D&D General I hate five-foot passages!

[SteveC]

I will just say "preach it!" I am running Abomination Vaults at the moment which is a big dungeon with a lot of 5' passages. I know people have taken the maps and doubled the size of everything, so that a 5' square becomes 10'. I don't know if that would work for you but something to try.

 

[TheSword]

Figure they're about level 9 or 10 at that point of the adventure given its chapter so that's a +4 proficiency bonus on top of a (probably) +5 stat.
And for a party of 9th level characters, a CR5 and a CR7 together make for (roughly) a Medium encounter. Totally reasonable to be encountering things like that.

Ahh. Didn’t see that blues were CR7.

Yes that makes sense. +9 Athletics is still pretty punchy. I guess I see a lot more multi-classing and feats so stats don’t get maxed until later.

I find a lot of the outsiders seem pretty poor against a similar party compared to their previous incarnations. Ironically in 3e guess what spell abilities blue slaad used to get…

… Passwall, Telekinesis and Hold Person. I’m sure being able to summon in another slaad would have been very useful too!

In fairness, I think there is a way round to the corridor, so both Slaad could engage. Not ideal for the slaad attacking with disadvantage but they could At least get to combat.

 

[the Jester]

In fairness, I think there is a way round to the corridor, so both Slaad could engage. Not ideal for the slaad attacking with disadvantage but they could At least get to combat.

I don't know the module in question, but I was going to suggest this- it's good to design encounters such that monsters or bad guys who are away from the front have a way to come around and engage from the rear.

EDIT: Gotta Jacquays that dungeon!

 

[Umbran]

To be honest, in general I avoid encounters in 5' spaces because it is such a PITA.

The encounter is technically in a much larger room.

Wherever you set the actual encounter, though, the players choices have some say in how and where action unfolds - the GM doesn't have complete control of that.

 

[tetrasodium]

The encounter is technically in a much larger room.

Wherever you set the actual encounter, though, the players choices have some say in how and where action unfolds - the GM doesn't have complete control of that.

As far as I can tell shattered obelisk id 5e. As long as that's true, No it's still in the hall.T he interesting combat encounter hurdle someone mentioned earlier is a big problem with this sort of solution. Even if the salad squeezes into the hallway it has two options A: attack the tank B retreat. What you wind up with is a clown cat of tank if the monster is powerful enough to threaten one and the rest of the group ranged attacking with impunity. Thanks to 5e allowing move attack move attack move things get even worse with PCs just sniping it from cover regardless of hall any size if it stays in the room coming off the hall

 

[Staffan]

If you're going to fight in a 5' hallway, do it right.

That aside, the clip actually shows one thing that isn't modeled very well in D&D with its attritional hit point model: the importance of being on the offense. Daredevil opens up the first door, rushes in, and quickly beats the dudes inside up before they have a chance to react. D&D doesn't reflect that very well, particularly not with the way enemy hp scales to damage. There's no way a D&D party rushing into a room like that would have much effect on the creatures within, at least not enough to ignore the advantages of defending a narrow passageway.

 

[Oofta]

From "The Shattered Obelisk" (roll20 port).

The rogue (who opened the door) won initiative and moved back so that the slaad had to squeeze to attack.

Why do people keep doing this?

View attachment 348430

In this particular scenario, is there any reason for the Slaad to not just stand on either side of the door and beat on the guy standing there? If the PC backs up then it just depends on whether anyone can do more than 10 points of damage per round (the slaads regenerate) when most PCs will have a hard time seeing them. Or just close the door. Presumably there's something in the room that the PCs need.

In general, if I set up this type of room I would put the McGuffin further into the room and give the slaad at least an option to hide behind total cover while still being able to attack. Or, of course, have wider hallways.

 

[MarkB]

Are the slaadi under anyone's command? If yes, they can close the door and raise a holler further into the area, alerting everyone to the intruders. If no, they can start pulling pieces off that delicate orrery-looking thing in the room and throwing them as improvised weapons. Better hope it's not anything important or useful.

 

[TheSword]

I had a monstrous creature start attacking the intervening wall when a doorway it couldn’t get through was held by PCs. It was quite scary for them, with the risk of collapse as well. It’s a flaw of D&D dungeons that dungeon walls are usually 5’ thick. Not very realistic.

 

[Umbran]

As far as I can tell shattered obelisk id 5e. As long as that's true, No it's still in the hall.

I think we are talking past each other.

Nominally, the adventure seems to place the creatures in the room, not in the hall.

I already noted that player choices (in this case, their choice to stay in the hall) can in part control where the action plays out. Only ham-handed designs change that. Players will, on occasion, make choices that are a little frustrating to themselves and others.