D&D 5E (2014) So the PCs are attacked when relaxing...

[Quartz]

So the PCs are relaxing in Ye Olde Taverne when nasties teleport in / erupt from the floor / whatever. None of the PCs are wearing armour, big weapons are neither present nor to hand, the spellcasters have no spells active, etc. How do the classes compare?

(BTW Drunk = Disadvantage on attack rolls etc but not defence rolls, right?)

 

[Agamon]

I give advantage to the monk and spellcasters, though casting an offensive spell might be a big no-no that would be just as bad, if not worse, than using a weapon to hurt/kill someone, law-of-the-land-wise.

Also, the tavern brawler feat would help, of course.

 

[mips42]

So the PCs are relaxing in Ye Olde Taverne when nasties teleport in / erupt from the floor / whatever. None of the PCs are wearing armour, big weapons are neither present nor to hand, the spellcasters have no spells active, etc. How do the classes compare?

(BTW Drunk = Disadvantage on attack rolls etc but not defence rolls, right?)

Taking the idea as written, Here's what I see: The baddies appear, the thief ducks out (or out of the way), the cleric and the mage close on the thief's heels and the fighter tries to hold the baddies attention while he takes (and gives) some lumps.
The thief likely lives, 2nd place goes to whoever is right behind him, last place goes to the fighter as he likely 'took one for the team.'

Having said that, this is 5e so the cleric and mage are going to have cantrips, so they can use those whenever as much as they want. Also, the thief could swipe a kitchen knife and do some damage that way.
Overall, I'd say reasonably even.

 

[Tony Vargas]

No spells /active/, but spells prepped and slots available?

Disadvantage on /attacks/ only?

That's going to more heavily disfavor some classes than others. Of the Basic 4, the Fighter and Cleric are hosed by lack of armor, especially if they're heavy-armor types - they could be AC 10. The thief, OTOH, loses a little AC, and the wizard is out his Mage Armor, but it's one action to put it up (if he has it prepped - alternately, Shield is a reaction).

Aside from Mage Armor, spells don't often get pre-cast in 5e like they did in 3e, so that's not a huge difference.

For offense, the wizard and cleric can use cantrips or actual spells. The fighter is seriously out of luck, but you said 'big weapons' so the thief may have a dagger and can still SA.

Then there's the disadvantage - bad for the Fighter and Thief and cantrips that take attack rolls, not an issue for spells that force saves or work automatically.

 

[Grazzt]

The fighter is seriously out of luck, but you said 'big weapons' so the thief may have a dagger and can still SA.

Disagree about the fighter. He has more hit points than the rest of his adventuring companions (most likely) so he can take a beating, with or without armor. As for weapons (or lack of weapons), he can always grab a chair, stool, table, table leg, halfling, whatever and use that as a weapon.

 

[transtemporal]

So the PCs are relaxing in Ye Olde Taverne when nasties teleport in / erupt from the floor / whatever. None of the PCs are wearing armour, big weapons are neither present nor to hand, the spellcasters have no spells active, etc. How do the classes compare?

(BTW Drunk = Disadvantage on attack rolls etc but not defence rolls, right?)

If its a level-appropriate encounter? A TPK probably.

I'd be careful about doing this. Keeping PCs on their toes is one thing, a TPK in the middle of somewhere they should feel secure is punitive.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I have literally never had a drunk PC before. Not once. And I've never seen a drunk PC, unless a player specifically wanted their PC to be drunk.

So while it's a hard and not particularly balanced encounter, it's probably not going to be all that bad. PCs don't have to be hard drinkers to relax. Just drink some small beer. It's hard to get drunk on 2% alcohol, and you can't get hard liquor without distillation. (When was that invented?)

 

[pkt77242]

I have literally never had a drunk PC before. Not once. And I've never seen a drunk PC, unless a player specifically wanted their PC to be drunk.

So while it's a hard and not particularly balanced encounter, it's probably not going to be all that bad. PCs don't have to be hard drinkers to relax. Just drink some small beer. It's hard to get drunk on 2% alcohol, and you can't get hard liquor without distillation. (When was that invented?)

I believe distillation of hard alcohol started around the 12th century. Now mead was around for a long time and it can be potent (5% to upwards of 20% abv). Wine also can get rather high in alcohol as well.

I agree with your first point that I have never seen a drunk PC unless the player wanted too except one time when my DM had a person in a bar challenge a PC to a drinking contest and it turned ugly for the Player as he failed constitution check after constitution check. Ugh. Though it was a start of a fun adventure.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Let's be honest. This sounds like a case of almost certain doom. Party members with limited resources have spent them. Those that rely on equipment don't have it.

Survival is not a matter of standing up to the opposition. It's about getting out alive. In this case, the class with the greatest advantage is Rogue because he can use all his bonus actions to Disengage (+50% move speed), can use his reactions for Uncanny Dodge, likely has the highest natural AC due to high Dex, and is the class most likely to be skilled in the art of stealth.

 

[transtemporal]

Those that rely on equipment don't have it.

Which is all of them except monk really. In fact, the only party that might stand their ground and survive would be a monk party since they don't need armor or weapons to be effective.