D&D 5E Is it worth taking damage in order to do your stuff?

[PnPgamer]

This situation came up on our last session:
Enemy casts spike growth into a staircase, making it so that everyone except rogue was in the area (he was way back). This became a problem as the rogue didn't want to move forward because he would've received damage, and was too far behind in order to see into the stairway. He was with full hp. he lost like 3-5 rounds of combat.

question is: did he do smart or stupid? should a character take some damage in order to participate into the combat and end it quicker?

PS: the rogue was in my control so I am not calling anyone else but me stupid. My main character Druid was tanking the situation and taking it like a boss.

PPS: I want to have a discussion about the topic generally as well.

 

[Lanefan]

Bunch of questions before I can hope to answer this:

- had the rogue seen this spell before and-or did he have any idea how painful it might be?
- did the other characters give any indication how badly the spikes were hurting them?
- how starchy is the rogue? Is he a rough tough stealin' machine able to take a hit or three or is he a spindly low-Con type who falls over in a light breeze?
- did the rogue have any idea how the battle was progressing below? (the party winning handily or losing handily might give a different answer than if the combat is a close call)

Lan-"damage is one thing, suicide is another"-efan

 

[Azurewraith]

Ignoring the answers that are coming from Lanefan's RP questions i would say mechanically it was a bad idea as well your risking a TPK because of a bramble bush being in the way.

 

[PnPgamer]

Bunch of questions before I can hope to answer this:

- had the rogue seen this spell before and-or did he have any idea how painful it might be?
- did the other characters give any indication how badly the spikes were hurting them?
- how starchy is the rogue? Is he a rough tough stealin' machine able to take a hit or three or is he a spindly low-Con type who falls over in a light breeze?
- did the rogue have any idea how the battle was progressing below? (the party winning handily or losing handily might give a different answer than if the combat is a close call)

Lan-"damage is one thing, suicide is another"-efan

1. He hadn't seen the spell before, but a ground suddenly popping nasty looking bushes with twenty inch thorns isn't a place you want to be.
2. other characters didn't move in the spikestone area, they avoided all the damage from the spell by not moving... until the enemy used thunderwave...
3. I dunno actually. The character was in my control because a guy left our group permanently, I was filling in. but mechanically he has like a +2 or +3 modifier to con.
4. the battle wasn't below, it was up the stairs. I am not sure if he did have any idea.

 

[Herobizkit]

If the players won, the Rogue was smart, because now he doesn't have to waste more of the party's healing than necessary.

If anything, the Enemy was smart for thinking to separate the team this way.

Maybe the Rogue could have been smartER in thinking of a way to deal with the spell, but what's done is done.

I'm not sure if the Rogue's Evasion would come into play here.

 

[PnPgamer]

If the players won, the Rogue was smart, because now he doesn't have to waste more of the party's healing than necessary.

If anything, the Enemy was smart for thinking to separate the team this way.

Maybe the Rogue could have been smartER in thinking of a way to deal with the spell, but what's done is done.

I'm not sure if the Rogue's Evasion would come into play here.

yeah we won, albeit our two highest ac characters failed their saving throw to the thunderwave (spell slot 3) while being in the spike growth, took like over 30 damage per person. Next time though, my druid will be doing the same xD

 

[Herobizkit]

Druids can be very wily opponents - be glad that's all you got away with. *lol*

 

[Mephista]

It depends on the mindset of your group. Because, lets be honest. Your character isn't "taking damage," they're being injured and inflicting pain on themselves. It takes a lot for people to willingly hurt themselves so obviously. From a role playing perspective, I think that willingly hurting yourself in such a fasion is rather unusual. "Should I lose HP while running over to fight and drain resources" is a very meta-game way of thinking of things.

Now, there's nothing wrong with either approach - it all depends on what your group prioritizes.

 

[Nagol]

If the players won, the Rogue was smart, because now he doesn't have to waste more of the party's healing than necessary.

<snip>

If the PCs won and received less damage during the combat than the Rogue would have taken getting into the combat, then there was a win. More likely, the lessened party damage output dropped the opponents slower and the party overall took more damage and used more (non-Rogue) resources to win.

It was probably a poor tactical move for the party for that combat, and depending on the campaign style, a mixed strategic choice for the Rogue and party.

 

[PnPgamer]

if anyone is interested in details the fight was against the bullywug chieftain from hoard of the dragon queen. DM said that it was very druidlike, but not actual full druid or something.