D&D 5E hafrogman's Hoard of the Dragon Queen (full)

[Forged Fury]

From a metagaming perspective, I think we should take the small band. Our three scout types can sneak up for surprise attacks and the rest of us follow at a distance. I guess it makes a certain amount of in game sense to take them out now too... fewer to fight later. All assuming we're pretty sure we can take all of them without any runners getting away or alerting others.

 

[Steve Gorak]

[MENTION=15132]Steve Gorak[/MENTION] I think Jeni's HPs are overstated by 4 points. I believe Druids have 1d8 Hit Dice, IIRC.

...and now we suffer for not having AoE damage spells, LOL.

I corrected this. HP overstated by 7 (d8 and +1 con instead of 110 and +3 con)= 21 and not 28. This was from a previous character I was toying with.
Sorry about that and thanks for the catch [MENTION=95059]Forged Fury[/MENTION].
Cheers,

SG

 

[kuey1975]

From a metagaming perspective, I think we should take the small band. Our three scout types can sneak up for surprise attacks and the rest of us follow at a distance. I guess it makes a certain amount of in game sense to take them out now too... fewer to fight later. All assuming we're pretty sure we can take all of them without any runners getting away or alerting others.

Hmm, I'm more for letting them pass. Weak (?) as they are, they might still cause some damage and our healing is quite limited. (Jeni's the only real healer and she can't do so while in wild shape.) Also, although I'm not sure exactly how many raiders there are, it sounds like there're many, so I doubt our party of 5 can clear all of them anyway. After rescuing whoever we can, I think we can only hole up in the keep until the raiders leave or wait to get rescued.

 

[Forged Fury]

Yeah, I was mostly saying it from a metagaming perspective. Bags of easily obtainable XP. I think Morgan would probably be more mission focused, as you say. We'll only choose to fight something with a commander type.

 

[Skarsgard]

Let them pass I say, it is too close to the keep and would likely attract a LOT of attention.

 

[Steve Gorak]

I agree. We'll get the XP somewhere else!

 

[hafrogman]

I agree. We'll get the XP somewhere else!

How about right here?

From time to time I'll be assigning 'homework' - little world building exercises that will net you bonus XP. These are entirely optional, and will never become a game breaking amount of XP, but they might get you that next level one or two encounters earlier. Level up before the big boss instead of after, for example.

We've been going for a few weeks here, and I haven't give you lot any homework.

There are five of you and six of them. Two human cultists who have joined up with a dragon cult for whatever reason, and four kobolds who serve in the imagined glory of their own draconic heritage. You have been gathered together and set to raid this town, carrying off loot to build a hoard suitable for a queen.

Please pick one of the six, and write me a paragraph describing what's going through their head right now. You have one week, and you'll earn 50xp.

 

[Forged Fury]

Awesome.

Squibcanthraxos the Mighty(!) trudged along with the rest of his clutch and two overgrown apes with whom he had been forced to work. The stupid humans can't even pronounce my name right! he griped to himself. They had to shorten it in order for their weak, pouting pink lips to pronounce, resulting in the shortened appellation of Squib... Hardly a name for the lore-tellers. So far, the sacking of Greenest had gone well. Squibcantrhaxos the Mighty(!) was still alive, unlike some of the others of his warren. He had nobly lead a charge away from the stone Keep at the center of the town earlier in the day after one of the stupid winged urds had caused the loss of many troops to an unknown group led by a huge bear. Now that was a mammal! They had recovered quite a bit of loot so far for the glory of their queen. Soon... yes, very soon... the world would learn to fear Squibcanthraxos the Mighty(!)

 

[kuey1975]

Here's mine... Or rather Steef's.

Promises. Or rather, the failure to meet them. That kept going through Steef's mind, and that for once, maybe just this once, it would be different.

The first was the day he lost his father. He was 5, maybe 6, and was accompanying his father on his daily woodcutting outings. More to get him from under the foot of his mother, who was busy nursing his newborn sister. Just another day, until a deadfall knocked his father out. Young as he were, he knew things weren't good and he promised his unconscious father he would bring help. But by the time he returned, his father was dead.

When he was old enough, his mother tried apprenticing him out, and he always promised he would try his best, but he was either too clumsy or too dumb to stay for long, and his only semi-permanent occupation was a stevedore (and coincidentally a nice pun on his name).

When his mother caught lung fever and made him promise to take care of his sister before she died, he failed in that, too. She fell in with the mayor's boy, who later disavowed ever meeting her. With a rapidly bulging stomach, a hasty marriage was arranged with the town simpleton, but that never quite stopped the wagging tongues.

In time though, his sister actually grew some affection for her husband and things seemed to start settling down. That was until the recruiters came, exhorting the glory of the Dragon Queen, and proclaiming the riches that would come to the followers. Only the down-and-out or the dimwitted join, and naturally, so did his brother-in-law. In tears, Steef's sister begged him to follow to look after him, and so he promised he would.

As usual though, things started falling apart soon. On the way to Greenest, he got separated into a different squad (not only with a complete stranger, but 4 yapping lizards, no less!) and in the ensueing chaos, he lost track of his brother-in-law. His only hope was to get through this night, and hope that when the cult regathered after the raiding, they could each other again. And maybe for once, he could keep his promise.

In the meantime, the loot wasn't that bad...

 

[kuey1975]

[MENTION=95059]Forged Fury[/MENTION] Yes, I think that would set the record for worst set of dice rolls for a while. Hmm, I don't know if I'm metagaming by not sending Carad up to look due to his poor roll, or if having Scree to view is simply safer.