Newbie DM + group experience

[Dragongrief]

So in the first combat round of our game the Fighter goes "OK I'm going to toss the Ranger at these goblins" For the more experienced DMs here, how would you handle unconventional/silly stuff like that? Do you simply disallow it as against common sense and ruin the player's idea of how "free form" D&D can be, or do you let him do it?

In the end I told him he could try to roll a strength check but keep in mind it would be against a pretty impossible DC and unless he rolled a 20 it was unlikely any good would come of it. He rolled a 3, and I said he dropped his teammate and did 1d6 damage to him (kinda just pulled that out of my head). Was that too harsh?

Things like this just depend on how "realistic" you want to keep it, and what the player intends.

If the Fighter was literally going to use the Ranger as a blunt (and unwilling) ranged weapon, then I'd say your ruling was perfect. Throwing a non-cooperating person is not easy. (I might even add that the Ranger ended up on top of the Fighter, so the perpetrator of the stunt shares in the penalty)

If, instead, the Fighter wanted to "assist" the Ranger's attack by providing extra momentum, then you could do it as an Assist action (DC maybe 15 instead of 10). Fighter readies and rolls an Athletics on the Ranger's turn.
If successful, they could add one of the following:

* +2 to the Ranger's attack (per normal attack assist)
* +2 to Damage
* +2 Speed
* Ignore difficult terrain.

Any of those would make sense for "throwing" the Ranger, and wouldn't be "over-powered" since the Fighter is giving up a turn to do it.

Stuff like that is a lot easier to think of when you're not in the middle of a game, but if you can think up one or two ways to say "sure, why not?" for Players working together, it can keep things fun and flowing.

 

[draquila]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks!!

During that game I did not even know about the existence of "assist" or "ready" actions. It's certainly not mentioned in the quick-start rules... Oh well I've ordered the core rulebooks from amazon, ETA 1 month

I have really tried to focus on the story and roleplaying instead of the rules, and I think this aspect does appeal to my players more than the gaming/strategy side anyway, but I think with 4E it seems players do need to be heavily invested into understanding the combat system. Plus with a new group (some were total strangers to each other) the roleplaying was pretty awkward. Hopefully we'll warm up to that.

I'd like to give each player a primer on the strategy (what it means to be a defender/controller, etc) before our next session but I'm not sure if that'll turn them off the game! I guess the DM tends to be more "into" D&D than the rest of the party, heh.

 

[jimmifett]

My first 4e game I believe was the first gameday module. I'd quickly skimmed most of the PHB, but had not yet had the chance to annotate it with sticky labels at the tops of the important sections.

The pregen contained much of what i needed for my powers (wizard) and used the heck out of mage hand in the area with the coffins filled with oil and the burning lamps.

Later, I believe I Feystepped onto a raised dias in the middle of the room and wanted to shove another wizard off, but couldn't recall the mechanic, so I didn't use a bull rush, but a magic missile attack. His next turn, i got bullrushed, took falling damage, and was set upon by the rest of the baddies Exactly what i had wanted to do. You can bet i read the combat actions section carefully after that.

As for the roles:
Leader: Healer/Buff/Debuff. Medium Accuracy, keeps ppl alive.

Defender: Meat Shield, Medium accuracy, tons of Hit points, keep bad guy attention focused on yourself so others can manuever and flank or escape.

Striker: Somewhat Squishy ppl that perforate the enemy for good damage. High accuracy, good damage kickers. Relies on defenders to keep the enemy distracted/at a distance.

Controller: Usually Very Squishy, Lays down AoE and changes up the field with terrain control and environmental effects. Can be very poweful with certain combos.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

There is nothing wrong with putting temporary limits on material while you master the rudiments of the game. Limit what books you use to core, just PHB and maybe PHB2. Some kinds of classes and specific classes are easier to play than others. Strikers are (usually) quite easy as all you pretty much do is hit/shoot things, controllers are (usually) more difficult.

Help your players make their characters, or give them pre-genned ones and tell them when they get better at the game they can make their own.

(It's one of my house rules, incidentally, and a good way to get players without throwing too much at them: the first character you play is always one that I give you)

You will play slowly at first, because everyone is still learning the rules but you need to be super ready with them. I suggest running a session by yourself with some characters so you can work out how combat works and be ready to answer any questions. And if you like, do up a simple "cheat sheet" with exactly how to make an attack roll, damage roll, skill check etc.

You can pick up some really good tips from the Robot Chicken sessions run by Chris Perkins of WotC, all the players are newbies and he has to teach the game and run it at the same time. The man has the patience of a saint and I would give up my next ten Criticals to be at a session that he runs. Look for them on Youtube.

The first encounter will always be the longest and the most awkward as people are still learning to play. Keep it simple and short! Make it a couple of kobold minions that they can knock over easy and gain confidence

The best advice I can give to a Level 1 GM such as yourself (I am one too, a GM who ran a game before she played) is that you do not know what it is like to DM until you are sitting in the chair. The more you do it, the better you are at it.