for myself, I joined the Blackblades mercenary company after I came of age.

There, I trained under One-Eyed Glenn, the company’s crusty battle chaplain. He tutored me in the chronicling of the unit’s history, medicine, combat, and the devotions of the war god Tempus. From him I learned respect for authority. Together, we faced many of the horrors plaguing the northern Realms, contracting under everyone from the Lords of Waterdeep to the Arcane Brotherhood. From those travails, I learned courage.

Then last year my unit was ambushed by a group of monstrous humanoids being led by members of the Cult of the Dragon. During the battle, I learned from one of the cultist that I was the target; the Cult planned on taking vengeance for my grandfather. One-Eyed Glenn led a counter-attack that allowed me to escape. Facing certain death, he gave me his battered old warhammer to remember his sacrifice.

I returned to Silverymoon and learned that the rest of my family had also been targeted. Not long after, members of the Lords Alliance sent by Taern Hornblade approached me. They wanted to higher me to investigate Cult of the Dragon activity further south. Hoping to live up to my grandfather’s legacy and wanting some vengeance for myself, I accepted.

My squad traveled to the Western Heartlands, pursued by agents of the Cult to the alleys of Baldur’s Gate. I disbanded the squad in Beregost to protect the lives of my men, and headed for the small town of Greenest, hoping to lay low in an out of way location until the Cult’s interest in me waned. There I found employment assisting the beleaguered healers of the Temple of Chauntea. Hopefully, posing as a healer instead of a soldier will get the Cult off my scent.

Dramatis Personae: Alek Greycastle

This post is about my character: Alek Greycastle, a human cleric of Tempus, the Forgotten Realms god of war.

First, a bit of genealogy. The character began life back in the misty darkness of the early 90s, when cells phones required bags, the Internet was a new thing, the consoles were Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, and D&D was in second edition. I built the character as a human fighter based loosely off of the vampire-hunting protagonists of Castlevania, the Belmonts. Their signature weapon, a ball and chain, was best represented by a flail. The characters' motivation boiled down to: vampires killed my family, and I wanted revenge. The character had a third edition reincarnation for a Ravenloft campaign I played in. After picking up the 5th edition core rules, I built new versions of characters that had been in the same "pack" as the original Alek when I first created him. I ended up having him fill the cleric role in that party. (This is oddly appropriate, considering that according to David Ewalt's excellent book, Of Dice and Men, the cleric began life as an "anti-vampire" character.)

Now some character creation. I used the default stat array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. I assigned the status thusly: Str 14, Dex 8, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 15, and Cha 12. In 5th, humans get +1 to every stat. This made the final stats: Str 14, Dex 9, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 16, and Cha 13. Clerics get a domain. That version of Alek was a follower of Helm, the Realms god of duty and protection, in order to tie him to another character. Clerics are customized in 5th by selecting a domain. I chose the Life domain, a heal-spec domain that gives clerics proficiency in heavy armor. But that left a background to choose.

What are backgrounds? They're an additional element of character creation for 5th edition that allow you to further define and specialize your character.  The add skills, languages, and tools to your list of starting proficiencies and add a background feature.  The default background for a cleric is Acolyte, someone raised in a temple. That was a bit predictable for my tastes. I ended up picking the Soldier background for Alek, inspired by the cleric in the starter box. The character thus served in the military as a healer. His unit was decimated by vampires, he he's gone adventuring to get some vengeance. Bam! New version of the character.

When I joined the encounters party, the healer serving a military unit conjured up images of Croaker, the erudite and cynical chronicler and chief surgeon of the titular Black Company from Glenn Cook's novel series of the same name. This prompted some changes. Originally, Alek served in a city guard. I decided instead that he served in a mercenary unit, and the instead he followed Tempus. This prompted a change in Domain to War, granting proficiency with martial weapons in addition to heavy armor. War domain is more speced to allow the cleric to off-tank, a role the party needed, as we only had a the single melee fighter and the rogue.

I've continued to evolve the character's back story and game options selections. After our next long rest (which will coincide with the start of the next session), I should have him finalized. Although, encounters allows player to adjust characters for long rests or between episodes until they reach 4th level.

When I return, I'll have more on the final version of Alek, and he'll be levelling up.

The Mythical Combat Free Session

Now that we're all caught up, time to post recent sessions. The most recent happened last night.

After leaving the site of our battle with the kobolds, we decided to stop for a short rest. About half an hour into it, the cultist guards we had left behind showed up. We had a brief chat, they gave us the leftovers of their chicken, and warned us about some other guards waiting in ambush up ahead.

We continued on and came upon a group of amazonian women and a small boy on the road with a cart in the ditch. The cart had broken a wheel and the donkey pulling it had injured its leg. Being noble(-ish) heroes, we stopped and helped them. Tapping into my character's mercenary background, I asked for gold, which it turns out they didn't have. (The young boy did kindly offer some grimy copper pieces, though.) Instead, they bartered some fresh antelope from the pile in their cart. Sandi, the half-elf ranger, managed to calm the donkey, and I managed to splint its injured leg. Meanwhile, Erevan, the elf sorcerer, Corrin, the halfling rogue, and Lokeo the human fighter, managed to fix the wheel. Being a shrewd (read: greedy) player, when offered our pick of the antelope, I counted the points and picked the one with the most. However, one of the huntresses was not happy with my choice, the antelope being their livelihood and all, so I opted for the next biggest one instead. (Note: any real hunters or other nature enthusiasts reading this are free to tell me antelopes don't work that way. The DM and I played it that way, so that's how they worked in the game.)

We traveled the rest of the way with the huntresses. As we approached the raiders' camp, around sundown, those guards waiting in ambush rolled some boulders onto us. We made Dex saves, and I was one of the few who succeeded. Bear in mind that Dex is my lowest stat. After the boulders, nine guards emerged from the shadows and challenged us. After some role-playing, they were willing to let the huntresses in, but not us. We ended up offering a bribe that cost the party 10 gp, but left our spell stores and already depleted hit points intact.

As we made our way into the camp, we passed through the squalid kobold section first. There, we overheard the name of the dragon that we had chased away earlier: Lennithon. At one point, Sandi, who has dragons as a favored enemy, got riled up by the kobolds' boasting. Fortunately, Sandi realized we were grossly outnumbered, gritted his teeth, and placated the kobolds before things got ugly. We weren't out of the woods yet, when the kobolds who had fled earlier called us out. I opened with the old standby: to human kobolds all look alike, so the reverse ought to be true. Through some clever role-playing and decent rolls involving Persuasion, Intimidation, and Deception, we managed to get those kobolds to back down. It did help that we mentioned they were holding up the cart holding their food.

As we made our way into the nicer human part of the camp, we stopped to hide our antelope carcass in a cave. Passing through the human camp to drop the antelope off at the command tent, we overheard that the cultist were keeping Lennithon's eggs hostage. As we left the huntresses, they let Sandi know they also worked for his faction: the Emerald Enclave.

We found Leosin Erlanthar being tortured, and learned that the cult had eight other prisoners that they were planning to execute. They also decided that the new guys (us) would be the executioners. After cleaning out animal pens, I used my sergeant rank (my Soldier background feature) to commandeer a tent for the party.

From there Erevan used the message cantrip to let Leosin know we had arrived and to plan an escape.  From Leosin, we learned that Rezmir answered to an individual named Severin Silrojen; that a cave in the canyon contained a dragon hatchery. It took some convincing, but we managed to convince Leosin not to martyr himself for the cause. We decided the hatchery would be our next target after we rescued Leosin and the other prisoners.

We waited until all but one of the guards were asleep, and Sandi and Corrin crept up on him and killed him in one turn. After that, we rounded up the prisoners and took them to the cave where we had stashed our antelope. That was where we ended our session as we prepared to hole-up for a long rest.

So there you have it. Some people, particularly fans of other systems, will say it never happens, but we played D&D without any combat. Well, there was the boulders and Sandi and Corrin curb-stomping the guard. But without the true back and forth of battle, it doesn't count.

I leveled up, but so much other stuff happened, I felt obliged to include that first. I'll post a little about leveling up next time.

The Last Catching Up

Not so much catching up. This is the last session I participated in.

Much of the first part of the session was spent handling administrative stuff. This is an inevitable part of dealing with organized play.

We gathered, once again missing a primary front line fighter. But we had what this edition calls a long rest. Like in 4th, it's a rest for eight hours that restores almost all expendable resources. Interestingly, it only restores half of your hit dice. So the governor of Greenest, Nighthill, asked us to track the raiders back to their camp. Before we set out, a young monk, Nesim Waladra, asked us to rescue his master, Leosin Erlanthar, from the camp.

We set out in the afternoon, and after traveling for an hour so, we came upon a group of stragglers: four human guards and eight kobolds. They were arguing about the meager food they had collected. We debated how to exploit the situation for a while. Eventually, the kobolds (somehow) managed to win out get the larger share of the rations. This is one of those situations that a wizard with ventriloquism prepared is a boon.

Actually, situations like this, where planning, role-playing, and creativity trump charging in and hitting things with weapons, are fairly common in this adventure (I've read it. Yeah. I spoiled it for myself). This seems to be a shift in design philosophy from 3.5 and 4, both of which seemed to favor kick in the door play style. Hell, in 4th edition kicking in the door was the default. Whether this is good or bad is really a matter of taste, but this is my blog. So my taste is correct. I like it.

Eventually, the halfling rogue, Corrin, and the elf ranger, Sandi, tried to sneak into the camp and steal the humans' weapons. The halfling failed his stealth roll, so initiative was rolled. Fortunately, armed with uniforms taken from the fallen raiders, we managed to role-play the situation to our favor. We told them that halfing had stolen something of value from Langderosa Cyanwrath, and we were returning him to camp for interrogation. I actually managed to use my background as a soldier, flashing my character's sergeant insignia and berating the guards for letting the kobolds getting the better of them. At some point in this scene, though, an in-joke about eating halfling almost got out of hand when the underfed guards considering spitting and roasting Corrin.

Still, we managed to get past the guards without a fight. Of course, the kobolds sneaked away and set an ambush for us later down the road. They managed to swarm the bow fighter, Lokeo, and got him down to 2 or 3 hit points before I came along with a cure wounds spell. We dropped half of the kobold party, including a winged kobold (or urd), and they fled.

Some veterans noted that the spell my cleric used was called cure wounds rather than cure light wounds. Why? This is actually one of the cooler new features of spell casting. Rather than having nine or ten different adjectives to describe scaled spells like that, you just have the spell itself, which you know and/or prepare only once. Then, you can use higher level spell slots to cast it. When you do, depending on the spell and the level of the slot over the base level, you'll get an additional benefit. For cure wounds it's additional dice of healing. For magic missile it's extra missiles. For dispel magic it works on higher level effects. For charm person or fear, it affects additional targets. And so on. Definitely a good streamlining and making spellcasting a bit easier to deal with.

When we return, I'll be talking about the most recent session. The best part is, I'll finally level-up!

The Continuing of What Came Before

I'm pausing again to talk more about 5th edition. In the first two sessions I played, I participated in four or five fights. In almost all of them, I got dropped to 0 hit points. In 5th, the damage stops at 0. Once you go unconscious, you make Death Saving Throws. You need to succeed at 3 before failing 3. Incidentally, these are luck rolls: 10+ on a d20 is a success. Anything else is a failure. A DC 10 Wisdom (medicine) check also can instantly stabilize someone, as well as a handy 0-level Cleric spell, what 5th edition calls cantrips (Yes, my character knows that cantrip, and has already used it).

Let's talk a little more about those cantrips. Even classes that otherwise prepare spells (Wizards and Clerics, for example) know cantrips. They include basic utility spells (such as light) and few simple attack spells. The attack spells scale by class level. The most important thing about cntrips, though, is that they are at-will spells. You can cast them as often as you like. So your caster always has an attack handy.

After we defended the keep's gate, we had an opportunity to take a short rest. Unlike 4th edition, this is an hour-long rest. You do get some limited healing, in the form of hit dice based on your class and level. You spend any number of hit dice up to your maximum and roll them, regaining that many hit points. In addition, some abilities recharge after a short rest (such as Channel Divinity).

After the short rest, we helped interrogate a cultist we had captured earlier. The Warlock and Wizard managed to use the Intimidation skills to extract some bits of info, but the halfling failed. My character managed to successfully intimidate more information out of the cultist. Lastly, the Ranger managed to use interaction and role-playing to get the bulk of the remaining information. We learned that our foes were members of the Cult of the Dragon, that they were collecting a hoard of treasure for the Dragon Queen, that the treasure was being taken north, and that the cult was being led by Rezmir the Black. We also learned something about dragonmasks, but it was vague.

Well, this being D&D, it was time to get back into action. The town's governor, Nighthill, spotted fire at the mill, and dispatched us to take care of it. This wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that our fighters were absent. So, without any tanks, we went to the mill and found a group of kobolds setting fires. The Warlock suspected a trap, and tried to listen in, overhearing something to the effect of "Put on a good show!"

Of course, reacting as people in a medieval setting might to a fire near a wooden structure used to process grain, we moved to stop the kobolds, while the Warlock tried to head back to the keep.

Kobolds have a rather annoying ability called pack tactics that grants them advantage on attack rolls if an ally is within 5ft of the target. What is advantage? It's the new trick under 5th Edition's hood. Advantage lets you roll the d20 twice and take the higher result. Disadvantage is the same thing, but in reverse: two d20s but take the worst. And disadvantage and advantage cancel each other out. And since multiple instances don't stack, even if several factors impose disadvantage, if at least one factor grants advantage, the disadvantage is cancelled out (or vice versa). Granting advantage or disadvantage replaces a DM's screen worth of modifiers to rolls.

Needless to say, this makes kobolds a bit of a glass cannon. They get dropped quickly, but before they do, they can inflict a fair bit of damage. Also, like true cowards, they tend to flee after half or more of their number are down.

We chased away the kobolds after the Wizard and me were dropped. The halfling boldly stayed to guard our bodies while the Ranger and Warlock went into the mill to continue to fight the fire. The Warlock was right about the trap, but it was for us. A group of cultists were waiting in ambush in the mill. They managed to drop the Ranger, but some lucky rolling and good role-playing from the Warlock convinced the cultists that we were on their side.

We weren't quite done for the night. After getting back to the keep (for yet another round of potions of healing from the grateful defenders), we learned that the blue dragon circling the keep was coming in for an attack. Blue dragons, for people not familiar with D&D, breath bolts of lightning. Also, a dragon like that is a deadly challenge for first level characters. However, we had lots of cannon fodder (or bold citizens helping us with the defense of the keep), and only had to chase it off. The dragon opened with it's frightening presence (an ability all dragons have to inflict fear on those opposing it), then used its breath weapon on some of those unnamed defenders. We managed to hit the dragon with our initial attacks and inflict close to thirty damage! This was enough to chase of the dragon.

We weren't done for the night, though. The cultists assembled at the doors of the keep with four hostages. Their field commander, a half-dragon called Langderosa Cyanwrath challenged us to a duel. The villagers expected the ranged fighter, who had a background called Folk Hero, to step forward. However, without his player there, it fell to the Warlock. When he stepped out, I stood back outside the gate, identifying myself as the Warlock's second. Although the Warlock won initiative, his first attack was a miss. And the half-dragon's first attack was a critical hit. Just to rub it in, he stabbed the unconscious Warlock with a spear. However, the half-dragon was true to his word and released the hostages. As he departed, I used Spare the Dying (that cantrip I mentioned earlier) on the Warlock.

Not a bad run considering we didn't have a tank, I'd say.