I had a question about the Thunderwave spell and what else might hear the casting of that spelling once it's executed in the Redbrand hideout in LMoP. If a druid casts the spell in the Tresender Crypts do you think Glasstaff in his quarters or the Bugbears in the barracks might hear it? What is your opinion?
The Thunderwave says that "the spell emits a thunderous boom audible out to 300 feet."
If you've got a map I'd probably check the distance the sound has to travel, treating an extra closed door as an extra 15 feet or something (just a guess), and see how far the sound gets.
I had a party member cast Thunderwave in pretty much that exact same situation, but I didn't read the spell description enough and didn't realize it should have alerted everyone there. I remembered by the time they got to the green dragon, so when someone tried to clear out a group of twig blights it alerted the dragon.
The group I play with got the drop on the dragon and we managed to kill it - level 3. It was a very close call though, couple of characters down on death saves. I would hate to fight it when it knew we were coming.
Thunderwave is an 'interesting' spell but yeah, say goodbye to any kind of stealth and say hello to multiple fights where the mobs know you are coming and get ready for you.
My party had cleared out Wave Echo Cave before heading toward the Green Dragon, so they were all level 5 by the time they got there. Still, I homebrewed the Druid in the town to be a properly statted character to assist the party just to make sure they survived the fight. Honestly they didn't really need him, but he was fun to play (I had him basically act like Bob Ross helping to calm down the "Angry Little Trees".)
As for the topic itself, I feel like it's pretty common for players and DMs to forget just how loud or obvious a lot of spells can be. I've seen it be pretty common to let players just cast whatever spell they want, and as long as it doesn't have an obvious visual or audio effect described by the spell it just goes off without a hitch. The Vocal and Somatic elements of a spell should make it plainly obvious that someone is doing something if anyone is able to see or hear them... otherwise why would there be anything like a the Subtle Spell metamagic?
Thanks for the feedback, that is what I figured as well. I can only imagine the sound of thunder cracking in a place like that and not alert others. Glasstaff's familiar investigates, he escapes....Bugbears enter the fray along with ruffians. Tough battle for 5 level 2 characters not to mention a nothic.
Thanks for the feedback, that is what I figured as well. I can only imagine the sound of thunder cracking in a place like that and not alert others. Glasstaff's familiar investigates, he escapes....Bugbears enter the fray along with ruffians. Tough battle for 5 level 2 characters not to mention a nothic.
If I could recommend something... I'd have the Nothic kind of hang off in the back and just drag away dead bodies as the fight continues. That way if the party is clearly overwhelmed by the number of enemies they won't necessarily need to survive a psychic death monster on top of everything else... but if the combat ends up being less of a challenge than you expected you can have it get aggressive and join the fray.
With just 2 players the whole area will be a really tough fight. They are going to think very carefully about tactic and ways to use the terrain in order to get as much of an advantage as possible.
I had a question about the Thunderwave spell and what else might hear the casting of that spelling once it's executed in the Redbrand hideout in LMoP. If a druid casts the spell in the Tresender Crypts do you think Glasstaff in his quarters or the Bugbears in the barracks might hear it? What is your opinion?
The Thunderwave says that "the spell emits a thunderous boom audible out to 300 feet."
If you've got a map I'd probably check the distance the sound has to travel, treating an extra closed door as an extra 15 feet or something (just a guess), and see how far the sound gets.
I had a party member cast Thunderwave in pretty much that exact same situation, but I didn't read the spell description enough and didn't realize it should have alerted everyone there. I remembered by the time they got to the green dragon, so when someone tried to clear out a group of twig blights it alerted the dragon.
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And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
The group I play with got the drop on the dragon and we managed to kill it - level 3. It was a very close call though, couple of characters down on death saves. I would hate to fight it when it knew we were coming.
Thunderwave is an 'interesting' spell but yeah, say goodbye to any kind of stealth and say hello to multiple fights where the mobs know you are coming and get ready for you.
My party had cleared out Wave Echo Cave before heading toward the Green Dragon, so they were all level 5 by the time they got there. Still, I homebrewed the Druid in the town to be a properly statted character to assist the party just to make sure they survived the fight. Honestly they didn't really need him, but he was fun to play (I had him basically act like Bob Ross helping to calm down the "Angry Little Trees".)
As for the topic itself, I feel like it's pretty common for players and DMs to forget just how loud or obvious a lot of spells can be. I've seen it be pretty common to let players just cast whatever spell they want, and as long as it doesn't have an obvious visual or audio effect described by the spell it just goes off without a hitch. The Vocal and Somatic elements of a spell should make it plainly obvious that someone is doing something if anyone is able to see or hear them... otherwise why would there be anything like a the Subtle Spell metamagic?
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Thanks for the feedback, that is what I figured as well. I can only imagine the sound of thunder cracking in a place like that and not alert others. Glasstaff's familiar investigates, he escapes....Bugbears enter the fray along with ruffians. Tough battle for 5 level 2 characters not to mention a nothic.
If I could recommend something... I'd have the Nothic kind of hang off in the back and just drag away dead bodies as the fight continues. That way if the party is clearly overwhelmed by the number of enemies they won't necessarily need to survive a psychic death monster on top of everything else... but if the combat ends up being less of a challenge than you expected you can have it get aggressive and join the fray.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
With just 2 players the whole area will be a really tough fight. They are going to think very carefully about tactic and ways to use the terrain in order to get as much of an advantage as possible.
That's a great idea!