A Small Heist [5e] OOC

[Bobthewizard]

I agree with all of this. It was fun but not quite as good as the goblin game or the radiant god one-shot.

The lack of terrain and environment features was a big downside. Every fight felt like a white room without walls. There was no chance to run or hide, it was just fight the creature until it died or ran away. So maybe try to come up with more that the characters can interact with, both in and out of combat. Pyro had great ideas for that.

Also, I tried to respond to your message about the goblin game and your mailbox was full. If you put the link here, in that game, or send it as a message, I'd be happy to fill out a review for it.

[J-H]

PM box is cleared... for reviews you have to "own" it, so e-mailing a review copy is the way to go.

I did have a potential encounter for a fallen wizard chess piece that was a construct, but you didn't trigger it. I like the idea of a few small cleaning elemental-sprite-things.

My concern with adding a lot of toys would be that it means Eldaroth has kids, and people may not be as willing to rob a house that has kids in it.

At the scale the party is at, it's hard to have much terrain beyond "it's shag carpet" or "it's tile" inside the house. Outside the house, there were bushes and herb-tops overhead in some encounters, but nobody used them and they didn't really show up on the map well (3D challenges). What else can I add that would help?

I wanted to keep some exploration feeling for the house... you could have gone a few different routes including some time inside the walls to bypass some of the rooms, which would also have kept you out of sight of Cupcake (aside from in the library) and safer from the housekeeper (big broom) or cook (dragonborn with cold breath that he uses on "bugs").

I wanted Cupcake to be possible to beat, but hard and kind of scary to fight... like a cat, complete with not really even trying to eat the party, just knock them around and play with them unless they hurt her a lot. Modify Memory has a pretty good chance of succeeding, especially if preceded by anything that would give disadvantage on saves like Bane or Synaptic Static or any other miscellaneous debuffs.

Blindness, Stinking Cloud, and a few other things would probably work on her also, although non-casters tend to lack disabling options aside from Stunning Fist. She intentionally has no proficient saves, and only really good scores in STR & DEX.

Spoiler: Cupcake

Show

Cupcake
This housecat is black, with neon pink vertical stripes, and eyes that glow with a yellow inner light. 5 size increase
Gargantuan Fey
Armor Class 22 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 486
Speed 300 ft. relative, Climb 150 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
23(+6) 25(+7) 10(0) 8(-1) 12(+1) 11(0)
Skills Perception +8, Stealth +9(A)
Senses Darkvision 90’, Passive Perception 18
CR 24 (PB+7)
Keen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Actions
Multiattack. Cupcake makes two attacks against different targets, preferring Bat or Pin. She will only Bite a target if it was Pinned in the previous round and there is not something more interesting to do.
Bat. Melee Weapon Attack, +13 to hit, 20’, 4d6+6 bludgeoning damage. The target must make a DC 23 Strength save or be knocked 20’ in a random direction (roll 1d8, with 1 being up, 2 being up and right on the map, etc).
Pin. Melee Weapon Attack, +13 to hit, 20’, 4d6+6 bludgeoning damage. The target is restrained, and can use its action to make a DC 23 Athletics or Acrobatics check to break free.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack, +13 to hit, 20’, 4d8+6 piercing damage. On hit, the target, if Large or smaller, must make a DC 23 Athletics or Acrobatics check. On a failed check, the target is Grappled.
Swallow. After Chewing a target, Cupcake may attempt to Swallow it on the following round my making another attack with advantage. If successful, she swallows the target, dealing bite damage. Swallowed targets take 2d8+6 bludgeoning damage and 2d8 acid damage at the beginning of her turn each round, and are blinded and restrained. Dealing 40 or more damage to the Cupcake from inside in one turn will cause it to vomit out any swallowed creatures.
Legendary Actions
Cupcake gets one Legendary Action per round, which can only be taken if she is awake and not paralyzed.
Bat.
Pin.
Shake it off. Cupcake saves with advantage against one ongoing condition that hinders her.
Sniff. Cupcake makes an active Perception check with advantage to try to locate an invisible or hiding opponent, opposed by their Stealth check.

[Pyrophilios]

Toys don't necessarily need to belong to children in the household - they could be the wizards private hobby to make, be kept for a nephew or niece, or part of a collection
But even then, I don't think that an adventurer group would hessitate to steal a book that won't be missed otherwise.

Regarding terrain: That's why having less fall damage, farther jumping distances and greater carry capacity is a good idea. If the characters are in danger of getting hurt badly by a fall, they won't climb if they don't have to.
My suggestions for varied terrain would be:

Kitchen: Climb up on the oven and cross the still hot top to reach a ventilation shaft that leads upward. Encounter some fire sprites that regulate the heat in the oven. Pushing them into the wash basin next to the oven is an easy way to get rid of them if they turn hostile

Room above is a tinker/play room: Lot's of magical toys around. Making your way to the door means crossing train tracks, automated puppets and other assorted constructs

Fastest way to the library is through the laboratory: Lot's of glasware, dropping strange potions, bunsen burners, and small creatures in alcohol jars that bag you to be released (Or maybe some have escaped)

Library: As before but with more furniture - a sofa with crevices to hide in, tables with pipes and ashtray. Ash on the carpet as well as falling table cloth, pillows, books on the ground, etc. (Because the help only reluctantly cleans in the library so as not do disturb the wizard's notes

After the fight with the familiar, escape through the rookery, where trained owls can be used to send messages (team has to find a paper to write the address where they want to go as a side quest)