D&D General Starter vs Essentials vs Stormwreck Isle

[Burnside]

I forgot those ochre jellies. That’s brutal. I had to deus ex machina my players out of a TPK the first time I ran that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm sure the number of TPKs that have resulted from the goblin ambush

I only played it once, but I mopped the floor with them goblins!

I mean obvious ambush is obviously an ambush. You don’t need to have played D&D before to spot that.

 

[Burnside]

I only played it once, but I mopped the floor with them goblins!

I mean obvious ambush is obviously an ambush. You don’t need to have played D&D before to spot that.

In my experience that encounter can swing a lot depending on how viciously the DM deploys the goblins’ Nimble Escape bonus action Hide/Disengage ability. It gives 4 goblins an action economy that 4 2014-era level one PCs may struggle to match, especially if the goblins get the drop on them.

 

[Zardnaar]

I actually just checked and in fact the adventure DOES advise you to just focus on 2 of the kobolds that you like, and have the players interact just with them.

I’d still argue that there’s no reason for there to even be 9 of them, and putting 9 in and telling the DM “pick two” is a bit awkward, but it’s accurate to say the adventure text advises you not to really use most of them.

Yup before I thought DoSI was the worst adventure. But tgat was from an experienced players PoV


I started rereading them and after a completely new player the other night axs a reminder.

The preconstructed characters were a lot better designed than LMoP iirc. And tied to the adventure.

I cant remember the last time I used precons. Maybe never.

The adventure alsohad a safety net if things went tit's up.

Basic role-playing and greetings was also good.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In my experience that encounter can swing a lot depending on how viciously the DM deploys the goblins’ Nimble Escape bonus action Hide/Disengage ability

We shot em full of arrows before they got chance to do either.

 

[Lazybones]

We shot em full of arrows before they got chance to do either.

Just following the step-by-step instructions for the DM (who remember might be a novice, given that this is the Starter Set) provided in the module, the goblins will gain surprise a lot of the time (+6 to Stealth, compared to passive Perception of the party, which for first level characters will probably be in the 9-15 range). So if the goblins roll 10+ on the d20 they probably surprise the entire group. If they gain surprise (i.e., their Stealth beat the passive Perception of their targets), the archers would also get advantage on their first shots, and depending on initiative they might get two shots before the players can react (and given that they can Hide as a bonus action, they might also get their second shots at advantage). Even with average damage rolls, two hits of 1d6+2 damage will take out many first level characters. And that's not even considering the two melee goblins. So it's very likely that with one high roll of the d20 you could have one or two members of a four-person party down before the players even get to do anything.

If I was DMing this for novice players, I'd probably deliberately flub the goblins' Stealth check or do something else to give the party a slight advantage, or maybe hint that they should take cover before the arrows start flying.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Just following the step-by-step instructions for the DM (who remember might be a novice, given that this is the Starter Set) provided in the module, the goblins will gain surprise a lot of the time (+6 to Stealth, compared to passive Perception of the party, which for first level characters will probably be in the 9-15 range). So if the goblins roll 10+ on the d20 they probably surprise the entire group. If they gain surprise (i.e., their Stealth beat the passive Perception of their targets), the archers would also get advantage on their first shots, and depending on initiative they might get two shots before the players can react (and given that they can Hide as a bonus action, they might also get their second shots at advantage). Even with average damage rolls, two hits of 1d6+2 damage will take out many first level characters. And that's not even considering the two melee goblins. So it's very likely that with one high roll of the d20 you could have one or two members of a four-person party down before the players even get to do anything.

If I was DMing this for novice players, I'd probably deliberately flub the goblins' Stealth check or do something else to give the party a slight advantage, or maybe hint that they should take cover before the arrows start flying.

We left the road, hid in the trees, and sent in a decoy to draw out the ambush. Then we ambushed the goblins. Pretty obvious stuff.

 

[Zardnaar]

We left the road, hid in the trees, and sent in a decoy to draw out the ambush. Then we ambushed the goblins. Pretty obvious stuff.

Not for new players.
This encounter was a reason I chose DoSI. Even then I had a newbie go down as the Zombies rolled two criticals.

LMoP is the best adventure overall, essentials the best product, but I think this one's the best for newbies.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not for new players.

I was new to 5e, and the other players were new to D&D. You don't need to know anything about D&D to see an overturned cart in the middle of the track with forest on either side and know it is an ambush.

 

[Zardnaar]

I was new to 5e, and the other players were new to D&D. You don't need to know anything about D&D to see an overturned cart in the middle of the track with forest on either side and know it is an ambush.

True might have gnolls near it.