I’m running 5 characters as that’s what we will be running in the session and characters are starting off at level 2 because I am going to level them up as a milestone before they hit the road. After watching several good ‘advice” videos on running the game , it seems it still no fun to die in the first 20 mins of the game as a 1st level noob -even all these years later.
I wont be using a grid, while some of my terrain is constructed with a built in grid, much isnt , I've been doing this long enough that I can accurately measure 1"-5' scale without need of a grid.
Grond Mudrock- Half Orc Fighter
Brother Hammond- Human Cleric
Swift Felhand- Human Rogue
Vatanis Darkwhisper- Tiefling Warlock
Hired to deliver a wagon full of supplies to the small mining town of
Phandalin. The group’s employer is the dwarf Gundren Rockseeker who with his
companion Sildar Hallwinter, rode out ahead of the group the previous day to arrange for the sale and delivery of the goods. About a half day into groups journey , they stop to find what appears to be the pairs horses, dead – blocking the road.
Goblins- are the bad guys in the scenario, weak and cowardly they are alot tougher for low level characters in 5e because of the action/bonus action mechanic, the can attack, use stealth and hide all in the same turn , so they are not excellent at hit and run tactics.
Set up
Since the Character are level 2, I have increased the
difficulty by adding two things”
+2 Goblins to a Total of 6
The goblins automatically all have Surprise on the Heroes
the 1st round.
I unfortunately don’t have any dead horse models sans riders
so the overturned cart is the scene of the fight while
Combat begins as soon as the PC’s approach either of the
clue markers to investigate the dead horses
ROUND 1
Our Rogue , Swift triggers the Ambush by investigating the
saddle bags on one of the dead horses ,
Initiative is rolled
21 Swift Felhand, Rogue
20 Goblin #1 bow
16 Grond Mudrock, Fighter
16 Vantanis Darkwhisper, Warlock
15 Goblin # 2 bow
13 Goblin # 3
11 Brother Hammond, Cleric
10 Goblin # 4 bow
9 Goblin # 5 bow
7 Folke Hillsharp, Ranger
6 Goblin # 6
Goblins # 1 and # 2 are on the hilltop to the upper left of the wreck , they both have bows and will shoot and then hide, they have advantage due to elevation shoot at the closest hero, Grond our Half orc fighter, who is 60 feet away . Grond is going to get +2 to his AC due to “half cover” from the Wagon
Goblin Hides Roll 7
+6 = 13
Goblin # 2 Fires an Arrow with Advantage Roll 17+4
= 21 vs AC 21 hit!
 |
| Grond gets hit early and keeps taking the hits, he's the only one thats damaged. |
Grond takes 5 damage.
Goblin then Hides Roll 17 =6 = 23!!
Goblin # 3 charges out some nearby brush Dashing behind the Cart opposite Swift and
Grond,
He will also try to hide under the cart and just out and
attack anyone passing by , due to the proximity of the PC’s I give him a disadvantage
(lowest of two dice) he rolls a 10 +6 = 16
Goblins # 4 and # 5 are on lower right side on a hillslope
Goblin # 4 has a shot at Swift , I give her half cover due
to the trees, so shes AC 16
He shoots Roll 1, Miss
Hides 6 +6 =14
Against AC 16
Roll 9 + 4= 13 miss!
Hides 10+6 = 16.
 |
| Goblins , bad aim.. |
End of Round.
ROUND 2
(Numbers are Initiative)
21 Swift Felhand, The Rogue she has a dagger, shortsword,
light crossbow and leather armor.
goblin #4 is hidden on a 16, she must make a perception check
against that at +4 , Roll 20 +4 +24…and
spots him easily.
Swift ‘s action is to shoot her light crossbow and Goblin # 4 who
fired at her roll 18+5 =23 , even giving the goblin the same +2 she got as half
cover that is a Hit.. for 8+3= 11
piercing damage,,,that goblin takes in the face and drop dead…1 down.
She then can take a bonus action which is to DASH past Folke
the Ranger to heavy cover and engage the Goblins on the big hill
 |
| The rogue with the 1st of 2 kills, no backstabbing necessary. |
20 Goblin #1 bow
Comes out of Hiding to take another shot at Grond,, 9+4 =13
versus AC 21 with cover. MISS
he hides again 18+6..=24 !!
16 Grond Mudrock, Grond has a Battle Axe, 3 Javelins, Chainmail and Shield.
Grond has had enough and is going to charge the hill, his action is too DASH 60 feet up the hill and right into those
two goblin bowman , though they are hidden and he cant see them even with great spot roll of 18 they are
hidden on a 23 and 24
16 Vantanis Darkwhisper
has a staff, dagger and wears studded leather armor.
Has cover from the wagon between himself the hidden archer
on the low hill, He sees the Goblin jumping up and down trying to draw
attention to itself 80 feet away , he uses his bonus action to cast HEX, and
then follows it up with an Eldritch Blast
roll 6 +5 =11, but against AC 17 with cover that’s a miss
15 Goblin # 2 bow
Comes out of hiding and shoot grond almost point blank roll
20+4 = 24 Critical hit! Ooof!
Grond takes 10 damage
from a goblin arrow.
Goblin tries to hide but at disadvantage this time Since
Grond is right there..
Roll 2=4= 6…he’s attempt to hide is terrible..all the
characters passive perception will see him
13 Goblin # 3 realizing he isn’t going to get anyone to fall
for his ruse..DASHs up the hill and into mele with the badly wounded Grond he
cant attack he used his full action to engage
 |
| Healing Word with a 60ft range is going to be handy. |
11 Brother Hammond
Our Cleric who was driving the supply wagon , has a quarterstaff, a
sling and wears Ringmail under his robes…he immediately use DASH to head toward
Grond who is in trouble with low Health. He get within 50 feet of Grond and uses his
bonus action to cast Healing Word which heals Grond for 5 Hit Points!
10 Goblin # 4 bow DEAD- Crossbow Shot, Swift. Rnd 2
9 Goblin # 5 bow
Takes and another shot at Folke the Ranger 11+4 =15 vs AC 16 , miss just barely
The goblin moves 30 feet behind the large treeline and
hides 7+4= 11..
It misses.
6 Goblin #6 moves up to the wagon keeping heavy cover
And hides hoping to sneak up on someone next round, Hides 10+6 = 16.
End of Round
ROUND 3
21 Swift Felhand
Her action is try to shoot the terribly hidden Goblin# 2 who hit Grond with the Critical, shes got a clean line of Sight Rolls a 11=5 for 16 vs
Ac 15 then rolls 10 damage,
 |
| More lucky crossbow sniping from the Rogue., she actually has the "lucky' feat..didnt need it. |
Shes got two kills…
20 Goblin #1 bow
Comes out of hiding to engage Grond on the hill as they now
flank him on the hilltop and have advantage in their attacks, Attacking with Advantage the Goblin gets the
second critical hit of the game on
poor Grond doing 10 damage, Grond is
barely standing at 2 Hp
16 Grond Mudrock
 |
| Finally some payback. |
Grond Responds with an attack on Goblin # 1 from his battle axe roll 10+5
vs AC 15
HIT!, 11 Slashing Damage cuts the Goblin down..
16 Vantanis Darkwhisper
 |
| Hex and Eldritch Blast = Vaporized Goblin |
Vantanis moves up 30 feet
make a perception check and rolls 20..he seems him easily and
corresponding Eldritch Blast is a hit with 17+5 for 22! With this goblin already being Hexed by Vantanis last round..the extra D6
basically vaporize this goblin with 16 damage!
15 Goblin # 2 bow DEAD-
Crossbow Shot, Swift. Rnd 3
13 Goblin # 3 At this point this Goblin would normally try
to flee but its engaged with Grond whose barely standing so he attacks 19+ 4=
22 , Grond takes 5 damage and collapses.. Goblin Runs off over the hill and
hides badly with a “6”
11 Brother Hammond
Again the Cleric uses DASH to reach the fallen Grond, and
his Bonus action to cast Healing Word again and healing him 5 points again
bringing back to 2 Hp
10 Goblin # 4 bow DEAD-
Crossbow Shot, Swift. Rnd 2
9 Goblin # 5 bow moves Hides again 22, Flees combat
 |
| this was the smart goblin, he ran. |
7 Folke Hillsharp
quickly moves 30 feet to get a line of sight on the fleeing goblin # 3 that put
Grond down, since the goblin is fleeing , unhidden and he has clear LOS I give Folke advantage on the shot, he rolls a
16 +5 for 21 vs AC 15 a Hit, and 8 damage
just puts the goblin down.
 |
| Very classic fantasy, shooting the fleeing guy in back as he runs away to warn the hideout, though one still got away |
6 Goblin # 6 DEAD- Eldritch Blast, Hex, Vantanis Rnd 3
End of Round.
Combat Ends -Quick Recap
So 3 Full rounds in real time that battle lasted less than 30 secs, Goblins opened fire via
Ambush, wounding Grond.
Swift Immediately returned fire killing the goblin shot at
her and moves to cover.
Grond Charges the Hill he was ambushed from , splitting the
two goblins who were moving to melee shaving one follow him to engage
while the other was blown to bits by Vantanis
3 goblins on the Hill engage Grond where he takes two critical hits, he kills
one of them, Swift shoots another, Despite Brother Hammond stepping up to
support Grond with some Healing the
third Goblin manages to put Grond down but flees when Folke the Ranger puts an
arrow into hits fleeing backside from about 80 feet killing him , Brother
Hammond heals Grond before he even needs to begin making death saves while the last goblin in good hiding position flees,
and sulks off back to the hideout.
The Ranger then finds the Trail to the Goblin Hideout.
Nominibus Mortuorum
Cragmaw Tribe Goblins.-
#1 DEAD- Battle Axe, Grond, Rnd 3
#2 DEAD- Crossbow Shot, Swift. Rnd 3
#3 DEAD- Shot in the back while fleeing, Longbow, Folke. Rnd 3
#4 DEAD- Crossbow Shot, Swift. Rnd 2
#5 Escaped/ Fled
#6 DEAD- Eldritch Blast, Hex, Vantanis Rnd 3
Final thoughts , smooth and
fast, I was using an online die roller and they sometimes get a bit
wonky I rolled 4 or 5 , 20’s in those quick 3 rounds every damage roll I did to
a goblin was more than their 7 HP and that’s just luck…I’m going to run the
next one with real dice, its lacks some of nuance of the usual skirmish games I
play, but that because the GM involvement creates more wiggle room than these games that are built to be
competitive or even semi competitive.
Regardless its great practice for laying out what might
happen in encounters in a real D&D games session, I suspect with bunch of
rookie kids , I’ll need watch my aggression with the bad guys…
I’ll move on to the Cragmaw Hideout next, I spent about 20 hours or so building the board ,
finally finding a use for the foam carving tools I got last Christmas, should
be a fun one.
 |
| L to R "The Crew" Grond, Brother Hammond, Folke, Swift, and Vatanis. |
5 comments:
I came here from a link over at Dungeon Fantastic.
I started playing in 1981, but unlike you I did play 2nd edition, as well as 3/3.5. I did skip 4th, mostly, but I did play it once at a convention.
But the reason I'm commenting is a couple of things.
I wouldn't have given the goblins firing bows from a height Advantage on their rolls. It isn't in the Players Handbook or the version of the Basic Rules that I have. It's a judgement call by the GM. I would do it for a variance in height for melee, but not for a ranged attack. You can run it the way you want, to, though. That's part of the fun. :)
Negative hit points aren't a thing in 5e. You just drop to zero and go unconscious. Then you get "Death Saves", fail three and die, pass three and live (unless a 1 or 20 is rolled). So in round 3 when Grond went down, he just went down to 0 HP, not -3. So when he was healed for 5 points later, he would have been up to 5. This didn't have an effect in this encounter, but in a longer encounter it could mean the difference between the party winning or losing. If you want to run negative hit points, go ahead, but it's not rules as written (RAW as people call it).
When I first ran Lost Mines, the first time the party came upon the dead horses (as first level characters), they went through the four goblins pretty quickly. They then delivered the wagon to town, and came back to follow the goblin trail. I had the goblins reset the ambush, and this time the party was surprised. All party members went down, and only a good death save by one of them kept it from being a total party kill.
I mentioned earlier the Basic Rules. That's a PDF that Wizards publishes with all the rules for playing, with the four "core" races and four "core" classes. Basically a stripped down version of the Player's Handbook. It's a free download: Basic Rules link. They also have some example characters, as well as printable Starter Set characters, so you don't have to give out the originals: Character Sheets link.
I hope you enjoy 5th Edition. There are a lot of things well thought out to make it easier to run.
Thanks for the pointers, kinda of just flying the seat of my pants here, when I ran this for the kids I definitely did not use advantage for the height , I did it for myself because the whole Advantage/Disadvantage is so DM subjective and that a normal wargamey type rule and I am into from a skirmish perspective. Thanks for clearing up the hit points thing I thought you kept track of negative just in case of death by massive damage..where you go negative 2x your current HP..then you're just dead, no death saves...or am I remembering that wrong?..anyway appreciate the comment part 2 is rolling up soon..
When the attack that brings you to 0 HP has damage left over, and the remaining damage equals or exceeds your normal hit point maximum, then you are instantly killed.
Also, if you take more damage after you are at 0 HP, then it counts as a failed death saving throw. When at 0 HP, if you take a critical hit, it counts as two failed death saving throws.
I've not kept track of negative HP when using 5e, and usually not had enough damage left over to kill a character outright.
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