D&D General Session Zero and Nobody Chose a Spellcaster

[Shiroiken]

The DM will probably need to make a few adjustments to the AP to allow for more short rests, and to avoid the necessity of needing a spell cast. Someone might want to take Ritual Caster, just in case. Otherwise, this should be perfectly fine. You'll do extremely well in combat individually, but will lack any group support. Buy as many Potions of Healing as you can.

 

[Blue]

I'm more worries by lack of any force multiplication than any lack of casters, though casters can act as force multiplication. You have a decent amount of synergy though so I wouldn't be too worried.

Also, the Path of the Four Elements for monk is often considered broken-weak.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I'm a 100% for your party composition. If I had my choice modern D&D would be a lot less focused on spells and magic. Back in the day we played 2e almost exclusively with fighters and thief's.

Love it.

We played a 1e campaign with an an evil barbarian two thieves and a fighter/assassin. It was epic.

The dm was generous with potions in towns and we stocked up for sure.

I guess that was our “mod”

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Choices.

I am all for upping the challenge and taking things that are not optimal. Last night our party was beat to hell and it was so much cooler that the curb stomps we often do.

I say get crazy and go for it. It always pays off in enjoyment if it’s your choice!

 

[TwoSix]

I'm a 100% for your party composition. If I had my choice modern D&D would be a lot less focused on spells and magic. Back in the day we played 2e almost exclusively with fighters and thief's.

Personally, I love the idea of playing a D&D mod with no magic classes. Let the magic come via discovery.

 

[CleverNickName]

I can't speak for the rest of the team and their characters. But here's my plan so far.

By virtue of my character's ancestry, I get to start the game with the Ray of Frost cantrip. At 3rd level I'll be able to use Armor of Agythys 1/day, and at 5th level I'll be able to cast Darkness 1/day. (I got permission to use the Bloodline of Levistus variant, from MToF).

And from the Storm Herald subclass, I'll get to deal elemental damage to a target within 10 feet as a bonus action (or gain temporary hit points as a bonus action). At 6th level I gain resistance to lightning damage, can breathe underwater, and gain a swim speed, and at 10th level I can extend this resistance to my allies. At 14th level I can knock enemies prone as a Reaction.

That's a lot of magic for a "non-caster"...and I haven't even touched Feats yet. I think I'm gonna be fine.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

So we're wrapping up my current D&D campaign, and so the next DM in line hosted her Session Zero last night. We were given the standard ground rules for our table (5E 2014 D&D, Tasha's, Volo's, and Xanathar's are allowed, roll your stats, start at 1st level, Forgotten Realms campaign setting, published adventure path with modifications.)

We all rolled up our stats, chatted a bit about Who is going to play What, and then we filled out our character sheets. In alphabetical order, we have:

• Beedleby (halfling rogue, criminal background). Considering Thief subclass. Player wants to play an iconic "D&D thief."
• Brash (tiefling barbarian, custom background). My character. Going to try to talk the DM into letting me use the Giant subclass in Bigby's, but prepared to go Storm Herald if she says no.
• Gaelien (wood elf fighter, outlander background). Wants to be an Eldritch Knight, hopes the DM will let her use the Druid spell list.
• Savrin (high elf fighter, noble background). Future Rune Knight.
• Walks-The-Shore, aka "Walker" (green dragonborn monk, acolyte background). Very interested in Way of the Four Elements, wants to build a "Water Bender" type character.

How we all met: a few years ago, a popular roadside tavern and trading post was destroyed by a storm. The community came together to help them rebuild, and our characters were volunteers: Beedleby helped by, um, sourcing some of the more expensive materials...Savrin donated money from his father's inheritance...Brash and Walker were physical laborers, and Gaelin helped thatch the roof. We worked well together, and became fast friends.​

And it was right about this time, after introductions had been made and everyone was into their characters, the DM noticed that nobody was playing a spellcaster. We hadn't really planned it that way, but she was right: nobody is a full- or even half-caster, and nobody will learn any spells at all until at least a couple more levels. All we have in that department are a few elf cantrips, my tiefling's spell-like abilities, and a poisonous breath weapon. The DM asked us if anyone wanted to reconsider their character choices, but by this time, everyone was already stoked about their current character concepts. Nah, we said. We're good.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been in a no-caster adventuring party? We're told this campaign will take us well past 16th level, so we are in it for the long haul. Any advice for a group of martials?

From personal experience most WoTC adventure paths seems to be built for 4 person parties.
I have run Princes of the Apocalypse and the encounter difficulty starts to fall off about level 7 or so. This is a particularly tanky party and in my experience the lack of a full caster is less relevant than the lack of a healer.

No idea how a Rime and PotA mashup will work out, however someone with spell slots (probably the EK ) should pick up mage initiate to get healing word or something like that.
Barbarians, I have little experience of, but they can be tanky. The Rune Knight is both very tanky and a decent controller once the subclass features kick in.

The closest I have come to this was a Dragonlance campaign (the Shadow of the Dragonqueen) with a Swashbuckler, Rune Knight, a Warlock and me a Bladesinger. At level 4, I respecced the bladesinger for a bard (swords) because we really needed the healer and the encounters we met meant that I had been more of a controller than bladesinger. So, the bard fitted nicely into that. In our case the fighter went down a lot but once I got the bard re-spec I was able to keep him on his feet.

 

[Older Beholder]

I can't speak for the rest of the team and their characters. But here's my plan so far.

By virtue of my character's ancestry, I get to start the game with the Ray of Frost cantrip. At 3rd level I'll be able to use Armor of Agythys 1/day, and at 5th level I'll be able to cast Darkness 1/day. (I got permission to use the Bloodline of Levistus variant, from MToF).

And from the Storm Herald subclass, I'll get to deal elemental damage to a target within 10 feet as a bonus action (or gain temporary hit points as a bonus action). At 6th level I gain resistance to lightning damage, can breathe underwater, and gain a swim speed, and at 10th level I can extend this resistance to my allies. At 14th level I can knock enemies prone as a Reaction.

That's a lot of magic for a "non-caster"...and I haven't even touched Feats yet. I think I'm gonna be fine.

The beauty of 5E is that there’s so many ways to tailor a character to your needs as you level up.
And if all else fails, there’s always the old fashion way of hiring NPCs.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No idea how a Rime and PotA mashup will work out, however someone with spell slots (probably the EK ) should pick up mage initiate to get healing word or something like that

If the EK is allowed to choose Druid spells then then they can get healing word anyway. I would ask "why not ranger?" and allow it if I got a good answer.

I would prioritise Ritual Caster for the utility spells like Detect Magic that you don't miss until they are not there.

I'll get to deal elemental damage

Damage spells aren't really missed, unless the DM is tight with the magic weapons. It's a shame Storm Herald is so rubbish, I would love to see it revamped to not suck for the 2024 rules.

 

[Corinnguard]

What I have never seen is a group with ALL casters...

When my group went adventuring in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus 3 years ago, we were almost a party of all arcane spellcasters. We had a Halfling Bard, an Elven Bladesinger Wizard, a Changeling Wild Magic Sorcerer (who was a bit of a pyromaniac) and a Human Teleporter (homebrewed class). I was the party's sole non-spellcaster. A Dragonborn Fighter (Scout).

Early on, we did have one divine spellcaster, a Druid from Circle of the Wildfire. The player then decided to switch out the druid for a Necromancer wizard before the DM kicked him out for having issues with at least two members of our group.

My group's current adventure has it where half of the party are divine spellcasters. Goblin Druid, Half-Elf Paladin and my character, a Bugbear Gloom Stalker Ranger/Rogue.