}}
OP
{{I'm glad to hear that! Rules aside, I'm just trying to make this fun for you guys.
I don't mind being transparent on this for understandings sake.
Yes, your critical fail affected the outcome of everything else after it, and went back to the alignment I mentioned before. Your crit fail soured the disposition of the Captain and crew to hostile, which made convincing them hard. Generally, something that is hard for your character to accomplish has a DC of 20, so even though @Jawneh rolled pretty well, it became not good enough.
This is what led to the "queuing up actions is going to affect stuff" thought.
Fucking lol with those two nat-20s right after, though. I'll get to resolving those ASAP, and already know how Kelly's will go. I might include that 20 from Alu just for lols in a doesn't-affect-anything way.}}
{{Please tell me it involves the captain and all of his crew getting into the little rowboat and leaving us with the huge ship
}}
{{Lots to respond to here that I just won't. The only thing I will is echo the sentiment that you're crushing it @Ben. Highly enjoying this, my shit rolls aside. My character didn't do anything at all.}}
}}
{{I can't contribute anything new until Kelly's latest action is resolved, but my character doesn't really have anything to add. I definitely don't want to die before the campaign, lol. But I'm also chaotic, so I'd love to get a zinger in before we go. Maybe I'll try to convince the crew that the captain was cowering worse that a prostitute facing down Mr. 18 Inches and see if they mutiny against him when we're gone.}}
{{Personally, I would love to cast poison on the captain as we disappear kinda like Homer with the middle fingers while going down the sandbox.
}}{{I can't contribute anything new until Kelly's latest action is resolved, but my character doesn't really have anything to add. I definitely don't want to die before the campaign, lol. But I'm also chaotic, so I'd love to get a zinger in before we go. Maybe I'll try to convince the crew that the captain was cowering worse that a prostitute facing down Mr. 18 Inches and see if they mutiny against him when we're gone.}}
{{I thought we agreed we could line up some actions by a few people posting in a row as long as they don't contradict? Or am I imagining that?}}
{{We could. I'm just saying I'd like to see how your result plays out before I make a decision on what to say/do. I do NOT want to get into a situation where you've defused the situation only to have me anger someone again. I may do nothing. Again, I'm chaotic, so I want to stir shit up, but I don't want to kill us.}}
{{Now, I don't know what kinds of levels and stats the sailors have, but at least Nac and Aims could just shove one of them each overboard while one of the others goes and checks if there's any ropes or ladders around on the sides of the boat so that they can't get back up. Might even be one of those cases where we just get rid of the captain and the sailors simmer down. Buuuut.... They might also be our way back to coast so.... err.... Maybe not piss him off too much just in case. Who knows what long term plans Ben has.}}
Who knows what long term plans Ben has.}}
{{This is kind of why I said I wanna see how Kelly's move plays out. I'd love to take SOME action against the captain because he was a pussy during the encounter, so for him to come back at us when we were the solution, feels disingenuous. So I'd love to show him up in front of him crew. Why I was saying I wouldn't mind making a speech to the crew to just point out the captain was a wiener. Maybe the captain was the one that shit himself!{{Now, I don't know what kinds of levels and stats the sailors have, but at least Nac and Aims could just shove one of them each overboard while one of the others goes and checks if there's any ropes or ladders around on the sides of the boat so that they can't get back up. Might even be one of those cases where we just get rid of the captain and the sailors simmer down. Buuuut.... They might also be our way back to coast so.... err.... Maybe not piss him off too much just in case.
Got a couple 4th wall breaking things I wanna say to him lol.}}
Aims' jaw drops in disbelief as he clear made a great contribution to protect the objectively most valuable cargo onboard. As painful as it is, Aims isn't one for petty OR grand larceny so he is just... taking a few more moments with the keg of rotgut before relinquishing it. That is until...
"Ye can scream all ye want, ye ugly bastard. Ye certainly didn't earn any reward fer doin' nuthin', and ye can kindly put me cargo back where it belongs. I'll not be explainin' to th' rightful owner why I let a barrel o' that Orc piss vanish from deck b'fore deliv'ry, even if it be only good fer dissolvin' scum like yerself."
Whoa... I must still be drunk. I had no idea my hairy sack had grown this large.
OP
Critical Roll!The Captain's grim scowl falters slightly once the immediate overpowering odor abates, and he's overcome with a wave of emotion.
From a distance, the short Halfling starts to look familiar. Being half dressed and reeking of poor choices, a sense of longing for the teenage son he'd grown apart from overcomes him. His job ferrying supplies around Faerûn has not left much time for family life and the guilt of leaving his lad to navigate the realms without a parental compass weighs heavy on him.
 | "Wait, wait...", he sniffles, "Ye're an odor'us bastard, but maybe I can cut ye some slack, despite yer worthless life choices. I can't in all good conscience drop ye in th' busted lifeboat we were supposed t' replace back in port... We have anoth'r wat'r-tight rowboat. Ye can stay on deck until we're a little clos'r to shore, then I'll have a few fellas row ye to th' dock." |
He gestures to the sailors holding the crossbows to be at ease, though they do not leave the deck nor put their weapons away.
One of the sailors, a fellow Halfling, approaches Moonsprout quietly after the others stop paying as close attention.
 | "Sup, bro? I'm Johnas. Suuuuper cool of you to show up when you did and getting the captain off my back. You dropped this in my duffel bag. Wanna share? Oh, and split this between your bros." |
He slips Moonsprout 25 gold for the baggie.
CRITICAL LOLYou detach your mouth from the Half-Orc's loins where you clung like a lamprey. You cross the deck and place your hand on Moonsprout's shoulder, patting him gently. Though life is difficult for those short of stature, it's reassuring to know that you've got companions.
Stormwreck Isle looms before you, the storm clouds that darkened the sky above now but an ominous aura emanating from the other side of the island. The ship has closed in on the island and dropped anchor far enough off shore to stay clear of the jagged rocks, but close enough that it's not going to be along row to the island. The crew allow you to enter the sea-worthy rowboat before they lower it slowly down to the waves.
Johnas volunteers to help row the party to shore, and return the rowboat, totally not having an ulterior motive for the return trip at all.
The rowboat delivers you to a small wooden dock on one of the few sandy beaches along the coast. The dock is bare and in need of some attention, with some of the boards cracked, and several others missing entirely. The sand gives way to dunes as it begins to climb away from the water, and you can make out a path leading through a small valley in the cliffs.
As you step off the weathered dock onto the sand, a gurgling behind you draws your attention back to the water. From the crashing waves, three zombies dressed in tattered nautical clothing stumble towards you slowly.
They're about 40 feet away from you and moving at a slow pace, though they have certainly seen you and are closing in.
{{Sorry for making you guys wait on this. I wanted to give it the attention I could, and between my kids being nuts and my partner not feeling well enough to keep them out of my hair for any amount of time, it took until after dinner to get this fully together. Life, man.
And I know the party in that rowboat image isn't perfect. I gave up trying to get DALL-E to fully cooperate.}}
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{{I'm taking as you haven't asked us to roll for initiative that it's fair game to do whatever until we need to. }}
Aims' eyes widen and he begins to grin widely! Prey! EASY prey!
Yeeees, finally some exercise! I'm way too sober and way too stiff from the boat ride! Time to return these rotten meatsacks back to to Hells! Ha haa! THE FIRST ONE IS MINE!
Aims grabs his javelin from the side of his backpack, walks just within 30ft from the first zombie and launches the javelin at it.
}}Aims' eyes widen and he begins to grin widely! Prey! EASY prey!
Yeeees, finally some exercise! I'm way too sober and way too stiff from the boat ride! Time to return these rotten meatsacks back to to Hells! Ha haa! THE FIRST ONE IS MINE!
Aims grabs his javelin from the side of his backpack, walks just within 30ft from the first zombie and launches the javelin at it.
OP
{{It will count as actual an combat encounter if you're attacking. You could also choose to just leave since they're so slow. Unless you're getting jumped by something that you don't notice through a passive perception check, it'd be the player's choice to initiate combat.{{I'm taking as you haven't asked us to roll for initiative that it's fair game to do whatever until we need to.
Aims' eyes widen and he begins to grin widely! Prey! EASY prey!
Yeeees, finally some exercise! I'm way too sober and way too stiff from the boat ride! Time to return these rotten meatsacks back to to Hells! Ha haa! THE FIRST ONE IS MINE!
Aims grabs his javelin from the side of his backpack, walks just within 30ft from the first zombie and launches the javelin at it.
And you don't immediately roll to hit in such situations, you've got to express your intent to attack and then there will be a roll for initiative among all of the combatants. You might not get to go first. And there's also the element of surprise to combat situations, if someone isn't aware of their attacker beforehand, etc. But in this case, both you and the zombies know that you're both there, so no element of surprise.
If a party is surprised in an encounter, then for the first round they don't get to move, attack, etc.
Anyway, if you're stating your intent to attack one of the zombies, the party can roll for initiative.}}
Everyone roll a d20 + your dex modifier.
{{Oh, hey, passable! @Ben - Do we need to EQUIP things before hand or how does that work, per se? Like, I have a crossbow and a dagger. I'd probably use my crossbow while they are still at a distance and switch to dagger once they close in (since my only offensive spell is poison that I doubt works on zombies.
Also, also - If I wanted to run a perception check on my surroundings, can I do that before we attack or do I need to wait now?}}
OP
{{I'm going to use this 19+2 roll that I saw first... Since when you rolled it on DnDBeyond, it reset the 21 I'd manually entered with this horrible roll. Lucky you can't really crit-fail an initiative check.{{Do I get to keep my hit roll for whenever it's my go?}}
Let me at them already!
Although it's worth mentioning, I do have the ability to auto-roll initiative for everyone during combat encounters. If that'd help speed things up and not need you to individually wait until you've all rolled here, I could just take to doing that once someone's started combat.
Riiiiight. For the sake of this first real combat encounters, where I kinda missed making sure you'd all prepared things before "setting out", I'll say whatever you want to prep now before the zombies reach you is fine. Head-canon will just be that you did it on the rowboat while heading here.
However, in general;
So yes you can change what you're wielding mid-combat, but doing something like switching from a crossbow to a dagger is going to cost you your action so you won't be able to attack on that same turn.
You can refer to this flowchart I made for the Adventurer's Academy. You get to take 1 of each of the actions in the blue box there per turn.
Edit: It also seems like if I let the Encounters window on DnDBeyond close or reset, it ends it and clears all the existing stuff, so... Good to know. Not that I can't just see the rolls to re-enter the initiative order, but I'd rather not have to do that.
}}
OP
{{Just make sure that's what you've got selected as Active on your character sheet for now. If you're changing in the middle of combat you'll need to green-up your action, but we'll just skip the everyone having to say it for the sake of getting it moving.
}}
{{So, I shouldn't go to DnDB and roll things there for funsies to see that if doing things correctly here?}}
{{I think I did those right. But how do I prep the spells? I have 4, but only 2 slots. how do I tell D&D Beyond that I have a certain two equipped? Cantrips, alternatively, don't need to be prepped, right?}}
OP
{{I don't think you need to specifically pick which spells you've prepped on the site, just when you click "Cast" on one of them it marks on of the spell slots used. So you can only use 2 spells before a long rest, etc. Cantrips are "At Will" so don't have spell slots.
}}
{{Ok, good, so then I should be all prepped for the dead heads}}
OP
{{All of those things are linked together, so yes during an active campaign/encounter, your rolling something is probably going to be auto-counted and fed into whatever you're doing.}}
{{In future campaigns, I wonder how much easier it would be to have rolls in D&D Beyond to have the paper trail more efficiently? Rolling here is fine if that's what you prefer, but I think having it all specified out in the app may be more convenient. Your call though, you're the GM.}}
{{Alrighty, I shall refrain from spamming rolls.
}}
OP
{{I had planned on doing it this way, with everything rolled on that site, but on starting it seemed like trying to keep stuff on-forum was preferred. But you're not wrong, using the site rolls would make stuff more efficient.
I'd be willing to give the dndbeyond rolling a try if it's an amicable decision. }}
{{I personally say, do what's easiest for YOU, especially in this campaign. Then we can try something new in the next campaign. Whereas D&D Beyond has a bunch of stuff from the dummy campaign, maybe we don't reinvent the wheel in the middle of this game unless it's truly easier for YOU.}}
{{I personally prefer to keep everything here as I find it easier to keep track of our rolls-to-actions, but I also have some familiarity with what I'm doing. DnDB is definitely a lot easier to start off with for everyone else as it counts everything for you and you can just click things. But it's really up to you Ben. We will be referring to there for our stats and everything and then come here to roll. Maybe that's a bit better for learning and internalizing what we're rolling for and with since it's a tad more manual? I don't know. I can do either way though. }}
{{Dang, combat and combat prep is complicated. This is going to take some getting used to.
One question though -- what if one of the group members is a non-combattant? Do they still roll for initiative?
Also, DnDBeyond character sheet just straight up doesn't work on my phone for some reason so I can't start equipping stuff at the moment.}}
One question though -- what if one of the group members is a non-combattant? Do they still roll for initiative?
Also, DnDBeyond character sheet just straight up doesn't work on my phone for some reason so I can't start equipping stuff at the moment.}}
{{Did you download the app or are you trying to run it from browser?}}
Moonsprout observes the big green galoot getting ready to rush headfirst into a danger that could easily be avoided with just a slightly quicker pace. He lets in a big breath and sighs. Just then, the smell wafting from the zombies a distance away hits him.
Oof, that's gnarly. They smell like, well, death.
Though Moonsprout thinks all of the Earth's creations are beautiful, he considers that some, perhaps, are less beautiful than others.
Uh, have fun with that, lads. Good luck in your fight against literal dead and decaying bodies.
Moonsprout wanders around picking flowers and herbs from the grasses along the shoreline.
Oof, that's gnarly. They smell like, well, death.
Though Moonsprout thinks all of the Earth's creations are beautiful, he considers that some, perhaps, are less beautiful than others.
Uh, have fun with that, lads. Good luck in your fight against literal dead and decaying bodies.
Moonsprout wanders around picking flowers and herbs from the grasses along the shoreline.
{{I'll try from the app when I'm free today}}
OP
For real.
{{So, I wouldn't say you're excluded from combat in any way. But you don't have to fight, per se.
I'd think you'll want to try to focus on this during battles, to keep in line with how you want to play the character.
- Healing and Support: Providing healing and buffs to allies.
- De-escalation: Using skills like persuasion or diplomacy to calm enemies or negotiate.
- Control and Disruption: Employing non-lethal spells or abilities to incapacitate or hinder opponents without causing serious harm.
I can also try to keep hinting at, or crafting, the non-violent solutions to encounters.
Oh, and I forgot about the question earlier about a perception check from @Jon. Yes, you can still do those things like perception or knowledge checks during battle. Most of the time I'd say it'll count as you're action for that turn, but some things that are very quick to notice might count as a reaction, or free action.}}
OP
{{I'm going to sleep, but I'm sure I'll get dragged out of bed relatively early tomorrow. And my son isn't grounded anymore, so he gets to use screens again, which mean I get time to use screens... So hopefully it won't be a wait all day thing.
I also have Tuesday off with all kids in school and a partner at work, so that should be my time to work on a lot of this and pre-write as much as I can.
Just waiting on @Nae'blis to roll for initiative, then I'll post the order and whoever is first will kick it off. And again, if you guys would like me to streamline this, then I could auto-roll the initiative for the party to remove this step. Depends how roll hungry you all are.}}
I also have Tuesday off with all kids in school and a partner at work, so that should be my time to work on a lot of this and pre-write as much as I can.
Just waiting on @Nae'blis to roll for initiative, then I'll post the order and whoever is first will kick it off. And again, if you guys would like me to streamline this, then I could auto-roll the initiative for the party to remove this step. Depends how roll hungry you all are.}}
{{I'm pro for auto-rolling for initiative. After the first roll of the campaign that is. There's no reason now to have all of us do our first roll for it. Most times if we walk into the middle of an ogre cave without realizing it, you can just make sure we know how poorly we rolled against them after they already surprised us. }}
{{This is kind of what I was thinking. For now I'm hoping to forage and find some useful ingredients. My character doesn't view shambling zombies as a serious threat right now, but might take them more seriously depending on what happens with the party.}}
{{Ok, well, I'll take an action to use a perception check. Time it however you'd like. If it's precombat, great, if not, i'll use it as par of my first turn.}}
{{I'm down for streamlining it.
}}Zesty eyes the incoming zombies cautiously. He quickly scans his surroundings for possible items of use or other dangers maybe missed as things changed quickly after exiting the boat.
Zesty uses perception to check surroundings for other dangers, opportunities and objects of use.
{{I'm sad I didn't get to use either of my 4th wall breaking lines against the Captain. "I'm the Captain now" and "He had the right idea, he wore the BROWN pants" would have been SOOOOOOO good.}}
OP
{{You're getting a bit ahead of yourselves with how the combat is going to have to go. Unless we can get to where everyone understands what they're able to do in one turn and are dropping all of their possible actions at once, and/or you're just agreed that you do to not take actions that you didn't name, there will have to be some more back and forth.
Initiative Order:
So, it's not guaranteed that you hit what you're targeting, although these Zombies are pretty easy to hit. In a normal setting, I'd be telling you whether you hit it and then ask you to roll again for damage. We could do it that way, we could have you roll for damage just after you roll to hit with the understanding that you might still miss and so the damage won't be used, or I can roll the damage part for you.
I'm trying not be overly reliant on the maps, but combat does require a lot of attention to detail on positioning and where you move, so I think we're going to have to, to some degree. For example, Aims wants to move within 30 feet of the nearest Drowned Sailor (Zombie). That's using 10/30ft of his movement for that one turn, but he would still be able to move another 20ft after doing anything else. Aims and Zesty can move 30ft per turn. Short, Nac and Moonsprout can only move 25ft due to tiny legs.
So moving Aims within 30ft of the first Zombie (so he only moved 10ft from where I'd started everyone), he'll still be able to move another 20 feet even after attacking.
You've also got the bonus actions, etc. that your characters are able to take... So for example, Aims being a Barbarian has Rage which can be activated as a bonus action. My main worry is that the more we try to streamline this, the more likely it is that people are going to miss using all of their possible actions, etc. I think this is going to get easier the more familiar you are with your characters and what you can do, probably to where you can give me all of your actions at once and then give an "all clear I'm done next person" kind of thing... I just think it'll be a little slow going until that point.
So I'm going to say it's still @Jawneh's turn at present:
Initiative Order:
- Aims'Orreh Mwuh'Bwadd (21)
- Zesty Zapcrackle (17)
- Zombie C (15)
- Moonsprout Beandirt (14)
- Short Order (14)
- Nac McWeeble (8)
- Zombie A (6)
- Zombie B (3)
So, it's not guaranteed that you hit what you're targeting, although these Zombies are pretty easy to hit. In a normal setting, I'd be telling you whether you hit it and then ask you to roll again for damage. We could do it that way, we could have you roll for damage just after you roll to hit with the understanding that you might still miss and so the damage won't be used, or I can roll the damage part for you.
I'm trying not be overly reliant on the maps, but combat does require a lot of attention to detail on positioning and where you move, so I think we're going to have to, to some degree. For example, Aims wants to move within 30 feet of the nearest Drowned Sailor (Zombie). That's using 10/30ft of his movement for that one turn, but he would still be able to move another 20ft after doing anything else. Aims and Zesty can move 30ft per turn. Short, Nac and Moonsprout can only move 25ft due to tiny legs.
So moving Aims within 30ft of the first Zombie (so he only moved 10ft from where I'd started everyone), he'll still be able to move another 20 feet even after attacking.
You've also got the bonus actions, etc. that your characters are able to take... So for example, Aims being a Barbarian has Rage which can be activated as a bonus action. My main worry is that the more we try to streamline this, the more likely it is that people are going to miss using all of their possible actions, etc. I think this is going to get easier the more familiar you are with your characters and what you can do, probably to where you can give me all of your actions at once and then give an "all clear I'm done next person" kind of thing... I just think it'll be a little slow going until that point.
So I'm going to say it's still @Jawneh's turn at present:
- Your roll of 22 from earlier definitely hits the zombie.
- You have to roll 1d6+3 for the javelin damage.
- Until you confirm that you've done everything you intend to, like use bonus actions and such, the combat won't move to the next turn.}}
{{On my character sheet I see this under attack:
So I would assume I roll a d8 when I roll for damage. I assume I roll a d20 for hit and get a +4 modifier.}}
{{Depends on your weapon / spell / how you're attacking. My javelin has 1d6 +3 as the damage. Meleeing or throwing that thing uses the same dice for damage. My ax would be 1d12 +3 and unarmed would be flat 4 damage. Just look at the thing you want to use in DnDB and it should tell you all the things. Healing works similarly, but you just roll for the amount of healing according to what dice to use.
For you specifically, since Ben did allow it for the first fight prep-wise, do the the things Jon also did in the app. Equip weapons and armor. You'll then be able to see what your options are.}}
{{For hitting, you are correct. For damage, you roll 1d8 and add +2. That +2 is most likely from your dex for a ranged weapon. That is why I get +3 for my damage from my str.}}
{{The first one is your "normal" range and the larger number is "maximum" range. Anything within the normal range you roll to hit normally. Anything beyond that up to the max you are at disadvantage. How that works, is that you roll twice to hit and you pick the worse roll for your hit. In comparison, if you were to hit with advantage instead, you'd roll twice and big the better one.
Well, there might be other things too that work against hitting things, but I'm sure Ben will tell us all that when we get to it. We're still at the basic level.
You can click on all the actions and numbers and whatnot in the app and it'll pop up a thing from the side to tell you what it all means. It doesn't really intuitively say it's feature, but you can do that. Works for most things.}}
OP
{{ @Jawneh was right, but just to summarize it again;
So yes, you'd be able to hit any of them from where you are without moving.}}
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