Gorden puts his weight into a heavy punch but the creature can deflect the it with a nimble block with its forearm. With his hand pushed to the side, away from the Nothic's body, Gorden is unable to get a hold. Gale in his fury invokes an ancient rite on his weapon and attacks with abandon. (@Gale You used two bonus actions, Crimson Rite and Two-weapon fighting. Let's say we go with the first. How about we let you use the critical hit next turn? If that is ok for you, just roll any additional damage.)
Nothic attacks 4
(Edit: forgot to post order, was Ini order: 1 - Rizo, 2 - Spirit, 3 - Meepo, 4 - Gorden, 5 - Gale, 6 - Dorian)
hold up, two-weapon fighting is a bonus action? i didn't know that, sorry. Just go w/ the crimson rite then:
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Dorian looks at the little Kobald appear from thin air and start punching the nothic. Whhhaa…. Where did you come from little one. He looks down at the little creature for a second before realising that he was still in a fight. Guess it’ll have to wait until after the fight. Dorian turns his attention to the nothic. He sees it moving very weakly, it was almost down. He jumps up towards the nothic and again bites down on the creature, dropping his own defence for a more aggressive attack.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Gordon will then attack the monster again! Attack: 24 Damage: 17 Grapple (if it hits): 17
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
(With Gale's hit the Nothing will be defeated in that turn. Sorry Meepo but I think we just go on.)
After Dorian loosens his bite, the Nothic sacks down and remains motionless and an eerie silence lays over the abandoned camp.
(Let's look through the camp and see what we can salvage here.)
Great! Guys, good work! From what I see we are through the adventure and beat it! So technically we have all time now to look through the camp and we can roll for treasure now. We've got 4 treasure rolls and we are 5 people. Now, if we look more close we see that Dorian, Gorden and Ryzo went through 4 threats, Gale through 3 and Meepo through 1. With this, I would argue that Dorian, Gorden and Ryzo get one roll each, and Gale and Meepo share the last roll between them somehow considering that it belongs to 3/4 to Gale (you guys will figure that out). I think we can share the 200 gold from the adventure equally, that is 40 for each character. Then, XP, I computed the XP based on participation as well. I assumed the 1000 XP are distributed over all 4 threats equally and each encounter adds monster XP. These are then divided by and distributed equally over the characters that participated in that threat. Total: Dorian, Gorden and Ryzo: 544XP; Gale: 428XP; and Meepo 140XP.
(Please say if you disagree with any sharing that I propose. This is just how I propose to handle it).
I guess it will be nice to hear everyones perspective when they find whatever they roll on the treasure table.
After that, Any volunteer who wishes to describe our journey back?
Should we give final kill bonuses on XP? Not on anything else though. Like, maybe 10% more than others?
I don't know, how does everyone else feel about that? I think it is not foreseen in the rules laid out by the DM but maybe this is a standard rule? I don't know but I feel that the 1000XP at the end is kind of the bonus in my opinion.
Should we give final kill bonuses on XP? Not on anything else though. Like, maybe 10% more than others?
I've been pondering this and I think it is a good idea to provide some bonus for some things. I don't agree that killing should be rewarded, though. We will see how the others feel about that.
I'm collecting a few ideas on how I think this DM free mode can be improved a little bit based on this last expedition, and I think bonuses could be go a long way. I'm thinking more that DM'ing a threat could be paid out and good role-play, the last could be that after each threat, each player casts a vote (if possible in secret) on any other player and the player(s) with most votes get/share a bonus. I'll try to write that up.
Rizo treasure find: 6
Rizo found gold in various tents, in total it adds up to 123 gold coins.
@HomebrewMindFlayer : I'm not sure if you wish to receive this kind of feedback, but since this was the first expedition into the Forest of Wonders I thought you might like to get some feedback on how things worked out (in my humble opinion).
First, it is fun play with different people short expeditions, where you can try different things without too much commitment. I thoroughly enjoyed our first run.
Here are a few thoughts after that experience:
I think 1d4 threats is too short. We had 4 and I think it was a good middling number.
Short rest abilities fall short. As it is Short and Long Rests happen at the town or when a player would like one and can convince the party.
Threats are too weak to challenge a full party (4 to 6). We were 3 at the beginning and it was ok, if not already too easy. We finished 5 and there was no danger anymore. This may depend on the rolls, but the default is not challenging enough, I think.
Treasure table is too static, for instance I feel a +2 weapon of the player’s choice is too strong for a level 3.
Time between encounters is arbitrary and will ultimately be decided by the players making threats more trivial by allowing rests anytime.
Someone should be dedicated DM, at least one constant person per threat. This could be rewarded with bonus XP.
Player role-play could be rewarded with bonus XP.
A few guidelines that I think would help:
Number of threats. I would say 1d4 threats, then a short break (during which the party can try to abandon (1 in 1d6 chance of failure?) and return to town), then 1d4 (rolled after the break) more threats would be better. Sure, the expedition would be longer, but resource management becomes more important and short rest abilities will get a meaning.
Threat level. Perhaps, threat level could scale on total party level, instead of the average?
Perhaps it could account for the average party level similarly to the current threat table?
Time between the encounters. Just before the encounter to determine the time until it starts, roll a 1d10 and subtract one (i.e., values from 0 to 9), then roll a 1d4 to determine the time unit (1-seconds,2-rounds,3-minutes,4-10 minutes). E.g., if you roll a 2 (with 1d10-1) and a 1 (with 1d4), 2 seconds would pass before the encounter happens, which may be enough for a short call, a bonus action or half a movement. This system has a 10% chance of an immediate encounter, a 10% of allowing an additional short break and 80% for something in between.
Encounter setup could have some pre-definition or randomization, i.e., what’s the distance to the monster(s) and in between the party? Melees will assume they can get there and attack, ranged will assume that they are not in melee. A guideline could be that every party member is at an initial distance of 1d6 times 10 feet. This gives room to work with but also provides something to start with.
Each expedition in their own thread. I think the main thread should be only for meeting up. It gets messy quickly.
I think it would help to provide a guideline as to how the party should DM their own adventure. I think a good and fair way would be to make an order (e.g., each player can roll a 1d100 and the lowest number begins, going up) and have one player take the role of the DM for one encounter and then move to the next player as DM for the next encounter. Alternatively, one player could organize an expedition and serve as DM for that whole expedition. Or any combination of the two. What I really mean here is that it would be good if it were well defined who makes the calls at all moments. If this work is distributed over all players (that is each one DMs at least once), perhaps each player can get 10% bonus XP for the total XP they receive for the entire expedition at the end (but only if really all players DM at least once).
Bonus XP for roleplay. I think the effort each player makes to improve the game for everyone should be rewarded in some way in order to discourage that the game degenerates to die rolls alone. I think a workable solution could be to award 10% of Monster XP to one player at each threat. To work out the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in terms of roleplay at each threat, each player should secretly vote for one player other than himself and the player(s) with most votes each gain 10% bonus XP from that round (monster plus base XP).
Number of threats. I would say 1d4 threats, then a short break (during which the party can try to abandon (1 in 1d6 chance of failure?) and return to town), then 1d4 (rolled after the break) more threats would be better. Sure, the expedition would be longer, but resource management becomes more important and short rest abilities will get a meaning.
That sounds good. Or maybe to make things a bit less random (you could have 2 threats, or 8), it could be something like 3 then short rest, then 1d4 more?
Threat level. Perhaps, threat level could scale on total party level, instead of the average?
That sounds like a great idea, though I'll have to redo the level scaling (so it may take a little while) for that to work.
Perhaps it could account for the average party level similarly to the current threat table?
Is the "it" mentioned here the treasure table? If so that sounds like a good idea. And honestly come to think of it just a bit less magic items might be an improvement.
Time between the encounters. Just before the encounter to determine the time until it starts, roll a 1d10 and subtract one (i.e., values from 0 to 9), then roll a 1d4 to determine the time unit (1-seconds,2-rounds,3-minutes,4-10 minutes). E.g., if you roll a 2 (with 1d10-1) and a 1 (with 1d4), 2 seconds would pass before the encounter happens, which may be enough for a short call, a bonus action or half a movement. This system has a 10% chance of an immediate encounter, a 10% of allowing an additional short break and 80% for something in between.
That's an amazing idea.
Encounter setup could have some pre-definition or randomization, i.e., what’s the distance to the monster(s) and in between the party? Melees will assume they can get there and attack, ranged will assume that they are not in melee. A guideline could be that every party member is at an initial distance of 1d6 times 10 feet. This gives room to work with but also provides something to start with.
Okay. I'll add in some guidelines for distance. The distance might be a bit more complicated and depend on threat and location. For example if monsters sneak attack the party is doesn't exactly make sense for them to be detected 100 feet away.
Each expedition in their own thread. I think the main thread should be only for meeting up. It gets messy quickly.
That makes sense. I guess the only downside would be making it much harder to follow what's going on... But it's probably worth it. Just know that I may not be able to respond to anything without a PM is we split into separate threads.
I think it would help to provide a guideline as to how the party should DM their own adventure. I think a good and fair way would be to make an order (e.g., each player can roll a 1d100 and the lowest number begins, going up) and have one player take the role of the DM for one encounter and then move to the next player as DM for the next encounter. Alternatively, one player could organize an expedition and serve as DM for that whole expedition. Or any combination of the two. What I really mean here is that it would be good if it were well defined who makes the calls at all moments. If this work is distributed over all players (that is each one DMs at least once), perhaps each player can get 10% bonus XP for the total XP they receive for the entire expedition at the end (but only if really all players DM at least once).
Okay. I'll get working on these guidelines.
Bonus XP for roleplay. I think the effort each player makes to improve the game for everyone should be rewarded in some way in order to discourage that the game degenerates to die rolls alone. I think a workable solution could be to award 10% of Monster XP to one player at each threat. To work out the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in terms of roleplay at each threat, each player should secretly vote for one player other than himself and the player(s) with most votes each gain 10% bonus XP from that round (monster plus base XP).
I don't know. I'll have to think about that one. I agree that role play is very important for making the adventure fun, but I also feel like awarding xp for role play could cause the atmosphere to degenerate and become too competitive. Though maybe I'm just overthinking it. So I guess that's a maybe for now.
Thanks again for the feedback. Appropriate changes will be made when I get the chance.
Thanks so much! Feedback like this is much appreciated. I will make edits (and finally finish the maps) soon.
I don't know. I'll have to think about that one. I agree that role play is very important for making the adventure fun, but I also feel like awarding xp for role play could cause the atmosphere to degenerate and become too competitive. Though maybe I'm just overthinking it. So I guess that's a maybe for now.
Thanks again for the feedback. Appropriate changes will be made when I get the chance.
You're welcome. I'm happy if you find it useful.
To come back to your concern about bonus XP, you are probably right. Players could get the feeling that they are missing out on something. Alternatively, an approach more in the spirit of the game would be to award inspiration to the MVP instead of extra XP.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
I like the ideas that are being put forward. Sounds like it could easily be worked. I especially like us choosing the threats amount for the first halve, that way we can say how much we want to fight.
Dorian ends the fight feeling satisfied and proud. He slowly morphs his mouth back to his usual form and goes through the loot in the camp. Dorian finds 111 gp. After gathering his loot he looks towards the Kobald that appeared out of now where. Well little one, what are you doing here? He glances of the creatures fists that it used in the fight. I see you can fight, are you also looking for Dolsela then? That’s where all the adventures go in these parts. Dorian pauses for a moment before realising that he didn’t introduce himself yet. Oh where are my manners. The names Dorian.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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The angered Nothic gazes at Gorden trying to rot his flesh! (DC 12 Constitution saving throw against this magic or take 12 necrotic damage.)
Rizo swings his club at the aberration and commands the wildfire spirit boar to attack.
Attack: 25 Damage: 8 magical bludgeon
Attack: 14 Damage: 8 fire
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
Overview:
Round 3: Nothic (16 - Weird Insight on Gale), Rizo (15 - fire spirit), Meepo (11 - Zoom Punch), Gorden (8 - attack), Gale (7 - crimson rite (BA) + sickle (A)), Dorian (3 - Rage and Bite)
Round 4: Nothic (16 - Rotting Gaze @Gorden), Rizo (15 - attack (A) + spirit attack (BA)), Meepo (11), Gorden (8), Gale (7), Dorian (3)
Round 5: Nothic (16) [17/45 HP], Rizo (15), Meepo (11), Gorden (8), Gale (7), Dorian (3)
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
hold up, two-weapon fighting is a bonus action? i didn't know that, sorry. Just go w/ the crimson rite then:
Left Sickle: Attack: 23 Damage: 6 + 4
-Archie
Dorian looks at the little Kobald appear from thin air and start punching the nothic. Whhhaa…. Where did you come from little one. He looks down at the little creature for a second before realising that he was still in a fight. Guess it’ll have to wait until after the fight. Dorian turns his attention to the nothic. He sees it moving very weakly, it was almost down. He jumps up towards the nothic and again bites down on the creature, dropping his own defence for a more aggressive attack.
Reckless attack
Bite. To hit: 16. Damage: 9
Nat 20 so it’s an additional 2
Con save: 17
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Gordon will then attack the monster again! Attack: 24 Damage: 17 Grapple (if it hits): 17
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Another miss.
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Overview (current turn in bold face):
Round 4: Nothic (16 - Rotting Gaze @Gorden), Rizo (15 - attack (A) + spirit attack (BA)), Meepo (11), Gorden (8 - attack (A) and grapple (BA)), Gale (7), Dorian (3 - Bite (A))
Round 5: Nothic (16) [3/45 HP], Rizo (15), Meepo (11), Gorden (8), Gale (7), Dorian (3)
The Nothic screams in pain from Dorian's feral bite into its neck and its eye is turning red from blood.
(@GamingArcitectV2 and @TommoBoi, your turns. Let's see it. Who will get the trophy?)
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
Gale, with his crimson rite still activated on the left scythe, slashes at the nothic's eyes.
Gale, as a bonus action, uses two weapon attack.
Left: Attack: 9 Damage: 5 + 2
Right: 23 Damage: 4
-Archie
(With Gale's hit the Nothing will be defeated in that turn. Sorry Meepo but I think we just go on.)
After Dorian loosens his bite, the Nothic sacks down and remains motionless and an eerie silence lays over the abandoned camp.
(Let's look through the camp and see what we can salvage here.)
Great! Guys, good work! From what I see we are through the adventure and beat it! So technically we have all time now to look through the camp and we can roll for treasure now. We've got 4 treasure rolls and we are 5 people. Now, if we look more close we see that Dorian, Gorden and Ryzo went through 4 threats, Gale through 3 and Meepo through 1. With this, I would argue that Dorian, Gorden and Ryzo get one roll each, and Gale and Meepo share the last roll between them somehow considering that it belongs to 3/4 to Gale (you guys will figure that out). I think we can share the 200 gold from the adventure equally, that is 40 for each character. Then, XP, I computed the XP based on participation as well. I assumed the 1000 XP are distributed over all 4 threats equally and each encounter adds monster XP. These are then divided by and distributed equally over the characters that participated in that threat. Total: Dorian, Gorden and Ryzo: 544XP; Gale: 428XP; and Meepo 140XP.
(Please say if you disagree with any sharing that I propose. This is just how I propose to handle it).
I guess it will be nice to hear everyones perspective when they find whatever they roll on the treasure table.
After that, Any volunteer who wishes to describe our journey back?
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
Should we give final kill bonuses on XP? Not on anything else though. Like, maybe 10% more than others?
-Archie
I don't know, how does everyone else feel about that? I think it is not foreseen in the rules laid out by the DM but maybe this is a standard rule? I don't know but I feel that the 1000XP at the end is kind of the bonus in my opinion.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
Rolled 5 on treasure table, so 10d4 + 100 gp
10d4 = 28; 28 + 100 = 128
128/4 = 32 X3 = 96g
So Meepo gets 32 gp, and Gale gets 96 gp
-Archie
I've been pondering this and I think it is a good idea to provide some bonus for some things. I don't agree that killing should be rewarded, though. We will see how the others feel about that.
I'm collecting a few ideas on how I think this DM free mode can be improved a little bit based on this last expedition, and I think bonuses could be go a long way. I'm thinking more that DM'ing a threat could be paid out and good role-play, the last could be that after each threat, each player casts a vote (if possible in secret) on any other player and the player(s) with most votes get/share a bonus. I'll try to write that up.
Rizo treasure find: 6
Rizo found gold in various tents, in total it adds up to 123 gold coins.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
@HomebrewMindFlayer : I'm not sure if you wish to receive this kind of feedback, but since this was the first expedition into the Forest of Wonders I thought you might like to get some feedback on how things worked out (in my humble opinion).
First, it is fun play with different people short expeditions, where you can try different things without too much commitment. I thoroughly enjoyed our first run.
Here are a few thoughts after that experience:
A few guidelines that I think would help:
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
cyreon,
Thanks so much! Feedback like this is much appreciated. I will make edits (and finally finish the maps) soon.
That sounds good. Or maybe to make things a bit less random (you could have 2 threats, or 8), it could be something like 3 then short rest, then 1d4 more?
That sounds like a great idea, though I'll have to redo the level scaling (so it may take a little while) for that to work.
Is the "it" mentioned here the treasure table? If so that sounds like a good idea. And honestly come to think of it just a bit less magic items might be an improvement.
That's an amazing idea.
Okay. I'll add in some guidelines for distance. The distance might be a bit more complicated and depend on threat and location. For example if monsters sneak attack the party is doesn't exactly make sense for them to be detected 100 feet away.
That makes sense. I guess the only downside would be making it much harder to follow what's going on... But it's probably worth it. Just know that I may not be able to respond to anything without a PM is we split into separate threads.
Okay. I'll get working on these guidelines.
I don't know. I'll have to think about that one. I agree that role play is very important for making the adventure fun, but I also feel like awarding xp for role play could cause the atmosphere to degenerate and become too competitive. Though maybe I'm just overthinking it. So I guess that's a maybe for now.
Thanks again for the feedback. Appropriate changes will be made when I get the chance.
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
>Extended Signature<
You're welcome. I'm happy if you find it useful.
To come back to your concern about bonus XP, you are probably right. Players could get the feeling that they are missing out on something. Alternatively, an approach more in the spirit of the game would be to award inspiration to the MVP instead of extra XP.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Yawning Portal || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan Shi - Liquid Swords || Syed - Drakkenheim || Kaelthor - Dragonlance ||
I like the ideas that are being put forward. Sounds like it could easily be worked. I especially like us choosing the threats amount for the first halve, that way we can say how much we want to fight.
Dorians loot. 10
Dorian ends the fight feeling satisfied and proud. He slowly morphs his mouth back to his usual form and goes through the loot in the camp. Dorian finds 111 gp. After gathering his loot he looks towards the Kobald that appeared out of now where. Well little one, what are you doing here? He glances of the creatures fists that it used in the fight. I see you can fight, are you also looking for Dolsela then? That’s where all the adventures go in these parts. Dorian pauses for a moment before realising that he didn’t introduce himself yet. Oh where are my manners. The names Dorian.