This is Not Gonna End Well XD

[Azedenkae]

A player of mine wanted their adventure to be remembered in story form, and the rest appeared, so I decided to write up their campaign: http://itssosofishy.tumblr.com/tagged/hoardofthedragonqueen

Hey guys!

So I just started DMing, and I've managed to wrangle the presence of four of my... a tad bit crazy friends. >_>

They decided to do the standard 4d6p3 thing, but also down-the-line. Which is not that uncommon I guess, except they decided to ALL do it. XD Here are the results:



Race
Class
Background
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha


Half-Elf(Drow)
Bard
Urchin
7
4
12
12
6
18


Human (Variant)
Barbarian
Uthgardt Tribe Member
12
16
15
10
11
9


Dwarf (Mountain)
Paladin
Acolyte
15
14
15
8
12
16


Dwarf (Mountain)
Cleric (Life)
Acolyte
17
10
8
12
13
11



The stats all include bonuses already. What do you guys think? I mean I guess it is not the worth stat spread, but given that one of them have like a -3 dex mod, and the other have a -1 con mod, it just doesn't feel so certain. The barbarian and paladin is good, even if the barbarian decided to be dex-based, which can work but... yeah. The issue is that they have ONE healer, and he only has a wis of 13. :/ That Str of 17 really doesn't help him, not in his case. ><

I did toss in my own char to make a party of five. We're gonna go through the Horde of the Dragon Queen campaign.

Anyways, all bets are on the table! Who's gonna die first? Who's gonna survive? I'm gonna say the Bard because he literally has 9 AC, but we'll see. Not gonna try to kill anyone of them off particularly, obviously.

[mgshamster]

Tell that bard to get heavy armor proficiency as soon as he can, because then he can ignore that crappy dex penalty to his AC.

[Sigreid]

Looks like a fun party to me. If you look at it, they all have strengths and weakness, and will probably actually have to play pretty well as the guys who don't really belong in the hero role, but are going to do it anyway. I like it.

[Specter]

1) I'm guessing you just forgot to put a'1' before the bard's dex, but if not, kill him.
2) As far as I've seen, that whole Dex-barbarian thing is far from optimal. Unless he's set on the concept, he might change his mind.
3) Tell the pally to put one of his CON points in STR; no point in having two odd stats in the beginning.
4) Tell that Cleric to put his highest in WIS. Derp to him.

[Sigreid]

1) I'm guessing you just forgot to put a'1' before the bard's dex, but if not, kill him.
2) As far as I've seen, that whole Dex-barbarian thing is far from optimal. Unless he's set on the concept, he might change his mind.
3) Tell the pally to put one of his CON points in STR; no point in having two odd stats in the beginning.
4) Tell that Cleric to put his highest in WIS. Derp to him.

I think you may have missed the part where the players decided they specifically wanted to do characters rolled right down the line with no adjustment.

[Foxhound438]

We're gonna go through the Horde of the Dragon Queen campaign.


oh god...

anyways, you have a bard too, so that makes 1 and a half healers. A lot of odd stats that will be rounded off at level 4, so that's good if you survive that long...

note the HotDQ is a very... eh, triple deadly campaign. like, Horribly balanced. even characters with good rolls will have some trouble, especially in the first night. I'd recommend playing a bit loose with the rules for that first bit, or go out of your way to make a "long rest" available in there, like some not-in-the-book special water that heals them and restores their abilities, because a group of level 1's absolutely will have trouble with resources in that first chapter. I've done the first bits of HotDQ with 2 different DM's now, the first one midway through it decided to "skyrim level up" us since we had accumulated the EXP to level up at a point, while the other ruled that with a good meal and some help from the locals we got the benefits of a long rest about 2/3 of the way through when we were all spent.

[Crgaston]

It'll be fun! The bard can heal, too, if he picks the Cure Wounds spell. Have him stay in the back and provide Inspirations and Cutting Words to help the other guys out during combat. With an 18 CHA he'll be a boss at persuasion and deception, too. Maybe he's an important person thee other characters are trying to protect? Think Eugene from the Walking Dead.

[Azedenkae]

Good suggestions all around guys! Yeah I wasn't aware the HotDQ was bad, at the beginning. I've thrown in that 5th char without upping difficulty, so hopefully it'll be alright. Will keep an eye out though, hopefully won't let any characters die unnecessarily.

I've told the Bard to get heavy armor proficiency. Gonna be a bit hard because he does not have the stat to multiclass, but at level three he can get medium armor at least, plus a shield. So that should be *alright* until fourth level, where he could probably get heavy armor proficiency.

The Bard wants to take advantage of his high Charisma to do more damage. I told him 'but healing'. He was like 'but thunderwave'. 'But you should not be in melee'. 'But high Charisma'. 'But... okay'. XD

The Bard is a boy. Interestingly enough though, he is actually the center of the party. They decided that they need to protect him.

[Tallis]

That bard could be fun to play :smallsmile: He's definitely going to have to be more creative in the way he handles trouble. I say the pally dies first.

[Arkhios]

how does one roll 2 from 3d6 is beyond me. Shouldn't the dexterity be at least 5 for a drow?

[Azedenkae]

how does one roll 2 from 3d6 is beyond me. Shouldn't the dexterity be at least 5 for a drow?

He's a Half-Elf. He gets +2 Cha, then +1 for two other stats.

[Arkhios]

He's a Half-Elf. He gets +2 Cha, then +1 for two other stats.

Oh, herp derp. Misread :D

[Azedenkae]

Oh, herp derp. Misread :D

All cool. XD Yeah that race is a bit confusing. Technically I could write 'Half-Drow' but :P

[Gwendol]

This will be fun, which is why I prefer rolled characters. You get to work with strengths and weaknesses, and if unlucky, only weaknesses...

[Specter]

I think you may have missed the part where the players decided they specifically wanted to do characters rolled right down the line with no adjustment.

Oh yeah... so they're dead. If you really aren't giving them any relief, harshly tone down the CR of encounters.

[Oramac]

A Mountain Dwarf Cleric with an 8 Con. So he rolled a 6. Yea, that guy's gonna die.

It'll be a fun campaign for sure, just probably really short. :P

[Azedenkae]

This will be fun, which is why I prefer rolled characters. You get to work with strengths and weaknesses, and if unlucky, only weaknesses...

Yeah same here. Sometimes it's just really hard tho, especially when many chars would fair better with at least moderate stats in both dex and con. Half of my players didn't end up with that tho. >.< They're quite happy to play their chars tho, so I guess that's all that matters. XD I do allow them to completely re-roll if none of their stats is 14 or above. Too bad even for the Bard, he managed to get a 16 in a stat lol.


Oh yeah... so they're dead. If you really aren't giving them any relief, harshly tone down the CR of encounters.

Yeah I guess. >.< I am considering that, plus let them rely a bit more on their RPing. Issue is this is a published module, and I want to stick close to it. We'll see. Bets on who's first to die tho? :P


A Mountain Dwarf Cleric with an 8 Con. So he rolled a 6. Yea, that guy's gonna die.

It'll be a fun campaign for sure, just probably really short. :P

Aye. I think that's why he chose Mountain Dwarf actually. I mean -1 con mod is... doable. But -2... XD

[smcmike]

Aye. I think that's why he chose Mountain Dwarf actually. I mean -1 con mod is... doable. But -2... XD

Seems like he would have been better off as a hill dwarf. Wisdom and toughness would be better than strength when his HP are low anyways.

PS this should be fun. The paladin is kind of a beast. You've got plenty of healing, potentially. Just target kindly as DM - dex barbs are great at soaking up damage, so long as you decide not to ignore them.

[Joe the Rat]

That Bard is probably the only time you will see Ringmail as the optimal armor choice (unless he wants to spend all his time Dashing). Declaring him a kid actually captures the low strength and dex (that awkward stage). If he's young enough you might consider going for Small size. He should get familiar with rules on cover and stealth, and the Dodge action.
Point him to Vicious Mockery for core damage. 1d4+4 on a DC14 wisdom save at will is pretty good out of the gate, and it makes everyone else's life easier. If he's really hungry for damage, Sorcerer and Warlock would get you more bang, but sets you further behind on your Quest for the Ringmail. (Favored Soul Sorcerer would help on the armor issue).

The main drawback of the dexbarian is the limited weapons. If he wants to sword-and-board or two-weapon, however, there's not much difference. He's not getting the +2 damage on strength attacks while raging... which in this case is giving up +3 to hit +3 damage while raging for +5 to hit +3 damage all the time. Rage is a defense power for this character. Athletics proficiency and Rage Advantage would make him a decent shover, but not a great one. Rapier and shield, he'll have AC17 - a good blocker. he can probably leverage the high AC for "safer" Reckless Attacks. Go two weapon, and you can take a bow as an easy backup (no need to doff shield). Dual Wielder, and it's AC16. It'd still be easier as a Fighter - more dex synergy options. Or Ranger. Pass Without Trace, and the Bard might actually be able to sneak.

Are the Dwarves from the same temple? Are they related?

Greenest can be tough. Consider starting at 2, or letting them Long Rest once at the keep on Short time (otherwise they'll run out of gas, or miss all the missions). You may want to gently suggest that they work on backup characters. Not just because of stats - low levels can be swingy, and there's a lot going on that could murderize them.

[MaxWilson]

oh god...

anyways, you have a bard too, so that makes 1 and a half healers. A lot of odd stats that will be rounded off at level 4, so that's good if you survive that long...

The bard can heal like a boss at 6th level! Aura of Vitality is awesome. It's more like two and a half healers than one and a half at that point.

How well the party survives, well... it will depend upon how well they play. Barb needs a heavy crossbow/longbow for now, Bard needs Stealth Expertise ASAP so he has at least a prayer of hiding in combat while he hands out Inspiration and maintains Heroism on the tank, everyone needs to stock up on unusual supplies like bear traps and ball bearings to give the dwarven tanks as much chance as possible of hitting a prone target, the party should exploit chokepoints to make monsters have to deal with the paladin tank, paladin should learn to use his best spells like Wrathful Smite efficiently instead of wasting spell slots on Divine Smite... etc.

If you squint hard enough at this party it looks like a standard iconic four-man party: squishy wizard (bard), cleric, fighter (paladin), and rogue (barbarian in combat, bard out of combat) which means they ought to be able to do well enough.

I'm actually more concerned about the class and race choices though[1] than the stats, but there are lots of little issues even with the stats, e.g. normally I'd recommend the cleric put Warding Bond + (Shield of Faith/Bless, depending) on the tank to make him stand up to punishment longer (+1 AC/saves with no concentration cost and resistance to everything a.k.a. HP pooling), but in this case the cleric has only Con 8 so I can't really recommend it even if you do have Aid and Death Ward running.

Should be interesting. Good luck!

[1] E.g. no wizard or druid; I know I said bard ~= wizard but I'm not sure I believe it, since the bard will have fewer and worse spells than a wizard would in his spellbook at the same level. A bard is normally more of a hybrid cleric/wizard, but in this case you already have a cleric. About the closest he gets to wizarding it up is that he can have Polymorph and Hypnotic Pattern on tap eventually; but for example there's no one in the party who can cast Leomund's Tiny Hut or Fly, which means you will need a plan for dealing with airborne dragons when your only real ranged element is a Dex barbarian with a bow...

Also, I'd breath much easier with this party if the bard would at least take a couple levels of warlock for Repelling Blast (to keep himself safe) and Expeditious Retreat (ditto), although that does delay Aura of Vitality.

=========================


Tell that bard to get heavy armor proficiency as soon as he can, because then he can ignore that crappy dex penalty to his AC.

How? He can't multiclass to fighter because of low Str/Dex. He can't multiclass to Paladin because of low Str. He can't multiclass to Life Cleric because of low Wis. Only option I see for him isn't heavy armor, it's hiding behind total cover and/or Hiding with stealth, which he should be rubbish at due to low Dex but Expertise can help cover it slightly.

[Joe the Rat]

How? He can't multiclass to fighter because of low Str/Dex. He can't multiclass to Paladin because of low Str. He can't multiclass to Life Cleric because of low Wis. Only option I see for him isn't heavy armor, it's hiding behind total cover and/or Hiding with stealth, which he should be rubbish at due to low Dex but Expertise can help cover it slightly.Valor Bard for medium armor at 3, Heavily Armored feat at 4. The trick is surviving that long.

[smcmike]

The biggest question mark for me is the Cleric.

The Bard is easy - he won't carry or use any weapons, and will be a dedicated caster. If anyone targets him they'll hit, but his HP are fine and he won't be a front-liner anyways. I like the suggestion of getting him heavy armor proficiency, at which point he's actually pretty good.

So long as you target him, the barb is fine too. He can run in with a shield and a rapier and take a ton of hits, while dealing some damage. That's his job, and he's good at it. Multiclass to rogue for some fun, and maybe someday he can find gauntlets of ogre strength.

The paladin is awesome. No problems with him at all, and he should be in the fight with the barbarian. The barb can be the set-up man (rogue for athletics expertise!) and the paladin the finisher.

The cleric is the only one that doesn't really work. He's strong, so he wants to be in melee, but his HP are going to get him killed. If he can't be in melee, he has spells, but his casting stat sucks too. Hill dwarf would be so much better!

[MaxWilson]

Valor Bard for medium armor at 3, Heavily Armored feat at 4. The trick is surviving that long.

I know it's technically possible to do that; I just don't see that option as feasible given the cost. You'll be giving up a bunch of skills and an ASI that could better go towards Inspiring Leader and the Cutting Words option in order to have mediocre AC[1] instead of horrible AC (and martial weapons), but in both cases you have absolutely no business in melee or exposing yourself to enemy fire.

Inspiring Leader and Cutting Words will be more helpful to the party than an armored bard on the back line.

[1] That is, assuming you go for Ring Mail as suggested previously. If you go for plate armor then your AC is fine--but you still have no business in melee because your melee offense stinks and your concentration save is mediocre; you're still better off on the back line.

[Joe the Rat]

I agree that Lore Bard is more useful to the party, but I'm getting the impression "useful" will butt heads with "look awesome" on this one. He'll have a couple of levels of surviving to decide between options.

Lore Bard would also let him get Barkskin... but that's even further down the road.

Hmm... a Barkskin Ring (3/day) would be a nice find.

[Shining Wrath]

HotDQ has some tough encounters, be prepared to roll behind the screen and "adjust" a little.

Interesting way to CharGen and good luck.

[Inevitability]

The bard is probably fine. He's got good charisma and decent constitution, and the AC issue can be fixed later on.

The barbarian has very little strength, though. Will he be using a finesse weapon (yes, there are builds for that)?

The paladin seems fine too. Good scores all around. Strength is slightly lower than it should be, but not abysmal.

The cleric, though... High strength implies melee, but going melee with only 7 HP may not be a great idea. Not to mention that the lack of martial weapons will also hurt melee combat.


Tell that bard to get heavy armor proficiency as soon as he can, because then he can ignore that crappy dex penalty to his AC.

D&D: where strapping a few dozen pounds of metal to your body helps with dodging.

[mgshamster]

Why would you bother dodging with heavy armor?

[BrianDavion]

In a case like this I tend to offer people like the Bard re-rolls.

[Carlobrand]

...D&D: where strapping a few dozen pounds of metal to your body helps with dodging.


Why would you bother dodging with heavy armor?

Think it through: if your dex is lousy, why would you bother dodging, period? That logic leads you to a minimum dex penalty of 0 in all cases - but that's not what the game gives us. The game tells us ordinary people can dodge with no bonus, but at least they'll make themselves a hard enough target that your chance of hitting them is worse than if they were unconscious or paralyzed. The inept klutzes are a wee bit worse at it - unless they put on a suit of ringmail, in which case they're as good at it as any ordinary person.

Technically, if you don't bother dodging, you are essentially in the same boat as that paralyzed feller over there. Try it yourself: stand still and tell someone to hit you with a stick. :smalltongue:

[EvilestWeevil]

Yeah I have done that before, my gnome bard had a 5 str. It wasn't that bad, until we had to climb, or do nearly anything physical. Also this was 3.5, so I could only carry about 25lbs., while it is fun to have low stats, those stats on the bard are nearly unplayable. His chances of survival or doing anything physical are going to be non existent, and more often than not he will be a hamper on the party. It could make it fun, but more than likely it will be a pain in the ass to cart him around. It will probably also serve to be a pain to you, after 20 mins of trying to get the bard over a pit the fun will begin to drain from the situation.

[Joe the Rat]

High strength, low HP? Thrown weapons. Or he's the pack mule.


35 pounds of bard, 25 pounds of gear. 60lb total. Anyone with high strength could just carry him across. Hell, you should make a special rig so the brawn-guy could papoose him around.

One of my favorite one-shots had a Big Dumb Fighter and a Kobold with a sling. The kobold rode around in the fighter's backpack. They were a tank.

[Azedenkae]

Thanks guys! I've passed on your suggestions to my players, and they've taken up *some* of it lol. Should give them a bit more survivability. We're gonna have our first session soon, so once it starts there'll be no more changes. Let's see how it goes! XD

[mgshamster]

Try it yourself: stand still and tell someone to hit you with a stick. :smalltongue:

I've done that. Armor helps. :)

(Used to do SCA).

[Azedenkae]

So we completed our first encounter about half an hour ago. The one with the 8 kobolds. They survived without a scratch. XD Octavia and Corin (the Barbarian and the Paladin) just went straight up to the kobolds and took their attention. The Barbarian was the MVP, hitting and killing 5/7 times she attacked, with one of the seven being an opportunity attack where she almost killed one. The paladin and cleric killed the other three. The Cleric, as per suggestions, got 20 javelins and just kept on tossing them, doing quite well at it. The two bards were quite useless (they were gonna provide bardic inspiration, but did not see a reason to). XD

It is only the first encounter though, and albeit a relatively easy one. So we'll see what happens next, when they start to take damage and be weary of running straight into trouble. I was lenient-ish as I did let the barbarian intimate the kobolds into fearfulness, although she did already kill off three by then, and together the group had killed off six.

P.S. The barbarian decided to go for dualwielding shortswords. That's why she managed to be so powerful. XD

I do write the encounters up as stories, if anyone is interested. It's on my tumblr blog tho. I am not sure if I can post a link here?

[Arkhios]

I do write the encounters up as stories, if anyone is interested. It's on my tumblr blog tho. I am not sure if I can post a link here?

You can post links once you have made enough posts in the forum (don't start spamming though). Read the forum rules for a better picture.

[Skylivedk]

Hey guys!

So I just started DMing, and I've managed to wrangle the presence of four of my... a tad bit crazy friends. >_>

They decided to do the standard 4d6p3 thing, but also down-the-line. Which is not that uncommon I guess, except they decided to ALL do it. XD Here are the results:



Race
Class
Background
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha


Half-Elf(Drow)
Bard
Urchin
7
4
12
12
6
18


Human (Variant)
Barbarian
Uthgardt Tribe Member
12
16
15
10
11
9


Dwarf (Mountain)
Paladin
Acolyte
15
14
15
8
12
16


Dwarf (Mountain)
Cleric (Life)
Acolyte
17
10
8
12
13
11



The stats all include bonuses already. What do you guys think? I mean I guess it is not the worth stat spread, but given that one of them have like a -3 dex mod, and the other have a -1 con mod, it just doesn't feel so certain. The barbarian and paladin is good, even if the barbarian decided to be dex-based, which can work but... yeah. The issue is that they have ONE healer, and he only has a wis of 13. :/ That Str of 17 really doesn't help him, not in his case. ><

I did toss in my own char to make a party of five. We're gonna go through the Horde of the Dragon Queen campaign.

Anyways, all bets are on the table! Who's gonna die first? Who's gonna survive? I'm gonna say the Bard because he literally has 9 AC, but we'll see. Not gonna try to kill anyone of them off particularly, obviously.

They picked class before rolling attributes? I've never done that. That actually have three healers when you count the bard and the pala. I'm more concerned for their CC

[Azedenkae]

You can post links once you have made enough posts in the forum (don't start spamming though). Read the forum rules for a better picture.

Cool cool. Yeah reading through the rules now. :P Thanks.


They picked class before rolling attributes? I've never done that. That actually have three healers when you count the bard and the pala. I'm more concerned for their CC

Nah they picked the class after. I do realize that some of the classes *may* be better picked (Bard could just be the healer, Barbarian could be a fighter, Cleric could also be a fighter; or a number of other options). I think the Barbarian picked well, that class because she wanted to take advantage of her Dex and Con, which is fair enough I guess. Though I think Fighter would have been better. Though I do let the players make their own choices, even if it's sub-optimal. They can do what they want, they just need to realize that it may cause themselves trouble. XD

[Arkhios]

Nah they picked the class after. I do realize that some of the classes *may* be better picked (Bard could just be the healer, Barbarian could be a fighter, Cleric could also be a fighter; or a number of other options). I think the Barbarian picked well, that class because she wanted to take advantage of her Dex and Con, which is fair enough I guess. Though I think Fighter would have been better. Though I do let the players make their own choices, even if it's sub-optimal. They can do what they want, they just need to realize that it may cause themselves trouble. XD

Could've been even more chaotic (and fun?) process if they did choose their classes in advance before rolling stats. Heck, if they chose even their races beforehand, then it would be hilarious!
(Just a note which I believe many players fail to understand: Even if your primary stat was non-optimal, you could play your character by the book; For example, a cleric could still cast spells even if he rolled wisdom below 10. His spell slots for the day would remain unchanged, only the amount of spells prepared would suffer, and other variables dependent of your spell-casting modifier, such as Save DC's and the like :D ...of course this would mean that you can't multi-class away from cleric if you don't increase your wisdom to 13 or above)

[Azedenkae]

Could've been even more chaotic (and fun?) process if they did choose their classes in advance before rolling stats. Heck, if they chose even their races beforehand, then it would be hilarious!
(Just a note which I believe many players fail to understand: Even if your primary stat was non-optimal, you could play your character by the book; For example, a cleric could still cast spells even if he rolled wisdom below 10. His spell slots for the day would remain unchanged, only the amount of spells prepared would suffer, and other variables dependent of your spell-casting modifier, such as Save DC's and the like :D ...of course this would mean that you can't multi-class away from cleric if you don't increase your wisdom to 13 or above)

Haha I agree. Well it would be more chaotic to roll classes and everything, so I did refrain from suggesting that to my players. But I do like suggesting rolling for the race + stats. Basically simulating how you are 'born'. They then can choose their background and class, based on what it would make sense to happen to such a character with that race + stat combination.

[MaxWilson]

Could've been even more chaotic (and fun?) process if they did choose their classes in advance before rolling stats. Heck, if they chose even their races beforehand, then it would be hilarious!
(Just a note which I believe many players fail to understand: Even if your primary stat was non-optimal, you could play your character by the book; For example, a cleric could still cast spells even if he rolled wisdom below 10. His spell slots for the day would remain unchanged, only the amount of spells prepared would suffer, and other variables dependent of your spell-casting modifier, such as Save DC's and the like :D ...of course this would mean that you can't multi-class away from cleric if you don't increase your wisdom to 13 or above)

Okay, just for fun:

I'm going to make a... human fighter!

Rolls from BrockJones.com: 7, 8, 11, 10, 11, 10

...wow. I'm pretty good at making lemonade from lemons, but ouch.

Argus, Human Charlatan Fighter 1. "Yeah, I'll get right on that, boss."
Str 8 Dex 8 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 11 Cha 10, Mobile, Defense style
Proficiency: Deception, Perception, Intimidation, Stealth, Athletics

I'll put on my ringmail, strap my shield to my back, and plunk away with my heavy crossbow while keeping at long range. If I have to get in melee, I get out my longsword, take a swing, and retreat 40'.

I could have made something from those stats if I hadn't pre-committed to fighter, but wow. Choosing class first AND rolling in order really does gimp you pretty hard.

[Arkhios]

Okay, just for fun:

I'm going to make a... human fighter!

Rolls from BrockJones.com: 7, 8, 11, 10, 11, 10

...wow. I'm pretty good at making lemonade from lemons, but ouch.

Argus, Human Charlatan Fighter 1. "Yeah, I'll get right on that, boss."
Str 8 Dex 8 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 11 Cha 10, Mobile, Defense style
Proficiency: Deception, Perception, Intimidation, Stealth, Athletics

I'll put on my ringmail, strap my shield to my back, and plunk away with my heavy crossbow while keeping at long range. If I have to get in melee, I get out my longsword, take a swing, and retreat 40'.

I could have made something from those stats if I hadn't pre-committed to fighter, but wow. Choosing class first AND rolling in order really does gimp you pretty hard.

Oh, wow, that was unlucky roll. For a one-shot (or perhaps a little longer?) even gimped characters like that can be fun though, if you don't take the game too seriously :P

[MaxWilson]

Oh, wow, that was unlucky roll. For a one-shot (or perhaps a little longer?) even gimped characters like that can be fun though, if you don't take the game too seriously :P

I agree, which is why I designed a background, personality and a strategy befitting his stats.

I'd play this guy for a while. I just probably wouldn't play him for more than twenty hours of real time, maximum, because this guy is obviously going to settle down with the first pot of gold he gets his hands on and buy himself some luxuries and start telling people stories about how he got this gold by arm-wrestling the king of the fire giants.

In other words, I'd play this guy as a finite game (get rich = win! and done) instead of an infinite game (get powerful = win! keep playing).

[RickAllison]

That actually is a meme/game on the /5eg on 4chan. Rolling for stats with 6d20 in order while declaring the race and class. There is an unfortunate tendency for the primary stats to be the one that suffers. Rogues with Dex 4, Barbs with Con 2, etc.

[Azedenkae]

So the game is trudging along pretty well. After the first encounter, the party went through three more. It wasn't until the second that Octavia the barbarian had some injuries; and then the third before she went down to 0 health, while Corin suffered from an unlucky crit from an enemy.

Otherwise, they actually did really well. Hyperion, Nova, and Azedenkae are still in tip-top shape, though Hyperion did use one spell slot to heal Octavia. Otherwise, they've made it to the keep.

[Oramac]

So the game is trudging along pretty well. After the first encounter, the party went through three more. It wasn't until the second that Octavia the barbarian had some injuries; and then the third before she went down to 0 health, while Corin suffered from an unlucky crit from an enemy.

Otherwise, they actually did really well. Hyperion, Nova, and Azedenkae are still in tip-top shape, though Hyperion did use one spell slot to heal Octavia. Otherwise, they've made it to the keep.

Glad to hear it. Hopefully the players are all having fun with the wonky stats too!

[Sirithhyando]

Yeah I guess. >.< I am considering that, plus let them rely a bit more on their RPing. Issue is this is a published module, and I want to stick close to it. We'll see. Bets on who's first to die tho? :P


I've just had my players go through the first night of that module.
You could give them an edge and make them get there instead of getting there. The route could make them level 2 by the time they get there?
And they can theorically just stay in the keep too scared of doing anything but they wouldn't be the hero they're meant to be in the story :smalltongue:

On a side note, i'm playing an half-orc champion in another game with a 8 intelligence and 5 wisdom... he can't see anything and take everything literally... the druid of our party asked me not to let anyone out of the tavern... he stayed in front of the door as one of the 300 spartans. Stoic, shield and spear to the ready. The druid revised how he asked me this. Anyway, yeah a -3 is aweful, but it can be worked with and can be fun also.

Let your player try and if he fails... well... he'll die.

By the way, on the first few pages of this module, there's a note about buying reviving services. There's a reason for this, players are meant to die in this module. (and my players and the DM, me, is inexperienced, lots of funny moment)

edit : should've read the 2nd page before saying something :smalltongue: