Great Dane
2014-09-16, 07:55 AM
I played a TON of 4th edition (and only 4th) and was reluctant to make the switch to 5th ed, but am I glad I did. I purchased LMoP and invited
My brother - one session of 4th, one session of 5th. He played Roscoe the Rogue.
Friend who has played plenty of 2nd, but nothing since. He played Scojo the cleric.
Friend who "played about two years ago". Unsure of the version. He played Thorin the axe fighter.
Seeing as how Friend #2 had a poor DM in the past who just tried to kill the party off, I had it in my head to be a bit more lenient than normal. Plus, given that they were new players who were unfamiliar with their skills, I had a feeling they wouldn't come up with clever, non-combat methods of avoiding fights. Bottom line, I wanted to make it fun for them and I met the goal.
The ambush in the woods was not perceived by the party. The rogue went to investigate the dead horses and was hit by one of two arrows. These goblins were on each side of the path and remained visible for the rest of the encounter, while each had a sneaky sword goblin buddy creeping toward the party. The party managed to spot these two goblins before they were ambushed in melee range. The party succeeded on this encounter after killing the four goblins, having used some healing from the cleric and a second wind. It took a bit of subtle convincing to get the party to tie the horses and cart off in the deep woods, but they eventually succumbed to DM suggestion.
They were able to detect both traps using perception rolls. The rogue decided to hop in the pit trap and rolled well on a perception check, so I had him find a half-buried healing potion in the dirt.
They were able to sneak up on the two guard goblins and dispatch them with little effort. One of them had a healing potion.
They spotted the chained wolves but wanted no part of this. They did not enter the room enough to find the hidden tunnel.
Thanks to the Cleric's darkvision, they were able to spot the goblin on the bridge, but attempts to kill the bugger off failed. While Thorin attempted to scale the nearby escarpment, Roscoe deftly avoided a wall of water, while Scojo was swept away. He managed to use his strength to grab on the steps before taking damage.
Thorin was on his way up the second half of the embankment when Scojo, having lowered a rope down to Roscoe, rolled a natural 20 on his strength check to pull his buddy up. He jerked so hard that the halfling flew up the first embankment and landed on the cleric's back, piggyback-style, as a second wave of water rushed just under the rogue's feet.
The three adventurers made it up to the food room and fought four goblins, who formed a wall of protection, while their leader Goop (I forgot he had a name in the book!) held out a half-dead Sildar over the ledge. The goblins held off the heroes long enough to allow Goop a few strength checks to heave the human down the cliff, hitting the bottom with 0 hitpoints and bleeding out. The cleric stabilized him easily while the rogue and fighter launched ranged weapons into Goop, easily whittling down his hefty HP total.
The heroes took a short rest to lick their wounds, the cleric and fighter having spent their HP dice and the cleric out of spell slots. The rogue administered a potion to Sildar and the human awakened, answering their questions. (The PCs could have learned more about Wave Echo Cave, had they asked.) The rogue found a mostly-full flask of something alcoholic on Goop's body. They find three freshly cooked squirrels sitting on spits over the fire, each granting 1HP.
After their rest, the PCs decide to head back to the cart and head back to town, knowing Klarg awaited them. (I think they could have taken him, but that's just me.) On their way back, they see a goblin scouting party of five resting out in the thick grass, and duck into the room with the wolves. Two of the three party members roll 18 and 19 respectively on their animal handling skill check and easily tame their wolf buddies, while the rogue failed two rolls, losing 1 HP due to him nipping at the rogue's hand. But a natural 20 saw the rogue soothe his wolfen beast.
(I added this extra fight to encourage the party to stay in the cave. Alas.) All three party members rushed the goblin band -- those who chose to sneak through the thick brush attacked with advantage while those who attacked from the grass were on even terms. The six (seven counting Sildar) were able to take down four of the five goblins, while a fifth escaped in the cave and will be added to the Klarg fight.
Overall, the PCs sit at 275 XP. I'm going to try to force their hand at fighting Klarg at level 1, but if they choose to take on some missions in town, they'll hit level 2 with little issue.
We were able to get through ALL of this over 3 hours, even counting the explanation of their character sheets and what their characters were capable of. The four of us were very pleased!
Disclaimer: I posted this on Reddit too, but wanted to get ya'lls opinions/comments/banter as well.
My brother - one session of 4th, one session of 5th. He played Roscoe the Rogue.
Friend who has played plenty of 2nd, but nothing since. He played Scojo the cleric.
Friend who "played about two years ago". Unsure of the version. He played Thorin the axe fighter.
Seeing as how Friend #2 had a poor DM in the past who just tried to kill the party off, I had it in my head to be a bit more lenient than normal. Plus, given that they were new players who were unfamiliar with their skills, I had a feeling they wouldn't come up with clever, non-combat methods of avoiding fights. Bottom line, I wanted to make it fun for them and I met the goal.
The ambush in the woods was not perceived by the party. The rogue went to investigate the dead horses and was hit by one of two arrows. These goblins were on each side of the path and remained visible for the rest of the encounter, while each had a sneaky sword goblin buddy creeping toward the party. The party managed to spot these two goblins before they were ambushed in melee range. The party succeeded on this encounter after killing the four goblins, having used some healing from the cleric and a second wind. It took a bit of subtle convincing to get the party to tie the horses and cart off in the deep woods, but they eventually succumbed to DM suggestion.
They were able to detect both traps using perception rolls. The rogue decided to hop in the pit trap and rolled well on a perception check, so I had him find a half-buried healing potion in the dirt.
They were able to sneak up on the two guard goblins and dispatch them with little effort. One of them had a healing potion.
They spotted the chained wolves but wanted no part of this. They did not enter the room enough to find the hidden tunnel.
Thanks to the Cleric's darkvision, they were able to spot the goblin on the bridge, but attempts to kill the bugger off failed. While Thorin attempted to scale the nearby escarpment, Roscoe deftly avoided a wall of water, while Scojo was swept away. He managed to use his strength to grab on the steps before taking damage.
Thorin was on his way up the second half of the embankment when Scojo, having lowered a rope down to Roscoe, rolled a natural 20 on his strength check to pull his buddy up. He jerked so hard that the halfling flew up the first embankment and landed on the cleric's back, piggyback-style, as a second wave of water rushed just under the rogue's feet.
The three adventurers made it up to the food room and fought four goblins, who formed a wall of protection, while their leader Goop (I forgot he had a name in the book!) held out a half-dead Sildar over the ledge. The goblins held off the heroes long enough to allow Goop a few strength checks to heave the human down the cliff, hitting the bottom with 0 hitpoints and bleeding out. The cleric stabilized him easily while the rogue and fighter launched ranged weapons into Goop, easily whittling down his hefty HP total.
The heroes took a short rest to lick their wounds, the cleric and fighter having spent their HP dice and the cleric out of spell slots. The rogue administered a potion to Sildar and the human awakened, answering their questions. (The PCs could have learned more about Wave Echo Cave, had they asked.) The rogue found a mostly-full flask of something alcoholic on Goop's body. They find three freshly cooked squirrels sitting on spits over the fire, each granting 1HP.
After their rest, the PCs decide to head back to the cart and head back to town, knowing Klarg awaited them. (I think they could have taken him, but that's just me.) On their way back, they see a goblin scouting party of five resting out in the thick grass, and duck into the room with the wolves. Two of the three party members roll 18 and 19 respectively on their animal handling skill check and easily tame their wolf buddies, while the rogue failed two rolls, losing 1 HP due to him nipping at the rogue's hand. But a natural 20 saw the rogue soothe his wolfen beast.
(I added this extra fight to encourage the party to stay in the cave. Alas.) All three party members rushed the goblin band -- those who chose to sneak through the thick brush attacked with advantage while those who attacked from the grass were on even terms. The six (seven counting Sildar) were able to take down four of the five goblins, while a fifth escaped in the cave and will be added to the Klarg fight.
Overall, the PCs sit at 275 XP. I'm going to try to force their hand at fighting Klarg at level 1, but if they choose to take on some missions in town, they'll hit level 2 with little issue.
We were able to get through ALL of this over 3 hours, even counting the explanation of their character sheets and what their characters were capable of. The four of us were very pleased!
Disclaimer: I posted this on Reddit too, but wanted to get ya'lls opinions/comments/banter as well.