DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games LMP: Lost Mines of Phandelver OOC thread

Well just spent a few of minutes going over my character sheet and did't see anything that =I= think makes sense to change, but if anyone has any suggestions to make Bern more effective, I'd be willing to consider them.

Take your time. Figure that you'll be making any changes that you want to make AFTER you all deal with the dragon.

As long as we are diverted allowing us to collect those healing potions on the way. Happy to fast forward if that is the case.

We can assume that happened, as long as Nep doesn't mind.

BTW, it is good actually Nep and I will be co-DMing a single game shortly as I will be doing some international traveling for work between now and January/February (and maybe more after that) so I will be out of pocket quite a bit. Nep has also been busy at work recently so sharing a single game will be better for us I think.

That's good!

I will send you both a PM so we can talk about my most recent idea regarding a pure class mage of some sort.

Moved things along in the old thread and posted in the new one too!

So a question about 5e and tactics. In the instant of Luminmorn's current situation. How does it work, if he wanted to step to his right and line up the rank and file of cultists and breath a blast of lightning.

My guess, if I understand things. He would take attacks of opportunity as he moved away from 5 and 6 (the two cultists that attacked him and are engaged with him)?

I went ahead and posted a regular attack while I learn about this.

Pande - Yes. If you move away from a creature it gets an opportunity attack on you. However you can maneuver next to a creature for a better position, as long as you stay adjacent, and you don't give up an opportunity attack. So, IOW, you could run in circles around a creature without it getting an OA but as soon as you step back it would.

So in this example, he would take an OA from one of them and not the other. Of course some of them going to sleep may change things.
Thanks.

Depending on how far back he stepped, yes. If he wanted to get away from all adjacent foes, then all adjacent foes would get an OA as soon as he stepped away from them.

Now keep in mind that each person only gets one OA per round, so if they use it on one target they can't use it on another target in the same round.

Thanks, that helps too.

So, so far it seems that the two changes from prior versions causing the most confusion/issues are the change in combat-movement regarding OAs and the difference in spell casting (i.e. memorization versus spell slots.

In 5e it is no longer possible to move away from a foe, no matter how carefully you try to do so, without granting an OA (i.e. no more 5' step). Although you can maneuver around foes as long as you stay next to them the whole time. This has major effects on combat tactics.

For example, archers, once engaged by swordsmen must drop their bows and fight with hand-held weapons or else attack with disadvantage.

It also means that if your ally, 10+ feet away, is threatened, you can no longer move to help him without potentially exposing yourself to an OA from a foe next to you.

This puts more of a premium on tactical positioning at the beginning of a battle. For example, if your archers want to stay far away, to the rear, they risk being left by themselves and not having anyone else be able to help them IF some foes manage to reach them.

It also means that your Clerics take a risk if they move to the front to fight with hand-held weapons, the risk being they may not be able to cast Cure Wounds on wounded comrades behind them if those comrades are more than 5' away.

Additionally, if the enemy gets to move before you, you need to consider tactical positioning prior to combat beginning. i.e. A specific marching order that you always travel in.

This puts a premium on powers/spells (such as Misty Step and some Class Powers) that allow you to disengage from combat freely.

On the spell front, flexibility has been added. You are no longer completely constrained by specific spell memorizations, but instead can pick a "looser" list of spells and then choose from that list to use your spell slots on the fly. So whereas in the past if you wanted 2 Magic Missile spells as a Wizard you had to memorize 2, now you should never pick the same spell more than once for your list as you can always cast anything on that list if you have spell slots remaining.

Comments/thoughts?

I was worrying about that when Ryssa ended up on the front line here, Zeim. I sorta threw myself on the mercy of the court when I had her give up her attack in order to commit to defense in a round.

I remember that option from earlier editions...

Thanks for the expose' Zeim <g> I will have to try and keep all that in mind <g>

On the elimination of the 5' step, there's an action "disengage" that can be used to step away from a foe. Some classes (thieves) can use that as a bonus action. That's an example of the "class" action you noted.

Just to note another movement difference is that you can move-attack-move. This lets fighters, with multiple attacks, can kill orc#1 and then move to kill orc#2 in the same round.

As for the spellcasters, staying in the back, away from melee, is a strategic imperative that has it's roots in AD&D (1st Ed). To me it seems more natural.

This is a tough encounter (made tougher by the fact that the DM had decided to kill off 3 PC's) but as you go up levels in this version, you'll find that PC's are not as tough as they were in 3.5 or 4. Neither are the foes, really. It makes for shorter, more reasonable combats. When I say that PC's aren't as tough, I really mean that they don't have as many options as high level PC's in the other editions. This is really good because it makes the game easier to learn and it also makes running combats less of a chore.

Another word on spell casters. Although 5e doesn't describe PCs this way, the 4e concepts of striker, controller, leader and defender still apply. A party really needs controllers badly in this edition. That means spell caster that have area of effect spells; either evocations that blast away hordes of minions or other types of spells that limit movement (walls, for example). Controlling the "gameboard" (think chess) is vital.

I thank you for the exposition. I didn't get that nuance from reading the rules. Great to know.
Thanks

Just a bit of additional info on Disengage. It is a single full round action. That is the only thing you get to do ... IIRC.

Correct. You can Disengage to move away, but that becomes your action for the round, so no attacks or spells (except Bonus actions).

Happy New Year everyone!

Bah-kah-cha Zeim and everyone else as well <g>

Prospero Ano y Felicidad!

Good morning from 2017! I just wanted to note that I have a truly terrible hang-over and am blaming it on Chandan.

Long as ya got someone else ta blame it on, yer good! <g>

HNY