How Do We Survive This?

[Allistar1801]

So my party of 3 level 3's(a triton cavalier, a bugbear brute, and me, a sea elf arcane trickster) as well as an NPC druid (who is just using the stats from the monster manual) just won a tournament and got a few things. 500GP (that I took) a masterwork maul (the brute got that one), 5 masterwork throwing hammers (the trickster split these with the brute), and a set of plate that gives its wearer 5 temp hp that replenish at each long rest (the cavalier got that one). After that however the town noble conscripted us to clear out some yeti in the northern pass. I roll a good int check and know that they fear fire. "Sure, why not" we say as we begin our trek into the mountains. We get ambushed by them and The DM starts murmuring "I might have made a mistake" as he shows us the stat block for a yeti. He wanted us to fight 3 of those things while we were boxed in by the mountain pass. Luckily we ended session before the combat broke out, but that left me irked.

My question is how likely are we to just strait up die in this fight?

My guess is somewhere between 80% to 90% depending on how well our cavalier tanks and the brute dishes out damage and then I can maybe get some good sneak attacks off while my dudes are next to them, other than that my spells are useless against them.

 

[aco175]

This is the good start to a joke. A triton, a bugbear, and a sea elf walk into a box canyon high in the mountains...

Other than this, you should focus fire on one at a time. It could also be a good role-playing hook to get back to the coast.

 

[Allistar1801]

This is the good start to a joke. A triton, a bugbear, and a sea elf walk into a box canyon high in the mountains...

Other than this, you should focus fire on one at a time. It could also be a good role-playing hook to get back to the coast.

We don't have our own ship at the moment, that's why we were doing this quest actually. Anyways yeah, after this I think we should skip town for a bit and find a new place that's a bit more appropriate to our skill set

 

[77IM]

Oh that's easy. Sacrifice the NPC. ;}

 

[Blue]

Yetis are dirt simple to hit with their low AC, and your group looks like it can bring the damage. If it wasn't for their Chilling Gaze I'd say have your Cavalier tie them up and go total defense, and your rogue work out some sort of finesse torch ahead of time (maybe small), and every turn move in, attack, and use Cunning Action to disengage, and move back. Or just attack at range with flaming arrows you prepared ahead of time. Fire will keep their attack rolls low. And your brute just smash. Perhaps with a large burning club if he's a two hand weapon type of person.

But Chilling Gaze is a save so the yeti's Fear of Fire does nothing to reduce it. With a 30' range even though it's part of their multiattack. It's 10 points of cold damage each. Your two fighters have Con saves trained so it's probably got a 40% chance to effect you, but your arcane trickster is in for a rough time. Maybe if they can move out of site each time so they can't get attacked with it.

If the DM is already wondering if they are throwing too much at you (hint, it's about x4 deadly by the XP calculator in the DMG), maybe it will make it a Yeti couple with child, and if the child starts taking damage the mother will take it away. Or some other winning condition besides just attrition to see who's standing at the end. Because odds are it's not going to be you.

It sucks that running is probably pretty hard, with them having a 40' speed and a 40' climb speed.

 

[Draegn]

Perhaps the druid shift into a fire newt or something similar?

 

[Leatherhead]

Yeti's are CR 3, each. This means just two of them are a "Deadly" encounter for your rag-tag group. Additionally, they ambushed you, so you have neither the advantage of surprise nor location.

You guys are going to have to run. A good plan is to throw down a line of fire on the ground between you an the Yeti, possibly toss them some food so they have further reason not to go after you all immediately, then run as fast and as far as you can in order to regroup. Hopefully, you have some form of flammable materials that isn't your clothing and packs. But if not, hey, it's a small price to pay for your lives (and an interesting story hook).

After that, you can work on your revenge. Preferably by isolating and setting up your own ambush.

 

[Markh3rd]

Arcane trickster creates the illusion of a deer standing in the midst of the yeti then runs. The cavalier hops on his shield and slides down the snowy hill as fast as he can, while the brute hangs onto the Cavaliers belt and gets dragged behind him. Tell no one in town what happened, pretend to be getting better supplies for a cold weather adventure while really getting as much firepower (see what I did there) as youcan, then go back better prepared.

 

[bedir than]

I'd lean in on being a Trickster. Your group can't fight toe to toe, so it's all about the con now.
Illusion and Deception -- there's a red dragon coming over the hill behind you.

 

[Markh3rd]

Yeah just remember that survive, doesn't necessarily mean kill everything, it means using all available resources to live another day. By any means neccessary. And you guys have plenty of tools to get out of that situation alive. Now the npc on the other hand........