In which we peek behind the screen

Recently had a lengthy after-action discussion at our table about how initiative and combat timing works.  You can read the basics of our procedure here.  In response I wrote the following and figured since I WROTE it I may as well post it.

Khari kneels before an unopened chest, hoping to find something useful therein. Behind her about 15' back in an arc are Kirkas, Dakora, Castellan and Serynah. Turn's out the chest is a mimic. Mimic takes a grab at Khari, fails, and I call for initiative.

I then go around the table asking for your result. Kirkas 17, Dakora 11, Serynah 12, Khari 12 and Castellan 9. I enter these in the appropriate field on the combat sheet. The monster's initiative is already there. The dice roller and modifier were input when I “built” the encounter. The sheet is formatted to indicate who goes first, second and third. In THIS case Kirkas is first, Serynah is second and Khari is third.

Kirkas tell's me he going to attack with his bow. He rolls 2d20 to determine if he hits, then rolls to determine damage done. I update the mimics HP according AND note that Kirkas has spent 1 AP AND note that the thing Kirkas did (fire his bow) takes 8 tics. Since he STARTED on 17 the spreadsheet then indicates that Kirkas will go again at 9.

Next up is Serynah. She opts for a 3^rd level sleep spell. She rolls a d20 to see if she successfully casts the spell. She'll need to roll 10 or better (10+spell level-charisma modifier.) She's successful but a Mimic has an average of 58 HP. Even if she rolled all 8's she'd only score a 56 and be unable to Sleep the Mimic, so no joy. I note that she has spent TWO AP (to cast a leveled spell) and that it took 3 tics (one per level.) Since she started on 12 she will next go on 9.

Khari is up next at 12, followed now by Dakora (11), Kirkas (9), Sareynah (9), and Castellan (9.) Khari opts to use her wild shape. This uses all three AP and takes the rest of this turn so she's done.

Dakora opts for Witch Bolt. She successfully casts the spell and the arc of energy connects to the mimic. Since she cast it at 4^th level she'll do 4d12 damage this turn and 1d12 for every turn hereafter so long as she concentrates and takes no further actions. Casting the spell costs her 2 AP and 4 tics. She'll be up again at 7.

Kirkas decides his archery isn't strong enough so he swaps out his bow for Swiftstrike. That's an action and takes a tic. He has 1 AP left and will be back up at 8.

Serynah is up next and has only one AP left. Move? Probably not. Fire bolt. No need to check success as cantrips are always successful. She DOES need to hit on a ranged attack. BOOM! She hits. And now that she's 5^th level it does 2d10 damage. But her AP are spent so she's done.

Castellan finally gets to step up. So to speak.. He summons Selune's Strike which takes one tick but costs no AP, but he has to wait for the next tic. As the cantrip takes effect Kirkas gets to go again.

But wait! Oh no! The mimic is ALSO in at 9. That wicked tongue lashes out at the now-wildshaped Khari. It hits, does 7 points of damage. Khari gets to try to avoid the grapple with STR vs DC 13. Let's say she doesn't. The mimic only has one attack so IT'S done but it'll be biting down NEXT turn.

Kirkas and Castellan go again at 8. Kirkas casts Hunters Mark (0 AP) for 1 tic, moving to 7. Castellan realizes he probably should have cast Moonbeam so he does it NOW … spending 2 AP. He succeeds at casting it, the mimic fails it's ST at disadvantage and begins to morph back into its gloppy shape. It takes radiant damage from the beam. Kirkas now has to move to get close enough to swing, using his final AP.

Dakora maintains her concentration hoping to finish the beast next round. And unless I've missed something above thus endeth the round. Six seconds. Roll again? Doubtful. I'd likely allow Dakora's Bolt and Castellan's Beam to finish the beast without playing it out.

The initial guideline for the whole shebang was Greyhawk Initiative. And I've used Tao for guidance. And a handful of other content creators. I keep tinkering with this table to make it better. Latest iteration (NOT used above – will use next session.)

Most stuff: 1

Move, per 10': 1

Spell: 1 per level

Grapple, Potion, poison: 5

Find something: 1d8+2

But the problem is weapons. How long should it take to use them? OLD system was 2 for light/finesse. 4 for versatile, 6 for heavy, 8 for bows and 10 for crossbows.

So I'm gonna try this next time: Light/finesse 1. Heavy/2-handed 3. And I'm still trying to come up with SOMETHING that makes sense for archery. Optimum real world rate of speed I've found was 12 arrows per minute which implies only 1.2 per melee round. By "rule" Kirkas could fire up to six. I need to do more research and do NOT wanna penalize Kirkas.

And after sleeping on this the long term solution becomes clear: ranged weapon attacks require 2 AP.  Suggestions welcome.

In which I don't get a nibble

 

and the session STILL runs itself!

As foretold I rather unceremoniously dropped half a dozen plot hooks at the start of the session.  The hook for the primary and secondary story lines was dropped first along with a cryptic poem (emailed to them at the start of the session as my printer decided it no longer had ink!) and an item in a box (presented via the picture affixed to this post.)  The rest of the hooks were tertiary and to at least some degree class/race/character specific.  But the party latched on to one and clamped down like grim death.  "A heretical sect has produced a new translation of the book of the cleric's faith and must be hunted and captured. Those that do not recant are to be exterminated."

So off they went with our diminutive halfling Twilight Cleric in the fore.  So it took a while to get there.  A clearing in the woods.  The stone outline of the beginnings of as worship site.  A rough altar.  And a dozen followers.  The first hour or so of our session was spent talking to NPC's and weighing their options.  The NEXT hour was spent at the site with our cleric discussing theology with the leader of the sect.  I had done NO research on the topic.  I knew damned little about the deity worshiped by the cleric.  But I knew enough to respond to his questions and to present enough of a difference between what the cleric believed and what the sect was proposing as to make a difference.  The whole thing had a distinct "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" feel to it.  Is the sacrament the ACTUAL blood and body of Christ or is it symbolic?  The other two players and I engaged in some pleasant meta banter while the cleric feverishly read everything he could find on the interwebs, thinking I'd dug up some theological dilemma in the lore of some other setting.

And he found one!

And it was DAMNED close to the bushwa I had been slinging about  to keep the session moving.  After about an hour of THAT I realized I needed to do something to move the session along or else the entire evening would be filled the cleric and I sitting on tree stumps discussing philosophy.  NOT the stuff of legendary fantasy.  So I put it to the cleric - recant or exterminate?  He tried a persuasion check (high CR and with disadvantage) and failed.  At which point all hell broke lose.

Six PC's and a dozen religious zealots.  How long would it take to fight out at YOUR table?  Twenty five minutes.  Considering that half the party had just advanced a level and included four spell casters was not bad IMHO.  Each party member succeeded in plinking off 1-2 opponents quickly.  The cleric then strode the battlefield dealing the death blows to the remaining heretics.

About a hundred coins, a ceremonial dagger, and eight uncut stones.  The stones are "interesting" because it marks the first time I've given uncut stones as treasure.  They'll need to find a lapidary to turn them into gemstones.  I'll see how that goes.  About 1/5 of a level in XP with an additional 1/10 to the cleric.  I'll use the travel back to let the two wizards discuss the item that they were given at the beginning of the session and see if I might rekindle interest.  

One last concept introduced: I'm going to allow each PC to declare their own quest or goal and we'll agree how much XP it's worth.  Our ranger was quick to take the bait - "hit ten targets in a row during combat or competition, for XP worth 1/10 of a level."  Done!  Keep in mind he's 5th level with his father's +1 bow and a quiver which bestows an additional +1 so he's looking at +11 to hit.  We're looking at almost a 60% chance of success.  That'll be fun.  Looking fwd to seeing what the others come up with.

In which we examine the Ranger

 and the druid and survival.  Kinda links in with my last few posts and recent all-too-brief discussions with The Boy.  Part of the initial observation was that MOST classes are identified by the neat thing they can do.  The Ranger, at many tables, is identified by the "boring" thing you no longer HAVE to do.

I take a "different" view of what a Ranger is/does than many tables, because I can read (!)  From D&D Beyond: 

Warriors of the wilderness, rangers specialize in hunting the monsters that threaten the edges of civilization—humanoid raiders, rampaging beasts and monstrosities, terrible giants, and deadly dragons. They learn to track their quarry as a predator does, moving stealthily through the wilds and hiding themselves in brush and rubble. Rangers focus their combat training on techniques that are particularly useful against their specific favored foes.

Thanks to their familiarity with the wilds, rangers acquire the ability to cast spells that harness nature’s power, much as a druid does. Their spells, like their combat abilities, emphasize speed, stealth, and the hunt. A ranger’s talents and abilities are honed with deadly focus on the grim task of protecting the borderlands.

For most parties the Ranger is wilderness travel plot armor.  It finds water, forages, hunts and builds shelters, protecting the party as it treks over the mountains, through the woods, along the edge of the veldt and across the desert.  But why?  NONE of those capabilities are granted in the preceding paragraph.  You get one type of creature you can "hunt" well.  And you get certain benefits in one type of biome.  Again, relying on Beyond, it may now travel faster, not get lost or surprised, garner double the food when foraging and detect number and time passed when tracking.  When NOT in their chosen biome these benefits do NOT accrue.  Three days w/o water?  Party is dead.  One day?  Levels of exhaustion set in and further searching rolled at disadvantage.  RAW require one pound of food per day.  Balderdash.  A half orc wearing plate and fighting would need over four TIMES that amount to maintain 100% efficacy. 

So what DO we do?  As is often the case I've gone down the Alexis rabbit hole.  We don't use "feats" but we DO rely on "sage abilities."  Under that system a ranger obtains knowledge in Wilderland (which I match with the players chosen biome.)  Within this biome familiarity the Rangers gains expertise in such things as identifying clean water, locating water, foraging, and all that other Rangery stuff.  Mechanics.  Crunch.  Worldbuilding.  None of this one die roll and feed the party regardless of where you are or what time of year it is.  As per usual I've set the whole thing up on a spreadsheet.  An untrained forager MIGHT find 1/2 a pound of food per day.  And it takes time.  We divide the amount of food found by 10 and there's that much found per hour.  If the chart indicates you find 24# of food (my current party, forest, May, temperate) that's 2.4# per hour.  You decide how much travel time you wanna spend foraging!  Need 10#?  You're looking at 5 hours although I might be generous and allow 4.  

Hunting is another sage ability.  No-skilled hunters MIGHT find something.  But it can take TIME.  Resource management.  

Our current problem?  Our ranger opted to focus on animal training rather than wilderlands.  So he COULD (but hasn't yet,) catch and train a falcon!  Bird can hunt three pounds of meat at a time!  But the Ranger is not yet skilled at these things - by choice.  Could be by 4th level.  Perhaps I should've been more pushy at character creation but the whole Beastmaster thing seemed strong.  

Bottom line .... if you WANT your Rangers to be plot armor (cf Druid Goodberry) you do you.  We tend to be a bit more gritty.