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

Having them arrive just in time to help the others fight the dragon would be terrific timing. We could "arrange" for Lingo, Kallista, and Balthazar to not survive the encounter, just for in-game continuity. They could meet and discover Gundren hired two groups without telling anyone and ignore the other discontinuities.

If that works, I'll presume the group in my game agreed to go talk to the dragon with Favric's group and move them there and then I can run the encounter and alert the others when it is time to step on stage. I'll run a brief travelogue for them as they approach to tie things together.

Nep and I will work out the co-DM process after that.

How does that work?

Without Lingo or Kallista, the only magic user we have is Jaliera and being an arcane trickster means she's light on magic. Lingo can certainly go, but I can't see what we'll do otherwise.

One idea would be to kill off Lingo and Kallista but for you and I, Zeim, to share Balthazar.

I'd be inclined to include Phandelin in the fast forward, given the reason for going there was to drop off the quests, get the rewards and restock for the assault, with the healing potions in particular highlighted as a necessity. Thoughts?

Also, I'm quite impressed that both GMs managed to forget one magic user half-class from N-party, but different ones.

I thought I mentioned that Kriv was an Eldritch Knight? That was why, between he and Jaliera, plus a Druid, a Ranger, a Paladin and a Cleric I thought maybe there was enough magic to not need Balthazar or Kallista.

I think Z-group could wrap up Thundertree, N-group could wrap up the hobgoblin encounter, Then the merger take place in Phandelin.

I don't know how much more play-time Z-group have in Thundertree, but based on previous combats, N-group could take around 6 weeks to complete the hobgoblin encounter.

You did indeed mention Kriv as having magic, Z. Nep up there mentioned Jaleira as the only spellcaster. Neither of you remembered both.

Chandan isn't a spellcaster but I guess he can do one spell-like ability per day.

Actually, I was looking at the 5th Ed monk t'other day, and it struck me that the Monastic Traditions are bit uneven, since some are powered mostly by ki points and thus eat into a monk's core abilities, and others aren't, giving them considerably more milage.

Anyone know what the general feedback on the monk class has been like?

AJ. True. My bad. So many characters swimming in that thick cranium of mine. Kriv can cast a spell or two.

Are Jaliera and Kriv enough? Bern has a couple too. And 8 PCs is certainly a large party.

In previous editions, a couple of gishy types should have been plenty to fill that niche. (Less of an issue with 4th ed due to the attempts to eliminate the linear/quadratic split.) in 2nd ed you had dual/multiclass types, in 3rd, prestige classes (such as Eldritch Knight's namesake) and splatbook fighter-mage types such as Swordsages and Psychic Warriors which could definitely step up.

Finding out if this holds true for their 5th edition equivalent is entirely in keeping with the spirit of this game.

Yes, and if we remove Lingo, Kallista, and Balthazar we only have 7 pcs:

Kriv, Luminmorn, Bern, Jaliera, Davroar, Ryssa, and Chandan.

Neal - Here's a link to a thread about 5e Monks.

Nep and I have a friend who is playing a 5e Monk in our FTF game and he is a pretty good pc.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430328-The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-Monk-a-5e-Monk-guide

One idea that no one seems to have considered ... go ahead and retire Kriv as well and introduce a new, magic using PC ... perhaps bringing news, new 'instructions' or the like to the two groups <g>

It was mentioned at some point to retire either Kriv or Luminmorn and pull in a pure mage type.

If we are fighter heavy, I can easily swap around and play a mage. I might need some help with the mechanics and or setup, as I haven't done it in the new edition. I have always had a thing for Sorcerers and their ability to swap spells around, though I can't say I have ever played a Warlock. So either one could be interesting.

So I guess I am saying I am open to trying new things if that is the direction we want to go.

I am fine with whatever decision is made on joining the groups. Also even though my character is depending more and more on his shapechanging ways, he does have spells too - Just my 2 cents here.

I think we need a way forward that largely keeps the 'history' of the remaining characters intact. Though I am happy to fast forward to whatever point this meeting is to take place assuming we get our potions on route

We need to need each other for this to work well. If all now surplus characters die in the existing combats, we would be looking to recruit back in Phandelin. Likewise the other group may decide they need others two. So then meeting back in Phandelin, finding out that we are on the same quest, joining forces is the best solution. Maybe then we can go back to the other's combat to resolve it.

And I think ditching NPCs is a good idea, I'm sure we can manage without a mage.. and GMs can tweak encounters if needed.

Well something that occurred to me while I was thinking about this ... it is certainly possible that there were two different 'lairs' ... why would they all be in the same place when they had so much territory to plunder <weg> Since all the other 'events' were unique to each group, that would solve that problem. =IF= the decision is to bring a new PC as our main magic user, that character could have been sent to 'unite' out two groups for the next phase of the operation.

Ah OK, that concurs with my reading of it. Way of the Open Hand is really what distinguishes the monk. The other two Monastic Traditions make them a somewhat gimped version of another class.

I was shocked to read that WotC had changed Water Whip in an errata so it's now a full action. That would technically render it pointless! Why drag an enemy next to you or trip them, if you can't follow it up with an attack in the same round? Weird.

As it stands, I think a monk is best played a straightforward warrior monk, and for a flashy, anime-style hadoken monk, a player's probably better choosing the sorcerer class.

Everyone keep in mind that in 5e you are allowed to change everything about your pc, other than their name (why not their name I have no idea) up until you reach 4th level.

Everyone is 3rd. You can still move your statistics around, change classes, change backgrounds, change races, change anything you like. So, if Kriv wanted to become a Sorceror he could redo his whole pc to make it happen.

I'd be happy to work with you, Pande, if you're open to it. Otherwise I think there is enough secondary magic in the group to make up for the lack of a pure caster. Every single player can cast some sort of spell other than Chandan.

And Neil, if you want to tweak Chandan to go down the Way of the Open Hand, feel free. That is the path my friend took for his Monk in our FTF game.

IMO, the cleanest way to do this is:

1 - Have the Nep group bypass the current encounter and head towards Thundertree to look for the Druid
2 - Have them arrive just as the first group is involved with a dragon
3 - Have Lingo, Kallista, and Balthazar not survive that battle while the second group arrives just in the nick of time as re-enforcements
4 - Have both group compare notes, realize they are working on the same goal, that they need each other, and join together

The spellcaster issue (or anyone else who wishes to alter their pc) is completely allowed by the rules so if you are thinking such thoughts go right ahead and send Nep and I PMs and we'll work it out.

Well I think the merger will work out for me, because Chandan's shortfalls from not taking Way of the Open Hand won't be so deterimental to the rest of the party.

As long as we don't use the errata version of Water Whip, I don't mind Chandan as he is, it just means always saving ki points for Water Whips. A bit of a one trick pony, but at least it's a good trick.

Your call, Neal. Just making it clear you can try the other option if you choose.

Cheers Zeim, I appreciate that. Water Whip has proven an effective anti-ogre spray so far and Chandan is more of an all-rounder anyway. I think the other characters mostly forgive him if he's a bit rubbish at any one thing.

I am OK with your plan Zeim.

What makes sense is what you, the players, want to do. I agree with Zeim's plan, but the part that I'll underline in his plan, is to let players adjust their PC, if they so choose. I'll take the next step to redirect the PC's in the game I'm DMing.

I'm fine with Zeim's plan or with anything the other players want to go with.