Dinner Battle at Sacred Stone Monastery

Split into 2 groups for battle. We shared minis on one map, which made it tricky to know where you and your foes were exactly.

A) Jeff, Jayme, new guy Nick, so = Bard 4 Sorcerer 3? Barbarian 1. = 8 levels avg 2.67

B) Kyle, Liz, Tavis, Dave = Cleric 3? Fighter 1, Fighter 3?, Fighter 2. = 9 levels avg 2.25

Encounter difficulty is DEADLY. 4600 exp total, consisting of 12 monks, 2 guards, 1 priest, 1 headmistress monk.

Players were reminded during recap of the difficulties they had with 7 monks. Pointed out that the number of PCs would be halved, but the monsters were supposed to have that many and they would all remain present.

Characters were given additional incentive to leave because the headmistress sent a monk to find more brothers and slay the hippogriffs which are alongside the compound. The characters  chose to not go save the hippogriffs.

Joey ran group A’s battle. I was unable to watch it, but Jayme told me he survived with 1 hp, and the L1 barbarian went down. I ran group B’s battle. It was ugly.

PC Cleric started off with a light-blast, rolled high damage that killed 7 monks. Then it all went wrong. Cleric stepped back from the door intending to let a fighter take that position, but instead the headmistress went next. She stepped forward and stunned the cleric until end of her next turn. (Importantly, the cleric was the only target in sight.) Next one of the PC fighters missed a few strikes. Then the priest cast Slow on the party and returned to cover. (The spell was chosen because it is his only L3 spell.) Oskar (Dave) was unaffected; other fighters were slowed. Another fighter took ranged shots but I believe missed. The remaining 5 monks ran up to smack the Cleric. Oskar killed the first with his reaction opp atk. Unfortunately the stunned cleric grants ADV ATK so the monks had a very easy target, and each has multiple attacks, equals Cleric down. Lots of missed attacks, on both sides, but the monks had the 3 slowed fighters outnumbered and outpowered. It was an inevitable grind toward loss. There were moments of hope, but they surrendered.  They were branded with Elemental Earth symbols.

Without inspiration nobody was able to re-roll their saves versus Slow. Although even if they did the Priest may well have recast it since it IS his only L3 spell. That might have moved some AE damage spells to later rounds, but later on I used a lower damage AE spell so if they were still strong then I would have kept using the higher damage, so would have felt more hopeful but result would probably have been the same.

The Cleric said OH! I should have used my reaction to Flare the headmistress- but then he realized it wouldn’t have worked because she is actually blind.

OH, and it was funny, Jeff thought I changed the guards’ armor into Stone because he is stoked to use Heat Metal. Well no, that’s written in the module. However, during prep I found a description that the masks are tin, and I’m pretty sure he used it on the headmistress so he has no complaints really ;)

Splitting an Adventurer's League table

The extra Prep for split:
1) Have TWO OR MORE sets of combat stats for mobs preprinted.
2) Ideally, have the same printed for NPC spells details for quick reference.

The split mechanics:
As a large group, roleplay up to the point of combat start.
Split into groups of 1) similar numbers of players, and 2) similar total level. You don't want one group with 6 players and another with 3 players. You also don't want all the 4th-level PCs in one group and the 1st-level PCs in the other.

Run the combat.

The resolution mechanics:
Award full experience and treasure to winning groups.
To groups that were not successful, award exp for monsters only they defeated, and award no treasure for that room. (Reserving DM option to override.)

The join mechanics:
Use the most successful group's result to continue the story. Those involved in achieving that result already gained the most benefit.

Prepping for a D&D Encounters session - combat

For reference, my normal prep:
1) Ideally, print area map. Consider printing 1"=5' scale if you don't have Game Times or similar. Recommendations: Dwarven Forge Dwarvenite Game Tiles from DwarvenForge.com. Fat Dragon Games paper models available at RPGNOW.com. PosterRazor available from... somewhere.

2) Create list of rooms and mobs present in each room, and quantity. This is dynamically adjusted at table.

3) Add combat specs to list of mobs. My preference is to have a list of mobs with stats at top of page, and just list the names of the mobs in each room. That provides plenty of white space to record hit point and effects as battle progresses.

The combat stats I transcribe are:
S, D, C, I, W, A, PP, Vision / Senses, AC, hps, MV, MAT, RAT, Powers / Reactions / Spells / Traits / Notes. DR / DI / CI

S=Strength, D=Dexterity, C=Consitution, I=Intelligence, W=Wisdom, A=Charisma. Only the modifier; not the score because that would be 6 columns of wasted space.
PP=passive perception.
Vision / senses: dv60 Darkvision range 60', bs60=blindsense 60', ts10=tremorsense 10', etc. Not Keen Smell which
AC, hps Armor class, hit points
MV movement rates. f30 = fly 30', s20 swim, b=burrow, c=climb, etc.
MAT Melee attack, 2x lngsd +5 1d8+3 = 2 strikes per attack action at +5 to hit doing 1d8+3 damage. Bite +8 2d8+5 & 2x claw +8 2d6+5 = claw/claw/bite.
RAT Ranged attack. Like MAT with range listed. 2x lngbw +4 150/600 1d8+3
Powers / Reactions / Spells / Traits / Notes / DR / DI / CI. DR = damage resistance DI = damage immunity CI = condition immunity. Features like Keen smell, Pack tactics, Evasion, Parry, Dragon breath, Stunning Strike. Include Rchg=recharge. Reminders or listed-out effects. For spells, listed by level on separate lines using ALT-ENTER. (0) sacred flame, acid splash, guidance. 1(4) sleep, cure wounds, burning hands. 2(3) spiritual hammer = cantrips, level 1 has 4 slots, level 2 has 3 slots. 

For spellcasters I supplement the basic spell list with a printed spell sheet from http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1180

4) Ideally, in each room note special treasure like magic items, special features like traps, secret doors, etc.

5) Ideally, list exp of each mob type. This speeds nightly calculation of exp reward.

6) Ideally, list treasure of room. Again, speeds nightly reward calc.

5ED Druid Wildshape hit points - a fix in RAW

Upon review of RAW, I believe every table at which I have played has misinterpreted how druid wildshape hit points work. The "ah ha" is in bold below.

While you gain the hp pool of the beast form chosen, RAW does not specify that the beast starts at max hp; merely that it has a different pool. It also doesn't specify that each beast form uses a different hit point pool; merely that it is distinct from your humanoid pool.

So if you use a dire wolf form with 45hp, you don't get double that per short rest. You get 45. If that form is wounded for 33, those 33 will need to be healed.

Further, a Moon Druid (using Combat Wild Shape) can expend spell slots as bonus action to heal the beast form. We mostly ignore that because it is unimportant if your beast mode (wrongly) starts at full hp every time. However, if beast form did indeed start at full, then to heal using the fewest resources you'd just use 2 bonus actions to flip to humanoid mode, back to beast mode to start over at full. Given the way players may choose the timing of spending bonus actions, you're only "stuck" as humanoid from end-of-this-round to the beginning-of-next.

Essentially we've been treating the beast mode as temp hit points. Instead, I believe this is the way it is intended to work:
1. Your beast form has a separate hit point pool. It is not specified, but my personal take on this is you have one pool for all beast modes.
2. Damage to that hit point pool does not heal on its own. (If you try to take a long rest as a beast, a druid cannot remain in beast mode for a long rest due to automatic reversion to humanoid when you become unconscious.
3. If you try to assume a beast form with fewer hit points than damage from your pool, you go unconscious and revert to human form. (Interestingly this can leave you unable to assume beast form until someone else heals your beast form before it reverts to humanoid. That time is the time to perform 1 action or possibly a bonus action for a moon druid, which means a healer can ready an action to perform the heal, provide a healing potion, apply a healer's kit, etc.) I would permit a moon druid to expend spell slots to self-heal upon changing form, though I am not sure how a land druid could do so. I suppose I'll consider that when someone plays a land druid at my table.

Comparing 5ED DnD Races with +1 vs +2 in primary ability

I was curious about balance issues between 5ED DnD  races with +1 versus +2 in the primary ability for their class. Obviously, this type of analysis targets minmax gamers, so obtaining the highest bonus in the primary ability as quickly as possible is the main objective. Analysis shows the two type are in mathematical balance, but there is still significant advantage for a +2 race.

The math of a +2 race:
A +2 race, say an Gnome Wizard with +2 INT, starts with a 15+2=17 (+3 bonus).

At level 4 you get an ASI and take, say, Observant feat that grants you a few powers and a +1 INT; 17+1=18 (+4 bonus) 

At level 8 you take the full ASI for +2 INT and max out; 18+2= 20 (+5 bonus).

The math of a +1 race:

On the other hand, a Human Wizard with +1 INT starts with a 14+2=16 (+3 bonus).

At level 4 take a full ASI for +2 INT; 16+2=18 (+4 bonus)

At level 8 take a full ASI for +2 INT; 18+2=20 (+5 bonus)

So the difference is a +2 race has a combo feat/ASI and gain the benefits of the "extra" feat for 8 levels. 

OR, they can use it as a full ASI and add a point to another ability, say a +1 ability which maybe they used a 14 base so 14+1=15 (bonus +2), which means that first ASI at 4th level would add bonus +1 to the prime by taking it to 18 (+4 bonus) and another bonus +1 to the secondary via 15+1=16 (bonus +3). Double whammy!

ASI: Ability Score Improvement. 2 points added to one or two abilities. OR, take a feat. Some feats award 1 point to one ability in addition to other benefits.