"Proofreading" my first encounter

[SnowleopardVK]

Hey there. I've started DMing a pathfinder campaign at home recently with some friends of mine. All of them are completely new to the game, and RP as a whole though, and I've only had two sessions of experience as a pathfinder player myself.

Since we're all very new I'm sure that there are mistakes being made in how we're doing things. I've tried to read over the rules as best as I can, but since I'm still a first-time DM with one session under my belt I'm nowhere near comfortable with how everything works yet.

I kept a turn-by-turn record of how their first encounter went though, so I was wondering if it's okay for me to post that up here (or maybe elsewhere on the forums if there's a better place for it)? I'd like it if others who know the game better could point out any mistakes I've missed that my players and I have made in following the rules, that way I can help them (and me) get better. Although for now what's most important is that they seem to be having fun.

So... Is it okay for me to post the record up here for mistake-checking?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

So, first off, the important stuff.

Welcome to the game!

Now, the slightly less important stuff: if everyone is having a good time, don't sweat the small stuff during the game session. Afterwards, there'll be plenty of time to decide what is right and wrong.

Unless you're about to kill off a character, in which case make sure you've got it right.

Here's a great place to post your initial pass at running the game. I'd love to "critique" it for you.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Heehee, thanks for the welcome to the game. Yes the players all seem to be having fun so far. During play I've mostly been just going by what I remember of the rules, and improvising what I don't remember or can't quickly look up, and so far it's been working well enough as far as being entertaining.

Anyways as I said, I made a record of everything that's happened so far. This is just their first encounter that I'm posting up, they've actually done a bit more fighting since then. I also included info about their enemy Smidi (a goblin) and the three PCs involved; Hakon Sap (Ranger), Logrik Toesworn (Fighter), and Solanada Te Ro (Wizard) right before getting into the turn-by-turn account of things. This is also just a record of the fighting itself. There was a bit of intro to using their skills before this, and a bit of roleplay but I think I'm a bit more comfortable with how skills and story work than I am with combat.

Combatants:

Smidi (Goblin, enemy)
Str 11, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +0; CMD 12
Improved Initiative, Cold Resistance 5 (Arctic Goblin)
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +2 Dex, +1 shield, +1 size)
hp 9 (1d10+1 --> 8 +1)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will –1
Speed 30 ft.
Melee short sword +2 (1d4/19–20 x2)
Ranged short bow +4 (1d4/×3)

Hakon Sap (Halfling Ranger, PC, 1st level)
Str 11, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 16
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +3 Dex, +1 size)
HP 11
Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +2
Speed 20ft.
Weapons: Shortbow +4 (1d4/x3), 2 Daggers +1/+4 (1d3/19–20 x2)
Armor: Studded Leather (light, AC +3, Max Dex +5, Check Pen -1, Spell fail 15%)

Logrik Toesworn (Human Fighter, PC, 1st level)
Str 14, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 10
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +2 Dex)
HP 14
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1
Speed 30ft.
Weapons: Greatsword +3 (2d6/19–20 x2, 2-handed weapon)
Armor: Scale mail (medium, AC +5, Max Dex +3, Check Pen -4, Spell fail 25%)

Solanada Te Ro (Elf Wizard, PC, 1st level)
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 8, Int 18, Wis 13, Cha 15
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+1 armor, +3 Dex)
HP 5
Fort -1, Ref +3, Will +3
Speed 30ft.
Weapons: None
Armor: Padded (light, AC +1, Max Dex +8, Check Pen -0, Spell fail 5%)
Solanada Te Ro prepares the following spells:
0th level – Daze, Jolt, Spark
1st level – Burning Hands, Forced Quiet

Roll initiative.
Smidi – 28 (20 + 6 Racial Bonus + 2 Dexterity)
Hakon Sap – 15 (12 + 3 Dexterity)
Solanada Te Ro – 6 (3 + 3 Dexterity)
Logrik Toesworn – 1 (Natural 1)

1st Round

Logrik Toesworn is sitting down at the start of combat and thus is flat-footed

Smidi:

Smidi moves beside Logrik and attacks

(Smidi) Roll to hit Logrik Toesworn
Flat-Footed AC 15
Roll: 19 (17 + 2 Attack Bonus)
Success

Roll 1d4 for damage
Roll: 3
(Logrik reduced to 11 HP)

Hakon:

Hakon moves and draws a dagger

Solanada:

Solanada casts Jolt on Smidi

(Solanada) Roll to hit Smidi with Jolt
Touch AC 13
Roll: 22 (19 + 3 Attack Bonus)
Success

Roll 1d3 for damage
Roll: 3
(Smidi reduced to 6 HP)

Logrik:

Logrik gets to his feet and draws his sword

2nd Round:

Smidi:

Smidi moves beside Solana, provoking an attack of opportunity from Logrik, he then attacks Solanada

(Logrik) Roll to hit Smidi
AC 16
Roll: 9 (6 + 3 Attack Bonus)
Failure

(Smidi) Roll to hit Solanada Te Ro
AC 14
Roll: 4 (2 + 2 Attack Bonus)
Failure

Hakon:

Hakon throws his dagger at Smidi

(Hakon) Roll to hit Smidi with thrown dagger
AC 16
Roll: 19 (19 + 4 Attack Bonus -4 Throwing into a melee)
Critical Threat

(Hakon) Roll to confirm critical hit
AC 16
Roll: 18 (18 + 4 Attack Bonus -4 Throwing into a melee)
Critical Hit

Roll 1d3 x 2 for damage
Roll: 6 (3 x 2 Critical)
(Smidi reduced to 0 HP, disabled)

Solanada:

Solanada moves

Logrik:

Logrik attempts to finish off Smidi (Coup de Grace)

Roll 2d6 x 2 for Coup de Grace damage
Roll: 24 ((roll 3 + 3 Str bonus with 2-hand weapon + roll 3 + 3 Str bonus with 2-hand weapon) x 2)

Smidi Dead

 

[SkredlitheOgre]

2nd Round:

Smidi:

Smidi moves beside Solana, provoking an attack of opportunity from Logrik, he then attacks Solanada

(Logrik) Roll to hit Smidi
AC 16
Roll: 9 (6 + 3 Attack Bonus)
Failure

(Smidi) Roll to hit Solanada Te Ro
AC 14
Roll: 4 (2 + 2 Attack Bonus)
Failure

The ONLY question I have about this is whether the goblin should have provoked an attack of opportunity from Solanada as well. If he moves adjacent to her and attacks, by my reading, that should provoke an AoO. Other than that, things look great.

And welcome!

 

[SnowleopardVK]

The ONLY question I have about this is whether the goblin should have provoked an attack of opportunity from Solanada as well. If he moves adjacent to her and attacks, by my reading, that should provoke an AoO. Other than that, things look great.

And welcome!

Ah, normally it would (I think) but the goblin only took a 5-foot step on that particular move. That means I did make a mistake in giving Logrik the AoO though. He missed it so it's not like it made a difference overall, but that's still something.

 

[Dingo333]

The ONLY question I have about this is whether the goblin should have provoked an attack of opportunity from Solanada as well. If he moves adjacent to her and attacks, by my reading, that should provoke an AoO. Other than that, things look great.

And welcome!

As Solanada did not have a weapon in hand and is not a monk to my knowledge, Solanada will rarely get to make AoO (can not make them with an unarmed strike unless you have Improved Unarmed Strike)

Other then that, I have 3 points to make.

First,

Hakon:

Hakon moves and draws a dagger

Instead Hakon could have moved+draw weapon (drawing a weapon is a move action or, if BaB is +1 or greater a free action part of a move action) and thus, have attacked that round

Second, and I may be wrong on this

Hakon:

Hakon throws his dagger at Smidi

(Hakon) Roll to hit Smidi with thrown dagger
AC 16
Roll: 19 (19 + 4 Attack Bonus -4 Throwing into a melee)
Critical Threat

(Hakon) Roll to confirm critical hit
AC 16
Roll: 18 (18 + 4 Attack Bonus -4 Throwing into a melee)
Critical Hit

Roll 1d3 x 2 for damage
Roll: 6 (3 x 2 Critical)
(Smidi reduced to 0 HP, disabled)

I do not think thrown weapons crit on anything but 20. Glancing at all the other thrown weapons, their crits are x2. Dagger may be an exception, like I said, could be wrong.

Third and final item

Logrik Toesworn is sitting down at the start of combat and thus is flat-footed

Smidi:

Smidi moves beside Logrik and attacks

How did Smidi get there without drawing Logrik Toesworn's attention? Typically, PCs get a chance to notice things creeping up on them, if they do, no surprise round, if they don't well, you know what happens. You only said Logrik was sitting, not why while there was a goblin coming up so there may be a valid reason for this, just pointing it out.

 

[Dingo333]

Whoops, additional nitpick

Logrik:

Logrik gets to his feet and draws his sword

This should have provoked an AoO (standing up from Prone position, assuming he was unready enough to be Flat Footed that is)

 

[SnowleopardVK]

First,


Instead Hakon could have moved+draw weapon (drawing a weapon is a move action or, if BaB is +1 or greater a free action part of a move action) and thus, have attacked that round

Hakon was slightly too far away to actually reach Smidi for melee combat on his first move due to his low halfling move speed. I suppose he could have moved, drawn his weapon, and thrown it, but the player chose not to.

Second, and I may be wrong on this


I do not think thrown weapons crit on anything but 20. Glancing at all the other thrown weapons, their crits are x2. Dagger may be an exception, like I said, could be wrong.

The SRD has a regular, simple/light melee weapon, dagger listed with a crit rate of "19–20/x2". Most of the other thrown weapons are as you said, just x2 though so I assume it's just the dagger in this case that's made a difference.

Third and final item


How did Smidi get there without drawing Logrik Toesworn's attention? Typically, PCs get a chance to notice things creeping up on them, if they do, no surprise round, if they don't well, you know what happens. You only said Logrik was sitting, not why while there was a goblin coming up so there may be a valid reason for this, just pointing it out.

Logrik was sitting about 10 feet from the door/cave entrance when Smidi walked in. Both noticed each other right away at that moment. I decided no surprise round because Logrik did technically see Smidi before he got attacked, but that Logrik didn't get time to stand up between noticing Smidi and Smidi's attack since the goblin had higher initiative, attacked immediately, and was only a quick step away.

Whoops, additional nitpick


This should have provoked an AoO (standing up from Prone position, assuming he was unready enough to be Flat Footed that is)

Ah, yes it should have. That one I suppose I just missed.

 

[paradox42]

Roll initiative.
Smidi – 28 (20 + 6 Racial Bonus + 2 Dexterity)
Hakon Sap – 15 (12 + 3 Dexterity)
Solanada Te Ro – 6 (3 + 3 Dexterity)
Logrik Toesworn – 1 (Natural 1)

Others have pointed out other small mistakes, but I'm going to point these out.

First, Improved Initiative doesn't grant a racial bonus, just a bonus. It's untyped. Second, the Goblin just has +2 from Dex and +4 from the feat, so his number should have been 26 (not that it mattered, since he got a nat20 and none of the PCs could beat his number given that). You added his Dex bonus twice there, as far as I can tell (I can't otherwise explain how you gave him the +6).

Similarly, Logrik has +2 from Dex, so his Initiative number was actually 3- not 1. You always add the modifiers; a natural 1 doesn't mean automatic failure for any rolls except attack rolls and saving throws. As with the Goblin, it didn't actually matter since his number would have been lowest anyway, but these little details can become significant sometimes.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Ah, for Smidi, the Goblin was listed as +6 initiative. I assumed that was a racial bonus, didn't realize it was improved initiative plus his dex. That's useful to know, thanks.

Natural 1 being an autofail for everything is just how my old DM did things. I guess I picked that up from him. Not that it particularly matters in most situations with 1st level PCs, but now that you mention in I can think of times when even with a 1 on the die, the character would have enough bonuses to still beat a low DC. I suppose I may want to reconsider copying my old DM in that regard.