D&D 5E Test of High Level 5E: Design 4 or 5 lvl 13 PCs for 6 to 8 encounter adventuring day

[BoldItalic]

[MENTION=6788736]Flamestrike[/MENTION]

I can give you Edward's move now, because the outcome of the Cleric and Bard's saves don't affect it.

Calling over his shoulder to Thomas "Follow me, buddy!", Edward makes his way over towards where Bedrock is now standing, threading his way through the throng and avoiding AoOs. I think he will be a bit short on distance because he started further east but he will get within Bedrock's aura (10ft radius) if he can.

After moving, he will cast Magic Missile at the wolf that is threatening the bard, using a 4th-level slot to get 6 darts. Damage per dart is 4+1 = 5 (lucky roll!) for a total of 30.

He doesn't expect any gratitude

 

[Azurewraith]

It's either 15 or 30. I'm thinking 30.

Don't want to waste to many resources this is only fight 1hmmm, tricky

 

[BoldItalic]

Don't want to waste to many resources this is only fight 1hmmm, tricky

Edward's default attack is a 3d10 cantrip, but I didn't think that would make enough of a dent in the wolf to affect the outcome from the bard's point of view. With it down 30 (okay, that was lucky), she might be able to one-shot it next round without too much trouble, before it gets to the wolves' turn again.

 

[Azurewraith]

Edward's default attack is a 3d10 cantrip, but I didn't think that would make enough of a dent in the wolf to affect the outcome from the bard's point of view. With it down 30 (okay, that was lucky), she might be able to one-shot it next round without too much trouble, before it gets to the wolves' turn again.

Hopefully flame will be in bed aswell now

 

[Azurewraith]

Ill be at work for the next 9 or so hours try not to want me signal is hit n miss

 

[Celtavian]

Do you tell other people at the table how to act when you typically play? I think that would get annoying real quick. When I DM I generally don't allow it either. There is not time for that type of behavior.

Normally I don't have to. Did you pay attention to the reason we even decided to do this? This was supposedly an optimization test. When one of the players plays like a fool, it kind becomes not one.

 

[dave2008]

Normally I don't have to. Did you pay attention to the reason we even decided to do this? This was supposedly an optimization test. When one of the players plays like a fool, it kind becomes not one.

I don't want to derail the tread so I will PM you instead.

 

[Celtavian]

Flamestrike,

I've tolerated this long enough. This test is off the rails. Azurewraith is fine and I could manage this utilizing the strengths of his character. Bold Italic is not the type of player that players like myself, CapnZapp, and Zard play with. I would like to add the disclaimer that I do not consider his way of playing wrong because I'm assuming he has fun playing the way he does. And fun is of course the goal. It doesn't simulate the type of play I see on a weekly basis or the type of play that makes it harder to run high level games.

For the purposes of this test, it's not going to work. Spending a 4th level slot to cast magic missile to do 30 points against one wolf with 75 hit points with three other wolves present and two giants with twice as many hit points when a single polymorph[/b] spell probably doubles or triples that damage with a huge hit point buffer for Bedrock for the same slot shows such a lack of awareness of the power of spells that I am awed. Even a lvl 4 fireball would at least do 9d6 to all the wolves and possibly one giant doing an average damage of 27 with missed saves (or half as much and likely somewhere in-between) points to four or five targets for a 108 or 135 damage for a 4th level slot. But a 4th level magic missile? Wow. Just wow.

We can't conduct this test with any credibility with that type of resource use. It would be like running a lab test with contaminated samples. I appreciate the time you took to design an adventure. I did enjoy your encounter setup as far as putting the party behind the eight ball. Your descriptions of actions is very good as well. But the disorganization within the group is too much to compensate for.

I have no attachment to the characters I created. If someone else wants to run them if Flamestrike feels like marching on, go for it.

 

[Celtavian]

If I were Flamestrike at the moment, now that the wizard and bard are revealed as the casters and the frontline has been compromised by Bedrock's movement, I'd have the giant order the wolves to rip the bard apart and I'd tell my FG companion to handle the wizard. I'd show no mercy whatsoever towards either ignoring the paladin, cleric, and rogue until I eliminated the bard and wizard soft targets, then I'd massacre the paladin, cleric, and rogue once the soft targets were eliminated.

The big frost giant no longer has a paladin in his way and he knows precisely where the magic stems from. Kill the casters would be the focus. No mercy.

 

[iserith]

After Flamestrike posts the encounter details in the other thread, feel free to begin the discussion there.