Kinak
First Post
An old friend of ours was in town for the weekend, so we decided to run the 5e playtest rather than the one-shot we had been planning.
With a grand total of two players, we had the cleric of Moradin and the halfling rogue. They quickly sorted out backstories and set off on their quest. The priest had a vision of the Eye of Gruumsh and had, perhaps unwisely, contracted the halfling as his guide to the caves.
The cleric's player is someone who really really tried to like 4e and it didn't work out. The rogue's player is someone with a lot of 3rd Edition mastery (and current Pathfinder player) who gave up on 4e after a session. Neither was really expected to be wowed, but both definitely came away with a positive impression.
Observations:
The rogue was highly regarded. I handed out advantage generously and both players weren't afraid to improvise, getting the rogue advantage about half the time. Skill mastery also turned out to be extremely useful in a number of cases.
Advantage and disadvantage were a lot of fun. It occurs to me in retrospect that people attacking each other around corners is technically cover, but disadvantage was natural.
Neither character had a healing kit by default. I added one to the rogue's beginning equipment, which I feel was the right call.
Players weren't thrilled with the character sheets, but that's probably a playtesting thing. Having abilities scattered at random (particularly skills being in two different places for the rogue) slowed the game down some.
In general, though, everything ran pre-3rd fast. Combat ran quickly and smoothly, even with 20+ enemies on the map.
I expected some problems with lack of stickiness, but they didn't appear in play. All lack of AoOs actually did is let a few more kobolds escape.
All in all it got an A+ on the "does this feel like D&D" question.
To the Caves:
On their way to the caves, they met a caravan going the opposite direction. They opted to stay with them for the night, offering to help with guard duty (the halfling's idea, creating the opportunity to rob them blind).
During the night, they had their first combat, a bugbear ambush. Although the bugbear downed a guard (stabilized by a timely death ward), our duo quickly learned teamwork, with the dwarf distracting the creature and his smaller comrade dealing out devastating blows with sneak attack.
They reached the caves just before nightfall the next day and set up camp in the hills, carefully concealed among the trees. Through the night, they rested in shifts, gathering a great deal of information about the areas inhabitants.
Exploring the Caves:
In the morning, instead of going for the cave they knew contained goblins, they opted for the concealed cave near it instead. Sneaking in, they found the "bear" and the ogre. They quickly determined the ogre didn't have the Eye fragment and stole the bearskin instead, walking beneath it to confuse and terrify their enemies.
Still ignoring the goblins, they made their way across the ravine instead to the kobold cave. The kobolds, confused but not terrified, ambushed the "bear." After a short skirmish, conducted entirely moving together under the bearskin, the kobolds scattered.
Emboldened by their success, the heroes made their way into the cave, rapidly finding the traditional kobold welcome mat (i.e. pit trap). The bear's "head," the priest of Moradin, toppled into the pit along with the hide.
Soon, the guards appeared, examining what appeared to be a dead bear in their pit trap. When they began to poke it, the party sprang into action, pulling a kobold into the pit by the spear and killing another with a dagger. Kobold numbers rapidly dwindled, although the arrival of a swarm of rats covered their escape.
The duo made quick work of the rats, killing the "rat king" and even following them back to their nest to kill stragglers. They searched the nest, finding an empty barrel... soon filled with all the oil they could spare and fitted with a simple wick... under the bearskin.
However, they took long enough for the kobolds to barricade the hall. Deciding now was the best time to use their new toy, they charged, roared in a passable imitation of a bear, and threw the barrel over the barricade. The explosion killed several kobolds and set the barricade on fire.
Undaunted, they charged through the barricade... well, the dwarf charged and the halfling followed him to maintain the illusion of bear-ness. A battle broke out in the hallway, with a few kobolds standing their ground to cover as the rest slipped gingerly around an intersection (towards the kings quarters.)
Mostly exhausted by their fights, our heroes stopped to rest temporarily, making their increasingly dilapitated bearskin into a tent courtesy of the spears thrown at them. The kobolds took the opportunity to regroup as well, although the party now held the heart of their lair.
Battle of the Kobold King:
Soon, they chose to advance, making their way gingerly around the intersection as the kobolds did. Unfortunately, it seems dwarves are far less "ginger" than kobolds or halflings. A second pit trap opened underneath him as the cleric stumbled, although he avoided being impaled on any of the rusty spikes.
Responding to the terrible racket, the last of the tribe's warriors approached from the main lair. The halfling picked off several with his sling and the dwarf, hidden beneath an increasingly dilapidated bearskin, contented himself returning the spears thrown at him.
Soon the refugees from the earlier fight approached from the north with the king, his retinue, and his elite guard. With the fight rapidly turning against them, the party refocused their goal on getting the dwarf out of the pit.
After a few false starts, he balanced his shield on the spikes and hiked himself up, then fished out his shield with one of their seemingly limitless spears. The kobolds had used so many, in fact, that two of the guards had to go back to the main hall to get more.
The party began to retreat until they saw something glimmering on the kobold king's neck: a strange gem. The cleric prayed for guidance and the gem writhed with dark energy in response.
So close to their goal, they decided to press on. A command to the king (charge!) resulted in one of the elite guards being pushed into the pit by his liege. He hit the spikes, dying instantly.
The battle continued, fought awkwardly around the corner of the pit. The rogue was seriously injured by many spears and the cleric out of spells, but they held the line, focusing their attacks on the guards then the king.
Frustrated by the speed of combat and his growing injuries, the king launched himself over the pit (handaxe in each hand) towards the cleric. Unfortunately, nobody bumrushes a dwarf, and he was pushed back, barely grabbing the pit's edge.
With a holy strike, the dwarf knocked the king into the pit, to his death. Combat paused while the halfling tried to negotiate a ceasefire, followed by the dwarf. Unfortunately at least one kobold would hear nothing of it, hurling a spear, only to have his life cut short by a sling stone. The others accepted the ceasefire and rapidly withdrew.
The rogue shimmied his way into the pit, checking out the king's armor (hey, it might fit). He noticed the king's corpse opening its white eyes not a moment too soon as the creature pulled its arm from one of the spikes and reached for the little thief.
Guessing at the source of the king's sudden revivification, the rogue sliced through the chain holding the Eye fragment at the corpse's neck. It fell to the ground, but the corpse took no notice. The cleric called upon his last reserves, channeling the holy power of Moradin and pinning the corpse to the ground.
His halfling comrade took the opportunity to escape, grabbing the gem and climbing out of the pit. They lit the tattered remains of bearhide and tossed them into the pit, pinning the king's corpse there with holy power as it burned.
They returned to the Keep, spending the night in a burnt out caravan ("hmmm, maybe we should have warned them") and went their separate ways. One to search for a way to destroy the fragment and the other to spend his newfound wealth.
Cheers!
Kinak
With a grand total of two players, we had the cleric of Moradin and the halfling rogue. They quickly sorted out backstories and set off on their quest. The priest had a vision of the Eye of Gruumsh and had, perhaps unwisely, contracted the halfling as his guide to the caves.
The cleric's player is someone who really really tried to like 4e and it didn't work out. The rogue's player is someone with a lot of 3rd Edition mastery (and current Pathfinder player) who gave up on 4e after a session. Neither was really expected to be wowed, but both definitely came away with a positive impression.
Observations:
The rogue was highly regarded. I handed out advantage generously and both players weren't afraid to improvise, getting the rogue advantage about half the time. Skill mastery also turned out to be extremely useful in a number of cases.
Advantage and disadvantage were a lot of fun. It occurs to me in retrospect that people attacking each other around corners is technically cover, but disadvantage was natural.
Neither character had a healing kit by default. I added one to the rogue's beginning equipment, which I feel was the right call.
Players weren't thrilled with the character sheets, but that's probably a playtesting thing. Having abilities scattered at random (particularly skills being in two different places for the rogue) slowed the game down some.
In general, though, everything ran pre-3rd fast. Combat ran quickly and smoothly, even with 20+ enemies on the map.
I expected some problems with lack of stickiness, but they didn't appear in play. All lack of AoOs actually did is let a few more kobolds escape.
All in all it got an A+ on the "does this feel like D&D" question.
To the Caves:
On their way to the caves, they met a caravan going the opposite direction. They opted to stay with them for the night, offering to help with guard duty (the halfling's idea, creating the opportunity to rob them blind).
During the night, they had their first combat, a bugbear ambush. Although the bugbear downed a guard (stabilized by a timely death ward), our duo quickly learned teamwork, with the dwarf distracting the creature and his smaller comrade dealing out devastating blows with sneak attack.
They reached the caves just before nightfall the next day and set up camp in the hills, carefully concealed among the trees. Through the night, they rested in shifts, gathering a great deal of information about the areas inhabitants.
Exploring the Caves:
In the morning, instead of going for the cave they knew contained goblins, they opted for the concealed cave near it instead. Sneaking in, they found the "bear" and the ogre. They quickly determined the ogre didn't have the Eye fragment and stole the bearskin instead, walking beneath it to confuse and terrify their enemies.
Still ignoring the goblins, they made their way across the ravine instead to the kobold cave. The kobolds, confused but not terrified, ambushed the "bear." After a short skirmish, conducted entirely moving together under the bearskin, the kobolds scattered.
Emboldened by their success, the heroes made their way into the cave, rapidly finding the traditional kobold welcome mat (i.e. pit trap). The bear's "head," the priest of Moradin, toppled into the pit along with the hide.
Soon, the guards appeared, examining what appeared to be a dead bear in their pit trap. When they began to poke it, the party sprang into action, pulling a kobold into the pit by the spear and killing another with a dagger. Kobold numbers rapidly dwindled, although the arrival of a swarm of rats covered their escape.
The duo made quick work of the rats, killing the "rat king" and even following them back to their nest to kill stragglers. They searched the nest, finding an empty barrel... soon filled with all the oil they could spare and fitted with a simple wick... under the bearskin.
However, they took long enough for the kobolds to barricade the hall. Deciding now was the best time to use their new toy, they charged, roared in a passable imitation of a bear, and threw the barrel over the barricade. The explosion killed several kobolds and set the barricade on fire.
Undaunted, they charged through the barricade... well, the dwarf charged and the halfling followed him to maintain the illusion of bear-ness. A battle broke out in the hallway, with a few kobolds standing their ground to cover as the rest slipped gingerly around an intersection (towards the kings quarters.)
Mostly exhausted by their fights, our heroes stopped to rest temporarily, making their increasingly dilapitated bearskin into a tent courtesy of the spears thrown at them. The kobolds took the opportunity to regroup as well, although the party now held the heart of their lair.
|
Battle of the Kobold King:
Soon, they chose to advance, making their way gingerly around the intersection as the kobolds did. Unfortunately, it seems dwarves are far less "ginger" than kobolds or halflings. A second pit trap opened underneath him as the cleric stumbled, although he avoided being impaled on any of the rusty spikes.
|
Soon the refugees from the earlier fight approached from the north with the king, his retinue, and his elite guard. With the fight rapidly turning against them, the party refocused their goal on getting the dwarf out of the pit.
After a few false starts, he balanced his shield on the spikes and hiked himself up, then fished out his shield with one of their seemingly limitless spears. The kobolds had used so many, in fact, that two of the guards had to go back to the main hall to get more.
The party began to retreat until they saw something glimmering on the kobold king's neck: a strange gem. The cleric prayed for guidance and the gem writhed with dark energy in response.
So close to their goal, they decided to press on. A command to the king (charge!) resulted in one of the elite guards being pushed into the pit by his liege. He hit the spikes, dying instantly.
The battle continued, fought awkwardly around the corner of the pit. The rogue was seriously injured by many spears and the cleric out of spells, but they held the line, focusing their attacks on the guards then the king.
Frustrated by the speed of combat and his growing injuries, the king launched himself over the pit (handaxe in each hand) towards the cleric. Unfortunately, nobody bumrushes a dwarf, and he was pushed back, barely grabbing the pit's edge.
With a holy strike, the dwarf knocked the king into the pit, to his death. Combat paused while the halfling tried to negotiate a ceasefire, followed by the dwarf. Unfortunately at least one kobold would hear nothing of it, hurling a spear, only to have his life cut short by a sling stone. The others accepted the ceasefire and rapidly withdrew.
The rogue shimmied his way into the pit, checking out the king's armor (hey, it might fit). He noticed the king's corpse opening its white eyes not a moment too soon as the creature pulled its arm from one of the spikes and reached for the little thief.
|
His halfling comrade took the opportunity to escape, grabbing the gem and climbing out of the pit. They lit the tattered remains of bearhide and tossed them into the pit, pinning the king's corpse there with holy power as it burned.
They returned to the Keep, spending the night in a burnt out caravan ("hmmm, maybe we should have warned them") and went their separate ways. One to search for a way to destroy the fragment and the other to spend his newfound wealth.
Cheers!
Kinak
