Convergence DM Log - Session 3
Preamble
One of the best parts of a game is feeling the party start to mesh together into a "team". Now I use quotes there because not all RPG groups really function together as characters but as players they can still find a rhythm and rhyme. While Molly and Tiffany have almost a year of experience playing together, Pond and NLK are new to the table and it's great to watch them mesh into a Role Play Troupe.
Previously On The Convergence
I really feel like this week's recap of session 2 included a lot of details. One of the challenges though is that we left last session with unresolved questions that while answering created too much need to ask more questions. I started the night just wanting to know what the final choices for the major "what did you do with?" questions. And ask players do, they wanted to do more.
As there were tactical implications to where they put the dead body, where they were hiding the saddle, and where they put the shard, those really had to be answered. There was no way that an NPC could steal something that a PC went to sleep spooning. Which, apparently, the gnome did with the shard.
On catapults and corpses and overlays
Once they were all awake, fully rested and levelled up, I was pleasantly surprised to watch them totally slip into a full table RP about what to do with the body. At the game table RL this is the kind of thing where the DM gets up, walks away and lets the players just have at it in character for a while. I may have to make an overlay where my camera is gone and just let the players run the show.
On the subject of overlays, I find myself looking at, if not watching, lots of Dungeons and Dragons streams to try to figure out ways to improve mine. Here is how I made the design choices I have so far.
First, I want a viewer when they show up to know what they need to know to follow the RP (as best they can) just by taking in the screen. When it comes to names, race, and class, I follow the "more is more" philosophy. While I have no hard data to back it up, my own viewing practices suggest that I as a streamer have about 3 minutes maximum to hook a possible viewer before they "change the channel". In that time someone in chat might not have time to answer a question about the game and the viewer might wander on.
For me, I also like to showcase my players. So much of the game is about them, their role play, their reactions to dice rolls and their engagement with each other. I really try to maximize their presence on the screen to show off their talents.
The last thing I've started to try to get into the screen is a bit of dynamicity. Thinking about retention lead me to want to have the photo scroll with the character quotes. Cycling through the art doesn't just show it off but it keeps new viewers learning little tidbits about the characters as they settle in and (hopefully) become long term viewers.
The best thing about this part of the night was how little I had to do. The players took things and ran with them, and each of them brought their own RP style to the table, from NLK's in depth description their funeral rites to Molly playing up Sam's obsession.
Walking back to town
Obviously the shard is a major plot tool. While the stolen saddle will also rise on the plot scale, the shard a bit of a big deal. I also wanted to let the players have their first interaction with The New Blades. While I didn't want to spring the classic "ambush", I did want them to have some chances to see what was afoot on the way. I also wanted to give them the choice to engage them either in conversation or in combat by their choice. There are other chances to toss the players into things not of their choice; giving them full agency when I can is important to me.
I really did enjoy the interplay though in the lead up to the battle. We established that Aveline is not a talker and there is a point where Kati is done talking. And for the first time I saw Color Spray actually do something in combat! Now part of my experience is using the spell in Solasta or in Baldur's Gate 3 and for a 2nd level spell it is really hard get enough bang out of it to actually effect something. What happens more often than not is there just aren't enough HP of enemies available to be effected. For reference: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/color-spray. On a 6d10, a typical roll would be in the ball park of 35 HP effected so when I rolled 34 I actually thought I had rolled really well.
What threw me the most for the loop was the lack of saving throw to resist. I'm so ingrained that the PC always gets a save and for some reason it didn't register. I was also thinking about the 1st level spell "Sleep" which got a save in earlier editions but does not in 5th (it also simply affects a set HP total of creatures).
The real kicker of color spray is that in many combat situations with one or two large enemies is that their HP pool just is too big to for the spell to be effective. Take a Gnoll Pack Lord for instance. At CR2 one of them should be a "decent" fight for a group of 2nd level characters. With a RAW starting hitpoint total of 49, it is unlikely that a color spray has enough kick to blind them, making it a wasted spell. Even if the party is at 3rd level (which would get that spell caster access to 2nd level spells), the party can expected to encounter multiple Pack Lords making the wasted action of "hoping to roll high" a bad outcome.
On the other hand, if the encounter had multiple smaller beasties supporting the Lord and that 3rd level wizard popped off that shiny new color spray, the minions (clocking in at much lower HP totals) are far more likely to be affected and removed temporarily.
Of course the real power of Color Spray is the synergy. While blinded, not only do casters lose the ability cast "targets you can see" spells but attacks are made at disadvantage. In addition all attacks coming in are made at advantage. On a typical roll, the probability of a critical hit is 5% (1 in 20). But when rolling with advantage that doubles to 10%. While the "real" target for the rest of the gang should have been a major fighter (Aveline's armor suggests she's the big bad) or counter artillery fire (what a fine bow you have there, Syb), it also makes sense to try to put down the easy target first.
DM Confession time
With a Con save of 5, whatever poison these guys use has taken root. At the time of this writing, I literally have no idea what that poison is.
DM talk - The combat
Normally here I'd share what stat block I used for the enemies in the encounter but I'm going to not because we're not "done" with these enemies. But I will share some things that I don't think "break" immersion going forward. The big one is Carina's escape.
Now, for her stat block, I went "shopping" in the DNDBeyond data base for some kind of "leader" for this encounter. There I found a rogue that did a good job of being what I wanted with a CR that made her a decent fight, and then I tried to focus on how to make combat with her engaging. The opening spell of Color Spray, coupled with the Cunning Action - Disengage set that up well and provided a pretext for what was to come.
In her escape her turn actions were:
- Main Action: Cast Minor Illusion to create a visual but non audible duplicate of her self looking out from behind the tree. It didn't need to move or make sound as it was fairly logical that she would do neither if she were "cowering".
- Bonus Action: Use Cunning action to Hide
- Movement: Take a full move while hiding away from the combat.
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