So we had our first extended combat session this Sunday, and it went well. Our party is a human Mariner, halfling Mage, elven Hunter and dwarf Fighter. I've given each starting character an extra free HA and a skill of 15 in one professional skill if none of their skills were 15. Our Mariner has Sealegs and Fast Footwork. Our Hunter has Companion and Twin Shot. Our Fighter has Veteran and Double Slash.
This is Greyhawk so our mage has the school of Transmutation with a secondary school (base skill) of Conjuration.
They had already used their stretch rest before heading into the area (underground caves). First battle were 3 bandits (scimitars) and a scout (bow), but the enemies had a bead on the party and got off some free shots with cover. Party closed and used terrain (knocked over a long table) to create a barrier and knock one of the bandits prone. Used one condition I believe to push a spell roll for Call Lightning (4 WP to cast indoors) which took out the scout and injured one of the bandits. Dwarf and halfling were a bit beat up after the battle and considered resting, but then decided to press on, using 2 healing potions to get back some HP and WP.
2nd battle was a bandit (scimitar), one scout (bow), 2 hobgoblins (spears), and a mage (Illusionist). No advantage either way this time, but when the party entered the defense spot, the Illusionist cast Color Spray on the charging Fighter and Mariner, both managed to make their CON checks to avoid blindness. Lots of fighting and magic ensued with initiative cards mostly being taken straight (still getting used to this system). Hobgoblin was the last enemy standing and surrounded. Dwarf used his Double Slash but didn't use the Veteran ability. Mariner used Fancy Footwork. Halfling used Barkskin for armor. Elf used Twin Shot once, which failed -- that's definitely an all or nothing HA!
At the end of it, most characters had 1-3 conditions, and the dwarf was having to make death checks for 2 rounds (2 successes, one 20 for 2 failures) before the halfling intervened with healing. The party was pretty roughed up but had cleared out the bandit den and are ready to head back to the village with their loot and victory.
I would say these were fairly low powered enemies for starting characters, though the mage could have done a lot more had those Color Spray checks failed. In the end, I think the challenge was about right for starting characters, but would agree that combat is definitely dangerous, and I'll need to be careful about matching enemies to party. No monsters this go, but looking forward to the next one!
Bro, play Dragonbane instead."
