OOC Megathread

I had an idea about swinging my shield around. Since a shield might allow me to hit several bats at once. Is this even an option? Looking through the PHB, I guess that would be an improvised weapon. Since I'm proficient with shields, would I add my proficiency bonus? It would only be 1d4 damage. Just a thought.

I'm on board with that. Proficiency bonus, 1d4+str damage and against the swarm it ignores the swarms resistances.

EDIT: That hit though probably did just as well as you would have with the shield ;). But, in future, you can use your shield as an improvised weapon against swarms and while doing so you ignore their resistance to bludgeoning damage.

Yay! Thank you! :-)

Someone save Corbin!

Whose left? Reina (whom I am controlling, heheheh)?

Oh yeah. I wasn't counting. Reina, get to it! :p

Oh yes, as a matter of prudence I should inform you that in my 5e D&D, short rests work as follows:

Minimum of 10 minutes and for each block of 10 minutes you may spend 1 hit die or recover 1 ability that may be recovered during a short rest.

At level 1, this conveniently means that you have no reason to short rest longer than 10 minutes (except perhaps a wizard who may prefer 20 minutes if they want to recover a spent spell slot, if I am recalling that correctly)! I find this is a nice way to keep the game flowing (instead of requiring parties to retreat to town every 2 rooms of a dungeon to recover - since the core rules are 1hour for a short rest).

EDIT: I've added house rules to the etiquette thread just so this stuff is tracked for easy reference later :)

Awesome! I saw we take a short rest to recover and get our wounded companions back on their feet.

Indeed. A short rest is definitely called for. Corban could probably go for twenty minutes, as I could use a second wind, then a hit die at rest. Though that's getting pretty gamey. I'll run with the regular rest HD.

Don't you say that exemplar, say it in character! (and post!)

And Grendel, getting gamey is fine (it is a game after all! I do encourage you guys to strategize in OOC, and you can totally get gamey about things like action order when your initiative is clumped like it was in this battle), as long as you justify it in character. Corban has taken a pretty hefty beating, and I'm sure that he would (upon regaining consciousness after the first 10 minutes) request a wait for another ten to "catch his breath" (i.e Second Wind ;p).

The important thing is not to hold the game up too much with discussion. Keep the main thread moving at a good pace and no one will disconnect.

Ah yes, I totally intend to suggest it in character. I was just letting everyone know here first. Was thinking I'd wait until the others regained consciousness first anyway.

They need a short rest for that (you remain unconscious until you are at > 0 HP. Unless you guys have healing spells or potions, the only source of HP is Hit Dice, which require a minimum 10 minute short rest ;)).

Oh I see! So we rest until they're conscious. Wouldn't they need another 10 min rest? That's fine, just making sure I understand it all.

So spending hit die, does that mean rolling whatever our hit die are? (Sorry this part confused the heck out me reading it)

Indeed, you roll your class' hit die + CON modifier

Hit Dice is the most complicated mechanic to explain in 5e (in my opinion). Mostly because it gets confused with the dice you roll to gain hit points whenever you gain levels. Here's the skinny:

Every character has a number of hit dice equal to their level. The value of those hit dice is the same as the die you use for gaining hit points when you level up. You may spend your hit dice (one per 10 minutes of rest by my rules) to recover hit points. When you spend a hit die, you heal a number of hit points equal to the result of the roll + your CON modifier. Your hit dice pool is replenished when you take a long rest.

So, right now you have 1 hit die and it's a d8. After 10 minutes of rest you may spend it to heal 1d8 hit points. Once its spent, you won't recover it until your next Long Rest.

Make sense?

Yup.

I really wish they gave "hit dice" a different name to make it clear that it was a separate mechanic from levelling up. Like, call it your "Stamina" pool. Or your "Resolve" and BAM, infinitely clearer. I find players brain new to RPGs struggle the most with Hit Dice and spells per day/spell slots vs known/prepared spells.

I think they were afraid to bust out 'healing surges' again, and 'hit dice' evokes some 1/2e feel to monster progression or something.

Yeah, but appeal to 1/2e feel as a justification for clunky terminology that makes the game harder to teach and grok is not a good argument. I mean, of all the things to borrow from 1/2e design principles, clunky terminology should be the thing you learn *not* to do.