Two friends of mine are playing the Lost mine of Phandelver and we didnt use the pre made characters and we had a few problems,
i personally have a confusing time understanding combat itself, and as the DM am i meant to have read the adventure before running it or is it meant to be an as you go type of thing?
should i alter the amount of monsters based on there only being 2 players instead of 5?
any/ all help appreciated thank!
Edit: how do i determine what parts of the book i relay to the players
You should be familiar with the adventure before running it. You might not need to memorize the whole adventure, but reading through the whole adventure so you know how it goes, overall, and carefully reading through at least the parts that your Players will get through in the next game session is advisable.
You probably should scale encounters. A good "encounter designer" I like isKobold Fight Club. You can set up the encounter as written in the book for 5 players, and then reduce the number of Player characters, and monsters, until it's balanced at the same difficulty again. E.g. set up the encounter exactly as written, with 5 Characters of the appropriate level, and 3 Thebligs - note the difficulty rating of the encounter, ( let's say Hard ) reduce the number of characters to 2, and now remove Thebligs until you get back to a Medium encounter.
If you do some searching online, you can find "5e combat flowcharts" which should help you track how combat works. There's an example below.
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As part of preparing the adventure it is wise (though not required) to read the part of the adventure you will be running before running it.
You should definitely alter encounters based on the amount of players. Kobold fight club is a good resource for this. One way you can alter encounters is by splitting up the monsters into waves instead of all at once. This lowers the difficulty.
The parts of the adventure you are expected to read to the players are in a grey box. Besides that, you will have to improvise.
The adventure books don't have all the answers to questions you will have about them. I suggest reading and rereading the basic rules, and flipping through the PHB and DMG when you have time. You dont need to memorize all the rules, but at least get a sense to where you can find certain rules when you need.
Okay this helps. Now what about exp? Do players only get exp for the monsters they kill them selves (or however else they may earn it) do they get it after each fight or after certain points or something?
You should DEFINITELY have read the module prior to running it.
Yes, you should change the amount of monsters in each encounter because you have 2, not 5, players.
You should definitely read the stuff in red aloud, and if someone asks a question about a part of a room they can see and you know the answer, tell them.
As part of preparing the adventure it is wise (though not required) to read the part of the adventure you will be running before running it.
I mean...you won't have the book confiscated by the publishers if you don't read it first :) But it really is required in order to have the game run smoothly.
The guide for the Lost Mine campaign has a lot of useful tips to DMs on what is what. It’s about the best written intro to table top RPGs I’ve seen. There are specific sections in the guide that are meant for you as the DM to read to your table, as well as explanations on how to do checks or actions for combat, etc.
I’m 6 months and about a dozen sessions in to my tenure as a DM and I learn so much from the rules, the mechanics, and the unpredictability of my players that the biggest piece of advice that I think all good DMs would share is, “you don’t have to know it all, and don’t worry about mistakes”.
Have fun, enjoy the interaction, make the world yours, but the story is collaboratively everyone’s. Good luck!
In Lost Mines of phandelver each section will tell you how to award xp. Each section does it differently. In part one they get milestone xp. So after they finish a goal they are awarded xp. In the last part you award xp for the number of enemies they defeat. Basically the starter set is showing you the different ways you can award xp. So that when you run a different campaign or make your own you can decide what works best for you.
I'm practically brand new to playing d&d and am DMing LMoP for my husband and my parents (who are also very new) and I'd definitely suggest reading through at least most of it and then prepping what your playing will be coming up on.
Expect to make mistakes. You'll learn from them and can correct any rules next time, or you want. My first couple sessions left me frustrated nearly to the point of crying but after that I really got into it and started getting much more comfortable. Today I started prepping a bit and added my own flare and livened up the boxed text (what's meant to be read aloud) and decided to make a stat block for an NPC on the off chance that one of my characters starts a fight with them XD
Basically. When I started reading through the adventure I was thinking I'd read part of the background session as a nice little intro to the area but then later found that it was supposed to be read at certain points if the characters made a history check. So there is that to watch out for lol
im trying to read through it and i keep getting distracted, i cant seem to focus
Find a place with no distractions, turn off your phone. If you have the hard copy to read, close any laptops or screens nearby, shut off any TVs. If you have a digital copy, close all other tabs and browsers--although a digital copy will be harder to read without distractions, because the Distraction Machine is the thing you're staring at while you're reading it.
If you have the print copy, get yourself away from all technology, grab a pen and some paper for notes, and go to it.
I feel like I'm going crazy. Can someone explain temporary hit points vs current health?
I'm trying to transfer my players stats to a character sheet
Temp HP are HP you add to your normal HP.
You can go above your HP maximum with temp HP.
You lose temp HP before you lose normal HP.
Temp HP cannot be healed.
Unless whatever gave you the Temp HP specified a duration, they will last until your next long rest.
Temp HP also don't stack, apparently. If you have 5 temp HP now, and a spell gives you 10 temp HP, you will have 10 temp HP, not 15.
So example:
Fred has 50 HP maximum normally. A spell gives him 20 temporary HP. Fred is now at 70 total HP. If he gets hit for 10 HP damage, he will be down to 60. He cannot be healed for those 10 points, because he didn't lose normal HP, just temp. When he gets a long rest, he'll be back to 50.
I feel like I'm going crazy. Can someone explain temporary hit points vs current health?
I'm trying to transfer my players stats to a character sheet
Brotherbock pretty much covered everything.
In video game terms think of it as shield HP. It protects your actual HP until it is gone, healing doesn't restore your shield, but you can replace the shield with a less damaged one.
I feel like I'm going crazy. Can someone explain temporary hit points vs current health?
I'm trying to transfer my players stats to a character sheet
Usually a spell or something else will grant you temporary HP. Current HP is pretty self explanatory. It’s what you’re health is at the moment based off of damage taken.
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Two friends of mine are playing the Lost mine of Phandelver and we didnt use the pre made characters and we had a few problems,
i personally have a confusing time understanding combat itself, and as the DM am i meant to have read the adventure before running it or is it meant to be an as you go type of thing?
should i alter the amount of monsters based on there only being 2 players instead of 5?
any/ all help appreciated thank!
Edit: how do i determine what parts of the book i relay to the players
~~~AllaAesh
Best of Luck! :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
As part of preparing the adventure it is wise (though not required) to read the part of the adventure you will be running before running it.
You should definitely alter encounters based on the amount of players. Kobold fight club is a good resource for this. One way you can alter encounters is by splitting up the monsters into waves instead of all at once. This lowers the difficulty.
The parts of the adventure you are expected to read to the players are in a grey box. Besides that, you will have to improvise.
The adventure books don't have all the answers to questions you will have about them. I suggest reading and rereading the basic rules, and flipping through the PHB and DMG when you have time. You dont need to memorize all the rules, but at least get a sense to where you can find certain rules when you need.
Okay this helps. Now what about exp? Do players only get exp for the monsters they kill them selves (or however else they may earn it) do they get it after each fight or after certain points or something?
You should DEFINITELY have read the module prior to running it.
Yes, you should change the amount of monsters in each encounter because you have 2, not 5, players.
You should definitely read the stuff in red aloud, and if someone asks a question about a part of a room they can see and you know the answer, tell them.
I mean...you won't have the book confiscated by the publishers if you don't read it first :) But it really is required in order to have the game run smoothly.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
The guide for the Lost Mine campaign has a lot of useful tips to DMs on what is what. It’s about the best written intro to table top RPGs I’ve seen. There are specific sections in the guide that are meant for you as the DM to read to your table, as well as explanations on how to do checks or actions for combat, etc.
I’m 6 months and about a dozen sessions in to my tenure as a DM and I learn so much from the rules, the mechanics, and the unpredictability of my players that the biggest piece of advice that I think all good DMs would share is, “you don’t have to know it all, and don’t worry about mistakes”.
Have fun, enjoy the interaction, make the world yours, but the story is collaboratively everyone’s. Good luck!
my players also made their own characcters and ive just discovered we did the process of rolling for ability scores wrong
In Lost Mines of phandelver each section will tell you how to award xp. Each section does it differently. In part one they get milestone xp. So after they finish a goal they are awarded xp. In the last part you award xp for the number of enemies they defeat. Basically the starter set is showing you the different ways you can award xp. So that when you run a different campaign or make your own you can decide what works best for you.
Like someone said earlier. Don’t worry about mistakes. There are a bunch of different ways to roll or to determine ability scores.
I'm practically brand new to playing d&d and am DMing LMoP for my husband and my parents (who are also very new) and I'd definitely suggest reading through at least most of it and then prepping what your playing will be coming up on.
Expect to make mistakes. You'll learn from them and can correct any rules next time, or you want. My first couple sessions left me frustrated nearly to the point of crying but after that I really got into it and started getting much more comfortable. Today I started prepping a bit and added my own flare and livened up the boxed text (what's meant to be read aloud) and decided to make a stat block for an NPC on the off chance that one of my characters starts a fight with them XD
so my current understanding as far as what their characters know is condensed to the box?
and the rest i can give to my players at my discretion?
Basically. When I started reading through the adventure I was thinking I'd read part of the background session as a nice little intro to the area but then later found that it was supposed to be read at certain points if the characters made a history check. So there is that to watch out for lol
im trying to read through it and i keep getting distracted, i cant seem to focus
Find a place with no distractions, turn off your phone. If you have the hard copy to read, close any laptops or screens nearby, shut off any TVs. If you have a digital copy, close all other tabs and browsers--although a digital copy will be harder to read without distractions, because the Distraction Machine is the thing you're staring at while you're reading it.
If you have the print copy, get yourself away from all technology, grab a pen and some paper for notes, and go to it.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
I feel like I'm going crazy. Can someone explain temporary hit points vs current health?
I'm trying to transfer my players stats to a character sheet
Temp HP are HP you add to your normal HP.
So example:
Fred has 50 HP maximum normally. A spell gives him 20 temporary HP. Fred is now at 70 total HP. If he gets hit for 10 HP damage, he will be down to 60. He cannot be healed for those 10 points, because he didn't lose normal HP, just temp. When he gets a long rest, he'll be back to 50.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
Brotherbock pretty much covered everything.
In video game terms think of it as shield HP. It protects your actual HP until it is gone, healing doesn't restore your shield, but you can replace the shield with a less damaged one.
Usually a spell or something else will grant you temporary HP. Current HP is pretty self explanatory. It’s what you’re health is at the moment based off of damage taken.