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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Algolei" data-source="post: 1974182" data-attributes="member: 1073">...and really tough skin.  They don't wear armour, but they have hides like rhinocerosesises. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Well, my players came a DM's intervention away from suffering a TPK by 5 goblins.  Which is weird, because they had no problems whatsoever with the other 5 goblins.  Or the 5 goblins before them.  Or the 4 goblins, or the 2 goblins, or the other 2 goblins.  Or the 4 orcs, for that matter.  But for some reason, when they entered this combat--all fresh as daisies and fully prepped--the dwarven fighter decided to get himself completely flanked; the cleric decided to stand beside him and cast healing spells on him while suffering the attacks of opportunity that action invoked; the bard with Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot decided to hide behind a rock and cast daze repeatedly at the same goblin (who managed to save three times out of four!); and the elven wizard with the longsword, longbow, and 18 Dex decided to wait until the others were down before doing anything useful at all.  (He waited two rounds, then cast resistance on himself before firing some arrows into melee combat. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" /> When only he and the bard were left standing--and the bard was surrounded by then--he started casting his magic missiles.)Luckily, just then, help arrived in the form of the guide they had left back in the village (because they had already been to the goblins' lair and so they knew where it was and no longer needed a guide--especially this one with the 4 Constitution and the 2 hp).  He rushed in and was immediately smacked by a goblin, taking him right back out of the fight.So I just said, "Nuts to rolling all these dice, they're falling favorably for the goblins suddenly," and declared that the carrion crawler crawled up out of the pit and chased the goblins away.(I was DMing a 1st-level modified version of the adventure Depths of Rage from Dungeon #83.  The disastrous fight took place in area 11.  I replaced the pregenerated goblins in the module with 5 low-classed goblins--8 Strength, 13 Dex, 8 Constitution, AC 14 [leather armour, small shield].  I had also swapped the carrion crawler with a larval version from my trusty Tome of Horrors, but I swapped it back in so it could chase the goblins.)You shoulda seen the dice rolling!  The killer DM in you would've been doing cartwheels.  The dwarven fighter has a 19 AC, and with the reduced Strength scores I gave to the goblins, they needed to roll a 20 to hit him.  Even before they managed to start a flank, one of them had criticalled the dwarf--with an 8 Strength it only totalled to 3 points of damage, but still:  Double 20s!And when he was flanked, three 18s in a row.  BAM!  Dwarf is down to 0 hp.  Cleric casts cure light wounds, a goblin makes an AoO on him, misses; dwarf is healed 4 hp.  Bam, bam!  Dwarf is unconcious, goblins take 5' steps to flank the cleric.  Bam bam!  Cleric is down, three goblins acting last in the round move to trap the bard in the corner of the room.Horrible, horrible, horrible sweet death."And then *tatatataaaaa* [that's a bugle sound] Reginald bursts into the room.  He's come to save you.  In fact, 'I've come to save you!' he yells!  The goblin nearest him swings wildly and...ah.  With a 19.  That hits AC 18.  Hmm.  Yup.  Damage roll...and Reginald is down.  Ugh!  Well...um...ummmmmmm....  This is depressingly anticlimactic.  Hang on, let me read the room description here....  Aha!  Remember that grating I mentioned was in the north-western section of the floor?  It heaves open, and a large crawly thing with 8 tentacles comes out.  The goblins squeal with fright and take off down the eastern passageway with the ugly monster close on their heels."...I feel so dirty....<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /></blockquote>

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