dmw71 wrote:If it stops being fun, or you guys lose interest, that is when we have a problem.
Trust me I am generally very up front about this. If I ever start feeling that way I generally send the DM a PM. So if that hasn't happened yet Dave we're all good on my end of things.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
I think the best option would be to try recruiting a fifth player to take over Farador/ creating their own healer. I would prefer to keep playing Klilxuac, although, I haven't cast Fire Bolt yet, so we'll see how this turns out. I'll definitely keep playing (and would be interested in a second game depending on what you run) no matter if we are able to make it through this fight or have to create new characters.
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
I just posted the update for round 9. The troll took fire damage in round 8 (and did not regenerate in round 9), and took fire damage again in round 9 (so won't regenerate in round 10)... which, I'm thinking, means it has finally been killed. I know the victory may seem false or ring hallow, but it's still impressive. Congratulations!
The game will definitely continue (great!). My offer to allow 'Character Rebuilding' still stands... but might be limited to Shaede, for Auborn, since the plan is to continue with Sky, Kelben, and Klilxuac.
I don't think NPC'ing Farador is an ideal solution, and not something I really look forward to doing, so it boils down to whether or not we actively attempt to recruit a fifth player to join the game. If so, is it enough that you have a fifth character (e.g. extra attack, features, etc...), or does this new player be required to play a character with healing ability (e.g. cleric, paladin)?
I mentioned the treasure after you first defeated the troll (6 rounds ago!), so I probably should have mentioned it again in my last update. Here it is:
You know, it doesn't say. Spells are definitely my weakness, but I'm thinking some spells are usable by multiple classes. Okay, I just went through and I think I got them all, but here are the classes that can use each:
Shaede wrote:How should I introduce Hargrem? Aubron gets reincarnated by a diety?
Technically, it should still be Auborn, just as a different class, but we'll play it a bit differently.
I'm thinking I'm just going to fast-forward the group back to town. Farador and Auborn will retire there, and the group will recruit Hargrem. Unless the group wants to, we won't role-play through all those details.
I really think we should have 5 characters. As it stands now, we have a cleric, a sorcerer, a bard, and a rogue. This leaves us a little light in the combat department. Not saying we can't get through this successfully, but leaving the cleric as the best melee option will make it far more likely to be in the situation we were just in- no healer and characters making death saves. Rogues can be devastating combatants, but they really need a banger going toe-to-toe with the enemy so they can keep getting sneak attack damage. I've said before that I'll try to leave the decision making to the rest of you, so I'll go along with whatever decision you come up with.
One other possibility exists, as well. Multiclassing is much easier in 5e. I know lots of Adventurers League players will dip into another class or two for one level, sometimes two or three levels if they want something specific. Taking one level of cleric gives you healing spells, and additional spell slots for those that currently have them. If we had a couple people interested in doing that when/if we level up, it might make a full cleric less of a priority. I myself am not a big fan of dipping, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
I will let you guys ultimately agree on party size. I am fine either way, but will obviously need to know if I should start recruiting for an extra player.
Experience Points
I have been looking into experience points, and how to award them. I think, for this game, I am going to use the milestone advancement instead of tracking and dividing the actual experience points earned.
Actual Experience Points
3 Giant Rats: 75 xp
Jot, the Imp: 200 xp
Troll: 450 xp
---
Party Total: 725 xp
Individual Total: 181 xp (Needed: 300 xp)
Even considering how the end of this last battle played out, you guys pretty much rocked the direction you took! There are no other know exits or other avenues to pursue, so you're essentially forced to double back and either push on in another direction, or return to town (this) and take this other direction once you return.
Given the thoroughness of your progress, I am going to say that this first milestone has been met, so...
Everyone is now 2nd level!
As for new hit points, I will allow you to roll your hit die and accept that random value, or take the fixed value for your class (which is the average result of the die roll (rounded up)). I must insist that, once you decide your method, you stick with it (e.g. no rolling for hit points and then taking the average if you get a low roll).
The Bard, Cleric, and Rogue each gain 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier.
The Sorcerer gains 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier.
Be sure to level up your character in your character sheets, and check out your class descriptions to familiarize yourselves with the new skills, features, or abilities of your class.
Any questions, definitely feel free to ask here and we can work through everything.
For HP I'll just take the average rather than rolling for it each level. As for the changing Aubron I agree with Scott I like a party pf 5 like we initially had. 4 is ok. But if we had 5 of us again that would be best imo. Rather than changing Aubron's class entirely I'd take Scott's suggestion and dual or multi class him instead. We need a warrior type I suppose if need be I could multi-class Kelben to be a rogue and a fighter. I have no problems doing this if needed. I actually like that combination anyways.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
1.Find a 5th - can we press on during the recruitment process?
2.Press On as is
I'm still in favor of pressing on as is. I'd like to try, and the higher levels may be more helpful. We now have a high AC melee. Yes, he's a cleric, but I think it's worth a shot.
Dave I see that you said we only earned 181 total individual XP but then said we are all level 2 are you giving us the other 119 xp then for getting this far? Just want to make sure I am updating Kelben the way you would like.
As for the other debate. I am fine with pressing on as is. However it would be nice to have that 5th person to run Farador or create something else.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
I was in the middle of a much longer post, but as I continued to compose it, I found myself leaning a particular direction. More on this in a second, but first...
GreyWolfVT wrote:Dave I see that you said we only earned 181 total individual XP but then said we are all level 2 are you giving us the other 119 xp then for getting this far? Just want to make sure I am updating Kelben the way you would like.
Okay, this is going to feel strange (I'll admit, it does for me), but instead of my tracking how many experience points all the individual challenges are worth, then totalling all experience earned, dividing it by the number of players, etc... I will instead just assign you guys full levels of advancement at various, predetermined points in the game.
(My showing the actual experience points earned, broken down by encounter, probably only confused the matter, but the only reason I shared them was to show that, despite everything you've been through, you would have just over half way to 2nd level.
I think you guys deserved more. Hence, 2nd level.)
Shaede wrote:I guess there seems to be two options:
1.Find a 5th - can we press on during the recruitment process?
2.Press On as is
I am not unwilling to add a fifth player (heck, I allowed it to happen in the first place), but my concern now is that adding a fifth player will disrupt the balance of the adventure.
This is from the 'Adventure Synopsis' section: "The adventure is designed for four 1st-level player characters. They should advance through 2nd level to 3rd level before the finale."
This is my first time attempting to DM a 5e game (as if you guys couldn't tell), so my gut is urging me to follow the proven guidelines.
I'm still thinking, without realizing it, you guys took a difficult path for your first foray. You guys will all be 2nd level when beginning to explore the other path, and while things won't be easy, they should definitely be easier.
I am going to recommend that the group continues as-is.
That said, know that the option of adding a fifth player is certainly an option if things do prove to be too difficult, and I will quickly begin recruiting if the need presents itself. (That, or I could easily add an extra milestone before the finale so that the party of four enters the finale at 4th level instead of 3rd, which will also make a big difference.)
Trust me, if there is going to be an imbalance in power (adventure vs players), I want that advantage to fall to the players. I'm just not certain this imbalance exists... yet, and want to maintain a proper challenge level and not turn the adventure into a cakewalk (with shaky confidence in my ability to properly fix it).
Kelben should be all leveled up so far I kept him straight Rogue. His HP i was not sure on since it auto adjusted on DnD Beyond he was at 4 current but then after he leveled it had current listed as 11/17 not sure if that is correct so I lowered him back to 4/17. As for skills and abilities it appears to have automatically added his 2nd level Thief/Rogue stuff.
I am fine with continuing as is Dave.
“All men did have darkness. Some wore it in the form of horns. Some bore it invisibly as rot in their souls.”
― Paul S. Kemp, Shadowbred "If good people won’t do the hard things, evil people will always win, because evil people will do anything."
― Paul S. Kemp, Twilight Falling
He's doing milestone leveling, so instead of keeping track of XP for each creature/ trap/ puzzle/ whatever else, when the party accomplishes specific goals/ completes parts of the adventure, characters level up. There are a few advantages to this system, aside from the obvious bookkeeping: you dsmalleron't lose XP per character due to larger parties, for starters. If we had six characters, we probably would have defeated the troll pretty quickly, but then each share of XP would be diminished. The other advantage is that you don't need to artificially add encounters in order to get characters of appropriate levels.
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
I'm good with continuing with four. I'd also like to say that I appreciate the conversation here about the game. It's great to see a collaborative effort. Even if I don't contribute much, it's nice to see.
