So I have had my first D&D play session. It was at D&D AL, and I think most of the people there played D&D the first time. I found a few things strange and I thought I would ask about it in here.
1 We had a half orc fighter (level 1) that had the sharpshooter feat. How can you get feats at lvl 1 without playing variant human? He kept shooting at everything he could with his longbow in a 3+ hours play session, and managed to miss every shot. I wonder if he might have put his lowest score in dex, and every shot he wanted to aply the -5 to hit +10 damage option from sharpshooter.
2 We had a human barbarian who was in combat, but activated rage and ran away to be able to throw javelins ranged later on. While I suspect this is something that you can do, I guess it is not quite how roleplaying barbarian rage was thought…?
3 We had a human cleric that got one shotted by a bow. I think he might have put his lowest value in con. Is there ever a good idea?
4 As for myself I played a caster that almost got killed by a bear trap. Is there any good advise on how to avoid traps? If I cannot come up with anything better I will be walking behind the huge barbarian next session.
I am thankful to comments about this , as I am a bit confused at the moment.
best way to avoid traps? have the ridiculous half orc fighter go first and you should probably stop tromping around making bear noises.
Not sure about the DM, but i've seen that DM's have a couple options for Tier 1's that across the spectrum with many just not AL-compliant at all. a) spend half an hour going over the rules and pointing to why a character can't be the way it is (and that's half an hour where the other 6 players have to just sit there and twiddle their thumbs), or b) mention it and just move on, get into the game, and be a little extra tough on that character. As a DM, you can tweak things so there's no real advantage when they go outside the box. Wait to get picky about rules until Tier 2 (especially with the whole Tier 1 rebuild feature). They'll either have a better understanding of the rules by then, or they die horribly. DM is the judge, jury, & executioner when it comes to rules...just depends on how the DM wants to spend their time...and the time of all the other players.
Same with the Rage...nothing wrong with the DM saying 'You were enraged and angry...then you turned your back and now you realize you're just sad"...up to the DM how it plays out.
On Cleric, let him die, he'll figure out why he's dying and rebuild...or he'll just keep dying. Dead characters make for more entertaining adventures imo.
I now had the second session. The half orc fighter finally hit someting with his bow. He fumbled and shot and almost killed the party healer (me).
Hi! I just wanted to check that you are supposed to be playing AL? In a homebrew game the DM can do pretty much anything they like but in AL they are limited to the rules in the books.
AL follows the rules as written premise. Your descriptions in your first post and this one have things that aren't AL legal.
1) A first level half-orc would not have the sharpshooter feat. This is only available when they get an ASI at level 4. Only a variant human can start with a feat. The DM should politely and professional correct the player and inform them that their build isn't legal for AL play and they can't use the feat without making changes (since the build can be changed as much as they like before level 5 this is fine but a half-orc should not have a feat).
2) A character in AL can not damage another character unless the other character agrees (e.g. being in the Area of Effect of a fireball). This falls under the AL code of conduct and the AL Admins have considered it to be harming the other players enjoyment of the game unless they agree to it.
3) Fumbles do NOT exist in the base rules for D&D 5e and are thus not a part of the AL rule set. Critical fumbles or alternate critical hit rules should not be used in AL games.
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On your other comments.
1) All first level characters are very squishy. Your first level cleric who was knocked unconscious by a long bow is pretty typical. A first level cleric with 14 constitution starts with 10 hit points while a long bow wielded by a typical low level opponent will have +5 to hit and will do d8+3 damage. This means that 25% of the time when the DM rolls a 7 or 8 on the damage die the cleric will be knocked out a single long bow hit. They don't need a particularly low constitution for this to happen, just some bad luck.
2) In the case of your barbarian, assuming they were 1st level also, they would have probably had about 14 hit points. Depending on what you were fighting, it might have been more dangerous for the barbarian to stay in close than to back off and throw javelins. It would be atypical for most barbarians but if, for example, they were wielding a two handed sword, their AC might not be that great and standing in melee at level 1 might have felt a bit too risky.
3) As for avoiding traps, it is often best to have the character with the highest passive perception actively looking for traps and anything else out of the ordinary (and ideally a decent AC and hit points) while leading the party. They are more likely to notice the traps and with a good AC and hit points also either avoid them or take damage that is a smaller fraction of their total if they miss them. You can also use a staff or other item to poke at the ground in front of you as you move along to try to detect or activate traps before you encounter them.
At your next session, the lvl 2 barbarian should have the ability to roll advantage on dex saves that they can see, so combined with their high HP and the half-orc's darkvision they're great at checking for traps.
Thank you for all your advise! As for now the cleric and druid decided to remake their characters and I am the only one with access to any healing spells. As the half orc fighter keep taking cover behind me I think that some armor might be good for my characters continued good health. My character is weak but if I understand the rules correct there is no strength demand for using splint mail and shield? Splint mail and shield should make it harder tp hit my character. So I take a level in life cleric to get me the armor skill.
So I have had my first D&D play session. It was at D&D AL, and I think most of the people there played D&D the first time. I found a few things strange and I thought I would ask about it in here.
1 We had a half orc fighter (level 1) that had the sharpshooter feat. How can you get feats at lvl 1 without playing variant human?
He kept shooting at everything he could with his longbow in a 3+ hours play session, and managed to miss every shot. I wonder if he might have put his lowest score in dex, and every shot he wanted to aply the -5 to hit +10 damage option from sharpshooter.
2 We had a human barbarian who was in combat, but activated rage and ran away to be able to throw javelins ranged later on. While I suspect this is something that you can do, I guess it is not quite how roleplaying barbarian rage was thought…?
3 We had a human cleric that got one shotted by a bow. I think he might have put his lowest value in con. Is there ever a good idea?
4 As for myself I played a caster that almost got killed by a bear trap. Is there any good advise on how to avoid traps? If I cannot come up with anything better I will be walking behind the huge barbarian next session.
I am thankful to comments about this , as I am a bit confused at the moment.
best way to avoid traps? have the ridiculous half orc fighter go first and you should probably stop tromping around making bear noises.
Not sure about the DM, but i've seen that DM's have a couple options for Tier 1's that across the spectrum with many just not AL-compliant at all. a) spend half an hour going over the rules and pointing to why a character can't be the way it is (and that's half an hour where the other 6 players have to just sit there and twiddle their thumbs), or b) mention it and just move on, get into the game, and be a little extra tough on that character. As a DM, you can tweak things so there's no real advantage when they go outside the box. Wait to get picky about rules until Tier 2 (especially with the whole Tier 1 rebuild feature). They'll either have a better understanding of the rules by then, or they die horribly. DM is the judge, jury, & executioner when it comes to rules...just depends on how the DM wants to spend their time...and the time of all the other players.
Same with the Rage...nothing wrong with the DM saying 'You were enraged and angry...then you turned your back and now you realize you're just sad"...up to the DM how it plays out.
On Cleric, let him die, he'll figure out why he's dying and rebuild...or he'll just keep dying. Dead characters make for more entertaining adventures imo.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
A rather comprehensive list of free WotC D&D resources
Deck of Decks
I now had the second session. The half orc fighter finally hit someting with his bow. He fumbled and shot and almost killed the party healer (me).
Hi! I just wanted to check that you are supposed to be playing AL? In a homebrew game the DM can do pretty much anything they like but in AL they are limited to the rules in the books.
AL follows the rules as written premise. Your descriptions in your first post and this one have things that aren't AL legal.
1) A first level half-orc would not have the sharpshooter feat. This is only available when they get an ASI at level 4. Only a variant human can start with a feat. The DM should politely and professional correct the player and inform them that their build isn't legal for AL play and they can't use the feat without making changes (since the build can be changed as much as they like before level 5 this is fine but a half-orc should not have a feat).
2) A character in AL can not damage another character unless the other character agrees (e.g. being in the Area of Effect of a fireball). This falls under the AL code of conduct and the AL Admins have considered it to be harming the other players enjoyment of the game unless they agree to it.
3) Fumbles do NOT exist in the base rules for D&D 5e and are thus not a part of the AL rule set. Critical fumbles or alternate critical hit rules should not be used in AL games.
----
On your other comments.
1) All first level characters are very squishy. Your first level cleric who was knocked unconscious by a long bow is pretty typical. A first level cleric with 14 constitution starts with 10 hit points while a long bow wielded by a typical low level opponent will have +5 to hit and will do d8+3 damage. This means that 25% of the time when the DM rolls a 7 or 8 on the damage die the cleric will be knocked out a single long bow hit. They don't need a particularly low constitution for this to happen, just some bad luck.
2) In the case of your barbarian, assuming they were 1st level also, they would have probably had about 14 hit points. Depending on what you were fighting, it might have been more dangerous for the barbarian to stay in close than to back off and throw javelins. It would be atypical for most barbarians but if, for example, they were wielding a two handed sword, their AC might not be that great and standing in melee at level 1 might have felt a bit too risky.
3) As for avoiding traps, it is often best to have the character with the highest passive perception actively looking for traps and anything else out of the ordinary (and ideally a decent AC and hit points) while leading the party. They are more likely to notice the traps and with a good AC and hit points also either avoid them or take damage that is a smaller fraction of their total if they miss them. You can also use a staff or other item to poke at the ground in front of you as you move along to try to detect or activate traps before you encounter them.
At your next session, the lvl 2 barbarian should have the ability to roll advantage on dex saves that they can see, so combined with their high HP and the half-orc's darkvision they're great at checking for traps.
Alright, alright, alright...
Thank you for all your advise! As for now the cleric and druid decided to remake their characters and I am the only one with access to any healing spells. As the half orc fighter keep taking cover behind me I think that some armor might be good for my characters continued good health. My character is weak but if I understand the rules correct there is no strength demand for using splint mail and shield? Splint mail and shield should make it harder tp hit my character. So I take a level in life cleric to get me the armor skill.