iserith
Magic Wordsmith
"More than you've ever counted in your life in all directions and varying distances. What is it you're specifically trying to accomplish here?"
D&D 5E Revised Ranger Play Report... (level 3 to 4, beastmaster)
- Thread starter Cyber-Dave
- Start date
"More than you've ever counted in your life in all directions and varying distances. What is it you're specifically trying to accomplish here?"
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Also, the ranger doesn't get a homing beacon to a specific creature, and it's an active, not passive, ability.
You cant just walk around a city and constantly know exactly where everyone is and who they are and all that.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
I'm unsure what point you are making. It seems that by asking "what are you trying to accomplish here" you're proposing a similar-feel type of limitation to the one I said I'd be okay with. But I don't want to mis-interpret.
Again, I don't think it's overpowered, just that it can require the DM to be more prepared and/or willing to lock things in that they hadn't considered. "Tell me the number, direction and distance of all dragons in the area." - asked every few miles on a two week trip where the DM only has the origin and the destination mapped out, plus some level appropriate wandering monsters that don't include dragons. Used to map out dragon concentrations and migration patterns. And also likely nests if there are more then one dragon together over a period of time.
I'm actually okay if they do this - it's magic, and I'd improv ont he spot. but not all DMs feel good about that, or maybe they are running a published setting/adventure path and would spent 20 minutes to get the right numbers because it'll be important at later levels.
(Yes, yes, you never have to be that accurate because things move. I do get that. On the other hand, doing it often can watch where things move if they are sparse enough.)
"Where are all the fiends?" "What is your intent?" "Well, my character dislikes cults which is why he has it, and I'm sure I can convince the paladin and cleric to go hunt a fiend."
iserith
Magic Wordsmith
It's not a limitation though.
It seems to me the DM's response is simple: Dragons are detected if the DM wants to allow for the possibility of a dragon hunt. Dragons are not detected when the DM doesn't want that. The chance are also good in my view that the player is asking to locate the dragons for a particular reason that the DM will have introduced anyway by way of a hook. The player's not just doing it for funsies and, if he or she is, that's telling (in my opinion).
If the DM is not prepared or is not up for the improv, then the easy answer as I see it is "You detect no fiends." The player's response here also suggests to me the possibility that the DM and player aren't on the same page with regard to the game experience in some regard.
Cyber-Dave
Explorer
So, I got another game in. This time around, after we interrogated one of the survivors from the raiding party that we lured out of the slaver's fort, we discovered that the villagers we went to try and save had already been sent to market at Zhentil Keep. Moreover, they had been sent about a day go, and their trip would only take them a day and a half total travel time, so we didn't think we would be able to catch up with them before they would get to market; the caravan would be moving at caravan speeds, but with a lightly encumbered gnome in the group and no horses, we wouldn't be moving any faster. So, we used a nearby river to escape without leaving a traceable trail and took a long rest.
The next morning we debated over what we should do next. In the end, we decided to hunt down some nearby gnolls and try and lure them to the slaver's fort in order to get the gnolls and the slavers to kill each other. Our camping spot was close to an old battle between some gnolls and slavers, and it hadn't rained since that battle, so I tried to track down the gnolls for the group. As a result of a bad roll, I lost the trail. Primeval Awareness, however, let me know that a large group of humanoids was coming towards us from the east (opposite the fort, which was to the west of us). I rolled a poor check when using my DM's house-rules to pinpoint the exact number of incoming foes. As a result, I knew that there were between "25-50" humanoids incoming, but I didn't know the exact number. We looked for a decent hiding spot on the plains. Our best option was a set of large rocks. We used them for cover and hunkered down to see what would pass us by.
A group of about 18 slavers (8 cavalry and 10 infantry/archers) were leading 10 slaves back towards the fort. Unfortunately, as a result of a few bad stealth checks spread out amognst the party, they spotted us (or at least spotted something that caused them to send a small contingent of riders and archers to check our hiding spot out). We hunkered down and waited for them to get within 120 feet of us. At 120 feet, both our primary archer and I started to launch bolts at the riders and our spellcasters (arcane domain cleric and wizard) start launching magic missiles at them. During the ensuing fight, we used range to strong effect and destroyed the opposition. When the few remaining riders tried to run away, we gave chase. The two surviving riders ended up booking it for the fort and leaving the infantry that were guarding the slaves behind. We killed all the slavers, saved the slaves, and escorted them back to the town they were taken from.
Observations of Note:
1) Sure enough, this game's encounters highlighted the stark contrast between my theoretical damage and my actual damage in praxis. I kept my wolf hidden behind the rock while our group used its ranged potential to attack the slavers. My wolf's low HP made it too much of a risk to send him running out against them; they would have cut him apart with arrows. Thus, while our fighter/barbarian did run out and deal some damage to a couple of riders as they reached us, my wolf didn't add any damage to this week's encounters. Likewise, when attacking with just my hand-crossbow, my character's ranged abilities were overshadowed by our archer's specialty and our caster's use of spell slots. When I hit, my damage was decent, but without using Hunter's Mark it wasn't great, and I made most of my attacks with disadvantage, so missed more than a few times as well.
2) Being small and being able to ride my wolf was a huge boon. I was able to use my wolf's movement to close distance and attack when the slaver's tried to run. If I had been a human with a longbow, I would have dealt more damage this fight, but would not have been able to close range and chase after the runners nearly as well. All in all, the result was a wash. Either way, I would have been effective; I would merely have been effective at different things. Either way, the end result of this encounter was likely to have been the same.
Overall Opinion So Far: I'm really enjoying the new beastmaster so far. I don't feel overpowered or underpowered. Sometimes I shine. Sometimes I don't. When I shine, considering the group's overall use of resources, I do not think I have shined to an absurd quantity. For the most part, we have almost used Primeval Awareness by the rules as written. Even if my DM had told me the exact numbers today, the end result would likely have been the same. I still think, however, as it rubs so many people the wrong way, it should be tweaked just a little. My DMs adjudication of it didn't make it feel worthless and didn't make it any less fun.
The next morning we debated over what we should do next. In the end, we decided to hunt down some nearby gnolls and try and lure them to the slaver's fort in order to get the gnolls and the slavers to kill each other. Our camping spot was close to an old battle between some gnolls and slavers, and it hadn't rained since that battle, so I tried to track down the gnolls for the group. As a result of a bad roll, I lost the trail. Primeval Awareness, however, let me know that a large group of humanoids was coming towards us from the east (opposite the fort, which was to the west of us). I rolled a poor check when using my DM's house-rules to pinpoint the exact number of incoming foes. As a result, I knew that there were between "25-50" humanoids incoming, but I didn't know the exact number. We looked for a decent hiding spot on the plains. Our best option was a set of large rocks. We used them for cover and hunkered down to see what would pass us by.
A group of about 18 slavers (8 cavalry and 10 infantry/archers) were leading 10 slaves back towards the fort. Unfortunately, as a result of a few bad stealth checks spread out amognst the party, they spotted us (or at least spotted something that caused them to send a small contingent of riders and archers to check our hiding spot out). We hunkered down and waited for them to get within 120 feet of us. At 120 feet, both our primary archer and I started to launch bolts at the riders and our spellcasters (arcane domain cleric and wizard) start launching magic missiles at them. During the ensuing fight, we used range to strong effect and destroyed the opposition. When the few remaining riders tried to run away, we gave chase. The two surviving riders ended up booking it for the fort and leaving the infantry that were guarding the slaves behind. We killed all the slavers, saved the slaves, and escorted them back to the town they were taken from.
Observations of Note:
1) Sure enough, this game's encounters highlighted the stark contrast between my theoretical damage and my actual damage in praxis. I kept my wolf hidden behind the rock while our group used its ranged potential to attack the slavers. My wolf's low HP made it too much of a risk to send him running out against them; they would have cut him apart with arrows. Thus, while our fighter/barbarian did run out and deal some damage to a couple of riders as they reached us, my wolf didn't add any damage to this week's encounters. Likewise, when attacking with just my hand-crossbow, my character's ranged abilities were overshadowed by our archer's specialty and our caster's use of spell slots. When I hit, my damage was decent, but without using Hunter's Mark it wasn't great, and I made most of my attacks with disadvantage, so missed more than a few times as well.
2) Being small and being able to ride my wolf was a huge boon. I was able to use my wolf's movement to close distance and attack when the slaver's tried to run. If I had been a human with a longbow, I would have dealt more damage this fight, but would not have been able to close range and chase after the runners nearly as well. All in all, the result was a wash. Either way, I would have been effective; I would merely have been effective at different things. Either way, the end result of this encounter was likely to have been the same.
Overall Opinion So Far: I'm really enjoying the new beastmaster so far. I don't feel overpowered or underpowered. Sometimes I shine. Sometimes I don't. When I shine, considering the group's overall use of resources, I do not think I have shined to an absurd quantity. For the most part, we have almost used Primeval Awareness by the rules as written. Even if my DM had told me the exact numbers today, the end result would likely have been the same. I still think, however, as it rubs so many people the wrong way, it should be tweaked just a little. My DMs adjudication of it didn't make it feel worthless and didn't make it any less fun.
Cyber-Dave
Explorer
This week, we travelled south of the slaver's fort and set up camp on the trail between that fort and Zhentil Keep. The idea is to ambush a few caravans heading south with slaves to weaken the fort's population before attacking the fort directly. While there, we found a campsite that appears to be a regular stopping point for the slavers. We then saw a group of about 15 humans make camp there. Some stealth, disguise, and deception allowed us to discover that these humans do not work for the same slaver, though they are still (in some ambiguous way) affiliated with Zhentil Keep. We took a group vote and decided to let them go unmolested (as our current goal is to rid the region of the specific group centred in the fort, and we didn't want to waste the resources on a fight that would not necessarily aid with that goal). Unfortunately, the group had a few trolls hot on their heals. We tried to hide from the trolls, but a few bad stealth checks gave us away, and we got stuck taking them on. After killing 2 trolls, 1 ran away, and we went back to camping out on the trail (without further incident this session).
Observations of Note:
I am now level 4. Even with crossbow expert and a total of 3 attacks a round (1 beast, 1 hand crossbow, 2nd bonus action hand crossbow) the game is staying balanced. Our human archer (with crossbow expert, sharpshooter, and a heavy crossbow) probably dealt the most damage this session (using all of his superiority dice). I would say that he was the MVP of damage this week. I started the fight dealing very decent damage, but then my wolf went down, and my overall damage over the course of the encounter was much lower than what he put out (I went 2 rounds without making a single attack, and he managed to deal as much with some single hits as all my damage for that round put together). Our druid/monk and I probably dealt about the same total damage this week. Our barbarian's ability to soak damage and our cleric's healing kept our group alive. I don't think we would have survived without either of them. Our cleric was having trouble manoeuvring around the battlefield as an encumbered gnome, and so had trouble splitting her healing between players. I wanted to try and get her mounted on my wolf, after my wolf went down once, to improve her manoeuvrability, but I was too late, and the idea didn't bear much fruit (the injured barbarian ran to our healer instead of waiting for the healer to make it to him). Our wizard's contribution was a little more subtle, but it was equally valuable. He was the only character with access to fire damage. All in all, in practice, I am pleased with how the class is playing. It feels neither too weak nor too strong.
P.S. A little note on damage calculations in practice:
I figured someone might want some more detailed input into how a character with a heavy crossbow and one attack managed to put out as much damage as the beastmaster with 1 beast attack and 2 light crossbow attacks. I think the trolls had an AC of 15, 17 when they had light cover from being in melee combat. The ranger ignores cover, so he always hit them on 15+. I didn't, and missed a few attacks with a 15/16. Statistically speaking, I only had a 30% of hitting with both my attacks. On the other hand, I had a 79% of hitting with at least 1 attack. Virtually every round when I attacked, I hit once for 1d6+3 damage (or 6 damage). My wolf had a 79% of hitting with each attack (pack tactics, and he only ganged up on trolls that were already being attacked by another character in melee). I had a 24% of hitting with everything I had (never happened this session, at least to my recollection), a 95% of hitting with something at least once (which I always did on any round I attacked, but I was forced to do something other than attack for 2 rounds), and a 63% of hitting with 1 wolf bite and 1 arrow (which usually, though not always, happened when I attacked). So, my average damage in practice was usually about (2d4+5)+(1d6+3)=16. However, my wolf dropped midway through the fight, and even after some healing he was in too rough a shape for me to risk throwing him back in the fray (as I do not own enough gold to resurrect him right now). So, midway through the fight, my average damage in practice dropped to about 1d6+3=6. That means that I spent 1/2 the fight dealing an average of about 16 damage per round in practice, 1/2 the fight dealing an average of about 6 damage per round in practice, and 2 rounds dealing nothing.
He was attacking with a flat 65% of dealing all his damage in one hit. He rolled well and got a critical at least once. In fact, once, he rolled a sharpshooter attack with advantage and scored a critical hit. (He had a 65% of hitting with a sharpshooter attack when attacking with advantage.) When he hit, he was dealing 1d10+3 damage, 1d10+13 if he made a sharpshooter attack, and was frequently dealing 1d10+1D8+3/13. So, his average damage on a hit was 13/23. Obviously, when he scored the critical, he used a superiority die to gain +2d8 damage (at the cost of only one die). (It also helped that his attacks frequently gave the group nice extra tactical benefits--like the ability to move away from the hit troll without provoking an opportunity attack, but I digress.) He did, however, miss 1 sharpshooter attack (when he attacked without advantage). So, he dealt the most damage in one single hit when he scored a critical hit and rolled 2d10+2d8+13 damage (though he did roll a lot of low numbers on the damage roll and didn't, as a result, deal nearly as much as that attack could have), he was dealing about 13 damage every single round he hit, and he never stopped attacking even once (though he did miss at least once).
Our respective theoretical average damage outputs would look like this:
My character:
With wolf ((0.7*10)+(0.0975*15))+((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))+((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))=15.9625
Without wolf ((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))+((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))=7.5
His Character:
Without Superiority Die (0.6*8.5)+(0.05*14)=5.8
He added a superiority die whenever he hit, which statistically gave him (0.6*4.5)+(0.05*9)=3.15 damage per round for a total average damage of 8.95 damage per round
Making a sharpshooter attack with advantage (and spending a superiority die on a hit) (0.5425*23)+(0.0975*34)=15.7925
Making a sharpshooter attack without (and spending a superiority die on a hit) (0.35*23)+(0.05*34)=9.75
So, when we combine those numbers with actual events, the theoretical average damage we should have expected to see over the course of the entire fight, given the actual events that occurred, and assuming a 6 round fight (which is what I estimate our combat actually lasted), would look like this:
Me: 15.9625+15.9625+7.5+7.5+0+0=46.925
Archer: 15.7925+9.75+8.95+8.95+8.95+8.95=61.3425
Note that, theoretically speaking, he would have dealt more damage if he had used sharpshooter every round. That, however, felt like too much of a gamble considering what we were up against. So yea, as I was saying, our damage outputs felt balanced, and it seems a theoretical analysis of the math behind our encounter makes my subjective impression mathematically valid.
Observations of Note:
I am now level 4. Even with crossbow expert and a total of 3 attacks a round (1 beast, 1 hand crossbow, 2nd bonus action hand crossbow) the game is staying balanced. Our human archer (with crossbow expert, sharpshooter, and a heavy crossbow) probably dealt the most damage this session (using all of his superiority dice). I would say that he was the MVP of damage this week. I started the fight dealing very decent damage, but then my wolf went down, and my overall damage over the course of the encounter was much lower than what he put out (I went 2 rounds without making a single attack, and he managed to deal as much with some single hits as all my damage for that round put together). Our druid/monk and I probably dealt about the same total damage this week. Our barbarian's ability to soak damage and our cleric's healing kept our group alive. I don't think we would have survived without either of them. Our cleric was having trouble manoeuvring around the battlefield as an encumbered gnome, and so had trouble splitting her healing between players. I wanted to try and get her mounted on my wolf, after my wolf went down once, to improve her manoeuvrability, but I was too late, and the idea didn't bear much fruit (the injured barbarian ran to our healer instead of waiting for the healer to make it to him). Our wizard's contribution was a little more subtle, but it was equally valuable. He was the only character with access to fire damage. All in all, in practice, I am pleased with how the class is playing. It feels neither too weak nor too strong.
P.S. A little note on damage calculations in practice:
I figured someone might want some more detailed input into how a character with a heavy crossbow and one attack managed to put out as much damage as the beastmaster with 1 beast attack and 2 light crossbow attacks. I think the trolls had an AC of 15, 17 when they had light cover from being in melee combat. The ranger ignores cover, so he always hit them on 15+. I didn't, and missed a few attacks with a 15/16. Statistically speaking, I only had a 30% of hitting with both my attacks. On the other hand, I had a 79% of hitting with at least 1 attack. Virtually every round when I attacked, I hit once for 1d6+3 damage (or 6 damage). My wolf had a 79% of hitting with each attack (pack tactics, and he only ganged up on trolls that were already being attacked by another character in melee). I had a 24% of hitting with everything I had (never happened this session, at least to my recollection), a 95% of hitting with something at least once (which I always did on any round I attacked, but I was forced to do something other than attack for 2 rounds), and a 63% of hitting with 1 wolf bite and 1 arrow (which usually, though not always, happened when I attacked). So, my average damage in practice was usually about (2d4+5)+(1d6+3)=16. However, my wolf dropped midway through the fight, and even after some healing he was in too rough a shape for me to risk throwing him back in the fray (as I do not own enough gold to resurrect him right now). So, midway through the fight, my average damage in practice dropped to about 1d6+3=6. That means that I spent 1/2 the fight dealing an average of about 16 damage per round in practice, 1/2 the fight dealing an average of about 6 damage per round in practice, and 2 rounds dealing nothing.
He was attacking with a flat 65% of dealing all his damage in one hit. He rolled well and got a critical at least once. In fact, once, he rolled a sharpshooter attack with advantage and scored a critical hit. (He had a 65% of hitting with a sharpshooter attack when attacking with advantage.) When he hit, he was dealing 1d10+3 damage, 1d10+13 if he made a sharpshooter attack, and was frequently dealing 1d10+1D8+3/13. So, his average damage on a hit was 13/23. Obviously, when he scored the critical, he used a superiority die to gain +2d8 damage (at the cost of only one die). (It also helped that his attacks frequently gave the group nice extra tactical benefits--like the ability to move away from the hit troll without provoking an opportunity attack, but I digress.) He did, however, miss 1 sharpshooter attack (when he attacked without advantage). So, he dealt the most damage in one single hit when he scored a critical hit and rolled 2d10+2d8+13 damage (though he did roll a lot of low numbers on the damage roll and didn't, as a result, deal nearly as much as that attack could have), he was dealing about 13 damage every single round he hit, and he never stopped attacking even once (though he did miss at least once).
Our respective theoretical average damage outputs would look like this:
My character:
With wolf ((0.7*10)+(0.0975*15))+((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))+((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))=15.9625
Without wolf ((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))+((0.5*6.5)+(0.05*10))=7.5
His Character:
Without Superiority Die (0.6*8.5)+(0.05*14)=5.8
He added a superiority die whenever he hit, which statistically gave him (0.6*4.5)+(0.05*9)=3.15 damage per round for a total average damage of 8.95 damage per round
Making a sharpshooter attack with advantage (and spending a superiority die on a hit) (0.5425*23)+(0.0975*34)=15.7925
Making a sharpshooter attack without (and spending a superiority die on a hit) (0.35*23)+(0.05*34)=9.75
So, when we combine those numbers with actual events, the theoretical average damage we should have expected to see over the course of the entire fight, given the actual events that occurred, and assuming a 6 round fight (which is what I estimate our combat actually lasted), would look like this:
Me: 15.9625+15.9625+7.5+7.5+0+0=46.925
Archer: 15.7925+9.75+8.95+8.95+8.95+8.95=61.3425
Note that, theoretically speaking, he would have dealt more damage if he had used sharpshooter every round. That, however, felt like too much of a gamble considering what we were up against. So yea, as I was saying, our damage outputs felt balanced, and it seems a theoretical analysis of the math behind our encounter makes my subjective impression mathematically valid.
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Cyber-Dave
Explorer
Session 5 (Level 4)
Today, our group went north to check out the slaver fort. It looked like they had recently been through a battle. There were still about 20 people in the fort, but we decided that we could probably take them... their lookout posts were not all manned. Our mage walked up to a shadowy section of wall and misty stepped up to an unmanned post. He then dropped down some rope. The rest of the group climbed over. Then we began a fight as our barbarian made it to the fort's gate and opened it for my wolf to join the fray. My damage, this time around, was fantastic. As we were fighting humanoids, my wolf and I were getting a +2 bonus to damage against everything we attacked. There were a lot of low AC "minions." My wolf only went down on the very last round of the fight (due to a combination of luck and smart positioning). As a result, my wolf added damage to the entire fight. I felt quite accomplished, and I think my character might have been responsible for the most amount of damage dealt this fight. It was still a very close fight. Our cleric brought a number of us back from the brink of death. Our barbarian soaked an insane amount of damage. Our archer was a HUGE help as well (and seriously reduced the effectiveness of their primary archer by disarming her, which allowed our monk to stomp on the enemy's bow and break it). I was responsible for the death-shots of at least two of the bigger/more dangerous slavers and a number of the minions.
Observations of Note: All in all, I still feel that the new version is fairly well balanced. If I performed this well every session/fight, that would be a problem, but I have seen first hand that I don't. My character was just very effective at fighting the type of foes we were fighting this time around. I am, however, a little worried about the +4 favored enemy damage bump at 6th level. I will wait to pass any real judgment, but I felt just how beneficial a +2 was during this fight. +4 at 6th level might be a bit much...
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Cyber-Dave
Explorer
Session #6: Missed, due to real life...
Session #7 (Phlan) (Recap Written by my DM)
Characters:
Old Wan (changeling, Monk 3, Druid 1)
Pinky (gnome, cleric 4)
Jove (human, wizard 4)
Delilah (half orc, fighter 3, barbarian 1 )
Alistair (human, fighter 4)
Cade and Toothless (halfling, ranger 4, with wolf animal companion)
Cade passes through the gates of Phlan just before they close after a few days of exploring the settlements around the town. In town he learns that some of his companions have been staying at the Laughing Goblin Inn, and he heads south on Podol Street towards the docks where the inn is situated. On his way he runs into Alistair and Jove who are also on their way to the Laughing Goblin to meet up with Pinky and Delilah. They aren’t sure what Old Wan has been up to, and none of them are aware that he has taken on the guise of Turk the half orc bouncer.
Meanwhile, inside the Laughing Goblin, Turk inadvertently convinces Delgar that he should go talk to Pinky to see if Pinky will help him get Dimble out of Grossettgrottle and lure him into a trap so that he can have his revenge for the theft of Dancing Flame. Turk is worried about violence starting in the inn, especially since Olstag, one of Delgar’s men, is most eager to start a fight. To solve the problem, the “half orc” bouncer decides to try to lure Delgar and his men out of the tavern. He moves to the door and then holds up Dancing Flame. “Is this what you were looking for Delgar?” he calls out.
Delgar is shocked to see the half orc holding the enchanted dagger. He turns towards Turk, but before he can say anything, Turk runs out the door into the street. Delgar gives chase, following after him. He crashes past Alistair and Jove just as they are about to enter the inn. Cade sees Turk run out and notices he’s carrying Dancing Flame. He’s mounted on Toothless, and he wheels his wolf around and starts calling out for Turk to stop, accusing him of being a thief. Jove makes his own attempt at stopping the “thief” by blasting him with a magic missile barrage.
A chase ensues with Turk running at uncanny speed up Podol street, Cade chasing after him on his wolf and Delgar running along behind both of them. Turk soon realizes he’s loosing Delgar and he slows down. This allows Cade to close on him, and he quickly informs Cade that he is actually Wan in disguise.
Back at the tavern Delgar’s men come out to see what is going on. Alistair and Jove are still standing in front of the doors trying to figure out what is going on when the sell swords step out. Olstag is still looking for a fight, and he immediately starts insulting Alistair. The big north man sees the slim noble as an easy target and throws an unprovoked punch at him. Then Rool the half orc takes a swing at Jove. Delilah and Pinky see the fight starting and move to help their companions. Pinky attempts a couple of hold person spells on Rool, but the half orc resists both of them. Delilah takes a more direct approach and engages the man in a fist fight, allowing Jove to back away.
Cade notices the commotion erupting in front of the tavern, and he hurries back down the street to help. He passes Delgar on the way, and he notices that the sell sword has drawn a gorgeous longsword, the blade of which is sheafed in a coating of magical frost. The halfling soon reaches his companions, and he tries to end the fight by raising his hand crossbow and aiming it at Olstag. He orders the man to stand down or be shot. Olstag ignores the halfling, and Cade makes good on his threat. A hand crossbow bolt grazes the man’s neck, enraging him. He draws his great axe. As he does so, Alistair gets his cross bow off his back and loaded with amazing speed. He too fires, but Olstag knocks his weapon to the side and the shot goes wide. Jove then blasts the sell swords with a thunderwave spell, sending some of them hurtling backwards. Rool and Delilah continue to brawl, but the remaining men draw their weapons and a full on battle erupts in front of the Laughing Goblin.
While that is going on, Turk sees a patrol of Blackfist guards coming down the wide, muddy street up ahead of him. Delgar sees them as well, and he calls out for them to arrest the thief. Turk ducks into a nearby alley. He alters his form and assumes the guise of harmless beggar. He finishes his transformation just as Delgar enters the alley. In his new form, he convinces Delgar that the half orc thief has run off down the alley, and he sends Delgar after him. The guards then enter the alley and start asking him what is going on. Before they can ask him more than a handful of questions, the guards notice the fight happening down the street in front of the Laughing Goblin, and they hurry off to intervene.
By the time the Black Fist get to the inn, Olstag is lying seemingly dead on the ground with a crossbow bolt in his back. Jove, Alistair and Cade are fending off two other sell swords, while Delilah and Rool continue their fist fight. The arrival of the guard ends the fight, as neither party wants to end up on the wrong side of the Black Fist. Alistair’s status as a noble gives him some sway with the guards, and probably saves him from being immediately arrested. It also helps that Olstag is actually still clinging to life. He receives healing magic from the heroes, saving his life and preventing a murder charge. Once he gets back on his feet the mouthy adventurers hurl some more insults at him, and he flies into a rage and attacks again. The guards tackle him and arrest him before he can hurt anyone or get himself killed. Alistair offers them a small sack of gold for their trouble, which helps to placate them, and The Black Fist order both groups to clear the streets and not be found causing any more trouble. and the heroes head on their way.
Pinky and Cade end up spending the night at Nat Wyler’s Bell. There Cade inquires with the gnome innkeeper about about the whereabouts of a yellow eyed halfling named Pip Weedbottom. Cade has reason to suspect that the Pip may be his only surviving halfling kin (the yellow eye connection). Yellow eyed halflings are a rarity, and the hostler recalls seeing a halfling that fits Pip's description staying at the inn a few weeks prior. The gnome recalls him mentioning that he was heading for Melvaunt. Why a halfling that has spent the last several years living in the distant town of Dagger Falls, suddenly pick up and head north is somewhat of a mystery to Cade, but one he wishes to find the answer to.
The rest of the party, spends the night at the Crooked Crown, and the following morning they gather at the gates to head back to Mill Hill where they hope to aid the Black Fist in fighting the gnoll band that has recently started savaging the region. It is long day’s journey. The monotony of the plains is broken when a pack of death dogs (feral, two-headed hounds) crests a rise and starts running to catch them. Fortunately, they have swift horses, except for Pinky, who is riding on the mule. Pinky hops on Jove’s steed, and they leave Betsy behind. The poor mule becomes the victim of the death dog pack, but her sacrifice allows the heroes to get away and avoid what might have been a deadly fight.
By evening the weary travellers reach their destination, and the session ends here.
My observations: during the fight, I stayed mounted on my wolf. As a result, the wolf didn't get any of it's attacks in. Other characters were, by far, the bigger contributors. I don't have much else to say about this session, but we did level at the end of it. I will put a report up about session 8 soon.
Session #7 (Phlan) (Recap Written by my DM)
Characters:
Old Wan (changeling, Monk 3, Druid 1)
Pinky (gnome, cleric 4)
Jove (human, wizard 4)
Delilah (half orc, fighter 3, barbarian 1 )
Alistair (human, fighter 4)
Cade and Toothless (halfling, ranger 4, with wolf animal companion)
Cade passes through the gates of Phlan just before they close after a few days of exploring the settlements around the town. In town he learns that some of his companions have been staying at the Laughing Goblin Inn, and he heads south on Podol Street towards the docks where the inn is situated. On his way he runs into Alistair and Jove who are also on their way to the Laughing Goblin to meet up with Pinky and Delilah. They aren’t sure what Old Wan has been up to, and none of them are aware that he has taken on the guise of Turk the half orc bouncer.
Meanwhile, inside the Laughing Goblin, Turk inadvertently convinces Delgar that he should go talk to Pinky to see if Pinky will help him get Dimble out of Grossettgrottle and lure him into a trap so that he can have his revenge for the theft of Dancing Flame. Turk is worried about violence starting in the inn, especially since Olstag, one of Delgar’s men, is most eager to start a fight. To solve the problem, the “half orc” bouncer decides to try to lure Delgar and his men out of the tavern. He moves to the door and then holds up Dancing Flame. “Is this what you were looking for Delgar?” he calls out.
Delgar is shocked to see the half orc holding the enchanted dagger. He turns towards Turk, but before he can say anything, Turk runs out the door into the street. Delgar gives chase, following after him. He crashes past Alistair and Jove just as they are about to enter the inn. Cade sees Turk run out and notices he’s carrying Dancing Flame. He’s mounted on Toothless, and he wheels his wolf around and starts calling out for Turk to stop, accusing him of being a thief. Jove makes his own attempt at stopping the “thief” by blasting him with a magic missile barrage.
A chase ensues with Turk running at uncanny speed up Podol street, Cade chasing after him on his wolf and Delgar running along behind both of them. Turk soon realizes he’s loosing Delgar and he slows down. This allows Cade to close on him, and he quickly informs Cade that he is actually Wan in disguise.
Back at the tavern Delgar’s men come out to see what is going on. Alistair and Jove are still standing in front of the doors trying to figure out what is going on when the sell swords step out. Olstag is still looking for a fight, and he immediately starts insulting Alistair. The big north man sees the slim noble as an easy target and throws an unprovoked punch at him. Then Rool the half orc takes a swing at Jove. Delilah and Pinky see the fight starting and move to help their companions. Pinky attempts a couple of hold person spells on Rool, but the half orc resists both of them. Delilah takes a more direct approach and engages the man in a fist fight, allowing Jove to back away.
Cade notices the commotion erupting in front of the tavern, and he hurries back down the street to help. He passes Delgar on the way, and he notices that the sell sword has drawn a gorgeous longsword, the blade of which is sheafed in a coating of magical frost. The halfling soon reaches his companions, and he tries to end the fight by raising his hand crossbow and aiming it at Olstag. He orders the man to stand down or be shot. Olstag ignores the halfling, and Cade makes good on his threat. A hand crossbow bolt grazes the man’s neck, enraging him. He draws his great axe. As he does so, Alistair gets his cross bow off his back and loaded with amazing speed. He too fires, but Olstag knocks his weapon to the side and the shot goes wide. Jove then blasts the sell swords with a thunderwave spell, sending some of them hurtling backwards. Rool and Delilah continue to brawl, but the remaining men draw their weapons and a full on battle erupts in front of the Laughing Goblin.
While that is going on, Turk sees a patrol of Blackfist guards coming down the wide, muddy street up ahead of him. Delgar sees them as well, and he calls out for them to arrest the thief. Turk ducks into a nearby alley. He alters his form and assumes the guise of harmless beggar. He finishes his transformation just as Delgar enters the alley. In his new form, he convinces Delgar that the half orc thief has run off down the alley, and he sends Delgar after him. The guards then enter the alley and start asking him what is going on. Before they can ask him more than a handful of questions, the guards notice the fight happening down the street in front of the Laughing Goblin, and they hurry off to intervene.
By the time the Black Fist get to the inn, Olstag is lying seemingly dead on the ground with a crossbow bolt in his back. Jove, Alistair and Cade are fending off two other sell swords, while Delilah and Rool continue their fist fight. The arrival of the guard ends the fight, as neither party wants to end up on the wrong side of the Black Fist. Alistair’s status as a noble gives him some sway with the guards, and probably saves him from being immediately arrested. It also helps that Olstag is actually still clinging to life. He receives healing magic from the heroes, saving his life and preventing a murder charge. Once he gets back on his feet the mouthy adventurers hurl some more insults at him, and he flies into a rage and attacks again. The guards tackle him and arrest him before he can hurt anyone or get himself killed. Alistair offers them a small sack of gold for their trouble, which helps to placate them, and The Black Fist order both groups to clear the streets and not be found causing any more trouble. and the heroes head on their way.
Pinky and Cade end up spending the night at Nat Wyler’s Bell. There Cade inquires with the gnome innkeeper about about the whereabouts of a yellow eyed halfling named Pip Weedbottom. Cade has reason to suspect that the Pip may be his only surviving halfling kin (the yellow eye connection). Yellow eyed halflings are a rarity, and the hostler recalls seeing a halfling that fits Pip's description staying at the inn a few weeks prior. The gnome recalls him mentioning that he was heading for Melvaunt. Why a halfling that has spent the last several years living in the distant town of Dagger Falls, suddenly pick up and head north is somewhat of a mystery to Cade, but one he wishes to find the answer to.
The rest of the party, spends the night at the Crooked Crown, and the following morning they gather at the gates to head back to Mill Hill where they hope to aid the Black Fist in fighting the gnoll band that has recently started savaging the region. It is long day’s journey. The monotony of the plains is broken when a pack of death dogs (feral, two-headed hounds) crests a rise and starts running to catch them. Fortunately, they have swift horses, except for Pinky, who is riding on the mule. Pinky hops on Jove’s steed, and they leave Betsy behind. The poor mule becomes the victim of the death dog pack, but her sacrifice allows the heroes to get away and avoid what might have been a deadly fight.
By evening the weary travellers reach their destination, and the session ends here.
My observations: during the fight, I stayed mounted on my wolf. As a result, the wolf didn't get any of it's attacks in. Other characters were, by far, the bigger contributors. I don't have much else to say about this session, but we did level at the end of it. I will put a report up about session 8 soon.
