Let's discuss D&D Robot Chicken! Part 21

[Walking Dad]

In the last part:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XjEKfv76k&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - D&D Robot Chicken, Part 21[/ame]​

One of the characters nearly died.

The DM said no time constraints (so others could spend healing surges), there was no enemy present and the only skill challenge wasn't time dependent and could be paused at will.

So:

- Why didn't the DM said the bard as he came conscious (and is the only leader) that he could/should use his healing ability on himself?

- Why didn't the DM said the wizard, that attempting the skill challenge now only costs the group the controller action in a fight with many minions? He could had easily started after the fight.

The players are all beginners!

(Reposted here because at first in the wrong forum.)

 

[KarinsDad]

So:

- Why didn't the DM said the bard as he came conscious (and is the only leader) that he could/should use his healing ability on himself?

The Bard's turn did not come back up. Another creature knocked him unconscious a second time before he had a chance to act.

The other player asked the player of the Bard if he wanted a heal and he refused. Course, the other player was playing a Ranger, so I doubt he could heal the Bard anyway, but...

- Why didn't the DM said the wizard, that attempting the skill challenge now only costs the group the controller action in a fight with many minions? He could had easily started after the fight.

I don't think we know enough about the normal encounter and the skill challenge to say this.

Plus, the player of the Wizard obviously played 3E before (with his Take 10 / Take 20) question. It's likely that he had a good idea of what was going on here. It appeared that the goal here was for the other PCs to fight and the Wizard to mess with whatever he was messing with.

 

[Walking Dad]

The Bard's turn did not come back up. Another creature knocked him unconscious a second time before he had a chance to act.

The other player asked the player of the Bard if he wanted a heal and he refused. Course, the other player was playing a Ranger, so I doubt he could heal the Bard anyway, but...

Missed that he didn't had another turn

I don't think we know enough about the normal encounter and the skill challenge to say this.

Plus, the player of the Wizard obviously played 3E before (with his Take 10 / Take 20) question. It's likely that he had a good idea of what was going on here. It appeared that the goal here was for the other PCs to fight and the Wizard to mess with whatever he was messing with.

But having a false impression what should be done because of 3.5 knowledge was the problem...

 

[KarinsDad]

But having a false impression what should be done because of 3.5 knowledge was the problem...

There was a problem there? The encounter was nearly finished.

 

[Walking Dad]

I just think, that explaining the combt roles before game highly raises the performance...

Controller: AOE minions and debuff elite/solo.
Defender: Mark the heavy hitter. Then, hit hard.
Leader: Buff (with attacks) and heal (with minor).
Striker: You have to do the damage!

 

[chitzk0i]

Is this the aftermath of the fight with the stirges? The real question is why he didn't explain how to escape the stirges' grab. Or why he moved the stirges into their spaces. Or why he ran the stirges' attack as ongoing damage as well as an auto hit on the stirges' turns. Or why he didn't let the bard's majestic word slide himself out of the grab. Or why he didn't follow their suggested tactics of flying off when they reduce someone to zero. Or... you get the idea.

 

[fba827]

if i recall the intro episodes correctly, the wizard player has played a little 4e before and the bard player played a little 3.X before (but not 4e) and no one else had any sort of d&d experience under their belt...

As far as the wizard working on the skill checks rather than combat, i think that was a concious decision on the wizard's part, - though there were several instances when the bard player was subtly suggesting "why don't you wait on this until after we take care of the stuff in the room" but the wizard said he'd keep going at it because he thought that was more helpful and he only had a couple successes left. (of course, this may have been started back before the second wave entered the room, so it seemed like the others could easily wipe the skeletons on their own. by the time the second wave came in he was probably already in mental mode to just keep going at it) - of course, i'm no mind reader, just going based on what i am infering from the videos.

as far as other stuff, i think chris was pretty much just letting them try and do what they wanted, and otherwise keeping the game running simple. (though, yeah, there were a couple things that made me go, "huh?" but it's whatever -- they all seem to be enjoying it).

It is interesting (from a social dynamic point of view) to see how these (some neophyte, some slightly experienced) fall in to different social roles during this. The drow ranger player is constantly trying to think it out. The warforged fighter player seems to be (out of the three with no d&d experience at all) picking up the game mechanics the fastest .

 

[Prism]

Why didn't the DM said the wizard, that attempting the skill challenge now only costs the group the controller action in a fight with many minions? He could had easily started after the fight.

The players are all beginners!

I think it was handled fine. Its not up to the DM to advise the players on what to do even as beginners. Let them learn by experience. Of course if they ask for suggestions then give a few. In this case if the player had asked and I was the DM I would have said 'you can either fight the monsters or start on the runes' - no bias either way. As the group learns how they like to play you can scale the fights appropriately but I felt this encounter was balanced to allow for one player to be busy disarming the runes if they wished to

Our group plays far from optimally and it works just fine. We use dailes on minions, take conditional yet cool encounter powers and sometimes even use the 'do nothing' action during combat. Its all good

Just as an aside we have started playing skill challenges just like the one at the end of the clip. The primary roller goes first and if they 'just' fail the aiders roll their checks to add the +2. Saves an awful lot of pointless rolling and allows the aider to feel they really helped with that check - 'without me you would have failed'