Did i f**k up when DMing Klarg the. Bugbear (LMoP)?

[Snig]

SPOILER!!!!

So I DM did my first session last night and everything was going great. My Party of Five defeated the Goblin ambush and made their way up to Cragmaw hideout. Well clearing at the cave they did take damage and made it up to the Klarg encounter. At this point I think at least two characters were down 4 or 5 HP.

In the room before this a goblin managed to escape and warn Klarg that the heroes were approaching.

So here is where I'm wondering if I handled it correctly.

I kept the party at the same initiative since they had just cleared out the room before this. They followed the goblin into the room. At this point I had Klarg and his wolf and 1 other Goblin join the initiative order. Klarg and the Goblin used their turn to ready an action to Ambush the first character that entered. So on our Goliath barbarians turn he entered the room and then I had him pause. At this point Klarg who rolled a natural 20 on his stealth check (opposed by a failed perception check on the Goliath), ran out from behind a stalagmite and smashed the Goliath in the side of the head with his Morning Star. I rolled 2d8 for his weapon attack with brute, and then another 2d6 for his surprise attack. I ended up doing I believe 17 or 18 damage the Goliath used his racial (stones endurance) to reduce the damage but was still knocked unconscious.

So afterwards one of my players argued and he is correct that I can't ready a move action and an attack action and that klarg should not have been able to charge out and attack the Goliath on the Goliaths turn.

Any how things started going south and it wasn't looking great for the party. So I decided since I made a mistake I would try and balance that mistake by allowing the Goliath to stand up with one hit point on his turn. I didn't want to go back and redo everything but I also didn't want the party to feel like I screwed them.

Having said all this I feel that I played Klarg as intended but maybe should have done it differently?

Also I did not have him run away when his wolf was killed. I actually had him become pissed at the Rogue who killed the wolf and Klarg vowed to kill him for that, which it turns out is exactly what happened. The group missed about 5 attacks in a row against Klarg and when the rogue came in and missed with both of his attacks Klarg retaliated and did 16 damage to him killing him outright.

The next turn the Goliath scored a critical hit on Klarg and decapitated him.

Also to balance out not having Klarg flee I only added one Goblin to that encounter instead of two.

So the party survived all except the Rogue who plans on rolling another Rogue that I will add into a chamber they haven't discovered yet where Silder Hallwinter is being held.

So what do you guys think this is my first time DM e did I screw things up royally or do you guys think I handled it okay?

[Unoriginal]

You can use the Ready action to do a movement and an attack, I'm almost 100% sure.

[Armored Walrus]

I think you did fine in the heat of the moment. You're being pretty lenient insofar as you are allowing your rogue Player to essentially roll the same character over again and slotting him in right where he left off - essentially nullifying the death.

The players pushed further than they should have. If they are new to 5e, a nitpick might be that you could have suggested they leave the caves and come back since they were so beat up at that point, but since you're also new, that's just a learning experience for both you and the players. Seems like a "no harm, no foul" situation to me if everyone seems ok with the double retcons, and has any patience at all for the fact that you are all learning together.

Keep it up, that's a fun module once you get through the highly swingy first act.

[Armored Walrus]

You can use the Ready action to do a movement and an attack, I'm almost 100% sure.

AFB, but the SRD reads: "First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it"

[Mellack]

You can only ready a move or an action, not both. Also you need to decide how you are going to rule stealth. Once Klarg ran into the open, he is seen and no longer would get advantage to his attack, although some DMs choose to allow move + attack while still hidden. Not looking to start a stealth debate here, just suggesting that as a newer DM you make a considered ruling about it outside of the heat of the moment.

[Davrix]

First let me say. Welcome to the Dm's chair and your doing just fine right out of the gate so dont worry to much.

Second you handled the fight just fine, your only real mistake it sounds like is giving the party to much info where they shouldn't of had it.

From your description, it sound like you let the party know what the boss was doing before they had line of sight on the room. As the DM its your job to build tension and drama as well as offer logical consequences for what happens in the world. So in this case the goblin got away and was able to alert the boss. It is perfectly logical then that he was waiting in ambush for the first person who entered his room and you did make all the correct checks involved.

So just remember unless the party makes a check for information or its something they should notice upon coming to a room don't offer any more info then you have to. I will add that is a general rule and the idea is not to screw the party or make things unfair. This is where your best judgement comes into play.

I think you made all the right calls here honestly and you handled the ruling challenge very well and quickly by the sounds of it and when it wasn't going well for the party you made a good call. The only thing i could suggest is to always make sure to add drama or tension. When you allowed the Goliath to stand up you could of been like.

"The sounds of the battle turning against your companions reaches within the cold blackness of your unconscious mind. A spark of Goliath rage suddenly re-ignites inside of you and the blood boils once more in your veins and surges you back awake, bloodied and bleeding out all over as you take up your weapon and charge back into the fray."

So don't sweat this to much. The best advice I can give you is, mistakes will and continue to happen. The best thing you can do is to always handle them quickly and without argument. If a rules question comes into play, resolve it or say lets do it this way and we will look it up after the game. Play time is precious, don't waste it over debates. Have fun and fix whats wrong when you have the time after.

[Mith]

AFB, but the SRD reads: "First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it"

Interesting. Movement is treated as "free" so to speak in 5e.

I have no problem with the scenario. When rushing a prepared enemy, they can do you a lot of harm.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Interesting. Movement is treated as "free" so to speak in 5e.

I have no problem with the scenario. When rushing a prepared enemy, they can do you a lot of harm.

Movement can be used whenever you want on your own turn, but if you take the ready action you need to choose between movement and an action as it's not happening on your turn, but as a reaction.

I think it's fine that it happened this way, although you can't actually surprise (as in have them suffer from the surprised condition) someone after initiative has been rolled, Klarg also shouldn't have gotten his surprise attack bonus since you added him into an already ongoing combat. It's clear in the Surprise Attack feature that bugbears get that it has to be on the first round of a combat.

They should probably have rerolled initiative.

It could have gone a lot worse, if your only noteworthy mistakes were misreading the Ready action and Surprise Attack you did pretty good for a first session.