I am very new to D&D. Please could you confirm that I am doing it right?
Firstly, to attack, roll d20 and add the mod bonus for the weapon being used. So eg if a Goblin attacks with its scimitar, it would be d20 +4. If that is higher than or equal to the opponent's AC then roll for damage...2d6 for the goblin.
Secondly, there is a lot of mention of 'rounds'. Do rounds ever exist outside of combat?
Eg in Lost Mines of Phandalin, it mentions that in the cragmaw hideout, the wolves will eventually break free from their chains after so many rounds of being goaded. My adventurers stood and watched the wolves for what seemed like an eternity but did not initiate an attack...so the wolves did nothing...
Can cantrips and spells be used outside of combat?
How do characters regain health points? As DM I have had to fiddle dice rolls on many occasions, as they would have been wiped out at pretty much every encounter! They have had long rests (regain all health and half lost hit dice)...
I am very new to D&D. Please could you confirm that I am doing it right?
Firstly, to attack, roll d20 and add the mod bonus for the weapon being used. So eg if a Goblin attacks with its scimitar, it would be d20 +4. If that is higher than or equal to the opponent's AC then roll for damage...2d6 for the goblin.
Correct, if 2d6 is the appropriate weapon damage. Using the Goblin entry, the damage would be 1d6+2.
The +4 modifier for the attack represents +2 from the Proficiency Mod and +2 from Dexterity for being a finesse weapon.
Secondly, there is a lot of mention of 'rounds'. Do rounds ever exist outside of combat?
Eg in Lost Mines of Phandalin, it mentions that in the cragmaw hideout, the wolves will eventually break free from their chains after so many rounds of being goaded. My adventurers stood and watched the wolves for what seemed like an eternity but did not initiate an attack...so the wolves did nothing...
"Rounds" represent 6 seconds. (Even though players roll initiative, all of the activity is meant to be interpreted as concurrent). It is up to the DM's discretion whether to use this method of time keeping outside of combat. If an in-game effect triggers a timed function, DMs are likely to switch to Combat Timing, whether or not there are hostile enemies around. In the case of the wolves, without the goading, there was no trigger for activity.
Can cantrips and spells be used outside of combat?
Yes. However, if you use them in a way that would initiate combat, the DM may ask you to roll initiative prior to resolving the effects of casting your spell.
How do characters regain health points? As DM I have had to fiddle dice rolls on many occasions, as they would have been wiped out at pretty much every encounter! They have had long rests (regain all health and half lost hit dice)...
Characters can either regain hitpoints by A) Being targeted by a healing effect for a fixed number of hit points, B) Using Hit Dice during a Short Rest for partial recovery (possibly up to full), or C) Taking a Long Rest for full HP recovery.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
Edit: As the DM, don't stress too much about it. The bottom line is that you are telling a story with your friends. If you don't know what the book says, just roll some dice and do whatever feels intuitive. As long as you apply your judgements consistently, you can always look up the actual rules later.
Not sure where you got the 2d6, are you looking at their hit points (how much damage they can take before dying)? Goblins deal 1d6+2 damage when an attack hits. Other than that, you got it.
Rounds are not usually tracked outside of combat, but you can start keeping track of them for traps or timed events.
Many spells are specifically meant for use outside if combat: Mending, prestidigitation, friends to name a few cantrips (there are plenty of leveled spells too).
The main way to recover hit points is resting. Long rests fully heal HP. Short rest let them roll hit dice to recover HP (add constitution modifier to each die rolled).
I am very new to D&D. Please could you confirm that I am doing it right?
Hi. Welcome to D&D.
It’ll pro’ly be easier to answer you in reverse order.
How do characters regain health points? As DM I have had to fiddle dice rolls on many occasions, as they would have been wiped out at pretty much every encounter! They have had long rests (regain all health and half lost hit dice)...
Characters are creatures, just like NPCs and monsters. All creatures follow the same rules for healing. There are four main ways a creature can regain Hit Points:
Take a Long Rest when they regain all HP.
Take a Short Rest when they can spend hit dice. A creature spends Hit Dice one at a time until they choose to stop. For each spent hit die, the creature rolls it and regains a number of Hit Points equal to the total rolled plus it’s Constitution modifier. So, say for instance a 2nd level Fighter with a Con of 16 spends a Hit Die, it would regain 1d10+3 Hit Points. If that Fighter chooses to spend its second Hit Die, it would regain another 1d10+3 Hit Points.
Can cantrips and spells be used outside of combat?
Yes, and in fact many are meant to be used outside of combat. Any spell with a casting time longer than an action is typically only cast outside of combat, including spells cast as Rituals.
Secondly, there is a lot of mention of 'rounds'. Do rounds ever exist outside of combat?
Eg in Lost Mines of Phandalin, it mentions that in the cragmaw hideout, the wolves will eventually break free from their chains after so many rounds of being goaded. My adventurers stood and watched the wolves for what seemed like an eternity but did not initiate an attack...so the wolves did nothing...
Rounds aren’t typically tracked outside of combat, but can be. Every round is 6 seconds long. So when tracking rounds outside of combat, every 6 seconds is 1 round.
Firstly, to attack, roll d20 and add the mod bonus for the weapon being used. So eg if a Goblin attacks with its scimitar, it would be d20 +4. If that is higher than or equal to the opponent's AC then roll for damage...2d6 for the goblin.
This image probably explains it better than I can with just words:
For the damage roll, the 5 is the average of the roll (1d6+2).
I notice on the Goblin stats (for example) it says Challenge 1/4 (50XP). Does this mean that every time a Goblin is killed, someone receives 50XP? Is it shared among the team?
I notice on the Goblin stats (for example) it says Challenge 1/4 (50XP). Does this mean that every time a Goblin is killed, someone receives 50XP? Is it shared among the team?
It is shared among the team. Usually you do this after a combat is over, add up all the XP and divde by the number of players (plus any NPCs that helped the party significantly).
In part 2 and 3 of L ost Mines of Phandelver (LMOP) it tells you in the text how much XP to award after each encounter which replaces the XP for killing enemies (though often the XP is the same) you also gives XP for things like avoiding traps.
In general awarding XP only for killing things can turn the party into "murder hobos" where they kill ememies in order to gain the XP. You should also award XP for avoidig combat, for example if the party successfully sneak past an enemy or successfully pose as members of bad guys group you should award XP for that.
An alternative to XP, and my preferred method is milestone levelling. This means you do not need have the hassel of calculating and tracking XP. For LMOP using milestones the party reach level 2 when they complete part 1, they go up a level when they deal with the threat in part 2 and another when they set off for part 4. If they do part 3 before part 4 then they reach level 3 when they have done a few of the tasks in part 3 and return to the location of part 2 and level 4 when they set off for part 4. If the party are finding things very difficult you could give them another milestone (for example when they start to explore the ememy base in part 2), alternatively if they a crazy enough to complete the extremely challenging encounter
Defeat Venomfang so she flies away or dies)
then you could award them with a level for that (you should do all you can to discourage the party from this encounter as most likely it will defeat them if you run it properly (and kill them if they refuse to flee).
In any case for part 4 the party should either be level 4 or level 5.
In general I agree with most of what Jegpeg wrote, but I prefer XP, probably because I grew up with it. The trick is to award XP for everything, even successful skill checks and stuff. That prevents that murder hobo mentality they mentioned.
Hi
I am very new to D&D. Please could you confirm that I am doing it right?
Firstly, to attack, roll d20 and add the mod bonus for the weapon being used. So eg if a Goblin attacks with its scimitar, it would be d20 +4. If that is higher than or equal to the opponent's AC then roll for damage...2d6 for the goblin.
Secondly, there is a lot of mention of 'rounds'. Do rounds ever exist outside of combat?
Eg in Lost Mines of Phandalin, it mentions that in the cragmaw hideout, the wolves will eventually break free from their chains after so many rounds of being goaded. My adventurers stood and watched the wolves for what seemed like an eternity but did not initiate an attack...so the wolves did nothing...
Can cantrips and spells be used outside of combat?
How do characters regain health points? As DM I have had to fiddle dice rolls on many occasions, as they would have been wiped out at pretty much every encounter! They have had long rests (regain all health and half lost hit dice)...
Thanks in advance.
Paul
Edit: As the DM, don't stress too much about it. The bottom line is that you are telling a story with your friends. If you don't know what the book says, just roll some dice and do whatever feels intuitive. As long as you apply your judgements consistently, you can always look up the actual rules later.
Not sure where you got the 2d6, are you looking at their hit points (how much damage they can take before dying)? Goblins deal 1d6+2 damage when an attack hits. Other than that, you got it.
Rounds are not usually tracked outside of combat, but you can start keeping track of them for traps or timed events.
Many spells are specifically meant for use outside if combat: Mending, prestidigitation, friends to name a few cantrips (there are plenty of leveled spells too).
The main way to recover hit points is resting. Long rests fully heal HP. Short rest let them roll hit dice to recover HP (add constitution modifier to each die rolled).
Hi. Welcome to D&D.
It’ll pro’ly be easier to answer you in reverse order.
Characters are creatures, just like NPCs and monsters. All creatures follow the same rules for healing. There are four main ways a creature can regain Hit Points:
Yes, and in fact many are meant to be used outside of combat. Any spell with a casting time longer than an action is typically only cast outside of combat, including spells cast as Rituals.
Rounds aren’t typically tracked outside of combat, but can be. Every round is 6 seconds long. So when tracking rounds outside of combat, every 6 seconds is 1 round.
This image probably explains it better than I can with just words:
For the damage roll, the 5 is the average of the roll (1d6+2).
I hope that helps
🦄
Sposta
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Many thanks for your replies.
I notice on the Goblin stats (for example) it says Challenge 1/4 (50XP). Does this mean that every time a Goblin is killed, someone receives 50XP? Is it shared among the team?
It is shared among the team. Usually you do this after a combat is over, add up all the XP and divde by the number of players (plus any NPCs that helped the party significantly).
In part 2 and 3 of L ost Mines of Phandelver (LMOP) it tells you in the text how much XP to award after each encounter which replaces the XP for killing enemies (though often the XP is the same) you also gives XP for things like avoiding traps.
In general awarding XP only for killing things can turn the party into "murder hobos" where they kill ememies in order to gain the XP. You should also award XP for avoidig combat, for example if the party successfully sneak past an enemy or successfully pose as members of bad guys group you should award XP for that.
An alternative to XP, and my preferred method is milestone levelling. This means you do not need have the hassel of calculating and tracking XP. For LMOP using milestones the party reach level 2 when they complete part 1, they go up a level when they deal with the threat in part 2 and another when they set off for part 4. If they do part 3 before part 4 then they reach level 3 when they have done a few of the tasks in part 3 and return to the location of part 2 and level 4 when they set off for part 4. If the party are finding things very difficult you could give them another milestone (for example when they start to explore the ememy base in part 2), alternatively if they a crazy enough to complete the extremely challenging encounter
Defeat Venomfang so she flies away or dies)
then you could award them with a level for that (you should do all you can to discourage the party from this encounter as most likely it will defeat them if you run it properly (and kill them if they refuse to flee).
In any case for part 4 the party should either be level 4 or level 5.
In general I agree with most of what Jegpeg wrote, but I prefer XP, probably because I grew up with it. The trick is to award XP for everything, even successful skill checks and stuff. That prevents that murder hobo mentality they mentioned.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting