Old-school dungeon crawl using 5e playtest rules

[Shayuri]

Can she Disengage and retreat back behind the boulders? Or would that let the spearmen stab her?

 

[Li Shenron]

Can she Disengage and retreat back behind the boulders? Or would that let the spearmen stab her?

I would say that in order for Sulannus to go back to the outer cave she would have to pass through the melee between the spearmen and your allies. We're not really keeping track of exact positions, but roughly I could imagine that the distance covered while disengaging (i.e. half your speed = 15ft) will get you there but probably not past the spearmen's 10ft reach.

OTOH, we can assume she could at least take the second move in a way that passes only through the reach of one of the two spearmen but not both.

All in all, I think this is quite the essential purpose of opportunity attacks rules in 5e: to give a risk/penalty for anyone trying to either run away from the enemies, or run past them (whatever they are trying to reach beyond them).

I shouldn't suggest you what to do but based to what I just wrote, I'd say that if you take this course of action, you'll trigger only one opportunity attack, and Tock could use his Protection Fighting Style to cause disadvantage to such attack.

 

[Shayuri]

Thanks. That does seem like a much better option than letting the hobgoblin boss whale on me, with the fighters pinned down behind the spears.

It's also very in-character at the moment, which is always a bonus in situations like this.

 

[tuxgeo]

Can she Disengage and retreat back behind the boulders? Or would that let the spearmen stab her?

My take on the matter: It would be only one spearman in any interpretation, because Bartleby has already knocked the other one out (using a scimitar-handled uppercut to the jaw).

I guess it depends on the exact distances, which we aren't bothering with; so if that's what Su would do based on her inner character, then I would personally think she should go for it.

Li Shenron has already said Su can disengage a distance of 15 feet. The question in my mind is whether that would take her to the chokepoint and into total cover from any longspear attack. However, I also imagine that a disengagement of 15 feet might take her adjacent to Tock, where he could easily protect her a bit.

[Of course, that's not what Aeiyan would think Su ought to do; instead, he would think she ought to drop the one remaining archer using whatever at-will spell she has (he might not be aware that it is called "Ray of Frost"), and then for Su to call for Tock to shield her. However, Aeiyan doesn't have any telepathy to tell her that, and I'm fairly sure Su wouldn't take his advice anyway, because "lowly wood-elf."] [Besides, Tock acts after the Hobgoblin chief this round, so he wouldn't get there in time to block an attack -- though perhaps neither Aeiyan nor Su know that.]

 

[Shayuri]

Yeah, that would require a lot more guts than Sulannus is feeling right now. Oodles.

I realize it's not, strictly speaking, the best tactics, but if there's any plausible route for escape she'll be taking that now, thankyouverymuch.

Will post asap!

 

[Li Shenron]

My take on the matter: It would be only one spearman in any interpretation, because Bartleby has already knocked the other one out (using a scimitar-handled uppercut to the jaw).

Right! I forgot about that...

 

[tuxgeo]

Fine-tuning, or "dialing in," the roleplaying

In the in-character thread, I had my PC wax eloquent. Maybe it's too much. For reference, here's the whole post:

"Ah," Aeiyan replies. "Fairly spoken. The frost had an effect that appeared mighty; but that was a snap-impression on my part, formed in the midst of battle. I am still learning some of these things."

Aeiyan looks at the rest of the party, then rests his gaze on Tock. "Whither next, and when? Are we binding prisoners, or resting, or scouting? If we push on now, I might be less effective taking point than before."

"And Bartleby shouldn't take point, in my opinion, since he wields the last of our magical healing -- if I heard aright -- so we don't want him dropping first again."

My question for the group is this: Is that too much eloquence for an INT 11 PC? Would a ranger from the backwoods speak so? Should I have had Aeiyan leave it to Rejik, the tactical leader, to begin the conversation about who takes point, and what resources are available? (If I'm going to second-guess myself, I might as well do it off-camera.)

 

[Shayuri]

It doesn't jump out at me as obvious out of character.

Intelligence is not a strict or straightforward characteristic, and while it can be related to vocabulary, it doesn't have to be a 1 to 1 correlation. I know plenty of people who speak quite eloquently, but aren't necessarily rocket scientists.

In short, my take on it is that an INT of 11 is pretty smart...as smart as most of us would be IRL. So in general, if you can think of something, it's likely your character can too (general technology level and education notwithstanding of course).

It's not until INT scores that incur a penalty that I'd typically start suggesting folks 'dumb down' for a character.

 

[Kobold Stew]

For me, it sounded great. I'm making choices about Bartleby as well -- it's amazing how easily a faux-Scots accent can creep into what I am thinking, and I'm trying to keep that our completely.

Racial stereotypes are embarrassing.

So stay true to your instincts! We're all here to have fun.

 

[Li Shenron]

My question for the group is this: Is that too much eloquence for an INT 11 PC? Would a ranger from the backwoods speak so? Should I have had Aeiyan leave it to Rejik, the tactical leader, to begin the conversation about who takes point, and what resources are available? (If I'm going to second-guess myself, I might as well do it off-camera.)

I think that's OK! Int 11 is average human intellect, which means quite clever in any case.