OOC Discussion

That's awesome! Congrats!
Been incredibly busy at work but coming up for air now. Thanks for asking! :-)

Cool. Game is awesome so far. I understand about time constraints though. College can be crazy. And as a Biochemistry major, I wish you luck on that exam!

Auugghh, I don't know how you do it.
Got anymore cake pictures?

Congratulations!
The game has been going great.
As with everyone, work is crazy busy. two emergencies today alone that had me working when I should not.

Autumn is in full swing in the NE here, we just made several piles of leaves large enough to hide an otyugh, and the oak trees are not done yet!

Yeah! I can't stress enough how awesome you guys are. I talk to my typical D&D group (none of which are on GP cause they're not really into that much writing) about how lucky I got right off the bat with my first game. Especially because I've joined some games since and a lot of them have flopped, unfortunately :(
What is it that you do, if you don't mind me asking?

I look forward to everyone's posts each day, I am really enjoying it.

I am a Aerospace Engineer by degree, but an IT professional by choice(? It happened gradually...)

Great!

And wow. That's awesome. All of my friends in IT complain about similar emergency situations. It seems like a tough job.

I was debating whether to take the Help action (would've granted Ameera advantage on her Athletics roll, and both rolls would've had the Bardic Inspiration added on) rather than the Attack action, but if I hadn't blocked the door then Baric would've been cut off by the two wights from the side room!

Congratulations on getting in the program!

I know I'm kinda late to the party here, but I think the game's going great. Thank you for putting this all together, you're a great DM!

-

Also, this is kinda meta, but I honestly couldn't decide if it was a good idea to kick open the door once there was enough room to squeeze by. Figured there might be some advantages to having the door still somewhat closed once/if everyone gets through, hope nobody's upset. ♥

Thank you and thank you! It's always a pleasure to run for a great group.

And no, I don't mind at all :P I really like what Erran did this turn.

I don't think it's metagaming at all. I can totally imagine that being Erran's thought process. And I like it. :-)

As for Devanis, he's trying to fend off the wights until everyone else has has made it through the door. He called for a tactical retreat too. I do hope everyone's trying to go through this round or else Baric and Devanis are in big trouble.

Speaking of Baric, he gets an opportunity attack against the female wight that passed him, yes?

By my understanding, they changed the OA rules from 3.5/4e to 5e. Instead of saying that you get an Opportunity Attack when you leave a space that a creature threatens, it says you take an opportunity when you leave a creature's Range. As I understand it, the Wight entered Baric's range (5 ft), but then never left it, and instead "walked" to the position she's in while remaining inside it that range.

This is how I've always done it while running 5e, ever since noticing that change. Though, admittedly, I've never looked up any official ruling or suggestions from other GMs, because I was pretty confident in it. I can do that later, when I have a chance.

Even if the rules hadn't changed though, the only reason the wight moved to that location was because of what IndustrialQueue wrote in his post, and the way in which he attacked. I originally had her on the map at I16, one space below Baric, and moved her after Baric's turn. I wouldn't have given an OA for it anyway, because I only did it for the cool writing :P

You're absolutely correct. I simply misread the map and thought she HAD left his reach. Sorry about that! :-)

Oh! Haha, no problem :)

Also, no one feel obligated to wait for a response to Erran's bracing of the door. I'm not going to make the contest roll until whatever is on the other side attempts to break through again.

The baddies haven't gone since my last action so I was waiting our turn

Ah, right. Forgot there was only one more player left to go.

So, some thoughts on Inspiration:

Originally, I didn't want to include Inspiration in this game because I typically don't use it in my other games played over voice. I think I don't use it there much because it's a lot more fast-paced and because of that there's a mix of me not remembering to reward it for worthy RP, or players forgetting to use it when they need it most (until after their roll). I'm reconsidering this decision for a few reasons:

1) PbP is a lot slower, and there's a lot more room for really impressive narrative flair. There have already been numerous posts from each of you for which I would've happily awarded with Inspiration. Because it's slower, I pick up on these moments a lot easier than when playing over voice chat.

2) My compromise was that I'd give you advantage on checks associated with particularly well-written posts or RP as they come up. However, that's just one more step added in that can slow down PbP if I have to go back and offer to let you reroll instead of just giving you a result. Secondly, it doesn't let you choose which rolls to use it on, which is a benefit of the original Inspiration rules.

3) You guys are great RPers and I'd like to reward that as much as possible.

So I want to know your thoughts. Do you mind tracking Inspiration? I'd limit it at 1, like the original rules. I know some games here let you accumulate it, but I prefer the limit because it encourages players to use it and gain it back more frequently instead of stockpiling.

Let me know what you guys think, and I'll make the ruling as quick as possible.

Also, since it's my first time DMing combat in a PbP game, what are everyone's thoughts? Any ideas to make it smoother or quicker, if it needs it? Any ways that I can help you visualize or make it more interesting? Feedback is always helpful.

Indeed. I want to take the Disengage action, which if my understanding is correct, allows me to move without provoking AoO's from the wights and the spectre. Since that will take up my action, Pyrrah's Help will come in handy. But can I even get to the door with Ameera in the way? I know there are rules for moving through an ally's space but I'm not familiar.
I wouldn't mind tracking Inspiration, and the standard limit of 1 point is fine.
Although there isn't much to go on yet as we've only gone a few rounds. I think you're doing a fine job! It's been pretty damn exciting so far