OoC Chat

Okay folks, our first battle is upon us! Here is a great video to explain the basics! Let me know if you have questions :)

callan, you did great with your guidance and disadvantage to do it in 3 lines of rolls. If you want to do it all on one line, you can separate dice rolls with commas like this:

1d20-1, 1d20-1, 1d4

Also, no worries about failing the roll. Failure makes the game more interesting! Maybe your God wanted it this way for mysterious reason :)

About the battle map, it doesn't quite match the description from the story, but it is pretty! It was the best I could find, so please forgive the slight discrepancies (like that tree should be way thicker than 5 feet, but oh well).

Like the map and I note the point about the tree etc. I found the video helpful, but will need to watch this again.

Should I roll initiative first, and then think about what I want to do? I mean, my actions would probably depend on what happens.

UPD: I did just that.

Either way is fine :)

Question. Did I or did I not succeed in climbing up the rock?
Does it require both acrobatics and athletics check, or just any one of the two?

You succeeded at climbing the rock. I just used your d20 original roll of 15 and added your athletics skill instead of acrobatics, which is more than enough to climb the rock :) the second roll wasn't necessary.

But can she attack, move and climb in the same round?

Yes she can! Mechanically climbing is part of the movement aspect of the turn and part of the 6 squares she can move. In this case there was a skill roll required because of the challenge of moving through that terrain. It also cost 2 squares of movement rather than 1.

Okay, next up is Naeris! Go for it Astroloma!

Wait but they did? Naeris already attacked, she was the first one in fact!

A couple of notes on first round of combat:

Jusika, I forgot that because you're attacking from a hidden spot, you get to add your sneak attack die to your damage roll. I rolled 1d6 for you and got a 3, to give you first attack a total damage of 6! Nice move!

Callan, let's assume your shield was already on. We can describe what Alfrey did as taking the Dodge Action, which means all attacks against him this round are at disadvantage (you roll two d20s and take the lower result). Good idea!

Pitrio, good tactics but there is no more delaying your turn in 5e. The only way to postpone your action is to ready an action and wait for the specified trigger. Using this action burns your reaction, but does not change initiative as in previous editions. There is actually no way to jump around the initiative order (temporarily or permanently) at all at this time in 5e. Here is a description of the ready action.

We can basically simulate what you're trying to do with "readying" a javelin throw, and like you say we will trigger it after Halimar's spell goes off. Sound good?

Thanks for the reminder, Jusika!

Ah, I was thinking that Alfrey had just cast a spell which would have required a free hand and therefore no shield. But I guess we could say that he got out the shield between then and the moment he was seen.

Callan, what do you think about this: we can say Alfrey's holy symbol is emblazoned on his shield so you can use it as your holy symbol, if you don't mind that aesthetic. You will still need a free hand to cast spells with Somatic components (hand gestures) but it is much easier to use your weapon hand for this than your shield hand. Weapons can be drawn with a free action where as shields take an action, like you pointed out.

Okay, the bandits went down without much of a fight! Good use of spells and tactics everyone! Even if the rolls didn't go your way this time, you all finished a battle with no injuries and only one spell slot used up - that's fantastic!

There's a dying bandit though. Do you want to save him?

I think I’d prefer to keep the holy symbol as an amulet. I’d rather not be tied to a shield, in case I want to change up my armaments at some point. Plus, I already drew it that way — haha

But using the weapon hand for spellcasting is a good tip — thank you!

So we're saying that the bandits are tied up now? (Edit - this question was answered)

Yes, I'd be keen for someone with the appropriate spell to save the bandit.