Old-school dungeon crawl using 5e playtest rules

[Li Shenron]

Argh, what's the penalty for firing a ranged attack into a melee? I think I'm missing something horribly obvious.

Also, are all the goblins in melee, or are there any hanging back Su can shoot with impunity?

There is no penalty for ranged attacks into melee AFAIK, but in some cases (e.g. standing directly between attacker and target) your allies or some other enemy can provide some degree of cover, although it seems there's no explicit chance of hitting the cover.

No goblins are in melee at the moment, also see the clarification I've just added to the in-game thread: "The two hobgoblins guarding the bottleneck are now dead, but thanks to the new light sources you all caught glimpsed of more of them hiding in the cave beyond."

 

[Shayuri]

Okay, another question. Hee hee.

Is there an 'opportunity attack' mechanic? Sorry, I can only post from work right now, and I haven't got the files here to check it.

Basically, can Sulannus walk through the long-spear spaces now that their readied actions have triggered, and attack the archers? Or will they stab her if she does that?

And if she casts a spell within their reach is she similarly doomed for a stabbin'?

 

[ccooke]

Okay, another question. Hee hee.

Is there an 'opportunity attack' mechanic? Sorry, I can only post from work right now, and I haven't got the files here to check it.

Basically, can Sulannus walk through the long-spear spaces now that their readied actions have triggered, and attack the archers? Or will they stab her if she does that?

And if she casts a spell within their reach is she similarly doomed for a stabbin'?

Going by the rules... opportunity sttacks happen when you leave a threatened zone (not a threatened *square* as in 3e and 4e). They also take up a reaction. Since triggering a readied action also uses up your reaction, you can expect to be safe from AoO from anyone who has acted out of turn.

Spellcasting also doesn't trigger an AoO.

 

[Li Shenron]

Since triggering a readied action also uses up your reaction, you can expect to be safe from AoO from anyone who has acted out of turn.

Spellcasting also doesn't trigger an AoO.

Seconded.

 

[Shayuri]

Thanks for the clarification!

Li, are the archers close enough together that Su can catch more than one in the area of a Burning Hands spell?

The map suggests they are, but I hate to assume.

Sorry for the long delays here...posting from work is slow going. Should be able to get my action up tomorrow morning.

 

[Li Shenron]

Thanks for the clarification!

Li, are the archers close enough together that Su can catch more than one in the area of a Burning Hands spell?

The map suggests they are, but I hate to assume.

It's hard to tell precisely since we're not technically playing with a battlemap. But IMHO the whole point of not using a battlemap is very much not to get stuck in calculating distances and positions too precisely

In cases like these, I'd rather roll some dice behind the curtains to determine how many of your targets are fully affected.

But between the current distance, your speed, and the spell range, I think you might be able to affect them all!

 

[Kobold Stew]

As Bartleby bleeds, it might be helpful to talk about Readying an action(not for this combat, but for next one), since I think we're reading it a bit different. (You said you wanted to start a thread on it, but I feel we might as well start the discussion here).

As I see it, on your turn (i.e. when you come up in the initiative), you can choose to ready an action that will occur when a condition is met later in the sequence jun that round. If the condition takes place, it uses your reaction.

The action/reaction language means that you don't actually ever change your place in the initiative order (readying an action doesn't slow you down for the rest of the combat). It also means you are focused and can't do opportunity attacks, etc., when an action is readied. So in those two ways it seems a good rule (over previous editions).

But the turn/round distinction means that you only ever act once per round -- it's not a way to get two attack per round. That's what I see, at least, reading How to Play p. 18. That's where I think we're reading it differently, since it seems that the archers are acting at the start of the round with an action readied in the previous one.

I'm not asking us to go back and change anything (I think Bartleby will be okay, and he's been played recklessly I know), but I thought it might help for me to make clear what I was reading.

Fun!

 

[tuxgeo]

I thought the whole idea of the Reaction was to enable an extra triggered action per round.

If you make an attack and then some enemy moves away from you during that same round, you get an opportunity attack against the mover, don't you?

The readied action simply allows the order to be reversed, IMHO.

EDIT: I said that badly. What I means is, if Bartleby entered the room in the cave during Round 5, then the hobgoblins used their action from Round 4 as a reaction triggered by Bartleby's entrance to the room. The hobbos were clearly aware of the party's attack by Round 4. This means they still got their regular turn for Round 5 after Su came in -- though there were then fewer of them left to take that action.

 

[ccooke]

As I see it, on your turn (i.e. when you come up in the initiative), you can choose to ready an action that will occur when a condition is met later in the sequence jun that round. If the condition takes place, it uses your reaction.

The action/reaction language means that you don't actually ever change your place in the initiative order (readying an action doesn't slow you down for the rest of the combat). It also means you are focused and can't do opportunity attacks, etc., when an action is readied. So in those two ways it seems a good rule (over previous editions).

But the turn/round distinction means that you only ever act once per round -- it's not a way to get two attack per round. That's what I see, at least, reading How to Play p. 18. That's where I think we're reading it differently, since it seems that the archers are acting at the start of the round with an action readied in the previous one.

I'm not asking us to go back and change anything (I think Bartleby will be okay, and he's been played recklessly I know), but I thought it might help for me to make clear what I was reading.

Fun!

Not quite, as I read the rules. (And hey, I'm just being a busybody here since I'm not in the game, just watching it ;-) )
Everyone has a reaction that can be used to act outside their turn. There are standard things that can be done with a reaction such as opportunity attacks. Some class features (and probably racial and feat features) provide you with additional uses for your reaction, but you still only get one per turn.
Using the ready action creates another use for your reaction just like any other. Every use if reactions has a trigger, and you define one when you take the ready action. Outside your turn, should any trigger for a reaction occur, you can choose to spend your reaction and do the relevant thing. So you can make an opportunity attack with a readied action - or cast the shield spell. But if you do one of those, you've spent your reaction and can't use your readied action if the trigger come up later.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Not quite, as I read the rules. (And hey, I'm just being a busybody here since I'm not in the game, just watching it ;-) )

Ha! cool!

I'm with you most of the way, but we seem to split here:

Outside your turn, should any trigger for a reaction occur, you can choose to spend your reaction and do the relevant thing. So you can make an opportunity attack with a readied action - or cast the shield spell. But if you do one of those, you've spent your reaction and can't use your readied action if the trigger come up later.

In the passage I cited, there seems to be two relevant factors:

a)

you forgo your action on your turn to take an action later in the round using your reaction

b)

if the trigger never occurs … you simply wait for your next turn.

By my reading of (a), we need to read (b) as "if the trigger never occurs [later in the round]".

I find this interesting, because each of us has read this and thought it was natural, but have come to different conclusions.