Greywander
2020-05-19, 02:19 AM
I just finished a session of a solo campaign. At the start of the campaign, my character was a 0th level commoner looking for someone to train them as an adventurer. After one quest where I had something like 7 bodyguards and all we fought were four or so urds, my character finally had a real challenge taking on a bullywug one-on-one. Did you know bullywugs get two attacks? Neither did my DM. So I got my butt handed to me, which led to me getting pity training as a rogue. (To be fair, the fight was winnable, albeit with slim odds, and it was a good moment to highlight just how weak commoners are and why they need adventurers.)
New session starts. My character is now a 1/2 level rogue (basically, I get proficiencies, HP, and Sneak Attack, but not Thieves' Cant or Expertise), and as a final test of my training, I'm sent to clear out a goblin cave. First two encounters are lone goblins, and I take them out in one hit thanks to Sneak Attack. Third encounter was two goblins, but I got a crit and rolled double the damage needed to kill one goblin, so the DM invoked Rule of Cool and decided I killed both in one shot. Things got a bit dicey after that. Also, I should mention I have the Lucky feat, but that was about to run out.
The next encounter was two more goblins, so I laid some caltrops down in front of me and shot at one. Unfortunately, the other goblin had a bow, so caltrops didn't help, and he knocked me down to 1 HP in a single hit before I killed him. Prior to taking them on, two goblins from different side passages had wandered into this checkpoint to check in with the guards and then left. One of them was coming back, so I shot and killed him (Sneak Attack is pretty boss). The other goblin was also coming back; my shot missed, so I ran behind the caltrops. Remember, I have 1 HP. It worked! The goblin whips out a scimitar, runs into the caltrops, and fails his save. I get a piece of him, but he isn't dead. He decides to run away, and I waste a few more arrows trying to finish him off (he was down to 1 HP). I have to ask my teacher, who is shadowing me, to stop him before he alerts anyone. Still, caltrops saved my bacon.
The next room is a treasure vault, with two guards. I lay down caltrops again, and kill the one with a bow, while the other charges me with a scimitar and runs into the caltrops. With a very lucky damage roll, I manage to roll the exact damage needed to kill him (remember, since I'm solo, I have to hide first to get Sneak Attack).
Caltrops are pretty handy. I know my character's limits, so I know he can't take two goblins at the same time. If I hadn't used those caltrops, I'd have likely died. Instead, I killed 9 goblins (plus 1 assist) and found some loot. DC 15 is not easy for these low level monsters. It stops them in their tracks, and reduces their speed. Unfortunately, since they have darkvision and I do not, kiting them would not be a viable strategy in these caves, but it might be useful later on.
We had to end the session there, and I think it's about time I pulled out of that cave anyway. However, there's still one thing I might want to do. I passed a room earlier that had something like 20 sleeping goblins with 4 guards. More than I could handle, of course, but maybe I can leave them a surprise. I can probably scrounge up enough of my caltrops to make another bag, and I also have 2 bags of ball bearings and 2 flasks of oil. I'm thinking about laying down some oil, then ball bearings over the oil, then caltrops on top of that. Shoot one guard (hopefully killing him), getting the rest to wake up and chase me, then lighting the oil on fire and running. Since it's a solo game, we're using Heroic Actions (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?596581-Solo-small-party-Try-Heroic-Resistance-Actions), so I should be able to use one Heroic Action to light the oil, and another to flee. Is this stupid, or should I go for it? :smallamused:
New session starts. My character is now a 1/2 level rogue (basically, I get proficiencies, HP, and Sneak Attack, but not Thieves' Cant or Expertise), and as a final test of my training, I'm sent to clear out a goblin cave. First two encounters are lone goblins, and I take them out in one hit thanks to Sneak Attack. Third encounter was two goblins, but I got a crit and rolled double the damage needed to kill one goblin, so the DM invoked Rule of Cool and decided I killed both in one shot. Things got a bit dicey after that. Also, I should mention I have the Lucky feat, but that was about to run out.
The next encounter was two more goblins, so I laid some caltrops down in front of me and shot at one. Unfortunately, the other goblin had a bow, so caltrops didn't help, and he knocked me down to 1 HP in a single hit before I killed him. Prior to taking them on, two goblins from different side passages had wandered into this checkpoint to check in with the guards and then left. One of them was coming back, so I shot and killed him (Sneak Attack is pretty boss). The other goblin was also coming back; my shot missed, so I ran behind the caltrops. Remember, I have 1 HP. It worked! The goblin whips out a scimitar, runs into the caltrops, and fails his save. I get a piece of him, but he isn't dead. He decides to run away, and I waste a few more arrows trying to finish him off (he was down to 1 HP). I have to ask my teacher, who is shadowing me, to stop him before he alerts anyone. Still, caltrops saved my bacon.
The next room is a treasure vault, with two guards. I lay down caltrops again, and kill the one with a bow, while the other charges me with a scimitar and runs into the caltrops. With a very lucky damage roll, I manage to roll the exact damage needed to kill him (remember, since I'm solo, I have to hide first to get Sneak Attack).
Caltrops are pretty handy. I know my character's limits, so I know he can't take two goblins at the same time. If I hadn't used those caltrops, I'd have likely died. Instead, I killed 9 goblins (plus 1 assist) and found some loot. DC 15 is not easy for these low level monsters. It stops them in their tracks, and reduces their speed. Unfortunately, since they have darkvision and I do not, kiting them would not be a viable strategy in these caves, but it might be useful later on.
We had to end the session there, and I think it's about time I pulled out of that cave anyway. However, there's still one thing I might want to do. I passed a room earlier that had something like 20 sleeping goblins with 4 guards. More than I could handle, of course, but maybe I can leave them a surprise. I can probably scrounge up enough of my caltrops to make another bag, and I also have 2 bags of ball bearings and 2 flasks of oil. I'm thinking about laying down some oil, then ball bearings over the oil, then caltrops on top of that. Shoot one guard (hopefully killing him), getting the rest to wake up and chase me, then lighting the oil on fire and running. Since it's a solo game, we're using Heroic Actions (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?596581-Solo-small-party-Try-Heroic-Resistance-Actions), so I should be able to use one Heroic Action to light the oil, and another to flee. Is this stupid, or should I go for it? :smallamused: