OOC I: The Sunless Citadel

[GreyWolfVT]

Sounds good Dave.

[dmw71]

Anyone that pays a visit to the General Store finds that it has any item (armor, weapons, equipment, etc...) available up to 50 gold pieces, but they might be able to acquire more expensive items from merchants given enough advance notice.

Is there something specific anyone is looking for? If so, I've pretty much decided to cap the availability at items that cost 50 gold pieces or less. I'll consider other requests, but it's unlikely anything too "exotic" will be anything a beginning character can afford right now anyway.

[Shaede]

Anyone that pays a visit to the General Store finds that it has any item (armor, weapons, equipment, etc...) available up to 50 gold pieces, but they might be able to acquire more expensive items from merchants given enough advance notice.

Is there something specific anyone is looking for? If so, I've pretty much decided to cap the availability at items that cost 50 gold pieces or less. I'll consider other requests, but it's unlikely anything too "exotic" will be anything a beginning character can afford right now anyway.

I'm not looking for anything specifically. The starting equipment is fine. I decided to see the blacksmith, just in case....

[dmw71]

I'm not looking for anything specifically. The starting equipment is fine. I decided to see the blacksmith, just in case....

I'm looking to keep it pretty simple, so the same limit applies there. Armor up to 50 gold pieces (e.g. chain mail) can be found there.

[GreyWolfVT]

I'm good on gear mostly curious about what Kerowyn had to give us. Since she claimed to have something for us...though in her drunken slur is sounded more like she had something else in mind.

[Shaede]

I'm good on gear mostly curious about what Kerowyn had to give us. Since she claimed to have something for us...though in her drunken slur is sounded more like she had something else in mind.

Oh she definitely said something along those lines...

[Mister-Kent]

I might not be able to post until tomorrow evening, but working on something now ~

[dmw71]

Kelben "I bet the bones are from goblins eating these rats." he openly states preparing to attack and defend himself.

You might want to do more than prepare.

Go ahead and give me an initiative roll (for Kelben, it will be 1d20+2) and, since it's likely a melee attack will be your action, please also make his attack and damage rolls.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[GreyWolfVT]

Kelben "I bet the bones are from goblins eating these rats." he openly states preparing to attack and defend himself.

You might want to do more than prepare.

Go ahead and give me an initiative roll (for Kelben, it will be 1d20+2) and, since it's likely a melee attack will be your action, please also make his attack and damage rolls.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Edited and added rolls and indicated my primary target.

[Shaede]

Edited and added rolls and indicated my primary target.

Nice rolls!

[GreyWolfVT]

Lets hope that means at least one less dire rat.

[dmw71]

Lets hope that means at least one less dire rat.

I must have misread it because they're actually just a giant rats, not dire rats (which I do not even see existing in 5e?). Anyway, I have edited the post (and updated the labels in the image) to reflect this.

The round is far from resolved, but I did create my DM character in the die roller for this campaign, and made my first roll -- initiative for the giant rats. Figures, it turns out both Kelben and the rats have a 15 initiative. From the rules for initiative in the PHB:

"The DM can decide the order if the tie is between a monster and a player character. Optionally, the DM can have the tied characters and monsters each roll a d20 to determine the order, highest roll going first."

Let's say, for all "common" monsters, assume the PC will win all ties when it comes to initiative. I'm not familiar enough with the monsters in 5e yet to know where I'll draw the line, but I will specifically request (or make) a tie-breaking roll for special or "uncommon" opponents.

[dmw71]

Also, a note to point out that I have officially added an 'Initiative' house rule.

I've also created a new 'Encounters' thread, which I've saved as an 'announcement'-type post so it will appear near the top of the forum. I will use this to track and link all encounters in the game for easy reference, which prior experience tells me is handy to have.

[dmw71]

I also added a 'Ranged Attacks in Close Combat' house rule, which addresses the possibility of "friendly fire."

[Shaede]

The round is far from resolved, but I did create my DM character in the die roller for this campaign, and made my first roll -- initiative for the giant rats. Figures, it turns out both Kelben and the rats have a 15 initiative.

Dave, my attack was written assuming that I had initiative over the rats, but it turns out that I actually do not. As you rightfully pointed out, there are disadvantages of ranged attacks in close quarters. So, depending on what the rats do in their first round, am I allowed to alter my attack?

My next question, I've seen DMs allow switching of weapons (from bow to sword or vice versa) as a free action. However, I think strict interpretation of the rules indicates that this is actually an action (or two actions depending on how it is interpreted further). I think there are three options in this case:

1. Switching weapons is free action (completed in same round)
2. Sheathing one weapon and drawing another is one action (1 round to resolve)
3. Sheathing one weapon is one action and drawing another is another action (2 rounds to resolve)

In this case, Kelben and Aubron did not have any weapons drawn, as far as I know. Does that mean that we need to burn an action to draw? (Edit: I guess this is a third question on rule interpretation. Is the initial weapon draw considered an action?)

Again, I've played in another campaign where the rules which are far more relaxed. But, this is your campaign, so I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[GreyWolfVT]

I actually had drawn my rapier already I mentioned drawing it to sift through the fire pit ashes with the tip of my sword.

[Shaede]

I actually had drawn my rapier already I mentioned drawing it to sift through the fire pit ashes with the tip of my sword.

Corrected! heh

[GreyWolfVT]

Still a valid question though on the free actions and drawing a weapon.

[dmw71]

So, depending on what the rats do in their first round, am I allowed to alter my attack?

Definitely.

My next question, I've seen DMs allow switching of weapons (from bow to sword or vice versa) as a free action.

I'm leaning towards allowing this as a free action, which I understand does kind of contradict the rules as written.

I did a quick search and found a bunch of material to read up on:

• The Order of Combat > Your Turn > Other Activity on Your Turn
• Actions in Combat > Use an Object
• How does switching weapons work?
• (5e) Free actions and switching weapons?
• Mike Mearls Tweet
• I wonder if this is addressed somewhere in the Unearthed Arcana?

I have a busy day at work today and might not be able to fully read and process everything in order to make an informed decision until later.

Something I'm still debating is what you decide to do with the weapon you're switching from. Given rounds are only 6-seconds, and you can already do a lot in a round, simply dropping your current weapon would be a free action, but taking the time to actually stow it properly might require an action?

Still something I'm thinking about. But, at least for now, definitely feel free to switch up your action to attack with a melee weapon instead of your bow.

[GreyWolfVT]

Crazy question if this entire thread is entirely out of character why are we using the OOC tags/colored text? Just call me silly for asking if you must I just find it a little odd. Since we are only ever talking in OOC context here.