D&D 5E Out of the Abyss: post your parties!

[FormerlyHemlock]

I picked up OOTA today and so far I'm really quite impressed with it. The quirky NPCs are great, and the random tables and details on Underdark hazards make it feel kind of like an extension to the DMG. This book is orders of magnitude better than Rise of Tiamat, which I bought and then gave away, and it seems significantly better than Princes of the Apocalypse, which I flipped through and then put back on the shelf.

In preparation for possibly running it, I rolled up a little four-man party w/ 4d6 drop lowest and am going to run some notional adventures through a few chapters. In the interest of fun, and as a proof that rolled stats lead to perfectly playable parties, I wanted to share my (notional) party and invite you to share your (notional or actual) parties for this adventure. Feel free to share your thoughts on what each PC is designed to do and/or what actually happens to them in the adventure.

Malachai, NG Human Spy, Fighter 1 [Aiming for Eldritch Knight 11, ranged damage specialist/secondary tank]
Str 11 Dex 17 Con 15 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 10
Sharpshooter, Archery; Athletics, Stealth, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Insight, Common, Thieves' Tools, Goblinoid
Devious, watchful, calm

Nahum, N Human Soldier, Fighter [Aiming for Fighter 1/Necromancer 9, primary tank/summoner/utility]
Str 13 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 16 Wis 12 Cha 9
Heavy Armor Master, Defense; Athletics, Stealth, Perception, Nature, Arcana, Common, Cook's Utensils, Poisoner's Kit
Pragmatic, ruthless, brave, taciturn

Ezekiel, LG Human Noble, Bard [Aiming for Warlock 2/Lore Bard 10, ranged damage specialist/healer/summoner/protector]
Str 8 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 6 Cha 17
Inspiring Leader; Athletics, Persuasion, Stealth, Deception, Insight, Perception, Common, Elvish, Giant, Drums, Guitar, Flute
Optimistic, hearty, friendly, confident, but not courageous

Johiakim, NG Human Outlander, Druid 1 [Aiming for Moon Druid 10, summoner/scout/healer]
Str 11 Dex 12 Con 12 Int 11 Wis 14 Cha 10
Mobile; Stealth, Perception, Survival, Nature, Athletics, Common, Pan Pipes, Herbalism Kit
Wolfish grin

The party is designed with some redundancy in mind. In the close confines of the Underdark tunnels, I expect space to be at a premium, and Malachai's ability to bypass cover and inflict massive damage should stack well with Nahum's front-line durability and zombie backup, while Johiakim's mobility should make him good at chasing down fleeing enemies and/or covering against unexpected threats, and Ezekiel provides both efficient healing and protection and also additional ranged damage. Though long-range combats will probably be rare, Malachai will be able to provide enough threat to force the enemy to retreat or engage. Finally, the whole party is generally stealthy, especially when Johiakim puts up Pass Without Trace. The lack of darkvision on everybody is a potential problem, but Johiakim and Nahum should be able to provide enough darkvision between them to enable sneaking when needed.

I'm excited for the first chapter! More on this party later.

Feel free to post your own party/experiences!

 

[CapnZapp]

I made a point of asking my players to consider NOT choosing darkvision races when creating characters for this; and I suggested that at the very least, the majority of PCs should be surface races.

While you may think you're making a powergaming choice, what you really are doing is denying yourself a significant bit of atmosphere and excitement.

Kind of the point of underdark is that it is under and dark, and if you choose darkvision you're robbing yourself of experiencing it as both these things.

I mean, if everybody rolls up Drow, Svirfneblin and so on, then it's almost as if you could have played a party of humans in a regular overland campaign!

 

[DarkCrisis]

Half-Elf Warlock
Half-Elf Monk
Drow Wizard
Dwarf Ranger
Dwarf Cleric
Human Bard

I'm still waiting for character sheets so that's pretty much all the info I have on the party I'll be DMing for

 

[Demetrios1453]

As I mentioned in the Play Reports thread, I'm DMing for:

Half-Orc Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)
Gold Dwarf Druid (Underdark Circle of the Land)
Half-Elf Bard (College of Lore)
Tiefling Sorcerer (Wild Magic)
Lightfoot Halfling Warlock (Great Old One)

We're already through two sessions, and they are all now 3rd level, and rowing furiously across the Darklake...

 

[Minsc]

Anybody aiming to make sure all PCs have darkvision?

 

[Creamsteak]

I'm playing a Kobold Sorcerer (dragon blooded of course) named Lightswitch. His background is as a slave where he served as rudimentary furniture, including being used as a light source "clapper" by a wizard. I also served as a washing machine (prestidigitation), oven (bonfire), and cook (item proficiency).

I don't know the other characters yet. I'll see them on Saturday.

The GM also made light sensitivity worse, so me and any drow are going to get the negative penalty to attack rolls and perception from any bright light, not just sunlight.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

So I wound up running the first part of Chapter One with my players--there are two independently-created Outlander Human Bearbarians (one of them is also an Open Hand Monk) who were both raised by wolves, one of whom has amnesia and a Tribal Marauder, supposedly the "last of [his] kind" who must bring honor to their memory, the other of whom is crazy and bestial due to Underdark madness... so I declared them both to be from the same tribe and brothers. Then there's a tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin/Death Cleric whose goal is basically to become the new Vecna. They're heavily melee-specialized and I strongly expect them to die to the first real opposition, but since I had them all start at level 1d10 for more gonzo fun (though I warned them that any replacement PCs after deaths will not start at level 1d10 but only 1d3) they may do okay for a while. We ended last session after they'd escaped the slave pens (cutting down 4 drow and an elite warrior in the process, and stealing the weapons from their corpses, although almost everyone is still wearing manacles and iron collars) and bolted down the stairs in the exact opposite direction of the drow barracks and priestess stalagmites, who are beginning to mobilize in response to the alarm.

So far, my takeaway from the first session: I'm new enough to DMing that I had more trouble than I expected bringing the wacky NPCs to life while they were all busy moping about in the cell. The fact that the only PC who can understand Undercommon is blind in the pitch-black cell (no Darkvision) while the only PC who can see (tiefling) speaks only Common... that did not help the situation. The players did enjoy Jimjar and Buppidoo, and they appreciated the fact that Ront died fighting, and they're intrigued by Topsy and Turvy and cheered when they jumped in the fight, and they liked Stool, especially when he used his spores to actually get them all in communication with each other... but the fact that I set the slave pens up to be pitch-black actually hampered role-playing more than I expected it to. Or at least, it hampered the kind of role-playing I was expecting. But now they've escaped with 9 NPCs in tow so we'll see what happens next.

I just can't figure out what to do with Sarith though. He didn't join in the slave revolt, but he's not all that eager to stay and be sacrificed, so for now he's kind of tagging along with the PCs for lack of a better option but not really on their side. Maybe that's all that needs to happen but it's kind of puzzling to me as a DM, and I don't know how or whether to let the players in on his back story and how to make him more than a random sullen drow. Maybe I'll play up his racism a little bit, and otherwise just let his back story come out when it comes out, if the players ever ask, and otherwise ignore it.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What does level 1d10 mean. And why would not just start at level 1. Also remember that the Drow don't try to kill the prisoners at the start so I don't get how Ront died.


Also yeah pitch black cell really bad call. But I am the kind that does not like to make changes to an adventure unless I don't like how a thing is supposed to play out.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I made a point of asking my players to consider NOT choosing darkvision races when creating characters for this; and I suggested that at the very least, the majority of PCs should be surface races.

While you may think you're making a powergaming choice, what you really are doing is denying yourself a significant bit of atmosphere and excitement.

Kind of the point of underdark is that it is under and dark, and if you choose darkvision you're robbing yourself of experiencing it as both these things.

I mean, if everybody rolls up Drow, Svirfneblin and so on, then it's almost as if you could have played a party of humans in a regular overland campaign!

So a party of humans, halflings, and dragonborn? Elves & dwarves are very traditional surface races and they have dark vision. Remember that drow have superior dark vision and can see twice as far as the PC races, so even the ones with dark vision are going to be half blind compared to the drow.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

What does level 1d10 mean. And why would not just start at level 1. Also remember that the Drow don't try to kill the prisoners at the start so I don't get how Ront died.

Also yeah pitch black cell really bad call. But I am the kind that does not like to make changes to an adventure unless I don't like how a thing is supposed to play out.

Pitch black cell wasn't intended to be a change--it was a spur-of-the-moment call when I realized that I couldn't find a "lighting" section in chapter one like I could for the other chapters. But yeah, it was a bad call. I made the exterior more phosphorescent, and turned off the house lights to illustrate what kind of "darkness" that part of the Underdark is: D&D dark, not pitch black.

Ront's death occurred when the PCs started a fight trying to resist an intimidation beating from the drow guards, and some of the NPCs jumped in once certain drow were down, grabbed their weapons in their still-manacled hands, and readied actions to attack drow reinforcements once they showed up.

Level 1d10 means "roll a d10 during character creation, and that's your starting level." I did that partly to make the adventure more chaotic and gonzo (since it's possible to restart OotA at level 13ish already), partly to increase the odds of them speeding through the first parts of the adventure, and partly because I enjoy killing mid-level parties with low-level drow just to emphasize that tactics matter more than "power"[1]. Notice that goals #2 and #3 sort of conflict, so this is an experiment: we'll see whether and to what extent putting mid-level characters in a first-level adventure allows the PCs to bulldoze their way through.

I've learned that my players are more into narrative and abnegation than challenge (c.f. "eight kinds of fun", http://theangrygm.com/gaming-for-fun-part-1-eight-kinds-of-fun/) so I think letting them not be weaklings initially will turn out well.


[1] Currently my players are already afraid of drow due to 120' darkvision and poison, despite being mid-level.