This is a rough draft of a campaign I am working on. I am playtesting this with 6 charecters I can make on the free D&D beyond and with current rule books. This the first set of encounters to warm the players up, most of whom will be first time players I am expecting
Charecters:
Toran: Half Elf Rouge. Dex Heavy, will eventually gear into Assassin. Criminal Background. My go to Self aware Jphny bravo when it comes to his skills with flirting with women.
Belen: Gnoll Homebrew Ranger (D4 Bite for rampage, Dark Vision, speaks Common and Gnoll). He's being built to be a himbo and will take on the Hunter Archetype. Guide Background
Sarva: Shifter (fox Girl) Sorcerer, will be Wild Magic. Entertainer background. Trickster fox spirit, charm heavy type with some offensive abilities is how I plan to build here. Lots of Whimsy.
Zarva: Dark Elf Warlock. Will take Great Old one, and well be geared for Lovecraftian horror and Mage Armor Invocation. Accolate Background. Team Mom.
Ferex: Human Warlock that will take the fiend patron. Focus on the Pact Blade as a great sword. Wayfarer background (will be dedicated to Baphomet). Punk girl astetic.
Shane: Human Blood Hunter. Not sure if he will be anti fiend or anti werewolf archetype, but he is going to be speak softly, carry a big ax types. Raised by elves, cue tragic backstory here.
Will periodically put things in bold to add in my thoughts during what I guess was my first runthrough with me playing everyone.
Hive of Scum and Villainy
Will Play solo using my 6 characters as examples.
Story: The Undead War has ended, but the devastation has left entire kingdoms in ruin. Once powerful families are now in the same straits as their dirt poor peasants of the few city states left untouched is the Kingdom of Victoriana. Your party are amongst the many caravans going along with this. The group stop long enough to eat, simple repairs on wagons and handcarts, and scouts go ahead to see if the area is safe and or a place to camp without being attacked by ghouls or bandits.
Victriana has a strong military, great training facilities, a thriving port, a thriving faming town near the city, a vast forest for hunting and lumber, and plenty of foes to fight. Coin to be made if one is willing to put in the effort.
The group starts in one of the wagon trains heading to this land of milk and honey, where the streets are paved in gold. Durring one of the breaks the wagon train takes for lunch and minor repairs, the party will meet up and intrduce themselves.
Also talking about why you want to go to the Victoriana city. Check the backgrounds. Maybe its looking for work. Others might wish to escape their old life. Others are looking for someone and hoping they are here. Reasons are plenty.
After this, have them overhear an argument over the wagon master an the captain of the 40 strong mercenary band.
You can listen in, but if you don’t interrupt they will come to blows. A simple holding them back will do. 25 XP they choose to separate the one leading the wagon train and the one hired to keep everyone safe.
Before the fight can heat up again, they hear the scouts blowing a warning horn. This gets the wagons to circle up, and anyone with a weapon to fight.
Gnolls are attacking. They say a hundred strong, but the scout is known for over exaggerating. Regardless, if you have a strong sense of smell, you can use a 15 Perception (of if you have a strong sense of smell like you I might be convinced to do it on a 10, and you know its true. Besides the one scout and his horse is peppered with long bow arrows, and the other has a nasty gash on his arm.
The Wagons are circled up, giving you 3/4 cover for you.
With the none combatants hiding in the middle, your group will attack the Gnolls.
They start 170ft away. They will go move 30 and shoot, dash, move 30, dash until they are within 30 feet of the party.
Round1 140ft away.
Round 2 80 away
Round 3 60 away
There are 3 Gnoles, one looks particularly Bulky, one rather weedy, and the rest bult like you would think warriors
They start the initiative with a score of 17 (Bonus of +1)
The gnolls in question and their HP are
1g14
2g21
3g10
If the fight goes poorly enough I will lower the HP by D4.
If they are down to one or two and they are bloody, they will try to run away. You can let them or chase after them but after 300 ft you hear more signal horns and it is best to return to camp.
Turn order:
Gnolls 17
The XP: 300 for Gnoll Fight (100 per gnoll).
Another 25 for handling the fight and negotiating each.
This is enough for a level up. Potentialy 350 total.
This point I may have made things a little to hard, especially if I get a small group. Depending on how the dice gods feel this way, might be a TPK. Origionaly there was going to be 6 gnolls and all of them had 4 or 5 more HP but cut it down for fairness.
If we only have short amounts of time, this is an end point. If not, this is a where the characters can get a short rest to get their abilities back As I am expecting these adventures to be in 40 minutes bursts, this might be a good stopping point.
Part of this is I am in a day program for those with special needs, and I am hoping to convince people to play. Depening on how much time we have between claasses and other activities might be 40 to 60 minutes max. So quick episodes. Miht also use this with a game I play on Roll 20 with my cousins.
Once rested and patched up, the group now have to deal with another threat: The mercenaries are leaving. Most of them are showing their true colors show, and its yellow. Half of them either ran off or got killed, or are so pathetic in an actual battle they accidently hit each other. The Captain is just being a coward. You can convince some of the mercs to stay depending on the groups rolls. Will look at the average (counting a Critical as a double success or a double failure). If the player gives a speech on what they say to get them to stay and if I think its good., roll with advantage.
If the average score is between 1-5, 2 stay. If the average score is between 6-10, D6+2 stay. If the score is between 11-15 ten 2D6+2 stay. If the average score is between 16-20 then 3D6+2 stay. If the average score is over 20, then 4D6+2 come back (the amount over 20 s not counted.
This is another 25 XP for participating. An extra 25 depending on how well the group does per potential score.
After this they move on, but periodically the group have to reassure the caravanners that things will be ok.
On a D4 per half day. (3 days travel
1D6 goblin slavers or thieves, or refugees (roll a D3) try to sneak into the camp.
2Rain (or muddy ground). Dfficulty per muddy ground can intensify between 0-5 (requiring strength checks to help people out.). 0 is its fine. 1 50/50 chance of needing to do an easy strength check. 2 DC5. 3 DC10. 4 DC15 5DC 18. Failure adds another half day of travel.
3 People in the group panic again. DC 10 persuasion check to calm them down. Saying how they plan on doing it and if it sounds reasonable can make it easier such as smaller difficulty or roll with advantage.
4 Nothing bad happens. If a 2 was rolled, The difficulty becomes 1 less hazardous.
Each strength check is worth 10XP if passed.
Dealing with problem goblins is worth their XP in combat or social interaction
How you react to the refugee goblin family will also net 25 XP. 0 if the none combatants are killing them.
Eventually They are about half a day’s travel from the first stop, a group of Villages called Hobbiton for now. Just as the caravan celebrates, the group hears the roar of a manticore, and it attacks.
Going to go off the suggested HP in the book (68). It largely stays airborne unless a spell grounds it, or its at half health, or if the party is less than 4 still standing, or it runs out of tail spikes. It starts airborne and spraying the group with its tail spikes. It has 25 of them. It will mock the prey on its turn even, calling them cuts of meat. It stays above the group 50 ft if its airborn. Its Int 7 so will mostly focus on who is attack it, or which one looks the strongest (and therefor the toughest challenger). after that will have it focus on who delt it the largest amount of damage that round.
If its down to quarter health, it will run off to lick its wounds. If it survives, it may come back as a random challenge to deal with.
If killed, one of the traders suggests harvesting thetail, the pelt, head, organs, and bone for collectors. Any predatory party members may try feeding on the meat.
Will be fighting this on your own. The rest are going to have to fight it if you die.
Turn order
Manticore 15 HP68
The Manticore is worth 700 XP. Worthy of a level up to 2 if not 3. Level up accordingly.
If level 2, help with the leveling. If level 3 help them pick their subclass.
I have a couple of questions, and some critique. You've got a good first adventuring day, there's no doubt about that. It's a good typical introduction to an adventure. I'd imagine though that this is a minimum of 3-6 hours of activity depending on how long the combat encounters last and depending on how the players play. If they decide to really heavily engage in the roleplay and social aspects of the game I'd expect 6 hours, if they just want hack-n-slash, more like 3.
1 - Which ruleset are you using 5e (2014) or 5.5e (2024). It'll make a big difference. Monsters in 2024 are harsher, and healing is more easy to access (theoretically).
2 - With 2014 rules, that fight is over in 3 rounds with little to no chance of a TPK. Barring absolutely disastrous rolls of 5 and lower on to-hits, those Gnolls die real quick. With 3/4 cover too...yeah those Gnolls will be red smears long before the get even slightly close to the party. Even assuming everyone sticks with a simple ranged weapon like a shortbow then switches to melee in round four, that fight ends at the fourth round. It's not even close...and that's actually a good thing. Makes the party thankful for the cover, and makes them feel like they achieved something.
3 - Are you going to allow the Gnolls to target NPCs or are they only going to target combatants? If not, why are they much of a threat?
4 - Why wouldn't the party simply order the caravan to continue on at a faster pace (40ft is the movement of a draft horse, 30ft is the movement of a Gnoll)? The Wagons if pulled by draft horses can easily outpace Gnolls on foot. This is presumably the reason that Lost Mine of Phandelver has the attack as an ambush...to limit the ability to avoid the encounter by simply driving a wagon faster.
5 - You mention Mercenaries...why won't they be available during the Gnoll fight - my autistic brain here is thinking that there's no point the mercenaries sticking around if they didn't help fight the Gnolls, and if they're scared by such weak enemies.
6 - Have you run starter adventures or official adventures yet? With the Manticore fight I'm reminded of Dragon of Icespire Peak which has within in a Manticore fight at Level 1. With six characters, three of whom are full casters it dies quick too. Melee combatants are more or less forced to ranged weapons to handle this thing but it rarely lasts long in my experience. The key there though is that for the nervous GM there is a way to end the fight in a different way - the Manticore is attacking because it is hungry and hunting for prey. Once the party show they aren't easy prey it can fly off to find easier food to hunt. The Dragon in that adventure is much the same. If you haven't read through the starter adventures I'd suggest you do if only to look at how they handle the first day of adventure for a party. It can be good to look at and see what you like, what you don't, and in some cases outright steal and use for yourself.
7 - What happens if the players decide to abandon the caravan and venture out on their own? Is there a reason for them to stick with the caravan if they are its only defenders? Are their families part of the group? Are they being paid? Are they stereotypical heroes who have a strong sense of honour and duty? This is the most important bit to my mind. What reason do the party have to protect this caravan.
8 - Be careful of homebrew if you are relatively new to being a DM. Blood hunter is a great example of how badly homebrew can go. It is at best a useful narrative class, but that's about it. It's relatively underwhelming and not nearly as cool and useful as other classes. I've seen players who love CR desperately want to run the Blood Hunter class and every time I've compromised and allowed it at a table a play has told me that by level 12 they regret it. Almost always they end up multi-classing. I'm sure other DMs and players have a different experience, but that has been mine in each of the 6 times I've allowed it at my table. My honest advice is to only allow homebrew at your table if you are 100% sure you know what you're doing. I only advise this way because it can taint a player's experience if they have a subpar time with the homebrewed (sub)class.
As I say though, it's a good strong first adventuring day. I'd just suggest taking a moment and thinking through these things. Particularly beefing up the reason that the player characters will want to protect others.
[Edit] A note on timing as I think of it...timing is difficult to pin down, I'm always in awe of DMs who can manage to reign in groups enough to fit their sessions into a single hour. Its not always easy. The real skill to get advice on is how to manage that.
1 - Which ruleset are you using 5e (2014) or 5.5e (2024). It'll make a big difference. Monsters in 2024 are harsher, and healing is more easy to access (theoretically).
A. 5.5e (2024).
3 - Are you going to allow the Gnolls to target NPCs or are they only going to target combatants? If not, why are they much of a threat?
A. Its a pssability. Its a wagon train mostly of Refugees, so will clarify that in the revision. so adding back in 1 to 3 gnolls won't be a mass slaughter?
I can also make this fight one of several and how well it goes represents how well the others went.
4 - Why wouldn't the party simply order the caravan to continue on at a faster pace (40ft is the movement of a draft horse, 30ft is the movement of a Gnoll)? The Wagons if pulled by draft horses can easily outpace Gnolls on foot. This is presumably the reason that Lost Mine of Phandelver has the attack as an ambush...to limit the ability to avoid the encounter by simply driving a wagon faster.
A. Might involve leaving people behind. Can add in other gnolls are attacking all over, so its almost like they are being surounded. Might have to come up with something wy they couldn't spend some time hiting everything back up other than circling the wagons would be faster. Will clarify in the revision. Good stuff to think on so far, thanks.
5 - You mention Mercenaries...why won't they be available during the Gnoll fight - my autistic brain here is thinking that there's no point the mercenaries sticking around if they didn't help fight the Gnolls, and if they're scared by such weak enemies.
A. Will have to clarify, but they are fighting others. Also will need to put in more descriptions of them being more or les paper tigers. As for why to have them stick around, I will leave that up to the players. My Autistic brain (Hello fellow on the spectrum) says strength in numbers, and meat sheilds going forward, or focus on protecting the refugees who may or may not fight as well as the party.
6 - Have you run starter adventures or official adventures yet? With the Manticore fight I'm reminded of Dragon of Icespire Peak which has within in a Manticore fight at Level 1. With six characters, three of whom are full casters it dies quick too. Melee combatants are more or less forced to ranged weapons to handle this thing but it rarely lasts long in my experience. The key there though is that for the nervous GM there is a way to end the fight in a different way - the Manticore is attacking because it is hungry and hunting for prey. Once the party show they aren't easy prey it can fly off to find easier food to hunt. The Dragon in that adventure is much the same. If you haven't read through the starter adventures I'd suggest you do if only to look at how they handle the first day of adventure for a party. It can be good to look at and see what you like, what you don't, and in some cases outright steal and use for yourself.
No, I will start with the Lost Mines Adventure first as that seems newbie friendly to all involved.
As for when I tested the first boss fight, three or four rounds it went down, especially once it went on the ground. When it hit, I was playing everyone at level 2. 2 of those rounds were airborne, 90ft off the ground, and most people missed or did little damage (even with +4 to hit). A couple it home realy good, which caused it to aim for those. While in the air it brought the blood hunter to half, and dropped the rouge to 0. Once on the ground, nearly killed one of the warlocks. Melee with the Ranger seems to have gone better than with bow (thanks to duel wielding), and the final blow was from the Pact Blade Warlock with her great sword getting a nat 20.
Should I try this fight with just 3 players? Of if it is more players, double the health I give it within its limts?"
7 - What happens if the players decide to abandon the caravan and venture out on their own? Is there a reason for them to stick with the caravan if they are its only defenders? Are their families part of the group? Are they being paid? Are they stereotypical heroes who have a strong sense of honour and duty? This is the most important bit to my mind. What reason do the party have to protect this caravan.
Wasn't planning on that, but I might add in the beginning, especially session zero, most prefer to come in wagon trains as they have strength in numbers and others to help them in need. If they decide to leave the wagon train, I might change some of the threats and add in other predators attacking them in the random encounter section.
8 - Be careful of homebrew if you are relatively new to being a DM. Blood hunter is a great example of how badly homebrew can go. It is at best a useful narrative class, but that's about it. It's relatively underwhelming and not nearly as cool and useful as other classes. I've seen players who love CR desperately want to run the Blood Hunter class and every time I've compromised and allowed it at a table a play has told me that by level 12 they regret it. Almost always they end up multi-classing. I'm sure other DMs and players have a different experience, but that has been mine in each of the 6 times I've allowed it at my table. My honest advice is to only allow homebrew at your table if you are 100% sure you know what you're doing. I only advise this way because it can taint a player's experience if they have a subpar time with the homebrewed (sub)class.
A.I did the Blood hunter out of what D&D allows, and the Gnoll with the rules I gave to get an idea of how a player might try doing something off the wall in characters. Most things will be in the 2024/25 rule books, though I might glean some stuff from the older bestiaries that I think are cooler (definitely going to use the old half dragon rules to make some monsters for a different campaign). This is as much an experiment for me how they would play as to get an idea on players (I mostly did Paladin and Cleric with some fighters here and there). I'll try to be carful in the future though.
As I say though, it's a good strong first adventuring day. I'd just suggest taking a moment and thinking through these things. Particularly beefing up the reason that the player characters will want to protect others.
[Edit] A note on timing as I think of it...timing is difficult to pin down, I'm always in awe of DMs who can manage to reign in groups enough to fit their sessions into a single hour. Its not always easy. The real skill to get advice on is how to manage that.
Do we have a thread on that, or should we start one?
2024 ruleset note So, going through a few bits from your responses. Despite what the marketing team at WotC claim, the 2014 classes and subclasses really don't mix and match well with 5.5e/2024 ruleset. I would seriously advise you to limit player options to only what is contained with the 2024 rulebooks. I'd double down on this if they are new to the system or to the hobby. The 5.5e ruleset is only really backwards compatible in terms of allowing you to utilise existing adventure books (assuming that you swap out the monsters for their 2024 variants). I belong to a group of GMs who regularly playtest rulesets and game systems. We've tried a lot of combos of the 2014 and 2024 ruleset and if you are the type of person who finds rules comforting and helpful during play, then the mixes just don't work well. To be clear, what our test groups found was that the workload on the DM increased to an encumbrance level if players were allowed to mix and match.
Caveat - if you're a GM who loves just saying 'yes' to everything players want to do, and aren't really wanting to show players how to play the rules as presented in the books, you'll likely have different mileage here. How much the mix and match approach affects a GM will depend on their GM style.
Lost Mines Following on from this if you do run Lost Mines of Phandelver, or any of the starter adventures do remember that they were designed to be played with just the pregens and limitations and such like from the Basic Rules (2014). Including other classes often leads the starter adventures to be a lot easier in terms of combat for the players. However, it also leads to a more steep learning curve in terms of the more complex abilities. No comment on if this is good or bad, just a general observation.
What you're not planning on This is a big one, that most GMs have to learn to accommodate. Players by and large have an ability to come up with solutions or actions that you just never think about. There is of course a certain amount that players need to buy into. For example you could start your adventure simply saying that in order for the adventure to work and the quest hooks to sink in the players need to buy into the fact that they have a responsibility not to leave the caravan/camp and venture off alone. For my part I tend to prefer giving the party a clear motive. Money or emotion tends to work really well. Either the player characters have family members in the caravan/camp that they really want to protect. Or the player characters have been promised money from the mayor/steward/king/whoever if they successfully escort and protect the caravan on its way to the destination. Side note: it's useful to have the caravan only have a small amount of money and someone on the other end being the one to be paying/rewarding the group...otherwise it can lead to 'hey, let's rob the caravan and then f*** off. Of course, that's not to say you should let me dictate this stuff to you, it's just a general suggestion based on my experience is all. If it doesn't work for you, ignore it.
Timing Start a thread if you're curious. I'm fortunate enough that I carve out 4 hour game sessions. Last night I ran a one-shot for two players which lasted only around 1 hour 40 minutes. My personal assessment for my GM style is that timing is largely affected by the players and how quickly they make decisions. I have a Monday night group who can literally spend an entire four hour session discussing in character which way they should go and which leads to chase up. I used to have one group that lived for the social encounters and in combat they literally sped through just choosing stock actions and spells because that wasn't what interests them.
I guess what I'm saying is that timing, to my mind at least, is highly dependant on the table, players, GM and a whole lot of other factors. Previous threads I've seen will see GMs say stuff like 'try limiting how long each player gets to decide their combat actions' or other such stuff. My view has been if everyone around the table enjoyed the experience then do what works for the table. The actual play Oxventure, especially their live sessions at places like EGX have tended to run like 1hr-1hr30mins so maybe that'll give you some ideas. Basically they tend to be in the form of: Introductions -> Plot Hook -> Travel/Location Montage -> Combat/Social Encounter -> Resolution
This is a rough draft of a campaign I am working on. I am playtesting this with 6 charecters I can make on the free D&D beyond and with current rule books. This the first set of encounters to warm the players up, most of whom will be first time players I am expecting
Charecters:
Toran: Half Elf Rouge. Dex Heavy, will eventually gear into Assassin. Criminal Background. My go to Self aware Jphny bravo when it comes to his skills with flirting with women.
Belen: Gnoll Homebrew Ranger (D4 Bite for rampage, Dark Vision, speaks Common and Gnoll). He's being built to be a himbo and will take on the Hunter Archetype. Guide Background
Sarva: Shifter (fox Girl) Sorcerer, will be Wild Magic. Entertainer background. Trickster fox spirit, charm heavy type with some offensive abilities is how I plan to build here. Lots of Whimsy.
Zarva: Dark Elf Warlock. Will take Great Old one, and well be geared for Lovecraftian horror and Mage Armor Invocation. Accolate Background. Team Mom.
Ferex: Human Warlock that will take the fiend patron. Focus on the Pact Blade as a great sword. Wayfarer background (will be dedicated to Baphomet). Punk girl astetic.
Shane: Human Blood Hunter. Not sure if he will be anti fiend or anti werewolf archetype, but he is going to be speak softly, carry a big ax types. Raised by elves, cue tragic backstory here.
Will periodically put things in bold to add in my thoughts during what I guess was my first runthrough with me playing everyone.
Hive of Scum and Villainy
Will Play solo using my 6 characters as examples.
Story: The Undead War has ended, but the devastation has left entire kingdoms in ruin. Once powerful families are now in the same straits as their dirt poor peasants of the few city states left untouched is the Kingdom of Victoriana. Your party are amongst the many caravans going along with this. The group stop long enough to eat, simple repairs on wagons and handcarts, and scouts go ahead to see if the area is safe and or a place to camp without being attacked by ghouls or bandits.
Victriana has a strong military, great training facilities, a thriving port, a thriving faming town near the city, a vast forest for hunting and lumber, and plenty of foes to fight. Coin to be made if one is willing to put in the effort.
The group starts in one of the wagon trains heading to this land of milk and honey, where the streets are paved in gold. Durring one of the breaks the wagon train takes for lunch and minor repairs, the party will meet up and intrduce themselves.
Also talking about why you want to go to the Victoriana city. Check the backgrounds. Maybe its looking for work. Others might wish to escape their old life. Others are looking for someone and hoping they are here. Reasons are plenty.
After this, have them overhear an argument over the wagon master an the captain of the 40 strong mercenary band.
You can listen in, but if you don’t interrupt they will come to blows. A simple holding them back will do. 25 XP they choose to separate the one leading the wagon train and the one hired to keep everyone safe.
Before the fight can heat up again, they hear the scouts blowing a warning horn. This gets the wagons to circle up, and anyone with a weapon to fight.
Gnolls are attacking. They say a hundred strong, but the scout is known for over exaggerating. Regardless, if you have a strong sense of smell, you can use a 15 Perception (of if you have a strong sense of smell like you I might be convinced to do it on a 10, and you know its true. Besides the one scout and his horse is peppered with long bow arrows, and the other has a nasty gash on his arm.
The Wagons are circled up, giving you 3/4 cover for you.
With the none combatants hiding in the middle, your group will attack the Gnolls.
They start 170ft away. They will go move 30 and shoot, dash, move 30, dash until they are within 30 feet of the party.
Round1 140ft away.
Round 2 80 away
Round 3 60 away
There are 3 Gnoles, one looks particularly Bulky, one rather weedy, and the rest bult like you would think warriors
They start the initiative with a score of 17 (Bonus of +1)
The gnolls in question and their HP are
1g14
2g21
3g10
If the fight goes poorly enough I will lower the HP by D4.
If they are down to one or two and they are bloody, they will try to run away. You can let them or chase after them but after 300 ft you hear more signal horns and it is best to return to camp.
Turn order:
Gnolls 17
The XP: 300 for Gnoll Fight (100 per gnoll).
Another 25 for handling the fight and negotiating each.
This is enough for a level up. Potentialy 350 total.
This point I may have made things a little to hard, especially if I get a small group. Depending on how the dice gods feel this way, might be a TPK. Origionaly there was going to be 6 gnolls and all of them had 4 or 5 more HP but cut it down for fairness.
If we only have short amounts of time, this is an end point. If not, this is a where the characters can get a short rest to get their abilities back As I am expecting these adventures to be in 40 minutes bursts, this might be a good stopping point.
Part of this is I am in a day program for those with special needs, and I am hoping to convince people to play. Depening on how much time we have between claasses and other activities might be 40 to 60 minutes max. So quick episodes. Miht also use this with a game I play on Roll 20 with my cousins.
Once rested and patched up, the group now have to deal with another threat: The mercenaries are leaving. Most of them are showing their true colors show, and its yellow. Half of them either ran off or got killed, or are so pathetic in an actual battle they accidently hit each other. The Captain is just being a coward. You can convince some of the mercs to stay depending on the groups rolls. Will look at the average (counting a Critical as a double success or a double failure). If the player gives a speech on what they say to get them to stay and if I think its good., roll with advantage.
If the average score is between 1-5, 2 stay. If the average score is between 6-10, D6+2 stay. If the score is between 11-15 ten 2D6+2 stay. If the average score is between 16-20 then 3D6+2 stay. If the average score is over 20, then 4D6+2 come back (the amount over 20 s not counted.
This is another 25 XP for participating. An extra 25 depending on how well the group does per potential score.
After this they move on, but periodically the group have to reassure the caravanners that things will be ok.
On a D4 per half day. (3 days travel
1D6 goblin slavers or thieves, or refugees (roll a D3) try to sneak into the camp.
2Rain (or muddy ground). Dfficulty per muddy ground can intensify between 0-5 (requiring strength checks to help people out.). 0 is its fine. 1 50/50 chance of needing to do an easy strength check. 2 DC5. 3 DC10. 4 DC15 5DC 18. Failure adds another half day of travel.
3 People in the group panic again. DC 10 persuasion check to calm them down. Saying how they plan on doing it and if it sounds reasonable can make it easier such as smaller difficulty or roll with advantage.
4 Nothing bad happens. If a 2 was rolled, The difficulty becomes 1 less hazardous.
Each strength check is worth 10XP if passed.
Dealing with problem goblins is worth their XP in combat or social interaction
How you react to the refugee goblin family will also net 25 XP. 0 if the none combatants are killing them.
Eventually They are about half a day’s travel from the first stop, a group of Villages called Hobbiton for now. Just as the caravan celebrates, the group hears the roar of a manticore, and it attacks.
Going to go off the suggested HP in the book (68). It largely stays airborne unless a spell grounds it, or its at half health, or if the party is less than 4 still standing, or it runs out of tail spikes. It starts airborne and spraying the group with its tail spikes. It has 25 of them. It will mock the prey on its turn even, calling them cuts of meat. It stays above the group 50 ft if its airborn. Its Int 7 so will mostly focus on who is attack it, or which one looks the strongest (and therefor the toughest challenger). after that will have it focus on who delt it the largest amount of damage that round.
If its down to quarter health, it will run off to lick its wounds. If it survives, it may come back as a random challenge to deal with.
If killed, one of the traders suggests harvesting thetail, the pelt, head, organs, and bone for collectors. Any predatory party members may try feeding on the meat.
Will be fighting this on your own. The rest are going to have to fight it if you die.
Turn order
Manticore 15 HP68
The Manticore is worth 700 XP. Worthy of a level up to 2 if not 3. Level up accordingly.
If level 2, help with the leveling. If level 3 help them pick their subclass.
Chapter 2. Entry into the City.
I have a couple of questions, and some critique. You've got a good first adventuring day, there's no doubt about that. It's a good typical introduction to an adventure. I'd imagine though that this is a minimum of 3-6 hours of activity depending on how long the combat encounters last and depending on how the players play. If they decide to really heavily engage in the roleplay and social aspects of the game I'd expect 6 hours, if they just want hack-n-slash, more like 3.
1 - Which ruleset are you using 5e (2014) or 5.5e (2024). It'll make a big difference. Monsters in 2024 are harsher, and healing is more easy to access (theoretically).
2 - With 2014 rules, that fight is over in 3 rounds with little to no chance of a TPK. Barring absolutely disastrous rolls of 5 and lower on to-hits, those Gnolls die real quick. With 3/4 cover too...yeah those Gnolls will be red smears long before the get even slightly close to the party. Even assuming everyone sticks with a simple ranged weapon like a shortbow then switches to melee in round four, that fight ends at the fourth round. It's not even close...and that's actually a good thing. Makes the party thankful for the cover, and makes them feel like they achieved something.
3 - Are you going to allow the Gnolls to target NPCs or are they only going to target combatants? If not, why are they much of a threat?
4 - Why wouldn't the party simply order the caravan to continue on at a faster pace (40ft is the movement of a draft horse, 30ft is the movement of a Gnoll)? The Wagons if pulled by draft horses can easily outpace Gnolls on foot. This is presumably the reason that Lost Mine of Phandelver has the attack as an ambush...to limit the ability to avoid the encounter by simply driving a wagon faster.
5 - You mention Mercenaries...why won't they be available during the Gnoll fight - my autistic brain here is thinking that there's no point the mercenaries sticking around if they didn't help fight the Gnolls, and if they're scared by such weak enemies.
6 - Have you run starter adventures or official adventures yet? With the Manticore fight I'm reminded of Dragon of Icespire Peak which has within in a Manticore fight at Level 1. With six characters, three of whom are full casters it dies quick too. Melee combatants are more or less forced to ranged weapons to handle this thing but it rarely lasts long in my experience. The key there though is that for the nervous GM there is a way to end the fight in a different way - the Manticore is attacking because it is hungry and hunting for prey. Once the party show they aren't easy prey it can fly off to find easier food to hunt. The Dragon in that adventure is much the same. If you haven't read through the starter adventures I'd suggest you do if only to look at how they handle the first day of adventure for a party. It can be good to look at and see what you like, what you don't, and in some cases outright steal and use for yourself.
7 - What happens if the players decide to abandon the caravan and venture out on their own? Is there a reason for them to stick with the caravan if they are its only defenders? Are their families part of the group? Are they being paid? Are they stereotypical heroes who have a strong sense of honour and duty? This is the most important bit to my mind. What reason do the party have to protect this caravan.
8 - Be careful of homebrew if you are relatively new to being a DM. Blood hunter is a great example of how badly homebrew can go. It is at best a useful narrative class, but that's about it. It's relatively underwhelming and not nearly as cool and useful as other classes. I've seen players who love CR desperately want to run the Blood Hunter class and every time I've compromised and allowed it at a table a play has told me that by level 12 they regret it. Almost always they end up multi-classing. I'm sure other DMs and players have a different experience, but that has been mine in each of the 6 times I've allowed it at my table. My honest advice is to only allow homebrew at your table if you are 100% sure you know what you're doing. I only advise this way because it can taint a player's experience if they have a subpar time with the homebrewed (sub)class.
As I say though, it's a good strong first adventuring day. I'd just suggest taking a moment and thinking through these things. Particularly beefing up the reason that the player characters will want to protect others.
[Edit] A note on timing as I think of it...timing is difficult to pin down, I'm always in awe of DMs who can manage to reign in groups enough to fit their sessions into a single hour. Its not always easy. The real skill to get advice on is how to manage that.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Q&A time
A. 5.5e (2024).
A. Its a pssability. Its a wagon train mostly of Refugees, so will clarify that in the revision. so adding back in 1 to 3 gnolls won't be a mass slaughter?
I can also make this fight one of several and how well it goes represents how well the others went.
A. Might involve leaving people behind. Can add in other gnolls are attacking all over, so its almost like they are being surounded. Might have to come up with something wy they couldn't spend some time hiting everything back up other than circling the wagons would be faster. Will clarify in the revision. Good stuff to think on so far, thanks.
A. Will have to clarify, but they are fighting others. Also will need to put in more descriptions of them being more or les paper tigers. As for why to have them stick around, I will leave that up to the players. My Autistic brain (Hello fellow on the spectrum) says strength in numbers, and meat sheilds going forward, or focus on protecting the refugees who may or may not fight as well as the party.
No, I will start with the Lost Mines Adventure first as that seems newbie friendly to all involved.
As for when I tested the first boss fight, three or four rounds it went down, especially once it went on the ground. When it hit, I was playing everyone at level 2. 2 of those rounds were airborne, 90ft off the ground, and most people missed or did little damage (even with +4 to hit). A couple it home realy good, which caused it to aim for those. While in the air it brought the blood hunter to half, and dropped the rouge to 0. Once on the ground, nearly killed one of the warlocks. Melee with the Ranger seems to have gone better than with bow (thanks to duel wielding), and the final blow was from the Pact Blade Warlock with her great sword getting a nat 20.
Should I try this fight with just 3 players? Of if it is more players, double the health I give it within its limts?"
Wasn't planning on that, but I might add in the beginning, especially session zero, most prefer to come in wagon trains as they have strength in numbers and others to help them in need. If they decide to leave the wagon train, I might change some of the threats and add in other predators attacking them in the random encounter section.
A.I did the Blood hunter out of what D&D allows, and the Gnoll with the rules I gave to get an idea of how a player might try doing something off the wall in characters. Most things will be in the 2024/25 rule books, though I might glean some stuff from the older bestiaries that I think are cooler (definitely going to use the old half dragon rules to make some monsters for a different campaign). This is as much an experiment for me how they would play as to get an idea on players (I mostly did Paladin and Cleric with some fighters here and there). I'll try to be carful in the future though.
Do we have a thread on that, or should we start one?
2024 ruleset note
So, going through a few bits from your responses. Despite what the marketing team at WotC claim, the 2014 classes and subclasses really don't mix and match well with 5.5e/2024 ruleset. I would seriously advise you to limit player options to only what is contained with the 2024 rulebooks. I'd double down on this if they are new to the system or to the hobby. The 5.5e ruleset is only really backwards compatible in terms of allowing you to utilise existing adventure books (assuming that you swap out the monsters for their 2024 variants). I belong to a group of GMs who regularly playtest rulesets and game systems. We've tried a lot of combos of the 2014 and 2024 ruleset and if you are the type of person who finds rules comforting and helpful during play, then the mixes just don't work well. To be clear, what our test groups found was that the workload on the DM increased to an encumbrance level if players were allowed to mix and match.
Caveat - if you're a GM who loves just saying 'yes' to everything players want to do, and aren't really wanting to show players how to play the rules as presented in the books, you'll likely have different mileage here. How much the mix and match approach affects a GM will depend on their GM style.
Lost Mines
Following on from this if you do run Lost Mines of Phandelver, or any of the starter adventures do remember that they were designed to be played with just the pregens and limitations and such like from the Basic Rules (2014). Including other classes often leads the starter adventures to be a lot easier in terms of combat for the players. However, it also leads to a more steep learning curve in terms of the more complex abilities. No comment on if this is good or bad, just a general observation.
What you're not planning on
This is a big one, that most GMs have to learn to accommodate. Players by and large have an ability to come up with solutions or actions that you just never think about. There is of course a certain amount that players need to buy into. For example you could start your adventure simply saying that in order for the adventure to work and the quest hooks to sink in the players need to buy into the fact that they have a responsibility not to leave the caravan/camp and venture off alone. For my part I tend to prefer giving the party a clear motive. Money or emotion tends to work really well. Either the player characters have family members in the caravan/camp that they really want to protect. Or the player characters have been promised money from the mayor/steward/king/whoever if they successfully escort and protect the caravan on its way to the destination. Side note: it's useful to have the caravan only have a small amount of money and someone on the other end being the one to be paying/rewarding the group...otherwise it can lead to 'hey, let's rob the caravan and then f*** off. Of course, that's not to say you should let me dictate this stuff to you, it's just a general suggestion based on my experience is all. If it doesn't work for you, ignore it.
Timing
Start a thread if you're curious. I'm fortunate enough that I carve out 4 hour game sessions. Last night I ran a one-shot for two players which lasted only around 1 hour 40 minutes. My personal assessment for my GM style is that timing is largely affected by the players and how quickly they make decisions. I have a Monday night group who can literally spend an entire four hour session discussing in character which way they should go and which leads to chase up. I used to have one group that lived for the social encounters and in combat they literally sped through just choosing stock actions and spells because that wasn't what interests them.
I guess what I'm saying is that timing, to my mind at least, is highly dependant on the table, players, GM and a whole lot of other factors. Previous threads I've seen will see GMs say stuff like 'try limiting how long each player gets to decide their combat actions' or other such stuff. My view has been if everyone around the table enjoyed the experience then do what works for the table. The actual play Oxventure, especially their live sessions at places like EGX have tended to run like 1hr-1hr30mins so maybe that'll give you some ideas. Basically they tend to be in the form of: Introductions -> Plot Hook -> Travel/Location Montage -> Combat/Social Encounter -> Resolution
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.