Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Riley37" data-source="post: 6569456" data-attributes="member: 6786839">On a tangent: my 5E table is about to have their first level-up since I became DM. It's milestone; three sessions ago, after a Big Fight Scene, I told them that they all felt *ready* to level up, but that levelling up was an in-game event, and since they ended the Big Fight Scene on a gods-forsaken isolated island, which they needed to leave in a hurry, the PCs would have to find an appropriate in-game time and place. They made it off the island (just before a turtle dragon of Tiamat arrived at the island, demanding sentient sacrifices). They were, however, transporting a prisoner captured on the island (who might be a spellcaster), and a highly dangerous Magic Item of Plot Relevance. The route from the island to the Campaign Home City is dangerous, with two different bandit gangs attacking so many travelers that caravan trade has almost ceased. In other words - no Downtime Days for you, not until you return to Phlan! (Not that Phlan is the safest place in all of Faerun, for these particular PCs. They've made a few enemies.)Two sessions later, they still haven't had a Long Rest. They will have one at the beginning of the next session. They will each be woken up by ominous dreams, or by the triggering of the Alarm spell around their tent, or both. They will wake up having transitioned from Level 4 to Level 5 overnight. The warlock will wake up out of dreams in which his Great Old One patron transmits a new Invocation directly into his mind. I don't run his GOO patron as *evil*; I run his GOO Patron as bizarre and kinda creepy from a merely mortal perspective, because 17-dimensional intelligences have different assumptions about personal boundaries.Meanwhile, their prisoner has ALSO leveled up during the same Long Rest, and Tiamat has taught the prisoner a new Warlock Invocation, which the prisoner will immediately use as part of the prisoner's plan to escape, grab the Magical Treasure of Plot Significance, and transport that item to the nearby draconic bandit gang associated with the Cult of Tiamat. I like feeding one storyline directly and thematically into the next one. (If you have run or played DDEX, you may recognize the ones I'm using.)"It's a brand new day, and the sun is high. All the birds are singing... that you're gonna die..."Nah, the PCs won't die. But they'll be excited and eager to use their new class abilities, within minutes of waking up to the first day of life at level 5. I'm looking forwards to it.</blockquote>

Verification