Hey folks, I’m on vacation and will be able to check in irregularly. If I’m holding things up, please feel free to autopilot

Please give me a marching order to enter Vazuk's burrow.

I think DDB released the changes that allow its combat tracker to save progress.  I'm going to try it for this combat.  Please enable dice rolling in your character sheet, so everyone's rolls go to the gamelog.  If it is too much of a hassle, I will revert to the way I was doing it.

Oh, sorry I read the rp thread first. I’ll do that from now on.

I’d like to lead the way at the moment. 

Orubis, Beegred, Skameros so far for marching order.

I don't know if I've said this before, but stealth checks are averaged as a group.  You need more successes than failures on the DC.  So far, 2 out of 3 have failed (Orubis and Skameros).  Rodolfo and Grithik left to roll for stealth.

Yeah I failed spectacularly too

I don't have a lot of time this week (nor the previous one). Just saying. I'll try to post at least once a day though, but might happen that I won't get the chance.

It's OK.  I'll be away on vacation all next week.  Summer is what it is.

In the meantime, we'll start with the Vazuk battle.  Vazuk is a Poltergeist, so she/they are invisible.  She/they are also insane and won't back down, so not much positioning or tactics.  Just straight up brawling.  I'm going to go with Theater of the Mind for this battle.  Please explain your intent if you are trying to position yourselves a certain way.

The marching order is Orubis, Beegred, Skameros, Grithik and Rodolfo.  The poltergeist rolled pretty shitty perception and you were all expecting it, so the initiative is what it is.  Speaking of which, the initiative is:

1. Skameros
2. Poltergeist (C)
3. Rodolfo
4. Poltergeist (B)
5. Orubis
6. Poltergeist (A)
7. Beegred
8. Grithik

I rolled everything from your character sheets.  All rolls should be visible in the Game Log, which you can see from the campaign page.  I'm guessing the combat tracker is GM only, not that there's anything special about it, other than the fact I can track your HP there, where I used to let you manage it.

NOTE: The poltergeist has 3 initiatives, but it is one creature made up of 3 individuals.  It occupies one space and shares one pool of HP.  Once you defeat it, you defeat all three.

Mechanics:  I'm definitely straying from RAW here, but you're fighting an invisible creature and I don't want you all to make perception and attack rolls.  Just one.

If you have no special sense or magical way of seeing the Poltergeist, then I want you all to make your To-Hit rolls using your Wisdom (Perception) modifiers instead of your usual weapon modifiers.  You make Perception rolls with disadvantage versus an invisible creature, unless you have advantage for Perception checks based on sound (hearing).  In that case, you make straight rolls.

The DC to beat for the perception check is not terribly high (their AC), so don't be discouraged by this change in mechanics.  We will revert to standard weapon modifiers if you can somehow make the Poltergeist visible.

The Observant feat modifies passive Perception, not active. Does it make a difference in this combat?
(If so, should it count as a straight roll, acting like "advantage"?)

Quote from Quasimodal >>

The Observant feat modifies passive Perception, not active. Does it make a difference in this combat?
(If so, should it count as a straight roll, acting like "advantage"?)

 I will let you apply the +5 bonus to your To-Hit rolls.  But if you can't see it, then you still roll with disadvantage.  Fair?

How would you like us to handle any spells with saving throws that require us to see the target? Will these just fail?

If the spell says you have to be able to see the target, then you can't use it.  

If you want to use something like faerie fire that is an AoE:

1. If the Poltergeist makes an attack against someone, you can target the area around that someone, and it will be  a DEX save per the spell, no further checks necessary.
2. If you want to land the AoE around where you think it may be, then you will have to make a Wisdom (Perception) check.  Same DC as the Poltergeist AC.  On a success, the Poltergeist makes a DEX saving throw.  On a fail, the area glows but you missed the Poltergeist.

Sorry, trying to understand how the dice rolling and game log works.

How do I change the modifier and roll with disadvantage? Do I need to create a custom attack type?

Quote from Winenose >>

Sorry, trying to understand how the dice rolling and game log works.

How do I change the modifier and roll with disadvantage? Do I need to create a custom attack type?

If you right click on the button to roll whatever, you'll get a menu popup with some options, like advantage and disadvantage. 

As for changing the modifier... no idea.  Maybe modify the attack, then roll, then undo the modification? 

Why are you changing the modifier?

Quote from Kerrec >>

Why are you changing the modifier?

 Because you said we use Wisdom instead of whatever normally used for To-Hit rolls

There is no way to do that in character sheet without custom attacks AFAIK

So you want us to make a perception check at disadvantage and then an attack roll using Wisdom modifier?  What's the perception check for?

I am just bad at explaining myself.  What I meant was, just roll a Perception skill check, and that is your To-Hit for attacking.  Then roll the damage as normal.

I did this encounter with my live table, and I had every attack be preceded by a perception check to see if they knew about where the poltergeist was.  It doubled their chance of failing.  It wasn't fun to tell them "your attack fails because it wasn't there" after they rolled a good weapon attack.  Since then I've learnt that isn't actually RAW.  You always know where an invisible creature is... unless it takes the Hide action and beats your passive perception.  All invisibility does is give advantage on it's attacks and you have disadvantage on yours.

So I am experimenting.  One skill check is both your "where is it?" and "do I hit it?".  If you all think this strays too far from Raw, then I will concede and you will all just make attacks with disadvantage and it will attack with advantage.  But with the damage output of this group, it will be a non-fight... it has an AC of 12 and I think Beegred alone could one-shot it with a good first round.  And that's after I've tripled it's actions and HP.

Edit:  I realize I'm probably defending my straying from RAW when questioning it was never your intent.  Do you want me to do stuff like this, or just stick to the book?

This module doesn't guide your decisions to say that you have to come to Blingdenstone after doing everything else.  You could have chosen to come here directly from Velkinvelve (the drow outpost where the original cast were rounded up as prisoners, for you new people).  This encounter is probably geared towards a low level group, like level 3 or 4.  I'm just trying to make it a bit more memorable than Roll Initiative - Beegred's turn - It's dead.

Quote from Kerrec >>

I'm just trying to make it a bit more memorable than Roll Initiative - Beegred's turn - It's dead.

Beegred's awful initiative roll is obviously him just giving the rest of the party a chance to be useful.
(He is also muttering under his breath, "I ain't afraid of no ghost" over and over.)

I won't be using Hunter's Mark this time, so that cuts his damage output almost in half.

Yeah, RAW shouldn't handcuff the DM. Sometimes you got to experiment with different ideas (like a single Perception-as-a-to-hit roll), to see what works or will make the encounter more fun.

So I think I did it right then

Quote from ArgentTheWise >>

So I think I did it right then

 Unless you have a skill that allows you to see invisible creatures, you should have rolled your skill check at disadvantage.   I will fix (roll again) in the Game Log.

Edit: It hits still, for 10 bludgeoning (magical).

BTW, Skameros has 2 attacks per attack action.

wait haha ok hang on - sorry its early still....

Ok 2nd attack failed