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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BoldItalic" data-source="post: 6844576" data-attributes="member: 6777052">I've worked through the first encounter again using hexes. As @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=5834" target="_blank">Celtavian</a> has notices using squares, it's actually very crowded and I've had to enlarge the cave to 60ft N-S to fit everyone in. I've used the original party and kept the original intiative order but the tactics on both sides have had to change because there is so little room to manoeuvre. Where possible, I've averaged damage.Map showing position after giants' move[ATTACH]75388[/ATTACH]The Rogue uses his Cunning Action to disengage, moves his speed SW and shoots at the <s>westernmost</s> southernmost wolf. He gets Sneak Attack because the wolf is adjacent to the <s>Paladin</s> Cleric. He is +10 to hit AC13 for d8+5+6d6 so on average he scores 28 damage.FG1 (Gorbarth) positions himself NW of the Paladin at 10ft reach and attacks at +10 vs AC21 so on average he hits once and his average damage is 32 on the Paladin. FG2 can't reach the cleric because he doesn't have enough hexes of movement to get through the wolves and around the back of the party, so he positions himself to the NE of the Wizard at 10ft reach and attacks the Wizard. He is +9 vs AC12 so on average he scores 1.8 hits @ 25 for an average of 45 damage on the Wizard.The Bard can potentially catch all six monsters with Hypnotic Pattern if she centres it on the centre point of the party (I said it was crowded in here).  She uses a level-3 Bard slot. The PCs are immune because of the Paladin's aura. On average, one wolf will make its save and each giant has a 20% chance of saving. From here on, the encounter swings depending on the saves so I rolled it out once. Only FG2 made his save, with a roll of 17, not FG1 nor any of the wolves.At this point, the party tries to disable FG2 before it can act again and rouse the others. Weapon and cantip damage alone is probably not going to be enough unless they get very lucky, so they are prepared to use spell slots.The Paladin is now free to move and squeezes past the Wizard to melee FG2. He uses a 1st-level slot for a Divine Smite. On average he gets 1.7 hits @ 15 average damage plus 9 for the Divine Smite, so his expected damage is 35.  The wolves are all incapacitated.The Wizard estimates that he, the Cleric and the Rogue are not going to do enough damage to kill the giant before it can act again, and the continuation is likely to cost the party at least five 1st-level slots. He can recover a 5th-level slot during a short rest as easily as five firsts, so he decides to take a chance on ending the encounter right here. He uses a 5th-level slot to cast Modify Memory on the giant. It has advantage on its Wis save because it is already fighting the Wizard and rolls 8|7 + 0 = 8, fails against the Wizard's DC16 and is Charmed/Incapacitated. There was a 48% chance that it would make the save, so the Wizard was taking a calculated risk.All the monsters are now incapacitated and the party has 1 minute to withdraw freely and leave the cave.Cost to the Party32 damage to the Paladin, 45 damage to the Wizard.Slots used: Bard 1(3rd), Paladin 1(1st), Wizard 1(5th).That's a total of 9 slot levels out of a party total of 60, which is about right for one encounter (although later encounters may be harder).</blockquote>

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